Knaresborough scarecrow trail to begin on Saturday

Knaresborough will host a scarecrow trail from this weekend in a fun scheme to attract more people to the town.

From Saturday, Ye Older Chymist Shoppe will sell maps for £3 revealing the locations of 18 scarecrows.

Anyone who finds them and fills in a form on the map will then be entered for a £50 prize draw.

Children hunting for scarecrows last year.

Knaresborough Business Collective, which represents independent traders in the town, has organised the initiative to boost trade in the pre-Christmas period. It will run until November 5.

Natalie Horner, co-founder of the collective, said:

“We try to do things when it’s quiet and there is less going on. We thought this would bring people into town and provide a cheap activity to do.”

This is the second year the scarecrow trail has been held. Last year saw 444 maps sold and raised almost £2,000.

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Council removes anti-speeding scarecrows in Nidd for ‘safety reasons’

North Yorkshire Council has removed several scarecrows created as part of an anti-speeding campaign in a village between Harrogate and Knaresborough.

Residents in Nidd put up about 16 scarecrows near the B6165 and Town Street this month as part of a campaign to reduce the speed limit after two recent fatal accidents.

Several were designed to look like police officers and some contained messages.

But North Yorkshire Council removed the ones immediately alongside the highways last week. Several on private land remain.

A council spokesperson said:

“Our highways team contacted festival organisers on Thursday requesting that scarecrows near the road were removed ahead of Storm Babet.

“They were not able to get hold of the organisers so officers were sent to remove scarecrows close to the road due to safety reasons.

“The scarecrows are being kept safe at the highways depot for collection. The organisers and parish council were informed of this.”

Several scarecrows have high visability jackets.

A police officer scarecrow.

The activists’ creative scarecrow stunt has divided opinion in Nidd.

Some villagers embraced the move to raise awareness of the campaign to reduce the speed limit from 40mph to 30mph.

The B6165, which links Ripley and Knaresborough, has some sharp, narrow bends in Nidd, especially near Nidd Hall.

Villager and co-organiser Jayne Brown said the scarecrow festival served its purpose:

“It definitely had an big impact on reducing the speed and making the lives of the people in the village safer.”

Ms Brown added that less than 36 hours after the scarecrows were removed a car crashed into a wall.

But others thought the stunt was ill-advised.

The clerk of Nidd Parish Council, who asked not to be named, said although it sympathised with the cause it did not think the methods were appropriate.

The clerk reiterated her previous comment, which said:

“We are concerned that any distractions to drivers as they approach, what we all agree is a dangerous bend, is not sensible.”

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Scarecrow festival to raise awareness of speeding in Nidd

The village of Nidd between Harrogate and Knaresborough is to begin a scarecrow festival this weekend to highlight concerns about speeding.

About 16 scarecrows will line both the B6165 that passes through Nidd and Town Street. Many have been designed specifically with a speed theme and one will resemble a police officer.

Nidd resident Jayne Brown said villagers wanted the speed limit reduced from 40mph to 30mph after longstanding concerns had been heightened by two recent fatal accidents in the area.

A police scarecrow with a safety message.

 

Another of the designs

Ms Brown said the lack of visible houses on the B6165 encouraged motorists to drive faster than they should. She added:

“Most drivers are not even aware they are driving through a village with elderly and young children crossing the particularly dangerous part of the road between Nidd Hall hotel and Town Street.

“The corners after Nidd Hall hotel have seen numerous accidents. If the most recent had been seconds earlier it would have hit schoolchildren on the pavement.”

The B6165, which links Ripley and Knaresborough, has some sharp, narrow bends in Nidd, especially near Nidd Hall.

(left to right) Villagers Jayne Brown, Alan Lunn and Shirley Hudson

 

An eye-catching scarecrow

Ms Brown said cars sometimes scraped walls in incidents that weren’t reported to the police so the actual number of accidents was higher than statistics suggested.

The scarecrows are expected to remain in place for a couple of weeks.

However, Nidd Parish Council, which is working with North Yorkshire Council to tackle the traffic issues, does not support the scarecrow initiative.

The clerk said:

“We are concerned that any distractions to drivers as they approach, what we all agree is a dangerous bend, is not sensible.
“They (drivers) should be concentrating on the road ahead and navigating the significant blind curves.
“Secondly, the possibility of attracting people to stop and view scarecrows has several potential difficulties including parking and pedestrians.”
An already unsatisfactory could be made worse by additional hazards, the council added.

Nidd Hall Hotel has agreed to allow two scarecrows at its entrance.

