Hundreds visited a scarecrow trail in Christian Malford as it raised more than six times the sum of last year’s event.

Nearly 300 families guessed the identity of the 40 straw heroes and villains, which included Wolverine, Guy Fawkes, Batman, Dracula and the Terminator.

Committee chairman Laura Sidhu said she was astounded at the growth of the trail, now in its third year, which raised £3,700 compared with £580 last time.

New sponsorship of the scarecrows by businesses means all revenue could be shared between Acorns Pre-school and the village primary school, whose involvement for the first time extended the trail to two days rather than one.

Funds will be used to pay for school trips and update toys at the pre-school, which now has places for younger two-year-olds.

Mrs Sidhu said: “It’s getting different generations in the village involved. We had more interest from school families in building the scarecrows this time.

“The weather did us a huge favour, we couldn’t have wished for anything better. It’s pretty amazing how it’s taken off. Lots of families came out with mothers and grandmothers for Mother’s Day.”

The best scarecrow voted for by the public was Gru from Despicable Me, built by three generations of the Cotland and Bridgeman family, who won £50. Joint second were Dr Evil and Mini-Me by the Thomases and Nanny McPhee by the Finnies.

The Gruffalo, created by the Jarmans, was the favourite of the scarecrow builders.

Jo Driscoll picked up the £100 prize for guessing all but one scarecrows correctly.

Friends of the Church volunteered to man the cream tea stalls at the school, and the Dyson Foundation donated the star prize for the raffle, which raised nearly £1,000.