A POPULAR village festival has become the latest casualty of the recent heavy rains Following the torrential downpours and flash floods which hit Belbroughton at the start of September, organisers were forced to call off its popular scarecrow weekend, which was due to take place on September 27 and 28.

The organising committee inspected fields used as a car park with the fire service and landowners last week, but found that they would be too soggy to cope with the number of vehicles. As they felt there was no realistic prospect of the ground drying out, organisers took the “difficult decision” to cancel this year’s event.

Tim Cherry, a Belbroughton scarecrow committee member and a parish councillor, said: “We did a thorough inspection. It’s not drying out and we dare not risk having thousands of cars getting stuck and damaged.”

The traditional festival has grown in popularity since the first was held 11 years ago, attracting thousands of visitors from across the country annually. Villages elsewhere have followed Belbroughton’s lead and stage their own scarecrow events.

The announcement is a blow to village good causes, including Belbroughton First School and Holy Trinity church, as around £30,000 a year is raised through the festival, according to its chairman David Roberts.

“Even for the most optimistic of us there is no way we could realistically hold the event safely,” said David.

“We wish to minimise the inconvenience to everyone by giving as much notice of cancellation as possible. I would like to thank all the people who have put so much effort into planning this year; to those disappointed I promise we will be back in 2009.”