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Minskip scarecrow weekend set to return

The annual scarecrow competition will be returning to the village of Minskip, near Boroughbridge, for the weekend of September 2 and 3.

The competition sees the village’s main street lined with scarecrows. This year’s theme is 100 Years of Walt Disney.

Debbie Hargreaves, one of the organisers, said:

“It’s absolutely wonderful how so many villagers have made scarecrows in the past and I expect the same this year. The competition has really caught the imagination of the village and the standard is incredibly high.

“It’s great fun and all proceeds from the competition go towards our lovely little church, which, like so many rural churches, is desperately in need of money.”

The competition will be judged by Radio York presenter Elly Fiorentini and the winners will be announced on the Sunday afternoon at 3pm in front of the church. There will be a barbecue, Pimm’s, tea and coffee, tombola and various stalls from noon to 4pm in the church garden on Sunday.

On Saturday, there will be refreshments for sale in the church garden.

Robert Beaumont, senior churchwarden of Minskip Church, said:

“I’d like to thank Debbie and the rest of my church council team for all their hard work, enthusiasm and imagination in creating this fantastic weekend. It will raise much-needed money for our lovely little church.”

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Villagers in Burnt Yates put up scarecrows to tackle speeding

Families in Burnt Yates have built scarecrows, one of which depicts the grim reaper, to remind motorists driving through the village not to speed.

The idea came from Loraine and Sid Hines, who have lived in Burnt Yates for 30 years and worry that speeding cars and ‘boy racers’ will cause serious injury or death.

They have set up a Burnt Yates Speed Committee to tackle the problem.

The speed limit through Burnt Yates is 30mph, with a 20mph section near the school. However, the section of the B6165 leaving the village has a 50mph limit and Ms Hines said more vehicles were exceeding this in recent years.

The committee offered prizes of £30, £20 and £10 for the best scarecrow and every family who entered got a tub of sweets.

However, Ms Hines said two of the scarecrows have been vandalised and one has been stolen since they went up.

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Ms Hines has called on North Yorkshire County Council, which is the highways authority, to reduce the speed limit of the B6165 to 30mph.

She said:

“We want something done about the sheer volume of speed and blatant disregard for the rules”.

The council told the Stray Ferret it did not support a reduction in the speed limit.

Nigel Smith, head of highway operations, said:

“Given the accident history of this section of the B6165 and the guidance on which the police’s decisions have to be based, we cannot, at this time, support the request for a reduced speed limit.”

Have you seen the Spofforth scarecrows?

Spofforth residents raised £650 last weekend for next year’s platinum jubilee celebrations in this year’s summer solstice challenge.

Villagers created 33 scarecrows as part of this year’s film-inspired challenge. The sale of trail maps, hot and cold drinks, flowers and cakes at the village hall generated funds.

All of that income will go towards preparations for a long weekend of events to celebrate the queen’s 70th year on the throne in 2022.

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The top three scarecrows by vote were ‘Wind in the Willows by Michael and Marion Lamb, Up by Chris and Chloe Verity, and Harry Potter, by the Roberts family.

Marie Cousens and Robyn Farmer, who helped organise the summer solstice challenge, told the Stray Ferret:

“It’s gone really well. I am amazed by the amount of scarecrows we have around the village and the quality of them.

“We’ve had lots of people coming through, buying tonnes and tonnes of cakes. It’s been cake delight in the village hall.

“It’s the second time in recent times we have done this. Last year’s trail was really good at brightening the spirits of residents. It’s lovely to see everyone out and about.”

More delightful scarecrows:

District primary schools create scarecrows for Stray reseeding

Two scarecrows made by Harrogate district primary school pupils were placed on the Stray today as the borough council announced seeding work has started.

Pupils from Belmont Grosvenor School, Coppice Valley Primary School, Killinghall Primary School and five other schools created the scarecrows for West Park Stray, which is being reseeded.

Ben Grabham, from Harrogate Borough Council, confirmed the sowing of the grass seeds began this afternoon and that the scarecrows will remain in place while work is carried out.

West Park Stray is currently closed off to the public and the fences will continue to surround the area for a further four weeks.

It comes as the Stray is being re-seeded and repaired after damage caused from the 2019 UCI Road World Championships. The council estimated that the work would cost close to £130,000.

Works continue on West Park Stray, but the scarecrow prop could represent that sowing the grass seed will be soon.

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The announcement was made during one of the council’s regular Stray updates on their social media platforms.

Here's Ben with the latest update regarding West Park Stray… pic.twitter.com/mdFhY3xU95

— Harrogate Borough Council (@Harrogatebc) June 25, 2020