An event to help “lift people’s spirits” has been organised following the cancellation of many summer plans due to coronavirus.

Cawston Scarecrow Festival will be taking place during the August bank holiday weekend in a bid to bring the community together once again.

The village, between Reepham and Aylsham, had originally scheduled many other events for that weekend, including a flower festival in the medieval church St Agnes, musical concerts and a programme of events and services, but these all had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 crisis.

However, the organisers behind those events decided that they would retain plans for the village’s scarecrow festival, as it was easy to see how this could be done in a socially distanced way.

Rev Andrew Whitehead said: “The start of 2020 has been such a tough time for everyone, and we were keen to keep something in our summer programme for people to look forward to. The Cawston Scarecrow Festival seemed like an ideal way to lift people’s spirits and to bring the community together.

“Our theme of ‘Scarecrow Heroes’ reflects the gratitude we all feel for those who have helped us through the Covid crisis, as well as allowing young imaginations to go wild with their Marvel or DC comic inspired creative designs.”

The church has also joined forces with the team behind the village’s popular Grow, Make and Bake event, which was also cancelled, and has organised a Cawston Open Gardens event on the same weekend. The aim is to show off the fruits of people’s lockdown gardening.

Mr Whitehead added: “Having the open gardens on the same weekend as the scarecrow festival gives us the perfect combination of socially-distanced events for the village.

“We’re really looking forward to the bank holiday weekend.”

Residents of Cawston are invited to begin planning and building their scarecrows, and can register their creations online at: https://forms.churchdesk.com/f/rXM-JMo6Uu.

The event is free to enter and there is a chance to win a prize for best scarecrow.

All entries will go into a map to be sold in the village’s shop. The map will also have details of the gardens opening.

- Cawston Scarecrow Festival runs from August 29 - 31 and the open gardens event will take place on August 29, 10am to 2pm.