Last updated at 10:31, Wednesday, 20 August 2008

A LAVERSDALE man has raised £1,600 for charity through a scarecrow festival in spite of vandals who plagued his efforts.

Hand over: From left, Scarecrow festival organiser Malcolm Dunn joins Cynthia Haresign and Lunn Akroyd from sponsors Asda, and fellow organiser Shirley Bryant, to present £1,600 to Alison Hird from the Eden Valley Hospice in Carlisle

Malcolm Dunn came up with the idea after seeing a similar festival on holiday.

More than 40 scarecrows lined the A6071 between Brampton and Longtown for two weeks during June.

He said: “There were 40 scarecrows and this went down to 25.

“Around ten or 12 were vandalised.

“I put three out in a field alongside the road and two got damaged after about seven or eight days in the early hours of the morning.

“The top half of the bodies were ripped off.”

But local people rallied to the cause netting £1,657 for the Eden Valley Hospice in Carlisle. The event was sponsored by Asda. Mr Dunn added: “I had heard of scarecrow festivals in other parts on the country and saw one on holiday and thought it would be a great idea.”

Mr Dunn sent letters to local businesses asking them to get involved and asked individual householders to make their own contributions to the charity.

First published at 05:35, Friday, 01 August 2008
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk