SCARECROWS have taken over a South Cumbrian village for the bank holiday weekend.

Scales Scarecrow Festival saw the characters posed in various costumes and locations during the bank holiday weekend.

This year the theme for the scarecrow festival is ‘occupations’ with cleverly hand-made welders, builders, farmers, footballers and chefs as well as many more on display.

The scarecrow festival started in 2012 as part of the jubilee celebrations and has grown each year since.

Initially, the village decided to carry the scarecrow festival into 2013 to raise funds for a defibrillator. The nice summer weather saw the event grow to include refreshments at the village hall.

This year, the community association is looking to raise enough money to maintain the upkeep of the community playground and the village hall.

The annual inspection of the village playground revealed that one of the swing sets was condemned and needed to be removed, Lynne said they need to raise between £4,000 and £5,000 to replace the twin swing set.

The Treasurer of Scales Community Association Lynne Atkinson said: “It’s a nice event, and always a good day. The community really comes together, and it also brings more people into visit our lovely village. This year the fundraising aspect is even more important, the playground is important to us.”

Lynne and her husband Peter had rigged their sewer-woman-scarecrow up to pedal a spinning wheel and sing.