Festival scarecrows nailed to hoardings

Villagers say they will not be beaten by vandals after entries for their scarecrow festival were stolen, vandalised and nailed to a wall.

Wallace and Gromit, Marge and Homer Simpson, and a scarecrow with a mock speed gun were found pinned up near Tollgate Centre Shopping Park in Colchester, Essex.

One of the Copford & Easthorpe Scarecrow Festival organisers, Sara Brady, said people had been outraged by the vandalism, especially their younger participants.

Almost all entries have since been found and the "determined" community has come together to locate, repair and make more of the creations.

Ms Brady said there were about 40 entries to the festival this year, the highest amount since she took over the festival in 2022.

Scarecrows have been on display in the village, just off the A12 west of Colchester, since the start of August.

In previous years there has been damage to the creations, but "never on this scale," Ms Brady said.

"It has to be pre-mediated because they are not small; they [whoever took them] must have driven and then nailed them to the wall... it's weird," she said.

"There was a lot of outrage and children involved were really upset; it was awful and they take a lot of time and effort to make.

"But they haven't dampened the community spirit and it has made us more determined to come together."

As well as the scarecrows pinned to the wall, "Peppa Pig" was found at a bus stop on London Road, without her legs.

The giant "Harvest-Ted", a teddy made from haybales, also had an ear knocked off.

On a Facebook group another resident said: "Our poor dinosaur got torn apart on Saturday night but he is currently in for some reconstructive surgery and we hope to return him soon!"

"Why are some people so pathetic?" asked another person.

Almost every scarecrow has since been patched up and there have been more entries added to the competition, but the organisers have asked residents to let them know if they have any CCTV images taken from their houses.

They will be judged by a panel who have back-up photos of the scarecrows in case of any incidents.

Winners will be announced on 1 September at the Scarecrow Festival Village Fair at Copford Village Hall.

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