Residents of Capel, England, have been adding quirk and colour to their streets by making scarecrows to honour essential workers during the coronavirus pandemic.
They've created roughly 30 life-sized dolls to celebrate medical workers, police officers, farmers, postal workers, and shop assistants.
“We needed to cheer up the village and get people to have a laugh as they went around on their daily exercise,” said Sally Wyborn, who instigated the idea of the scarecrows.
The idea of giant dolls was not new to the villagers of Capel. They used to make them every June to advertise a fete and open gardens, but had not done so for nine years following the death of Wyborn’s husband.
After Britain went into lockdown on March 23, however, putting a stop to social interactions with people told to stay at home apart from a few exceptions including a one-hour daily outing for exercise, Wyborn had an idea.
“In one of my mad moments, I suddenly thought why don’t we resurrect the scarecrows, everybody’s got time to make them,” the 78-year-old was quoted as saying to Reuters.
A call to action was put out through email and social media, and residents quickly began crafting their own decorative dolls.
Some scarecrows were created to thank National Health Service workers, including doctors and nurses who are battling the pandemic on the front lines.
While others were made to honour those working in fire services and police departments.
Wyborn said the figures will stay outside until "it's all over".
"Leave them out until we come out of lockdown and then watch the party," she added.
Photographs: Toby Melville/Reuters
