A historical scarecrow - scarecrow festival 2010-2012
An old-style school teacher was our
choice for our entry to join nearly 200
others in the 2010 Martham Scarecrow
Festival. With his mortarboard (made
from an inside-out football and some
pond liner), black gown and cane he was
a daunting presence in the garden of
The Old School House. The idea was
that he was leaning on the fence looking
out for the children coming to school as
the head teacher in the Nineteenth
Century may well have done.
We were grateful that the Old School
House owners allowed us to erect him on
such a suitable site.
He certainly made an impression on the younger children. "Scary", one of them said, and they were pleased that their own modern teachers are a bit different. A good impression was made on the judges, too, who awarded him Third Place in the Traditional Scarecrow category.
Another scary scarecrow - 2011
.
Our old scarecrow spent the last year
sleeping in the beams of a member's
garage - looking frighteningly lifelike!
We decided that his bendy frame could
be adapted to represent another
historic period.
As we have a visit later in the year from
Neil Storey under the title "The Real
Dad's Army", we wove a little tale
around last year's Headmaster
scarecrow being called out of retirement
by the urgent needs of World War II.
Listening to his radio in 1940 he heard
the call to help defend the country and
bravely joined up with the Local Defence
Volunteers, who became the Home Guard
a couple of months later. These brave
men did their bit to help us win the war,
and this year our determined-looking
scarecrow helped the History Group win
overall third prize in the 2011 Martham
Scarecrow Festival. Following on to last
year’s award we were delighted. We
hope we can keep up the standard next
year - but maybe with something a little
less scary!
These photographs were taken by
members Chris and Ann. Component parts were loaned by Nicola, Phil and Noel and son-in-law, and the "sculptors" were again Pat and Noel.
Teddy Boy scarecrow - 2012
A brand new scarecrow this year - a
1950s Teddy Boy to complement our
Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee.
Hand made and hand painted face, with
two hundred straw hairs added, but no
prize this year. However, as the winner
was a Roman legionnaire we felt that
History had again done its bit. The
Teddy Boy appeared again, welcoming
visitors to the Jubilee exhibition.
