THE annual Keevil Scarecrow Trail will be bigger and better than ever before this year when it takes place on May 16 and 17, with scarecrows being designed around the theme of heroes and villains.

Artists Joanna May and Eleanor O’Brien are already hard at work designing scarecrows for the trail, which will start from Keevil Primary School, with money raised going towards the schools funds.

Local resident and presenter of BBC’s antiques show Flog It! Paul Martin will be opening the event once again, while there will also be a barbeque, bar, tea and cakes, sweet shop, tombola, children’s games and raffle.

Last year’s scarecrow trail was themed around British historical figures and the winning entry, depicting a character from a JRR Tolkien novel, was so impressive it ended up being sold at auction.

Charlotte Martin, Paul’s wife and one of the organisers of the village event, said: “This year’s theme is heroes and villains, which should be lots of fun, and people are already hard at work making scarecrows.

“We have Joanna and Eleanor creating scarecrows again, as well as the local policing team. We are also hoping for lots of people across the village to take part and show their support.

“Among the new attractions this year, we will have Andy’s Animal Encounters from Swindon on the Saturday with lots of interesting creatures, so we are hoping we can attract even more people than we did last time.

“We have had lots of support from local businesses already, including Sainsbury’s and Sound Marketing Group, and we always try to build on what we have done before. We are just hoping that the sun keeps shining.”

The trail, which will see 50 individually designed scarecrows placed around the village, has a top cash prize of £100 for the winner donated by Sound Marketing, while there will also be children’s trail.

For more information, visit www.keevilscarecrowtrail.co.uk