THE ORGANISERS of the Belbroughton Scarecrow Festival have said this year’s event is in jeopardy because they have been unable to get a committee together.
The event which has been going for 21 years has gone from strength-to-strength and at its height attracted 30,000 people and 6,000 cars, also raising £50,000 for the village and good causes.
It has become renowned across the Midlands with all the villagers and Belbroughton’s school, church and community groups all putting their creative talents to the test to make scarecrows for the event.
Last year’s had to be moved from the weekend it had occupied in September since it began because of the Velo cycle race going through the village and it was hit by the weather.
The deluge fell during Saturday which led to problems with the car parking on farmers’ fields. From 3pm vehicles were getting stuck and it needed tractors pulling and volunteers and visitors pushing to get some of them out of the mud.
The rain continued to fall overnight and meant on Sunday the decision was taken to close all the car parks for safety reasons.
A new car park was then found around midday and the event was able to continue.
Festival chairman Patrick Browne said: “This year we haven’t been able to get a committee together so it is looking unlikely that the event will go ahead at all.
“It’s a real shame as it means that cash will now not be raised for the charities and the village in general.
“It is quite an event to organise – there’s an awful lot of legalities surrounding it, especially with regard to the traffic, parking and marshalling.
“We have considered reducing the size of the event and doing a smaller one but without a committee, currently, we can’t even do that.”
Patrick said he would welcome hearing from anyone interested in being on the committee and helping organise the event.
Anyone wanting more information or to register their interest can email him at [email protected]
