THOUSANDS of people flooded into Belbroughton when the village staged its annual straw-stuffed autumn festival at the weekend.

The popular Belbroughton Scarecrow Festival saw hundreds of imaginative homemade wurzels dotted around the north Worcestershire village throughout Saturday and Sunday (September 26 and 27).

As well as all kinds of weird and wonderful scarecrows adorning gardens and hanging out of windows and off lamp-posts, there were plenty of attractions to crow about including farmyard animals, rides for children, food and craft stalls and live music.

I Want to Rake Free – a straw-stuffed tribute to the late Queen singer Freddie Mercury – was voted to best overall scarecrow at the festival which this year had an ‘icons of history’ theme.

While a scarecrow-version of Big Ben was named best out of town wurzel; a tribute to quantum physicist Stephen Hawking – entitled A Brief History of Time – won the award for most original scarecrow; a straw-stuffed Adam and Eve was given the thumbs for technical and creative merit; a tribute to the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs was hailed best interpretation of the theme; and the title of best pun went to Jack the Reaper – Cereal Killer.

Ian Pemberton, scarecrow festival chairman, said: "The 19th Belbroughton Scarecrow Festival was a great success.

"We had two glorious days of late autumn sunshine.  We are delighted everybody had a safe and fun day out

"We're getting great feedback via email and through Facebook, and everyone is telling us that it was the best event ever.

"The standard of the scarecrows was as high as ever, and we are delighted to have seen a number of really high quality out-of-village scarecrows as well."

The fun-filled family event has traditionally raised thousands of pounds each year for good causes.

The proceeds of this year’s festival are still being counted but Mr Pemberton estimates it will be in excess of £40,000.

He added: "Every penny raised goes towards local charities and good causes and this year we will be making a donation to The Black Country Food Bank and Kidderminster Food Bank in recognition of the good work they do for those who are less fortunate than ourselves."

To see more pictures from the festival check out the event website http://www.belbroughtonscarecrow.co.uk/