The Scarecrow competition at Newham City Farm - the judges and some of the winning entries

One of the most unusual contests staged for quite some time has taken place at Newham City Farm in Beckton.

The Scarecrow competition at Newham City Farm - the youngsters and their prizes with Cllr Pat Holland

Last week saw young people taking part in Inaugural Schools Best Scarecrow Competition!

Youngsters were invited to make scarecrows for the farm and the competition was deemed a great success.

“It was a tremendous first event, and I am already looking forward to next years event, ” said Paula Blake, special projects manager at Links.

All the judges commented on the high standard of entries and the innovation that had gone into them.

And Paula said that the schools who took part and their teachers said that it was a great learning experience that helped get across key issues around recycling, growing foods and so on.

The judging panel included local councillor Pat Holland, Steve Moore, head of waste and recycling at Newham Council, East Ham MP Stephen Timms and Christopher Kettle from Newham City Farm.

The schools won vouchers for the Newham Bookshop at the Boleyn.

The Overall Best Scarecrow prizes went to the following schools: First: Kensington; Second: Kier Hardie and Third: - Vicarage.

The Most Imaginative use of recycled materials competition was won by Kier Hardie, with Kensington second and Vicarage in third.

And Most Original Scarecrow section was won by Cleeves, with Vicarage and Cleeves again in third.