How Our Street Is Raising Morale And Scaring The Postman

I started a Scarecrow Competition on our street in Bristol to raise morale, and the results were amazing! I got the idea when someone in the street appealed for old clothes to make a scarecrow for the Strawberry Patch allotments. I thought, why not get everyone involved and hold a Scarecrow Competition for our street?

Everyone in our street has really embraced their community spirit during the lockdown, and have been supporting each other in various ways. When this first started, I helped to organise a leaflet drop to everyone in the street detailing volunteers who would be happy to go shopping, collect prescriptions, walk dogs etc for those self isolating. It was fantastic to have so many offers of help, and I really felt part of a community. Since then, people have been giving away plant cuttings, organising bread deliveries and passing out sour dough starters – I think most of the street are now baking their own bread! We’ve also had a Pie Day, when someone passed around menus for Pieminister and did a street order. It’s been wonderful.

The Scarecrows have been up for a few weeks now and have been the talk of the area, with people stopping to take photos and pose with them. We also heard the postman saying that one of the Scarecrows scared the life out of him first thing in the morning!

On Wednesday, residents placed their votes in a ballot box, voting for their favourite Scarecrow of the street. Some included comments saying how much they'd enjoyed the competition and that seeing the entries had really cheered them up.

After the clapping for Key workers on Thursday evening, I announced the winning scarecrow and crowned Phenomenal Phil Miss Scarecrow 2020. Drag Race fans might recognise the Crystal Meythod involved in creating this Scarecrow!

We've decided to make this an annual event, so I'm looking forward to seeing more wonderful creations next year too.