Worzel Gummidge would have thought he was at a family reunion if he had been able to visit Lockeridge on Saturday and seen the entries in a scarecrow contest.

Not that there were any of the book and TV scarecrow’s direct descendants there; sadly no Wurzels or his girl friends Susan and Earthy Mangold.

But there were lots of other scarecrow characters, many of them according to the theme of traffic calming which is the message Lockeridge residents are trying to get over to the many motorists who use their main street as a rat run on their way between the A4 and the Pewsey Vale.

The scarecrow contest is organised by the village group dedicated to getting traffic to stick to the 30mph limit through the village and past the Kennet Valley School lower buildings.

Increased speeding in recent years has been the subject of numerous meetings in the village and they have consulted traffic calming experts.

One of the suggestions was that drivers should be made more aware that there is a living and working community in Lockeridge and one measure the locals have taken was to erect highly visible “gates” at both ends of the village to let motorists know they are driving into a community.

The scarecrow contest, first held last year, was another and highly successful way of getting across the message to motorists that families with children live in Lockeridge.

For the past year there have been two scarecrows of children prominently outside the school gates.

On Saturday there were almost 20 entries in this year’s contest and Mike Smith, one of the organisers, said: “We had lots of people there and the weather was absolutely marvellous.

Mr Smith said “People have got the message and they focussed on traffic calming when making their scarecrows.”

Judging took place on the green at The Dene where there was a free barbecue thanks to Marlborough butchers Sumblers and Jesse Smith who donated the burgers and sausages.

Other sponsors were: Chalky’s Workshop; the Who’Da Thought It; Judith Woodget Garden Designs and the House of Marbles.

The winners

Family class: 1 Mr Happy (Amanda Harris and family); 2 Silver Box (Seddon and Reynolds families); 3 Policeman (Kennet Valley Lower School). Adults:1 Butcher (Nick & Susanne Stedman); 2 The Eyes Have It (Kate O’Connor & Neil Goodwin); 3 French Maid (Jenny Wiseman & Paul Sabin). Mental Speed Bump: Butterfly(Fay Ross-Magenty). Most Amusing: Flowerpot Man (Elliott Baker). Most Original: Cat (Randall Richards); runner up: Meerkat (the Upton-Arkwright families). Best in Show: Snail (Watson family).