A primary school summer fair raised nearly three thousand pounds for new outdoor equipment on a blazing hot Saturday afternoon.

The Friends of Yealmpton Village School Summer Fayre was a great success acording to organisers, helped by the glorious weather and the hard work and goodwill of parents, teachers, volunteers and community groups.

The event on Saturday raised £2,800 for the school, which will be spent replacing some of the equipment in the school’s trim trail adventure playground. Visitors, parents and locals flocked to the event to feast on high tea, ice cream and a barbecue, and enjoy a bouncy castle, pony rides and much more.

The fair saw the judging of the village’s scarecrow competition, involving the scary and comical creations on display around Yealmpton over the previous week. The competition’s fame has now spread far and wide according to friends chairman Karen Turvey, with entrants from as far afield as Birmingham this year.

In first place were a pair of schoolgirls created by pupils Gwen and Flossie, with Amelia and James’ Gruffalo second and Caroline and Chris Brown’s slightly effeminate Boris Johnson in third place. Prizes of £50, £20 and £10 respectively were duly handed out.

Karen said: "Although the scarecrow competition is normally the highlight, the high teas were also very successful this year, in memory of our late chairman Kerry Thorn who passed away late last year.

"From an organiser’s point of view it was great to see the community, young and old mixing together.

"I’d like to thank everyone that supported the event. Without the parents, volunteers, teachers and community groups that get involved we wouldn’t be able to run the event.

"It really does make a massive difference to the children as the money enables the school to provide out-of-classroom learning facilities."

As well as the annual fair, the friends organise charity quiz nights, fashion shows, a Christmas fair and lots of events in school like the successful pancake flipping contest this year. They also run a disco at the end of every term to reward children for their hard work."