Ferring Scarecrow Festival 2023 raises record amount for charity

For its fourth year, the festival was raising money for Ferring Girlguiding and a cheque for £1,750 was presented to leader Joanna Tuck at The Orange Tree in Ferring on Saturday. Lynzie Crompton, one of the festival organisers, said: "This is the biggest amount we have raised for a charity since we have started the Ferring Scarecrow Festival and honestly we are blown away by everyone's generosity!"

Trophies made by Stuart Diver were presented to the winners of the best scarecrow competition, which was judged this year by author Peter James. First prize went to Happy 30th Birthday Jurassic Park, second was A Man's Best Friend, which included a copy of Peter James' book Dead If You Don't, and third was On Yer Bike. Honourable Mentions went to the rest of the top ten, I Do Forage, Give Back To The Future, Man Down, Hide And Seek, Jack Ferrington, Little Miss Muffet and Our 'S' Entry.

People collected letters from pumpkins on the trail and unscrambled them to make 'Pumpkin Spice Latte'. Nearly 200 correct answers were submitted and the winner was Paige Philby.

Lynzie added: "This year, Ferring Scarecrow Festival was absolutely amazing and Ferring made us so proud. The scarecrow festival brings out the best of Ferring, it shows what an amazing community we are, watching all the different age ranges with joyful smiles on their faces when they discover a scarecrow, everyone being so friendly and talking to everyone, people braving the terrible weather to see the scarecrows, it honestly makes us so proud to organise this event."