Scarecrow Sighted in Loughton

 On my way up to All Saints Church on Sunday, I spotted an amazing blue pony/donkey scarecrow standing in the middle of the front lawn, in a garden close to the church. The scarecrow was stuffed with straw, and was taking aim at a football. Alas, when I returned on Monday morning to take a photo of the donkey scarecrow footballer for the blog, he had vanished. All that remained to show that I had not been dreaming (or hallucinating) were a few wisps of straw on the grass!

Latest update! I've now heard from the makers. Apparently, this scarecrow was made from a costume in the children's dressing up box, mounted on three bamboo canes held together with duct tape, and stuffed with newspaper and a bit of straw. Brilliant! 

Simple Certificates

Part of the plan for Loughton’s Scarecrow Trail is to devise a quiz that can be completed en route. The aim is to encourage visitors to buy a trail guide, at a nominal cost of £1.00. All the proceeds from trail guide sales will be donated to All Saints’ Church. To complete the quiz, it will be necessary to visit all the entries, to spend a little time admiring each exhibit and to be observant at each location.

I am planning to award a Certificate of Completion to everyone who successfully answers all the questions in the quiz. I don’t envisage that many adults will demand a certificate for completing the trail/quiz, but it might appeal to families with children. So how to deliver, without spending money that would be better donated to the church?

Yesterday, I investigated the range of templates that is available on line. The problem with many of these would seem to be that they have a fixed format, which can be printed off but not adapted, so I decided to design my own. I’m pleased with the result, especially when the certificate’s simple design is enhanced by printing it out on posh paper.  

This approach will allow me to take my computer and printer up to All Saints’ Church whilst the trail is open, so that I can personalize every certificate by inserting the name of each visitor who completes the quiz/trail. Now all I need is for a generous sponsor to pledge a ream of posh paper and a cartridge of black ink! 

Support the All Saints’ Raffle.

2000 raffle tickets that will be sold before and during the Scarecrow Trail to raise much-needed funds for the upkeep of the Church, have arrived back from the printer and will soon be on sale at 50p each.

Raffle Prizes already pledged include a first prize of £100.00 in gift vouchers to spend in a leading MK store, a sophisticated summer hamper, an adult and an under 16 Go Kart Experience at Daytona, a month’s free subscription to Fusion Fitness and a stylish, contemporary quilt.

Additional prizes will be added nearer to the event. If you would like to donate a prize, please let me know. I have already had pledges for more prizes, but I will only announce these once I’ve had a final confirmation. The Scarecrow Trail is All Saints' major fund raising event this summer, so please buy some tickets and support our local church. 

Stocking the Craft Stall

Good friends know that when I sit down to relax in front of the TV at the end of the day, I like to have some knitting close by, to keep my hands busy. This week, I’ve already finished two knitted scarves to add to a small stash that is accumulating in a bedroom drawer, ready to be sold on the craft stall up at All Saints’ Church during the Scarecrow Trail.

I love to hunt down unusual yarns and I have favourite, small independent shops that I like to visit regularly to see what they have in store. One is The Knitting Hut at Woburn Sands; another is the Wool Shop at Olney. Unusual usually means expensive, but my view is that if I’m going to put in the hours to transform raw yarn into a stylish accessory, I may as well use the best quality materials that have eye appeal, handle well and make pleasing gifts for discerning individuals.

The yarns I’m knitting with at the moment include the range by a Japanese manufacturer of color-transitioning yarn called Noro, and my latest find, Malabrigo, a range of kettle dyed and hand painted yarns from Uruguay. Most are in summer weights and include cool cotton blends. My friends are probably heaving a sigh of relief to know that, so long as the craft stall goes well, they won’t be receiving yet another knitted scarf from me at Christmas!

Scare-fish

The idea for Loughton’s Scarecrow Festival came from a visit David and I paid to a lovely old house called Trelowarren, on the Helford River in Cornwall, back in 2010. Looking back over the photographs we took to remind us of our lovely holiday to celebrate my retirement from University College London, I came across this unusual ‘Frederick the Frog’ scarecrow. Hopefully, he may provide inspiration for some animal-themed scarecrows.

Fred’s ‘face’ is made from an upside-down jumper stuffed with paper enclosed in plastic bags. His head is embellished with spots of light grey fabric appliqué. Fred’s eyes are made from two shiny CDs, and his hands are a pair of old frogman’s flippers attached to his arms with green duct tape. His body is a pair of old green tights stuffed with a discarded ‘space hopper’. The tights are embellished with dark grey fabric appliqué spots and, to complete his costume, Fred sports a pair of green Wellington boot feet that finish him off in great style.

Fred was placed at the edge of a garden pond. Is he about to go for a swim, or was he put there to scare away the fish?

Attention, Deadline Approaching!

There are only two weeks left in which to enter a scarecrow on Loughton’s first Scarecrow Trail. 

Details of the trail and a downloadable copy of the Entry Form can be accessed at: http://www.loughtonmk.org.uk/ (Loughton Residents’ Association website), or at http://www.webjam.com/wvep/all_saints (the page for All Saints’ Church, Loughton) on Watling Valley Ecumenical Partnership’s website, and you will also find one at the end of the very first posting on this blog. 

Don’t delay, enter today!

First Judge Appointed

I’m very pleased and proud to announce that the first member of our judging panel (I’m aiming for three, altogether) for Loughton’s forthcoming Scarecrow Trail will be Sara Young, a Trustee Director at the Arts Gateway Milton Keynes and a Director at Cerulean Sky Ltd.

The Arts Gateway MK is a registered charity that used to be called MK Arts Association. Its declared mission is to support the arts and creative development in Milton Keynes, by attracting funding and building support for MK artists and creative organisations. The Arts Gateway promotes the arts in MK through its website, by publishing a weekly newsletter and by holding social networking events.

Artsists of all kinds living and working in Milton Keynes can publicise their work by submitting news articles to the Gateway. It provides a wealth of useful information to local residents about what is happening on MK’s arts scene in respect of music, drama the visual arts, dance and literature. Its calendar of forthcoming events is updated weekly.

Unfortunately, grant applications for seed corn funding for the arts has had to be suspended for the time being, due to recent funding cuts. On the positive side, though, the Arts Gateway has recently opened a Community Arts Resource Centre – CARCMK- at Stacey Bushes. This initiative aims to make it easier for creative people to run activities, by creating a one-stop shop that hires out everything needed to run an arts event, from costumes and props to sound equipment and marquees. Knowledgeable and experienced event organisers are available to be consulted about how to make a budding arts project into a success.

The Arts Gateway is now planning to develop an Arts Database where people interested in the arts can search for anything arts-related, be it a dance class, exhibition space, piano teacher, or arts and crafts supplier. Artists will be able to promote their skills there and showcase examples of their work to prospective clients.

The Gateway’s ‘links’ page takes readers directly to the websites of other arts organisations based in MK, the region and to useful national organisations such as the Arts Council England and the Voluntary Arts Network.  If you are interested in what’s going on in MK’s arts world, it is well worth visiting the Arts Gateway’s website at http://www.artsgatewaymk.org.uk/index