Stone the crows it's back!

After a gap of three years due to the pandemic the Flamstead Scarecrow Festival is making its long-awaited return from August 19-21.

Organised by the Friends of St Leonard’s (FoSL), the 18th festival will see villagers competing to build the best scarecrow with visitors welcomed back to tour the village and vote for their favourites.

All scarecrows are given an entry number, with the winners announced shortly after the festival.

%image(14498454, type="article-full", alt="Flamstead Scarecrow festival 2010. Visitors Mike and Hazel Roddy.")

The event celebrates the village's community spirit while also supporting St Leonard’s Church, the 12th century building at the centre of village life, as well as other local charities and organisations.

The Grade I listed church was threatened with closure back in 2017 due to the dangerous state of the roof but was saved following a £1m fundraising campaign and a grant award of £642,500 funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

%image(14498459, type="article-full", alt="Flamstead Scarecrow festival 2010. Lani 2 and mum Nikki Young, with their display named "Not so scary monsters".")

Making the building structurally sound and weatherproof saved a priceless series of medieval wall paintings, fascinating medieval graffiti, and monuments and epitaphs to ordinary villagers, landowners, and people connected with the ruling classes in Tudor and Stuart times.

Although it is now secure the church still needs ongoing funding to preserve it for future generations.

Mark Jenkin, chair of the Friends of St Leonard’s said: “The Flamstead Scarecrow Festival enables our talented villagers to get creative and show off their imagination through their scarecrows.

"The competition is always hotly contested and we’re always amazed by the amount of effort everyone puts in.

%image(14495570, type="article-full", alt="One of the scarecrow displays in a previous Flamstead Scarecrow Festival")

“We can’t wait to welcome people back to Flamstead and back to the Scarecrow Festival this year,” he added.

Alongside the scarecrows, the festival will include a range of live music and entertainment, stalls and attractions throughout the weekend.

Refreshments will be available at the Village Hall and Methodist Church and the local pubs and village store will be open for business as well.

Entry to the festival is via a suggested donation of £4 per adult, £2 per child age three-17 and £10 per family (two adults and two
children), and includes a festival programme with voting form per adult ticket and voting form per child ticket.

Tickets can be reserved in advance and more information can be found at flamsteadscarecrowfestival.co.uk/