FAMILIES made the most of the weather and enjoyed the inaugural West Ashton Primary School scarecrow trail over the weekend, which was themed around characters from children’s books.

The scarecrow trail, which took place on the Saturday (Sept 26) and Sunday (Sept 27), was organised by the school for the first time to help raise funds towards new reading books.

More than 40 families attended the event and made their way around the different scarecrows, with designs including PC Plod from Enid Blyton’s Noddy and Roald Dahl characters such as the BFG, Matilda and The Twits.

The scarecrows were made by children at the school, with each class creating four different scarecrows after breaking into groups of four to six pupils.

Headteacher Dr Sam Nash said: “It was a really lovely weekend and we raised around £300 toward reading books for the children, which is fantastic. We were helped by beautiful weather and it was a nice relaxing atmosphere.

“As the weather was so nice it meant families could come and spend the whole afternoon with us and we had lots of cake, which was welcome after the long walk.

“It is the first year we have ever done a scarecrow trail. We thought it would be a nice thing to do on a small scale and it went even better than we expected. The children loved making the scarecrows and it was completely down to them how they did them.

“They worked in groups of four to six and they decided what character they would make and how to dress them, before thinking about the clues to provide. We ended up with a fantastic range of characters.”

Dr Nash added that the school is now looking to hold the scarecrow trail again next year following positive feedback from children and parents, but will give villagers an opportunity to create their own scarecrows.

“The school is in an ideal location, which allowed people to hang around after taking part in the trail and children could play in the fields," said Dr Nash. "We are grateful to Mr Pike, who owns the fields, for his help."

“We also want to say a big thank you to the villagers for supporting us and allowing the scarecrows to be placed around the area. All of those who came said they really enjoyed it and asked whether we are going to do it again, so it was a big success.”