Harrogate care home hosts community scarecrow competition

Southlands Bupa Care Home has crowned a winner for its community scarecrow competition.

Community groups across Harrogate, including five local schools and nurseries, delivered their straw creations to the care home for judging throughout the month. The home’s housekeeping team and resident Michael Collison, who is a keen artist and sculptor, also entered into the competition on behalf of the activity team.

Resident Michael commented: “I have always loved creating art, my carers even recently set up a studio in my room so I can continue to sculpt. Scarecrows aren’t my usual practice to say the least, but I had a lot of fun creating a Mary Poppins Scarecrow. The children’s creations were all brilliant.”

Alongside Michael’s Mary Poppins figure, the variety of entries included a Freddie Mercury scarecrow, a cricket player from Little Crickets Playschool, and characterful scarecrows wearing uniform from Coppice Valley School, Kids Planet Nursery, Killinghall School and Western Primary School.

In the end, it was Daisy the scarecrow from Western Primary School who was crowned the winner, as voted by the residents and carers. The home will be gifting them a £50 book voucher for the school library along with a certificate, and some sweet treats as a prize and way of saying thank you for the children’s and teachers’ efforts.

Susan Sowden, Home Manager at Southlands Bupa Care Home, commented: “We hosted our first ever scarecrow competition last year, and it was a fantastic success as it got our residents hands on and got their creative juices flowing. This year, we wanted to involve the community in hopes to make it a bigger and better event, whilst bringing our residents closer to those around us. Working with schools and nurseries are a brilliant way of bringing the generations together.”

Southlands Bupa Care Home is situated in Harrogate and welcomes residents in need of nursing or residential care including those living with Parkinson's. For further information, please visit https://www.bupa.co.uk/care-services.