18th Haxby Scarecrow Festival over May bank holiday weekend

Answer: Haxby, of course.

This bank holiday weekend is the Haxby and Wigginton Scarecrow Festival. More than 150 scarecrows can be found putting their feet up (no crows to scare) in front of shops, homes and businesses throughout the two villages.

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Many are clustered in and around The Village itself. Noah stands beside his ark on the lawn in front of St Mary’s Church. Shrek lounges on a chair in the sun in front of Reeds Rains.

A beautiful dryad decked with flowers sits in front of Thora’s, while a bit further along the street a cat-burglar with a ferocious feline head climbs out of the dormer window of a doll’s house beside the village café.

Perhaps most striking of all is a noble straw lion sitting propped against a low brick wall. “Please do not touch, thank you. He might fall over!” says a little note tacked up beside him.

Straw lion at the Haxby Scarecrow Festival (Image: Stephen Lewis)

This is the Scarecrow Festival’s 20th year – though, because of Covid, it is only the 18th festival.

But with the sun shining on the Saturday of the bank holiday weekend, Haxby  was filled with families and children, dashing excitedly from scarecrow to scarecow and filling in checklists so as to earn their Scarecrow Festival stickers.

“I love seeing the families with children going around,” said co-organiser Mike Brudenell.

Cat burglar at the Haxby Scarecrow Festival (Image: Stephen Lewis)

There are no fewer than five official scarecrow trails that you can follow. The shortest is just over a mile long – the longest more than six miles. You can buy the trail guides and checklists for £3 each – or the whole set of 5 for £12, with all the proceeds going to charity.

“Some people come back several times over the three days and do all five!” said co-organiser Janet Bowling.

The trails begin at the Haxby Methodist Church in The Village. You can also get refreshments here (including delicious bacon sarnies) and pick up your trail guides.

Haxby Scarecrow Festival organisers Janet Bowling, left, and Helena Rigby, right, at the Haxby Scarecrow Festival (Image: Stephen Lewis)

Lord Mayor Cllr Rowley was certainly having a ball. “This kind of thing is the reason you become Lord Mayor!” he said.

The Festival raises money for four charities each year -three local, one international.

The local charities this year are Candlelighters, Dementia Forward and the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Lord Mayor of York Cllr Martin Rowley with Karen Skouras of Dementia Forward with the Dementia Forward scarecrow at the Haxby Scarecrow (Image: Stephen Lewis)

The international charity, meanwhile, is Outreach EMR – a medical charity which provides a life-saving medical records system for rural clinics in some of the poorest countries on the world.

It may be international – but it is also very much a local charity. It was set up in 2014 after recently-retired York GP Dr Peter Smith spent time working in remote clinics in rural Uganda.

He was horrified to discover that they weren’t keeping proper medical records – and even more horrified when he realised that the paper records he was keeping after seeing patients were being torn up for use as loo paper in the latrine.

Dr Peter Smith of Outreach EMR with the charity’s scarecrow at the Haxby Scarecrow Festival (Image: Stephen Lewis)

When he returned to York, he got together with a friend who ran a software development company. Together, they developed a simple, drop-down electronic records system that could be installed on laptops and operated even in remote areas without access to the internet.

Now the charity’s system is being used in 23 clinics in nine of the poorest countries in the world – saving lives and improving patient care by ensuring medics have access to their patients’ medical details at a few clicks of a button.

For Peter, who spent his working life as GP in Haxby, the Scarecrow Festival represented a chance to meet up with old friends and patients.

A flower-bedecked Dryad scarecrow at the Haxby Scarecrow Festival (Image: Stephen Lewis)

“It has been really heartwarming!” he said. “There have been so many families and children here, learning about us – and I have seen so many former patients!”

Last year, the Festival raised more than £5,000, which was split between the four charities it was supporting.

Fingers crossed it can do just as well this year…

Haxby Scarecrow Festival continues through to Bank Holiday Monday with full details available on their website.