Freddie Mercury to make appearance in Royal Scareport as Banbury village welcomes festival-goers

The Royal couple displayed in the churchyard as part of this year's Cropredy scarecrow trail

Freddie one of many attractions in a Royal-themed scarecrow trail that has become a tradition in the village over the week of Fairport’s Cropredy Convention.

The trail has become a greatly enjoyed part of the annual festival weekend during which thousands of visitors are encouraged to explore the village in search of scarecrows – and vote for their favourite.

The tradition began in August 2014 when members of Cropredy WI and the Knit and Natter group joined forces to ‘yarnbomb’ the village in aid of Katharine House Hospice.

The Cropredy Knit and Natter group has made some wonderful cuddly toys which will be available for purchase to raise money for the Ukraine appeal

This led to further wool-based installations including the now-traditional knitted tableau, featuring hand-crafted portrayals of Fairport Convention on a scaled-down festival stage. This year the tableau, in the garden of April Cottage in Red Lion Street, will depict a scene from the 1953 Coronation and will as ever feature Fairport Convention as the knitters imagined they would have looked in the 1950s. All the figures will be available to buy for donations to this year's charity.

Village correspondent Caroline Watsham said: “In 2017, following requests from local residents, the fundraising group instigated a festival scarecrow trail under the name of Scareport.

"This proved so popular that scarecrows have remained a feature of the festival, with a different theme each year including Fairyport and Seaport.”

Although there was no musical festival over the pandemic, villagers still made the effort to create scarecrows in the form of key-workers in 2020 and last year, sporting heroes.

“This year our theme is Royalty, whether representations of the Royal Family or alternative interpretations, which is where Freddie Mercury comes in,” said Ms Watsham.

Over the years, over £8,000 has been raised for causes such as Katharine House, The Children's Air Ambulance and Oxford Children's Hospital.

This year all funds raised will be given to the DEC Ukraine Appeal. Money is raised from the sale of scarecrow trail maps throughout the festival and the sale of the knitted toys from display on Saturday morning.

For further information about Scareport please contact [email protected]