Residents in Mapperley have been showing their creativity during lockdown by making some brilliant scarecrows.
The creations are part of the new Mapperley Scarecrow Festival, which is now in full swing and has been put in place to give the community ‘a positive way to come together during lockdown for COVID-19,’ said organisers.
The organisers are three Mapperley-based mums: Maria Narducci, Natasha Williams and Natalie Hallam.
Maria, who is also a Co-op member pioneer for Mapperley Co-op, told Gedling Eye: “We’re encouraging members of our community to use their imagination and create a scarecrow with things they have in the house, then display it in their front garden or window.
“Our community can enjoy them whilst on exercise walks or journeys to work or shopping. People who are shielding can also enjoy the scarecrows via social media as we’ll be sharing photographs on Facebook.
“We also hope it will be enjoyable for key workers such as post and delivery people and the refuse collection teams who are working on our streets.”
The festival was also created to enable local businesses who are currently closed to join in and display a scarecrow in their window.
A number of businesses have now joined in by placing scarecrows in their windows and many others have also donated generous prizes to enable the competition to have a variety of prize winning categories – Best Dressed, Best Use of Recycled Household Items and Most ‘Likes’.
The Fruit Bowl on Mapperley Top is also handing out and displaying colouring sheets to support the Festival.
There is also a downloadable Mapperley Scarecrow Festival colouring sheet created by local illustrator Evie Warren. This can be downloaded from social media, coloured in and displayed in windows or taken to the CO-OP on Mapperley Top or the CO-OP on Westdale Lane (Mapperley end) where they will display it in their window.
Maria added: “We thought this would be a fun way to bring together the local community in such a difficult time. It’s important to see positive stories on our social media feeds and to see things that make us smile on the occasions we do leave home.”
Find out more about the event on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/events/2502939793257323/
