Youngsters have celebrated winning a scarecrow festival after working together to create a magnificent display.
More than 15 children from a Bury childminder's have won the Seddon’s Farm Scarecrow Festival with their entry, Peter Rabbit and Friends.
The display, which was made using straw, second-hand clothes from Vinted and other "bits and bobs" had been displayed in the shop window of Aly Barbers on Colville Drive and received 223 votes.
Childminder Joanne Seale, who lives just off Ainsworth Road, said: “They are all very proud of themselves and all worked hard to draw, decorate the shop windows and make the display.
“The mum of one of the children owns the barbers and offered to display the scarecrows there as I was going on holiday and didn’t want anything happening to whilst I was away.”
A look at some of the Scarecrows invading a Bury estate for the first time
Joanne said that they all went to do the scarecrow hunt across the estate which took nearly five hours and stopped for a well deserved chip shop lunch break.
She said: “After lunch, we finished the rest of the hunt by car and our favourites were the Superworm and Club Tropicana."
Mum Amy Bunnell, who owns Aly Barbers, said that her son had thoroughly enjoyed the hunt and that the event had increased footfall in the area.
She said: “Although we haven’t really felt it in the shop here, footfall seems to have dropped a little bit on Corville Drive.
“But the scarecrow festival has brought more people into the area and it's been nice watching everyone enjoying their hunt, spotting all the different creations and coming back into the area.”
The Peter Rabbit and Friends creators were given permission from Amy to draw on the shop window as part of the display.
Some of these drawings included flowers, grass, a fox, chickens and a sneaky "MUFC" written on the shop door.
Joanne said: “We are one big family here and these children make my job so easy, I’m lucky to be looking after them.”
After winning the competition, party bags were dished out to the winners courtesy of Tesco Bury community champion, Wendy Howarth, who also donated a fire pit for the competition winner.
A prize for second place was also donated by Charity Crafting for the "Bee Keeper" who received 184 votes.
In third place was "Paddington" with 41 votes.
After the festival ended, "Paddington" was donated to a two-year-old who had fallen in love with the scarecrow and Jack Skellington and his dog, Zero, donated to another family to be put up for Halloween.
This was the first year the Seddon’s Farm estate had held a scarecrow festival and there have already been calls for a repeat of the event again next year.
One parent said: “We loved doing the scarecrow hunt, even on a rainy day it was something fun to do in the car.”
Another said: “Congratulations all and thanks so much for setting this up! Roll on 2024!"
And a third added: “Massive congrats well done.
"Great effort from everyone and a fantastic community event that got people talking, smiling and walking. Let's do it again next year.”
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