BELBROUGHTRON’S Scarecrow Festival organisers have made the ‘sad and difficult’ decision to cancel this year’s event amid a lack of volunteers.
The popular festival began around 30 years ago to raise money for the facilities in the village, and it has since raised tens of thousands of pounds for good causes, including the Church Hall, Cricket Club and other charities.
However, the organisers rely on a large number of volunteers to enable the festival to run.
A spokesperson for the festival said: “This festival helps secure the services that make Belbroughton such a fantastic place to live.
“However, to achieve these aims, it needs a large team of volunteers- everyone involved in running the Scarecrow Festival is a volunteer- and this year we just haven’t had the numbers.
“Accordingly, we have taken the rather sad and difficult decision not to go ahead this year.
“If you would like to be involved next year, please let us know. It would be great to start forming the organising team now.
“Please check back early next year for any updates on next year.
“I am sorry to all the people wanting to attend and traders wanting to be involved.”
The festival routinely saw between 50 and 100 scarecrows created in the village to welcome visitors, with each year having a theme that designers have to model their scarecrows on.
Residents have taken to social media to express their sadness.
One said: “When I first went many years ago, it was magical.
“Nearly every house had a scarecrow of some sort.
Another added: “Thank you to everyone on the committee who tried to get it going for this year.
“Volunteers are the most important ingredient in the success of this festival.”
