THOUSANDS are expected in Kington Langley this weekend for its biggest event of the year.

Pre-school children, care home residents and other villagers have been busy building 65 scarecrows, all with a TV show theme.

It is hoped the 15th scarecrow trail will raise enough money to get two defibrillators for the village near Chippenham.

Last year's trail brought more than 3,000 visitors and raised £9,000 for local causes including Bath Cancer Unit Support Group, Air Cadets, Dance2Learn and Springboard Saturdads at King's Rise, as well as the village school, chapel and playing fields.

The primary charity donation is the Elizabeth Coles Award, after the community stalwart who started the event in 2001 and sadly died from cancer last year.

Trail manager Liz Howe said: "Our primary donation this time will be the Kington Langley defibrillator project.

"We're hoping for good weather this time.

"St Peter's Church's entry contains a total of 10 scarecrows! It's really nice that the parishioners all got together to work on it."

A lot of work goes into the scarecrows and some even involve push button, sensors, water features and sound effects.

Visitors compete for a £100 prize by solving each anagram title of the exhibits, and there is also a picture clue competition for children.

The two-day festival has a barbecue tent, beer and Pimms and a sound stage with a performance from the combined Air Cadet and Sea Scouts band plus other bands and choirs.

For the children there will be donkey rides, circus skills workshops, face painting and Wiltshire Scrapstore crafts.

Anyone wanting to have a go at building their own scarecrow to win a prize can bring along a team and join in the Scrapheap Challenge at 2pm on Saturday.

The festival takes place around Middle Common from 10am to 5pm on June 20 and 21. Tune into the festival radio at www.crowzone.co.uk. More information at www.scarecrows.biz