Scarecrow Trail 2025

A huge thank you to everyone who supported this year’s scarecrow trail.

We are delighted to report that we raised over £8000 during the weekend. What a fabulous achievement! Congratulations to the FoKS crew for staging another brilliant event.

Dates for 2026 are 16th and 17th May. See you then!

A Thank You
I would like to thank Lindsey Hermon, Mrs Brown and all staff of Keevil School for giving me the opportunity to talk to the children at their assembly.
I had a fun time telling them about the event and hope that some of them will come along with their families on Saturday 6th July!
Rachel Howe
Sports Day 24th May 2024

The School hope to hold their annual Sports Day on the Banfield Recreation Ground on the morning of 24th May 2024 (weather permitting).

Scarecrow Trail 2024: 18th & 19th May

First of all, an update on the successful 2023 Scarecrow Trail –

  • 40 Scarecrows
  • 40 Rocks
  • Total profit approximately £10,000

The money has been/will be used to fund residential trips, a new kitchen for student learning, swimming and gym lessons at Wiltshire School of Gymnastics, theatre trips and computer and sports equipment.

A donation of £150 was made to the Keevil Community Shed. Also £357.04 has been given to Wiltshire Air Ambulance from monies made in the car park.

The 2023 committee would like to thanks Keevil Parish Council and the Keevil residents for their support during our major fundraising weekend.

See below (About The Scarecrow Trail) for more information and results from the previous years.

Introducing The New Chair of FoKS

Caroline Noonan is the new chair of Friends of Keevil School (FOKS)for the remainder of this academic year. If anyone has any questions or would like to get in touch with Caroline to discuss the Scarecrow Trail, her contact details are –

Details For The Scarecrow Trail 2024
  • Theme: Around The World
  • Dates 18th & 19th May
  • 10am – 4pm
  • New for 2024 – local businesses or groups will be invited to sponsor a scarecrow for £50

We will be setting up on Friday afternoon (17th May) and dismantling on Sunday after 4pm.

Join us for lots of fun including a children’s trail, games, tombola, raffle, plant sale, face painting, BBQ, bouncy castle, tea & cake, food stalls and more.

New School Wall – August 2023

Many villagers will have noticed that work on re-building the school wall adjacent to Main Street has begun and is moving along at pace. Lindsay Hermon, Headteacher, is hopeful that the works won’t cause disruption for villagers or anyone passing through. The existing wall is to be demolished first after which a new inner wall will be constructed in concrete block. The final stage will be the rebuilding of the outer stone wall to a height of 1.8m. For full details of the plans including drawings please see: https://development.wiltshire.gov.uk/pr/s/planning-application/a0i3z000015HwjAAAS/pl202104353

Lindsay understands that the builders would ideally like the project to be finished by the end of the school summer holidays – the children return on Monday, 4 September. However, there is a possibility that the new stone wall may not be completed until mid-September. Wiltshire Council’s conservation planning office will be visiting the site at the rebuilding phase, to ensure that the builders adhere to the project’s planning requirements.

See here for the complete article Lindsey shared in the Parish News earlier this year… Information Sharing about Proposed New School Wall – 25.1.23

Scarecrow Trail 2023: 20th & 21st May

The theme this year is ‘K for Keevil School’ and the village will be decorated with 40 scarecrows. Follow Trail news on Facebook.

Any feedback for the FOKS team organising the Scarecrow Trail from residents should be made via Geoff West or Pat Tucker on the Parish Council, so that they can be addressed collectively during regular meetings between the school and the council.

News from Keevil School

A brief report from the Parish Council of the meeting at the school on July 12th 2021:

A meeting took place on the 12th July between members of the Parish Council and Keevil school Head Teacher Lyndsey Hermon, and School Governor Ben Gunstone. Various topics were raised, one of them being  that the current policy of parents dropping off pupils without parking up at the school had proved so successful that it is to be continued after the school returns in September for the Autumn Term. It is hoped that it will remain school policy indefinitely.

There is to be no Scarecrow Trail this year, but it is planned by FOKS, to reinstate the Trail next May. It was stressed that the school need to liaise with the Parish Council more closely on this matter as planning evolves from its infancy at the beginning of the year until fruition. It is hoped that better communications will lead to a more harmonious Trail that does not intrude on members of the village.

The school has also mentioned that there would be a presence from them at forth coming Council meetings, so that any issues that might affect the village can be presented.

Geoff West, chair, Keevil Parish Council

Further information from the school can be found on their website.

About the Scarecrow Trail

This popular annual event is managed by and for the benefit of Keevil School, not the village or villagers of Keevil. It is the largest fundraising event the school holds, and 10% of the profits go to local charities.

  • In 2018 £400 was donated to St Leonard’s Church, £400 to the Wiltshire Air Ambulance, and £250 to the Keevil Community Shed.
  • In 2017 the donation was split between St Leonard’s Church, The Wiltshire Air Ambulance and the Keevil Community Shed via Keevil Parish Council. In addition to this, the school children collected donations in the car park for Cancer Research and raised £282.75.
  • In 2016 donations were made to Keevil Parish Council and Wiltshire Young Carers.

Due to the covid-19 pandemic, there was no Scarecrow Trail event in 2020 or 2021.

At the request of the Chairman of the Parish Council, from 2018 onwards the event name was corrected to “The Keevil School Scarecrow Trail”. The Chairman also attended a meeting with the Scarecrow Organising Committee at which she pointed out that some visitors following the trail onto the Playing Field had let their dogs onto the main field which is prohibited.

Follow news on the Keevil School Scarecrow Trail Facebook Page or their website here

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