SCENES from rural life, television characters and wartime nostalgia captured the imagination of judges and ingenious scarecrow makers in and around the village of Bisterne near Ringwood.

Dozens of funny figures suddenly appeared in fields, gardens, roadside verges and hedgerows along the main Christchurch road in the third annual scarecrow competition organised by the Bisterne village hall committee.

"The standard has got higher and higher. This year we even had some with lights and music," said village hall treasurer Jocelyn Gratwick.

Flowerpot men Bill and Ben outside the Kingston home of Keith Luckie and Delboy and Rodney, complete with their three-wheeled van, made by John Frampton at Crow were among the television-inspired entries. But the scarecrow "oscars" went to the more rustic tableaux with the prize for best group entry going to Sue Harper's bus queue - an elderly couple, a mother and a baby - waiting in the layby outside her home at Lower Kingston.

Janet Harlow's "one man and his dog" which she made with the help of Upper Kingston neighbour Jenny Park was first in the single scarecrow category and the Stockley family earned the pairs prize with their humorous Hugh and Mungus and their "does my bum look big in this?"

Derek and Trixie Mitchell's ARP warden and Norman Light's toast to peace were among the scarecrows celebrating this year's 60th anniversary of the end of World War II while Brian Wiseman's "Sam the cyclist" and the "mankey morris men" fashioned by Ray "Rasher" Gratwick and his wife Jocelyn evoked the rural idyll.

Many scarecrow makers had kept their creations under wraps until the arrival of the judges to avoid past problems of damage from weather and vandals.

The complete cast of characters will now remain on show to the public until September 4.

Maps showing the location of all 26 scarecrows are available from the tourist information office in Ringwood, Dragon Cottage at Bisterne and Avon Vale Cottage at Kingston with proceeds going to the village hall funds.

First published: August 24, 2005