A SCARECROW of Lawrence of Arabia has become 'talk of the village' after it was allegedly stolen on the day of a village competition.

The scarecrow was tethered to a sign outside of a family home and was taken on the day judges went round to look at all the scarecrows on display in Wool for the much-anticipated annual competition.

Mandy Pyne, 62, made the scarecrow herself and said the fact that it has gone has left her "very disappointed".

She said: "I made him myself but donated him to a family who said they didn't have time to make one this year and they put him outside their house ready for judging.

"Someone in the village said they saw a chap walking up the road with him - so somebody has clearly taken him. The man who saw him walking away with it said he didn't know he was taking it and thought he was just trying to get it out of the rain.

"It is annoying because a lot of time went into making him. Goodness knows what this chap is doing with him - it's talk of the village at the moment!"

Ms Pyne is offering a £25 reward for Lawrence's safe return.

She said: "We put him out on the main road through Wool so people passing through could see him."

Despite being taken before all the judges were able to see him, the judges worked from photos of Lawrence to award their marks and the missing scarecrow still managed to come fourth out of 33 other scarecrows in the competition.

Ms Pyne helps to run the scarecrow competition in Wool and said it was a big success last year in lockdown and 50 scarecrows were entered into the competition. All the scarecrows are judged and marked by eight independent judges.

She said: "With people being back to work and being a bit more busy we've had a few less entries - but it was still very good this year."

The judging took place on Saturday July 10 and Sunday July 11, but Ms Pyne said that people in the village typically leave their scarecrows up for a couple of weeks for people to enjoy.

She said this year people paid a £2 entry fee for the competition which went towards the prizes. The competition had three categories for adults, for children under 12 and for businesses and community groups to enter.