Community comes together in a 'scary' way!
Hi, I am a mum of three girls. My youngest was diagnosed with autism aged 5. She’s 7 now. Although we’ve had lovely days through lockdown, we’ve also had a lot of days in as my daughter doesn’t want to leave the house. She gets anxious and it’s just not nice to see her this way.
At this point she’s left the house no more than ten times in 11 weeks, each time reluctantly. We spoke one day about what we could see if we went on a walk, like the rainbow pictures in people's windows. I then asked her what she would really like to see, and her reply was a real scarecrow!
So this is how it began: we thought if we post a letter to the people on our street, they might make one and this would help to get her out. Then a lady round the corner did the same on her street (Doris Road ). We wanted all the children of Ilkeston to be part of it either by making a scarecrow or being able to look at them. We opened a Facebook page and my friend offered a prize for the best scarecrow.
The idea caught on far faster and bigger than I expected! In very little time a hundred scarecrows have appeared, and I know there’s more on the way. As a result we have seen lots of happy children and parents wandering around looking for them. We’ve made several little trips out to see them and this is a huge achievement!
But also it’s been a huge reminder of what a lovely community we have. The people of our town always come together when there is a need. The kindness of these people is overwhelming and I want to thank every single one of them for helping me make this happen.
The Facebook page is Ilkeston Scarecrow Trail Group if you’d like to look at the many scarecrows that have been made.
Danni Swift
