You could say that the team at Christ Church, Higher Bebington, were clutching at straws when they came up with their latest idea to connect with the local community, but things just grew from there.
It was only a couple of weeks ago when the Revd Mike Loach and the ministry team at Christ Church were trying to think of ways to connect with the community. Normally they'd be planning for traditional Harvest Festival activities with visits to the local school for an assembly, but these options weren't really open to them this year, with the limitations due to the pandemic.
Their thoughts turned to the idea of organising a scarecrow festival, which hadn't been done in Higher Bebington before, at least, not in recent times. Like all churches, the congregation of Christ Church must observe social distancing, which means that every other row of pews is empty. What a great place to put some scarecrows thought the team.
Mike, who already had a good relationship with the local shops and pubs (on a non-habitual basis of course), visited them to explain his idea, which they have really responded to. In just the last couple of weeks, the community has rallied together with around 25 shops, schools and businesses getting involved resulting in over 70 scarecrows being made. Some line the streets and are outside of shops, but at least 50 can be found sitting in the pews of Christ Church, Higher Bebington. There they are joined by parishioners during service times.
Speaking about the amazing response amongst the shops and others in Higher Bebington, Mike said: "People have recognised this as an opportunity to connect with the community at a time when we cannot psychically stand alongside each other."
The scarecrows can be viewed between 10am and 7pm between now and Friday 16 October.
Photos of the scarecrows can be seen in the short video below and you can see more on the Christ Church Facebook page