AS Halloween draws closer, pumpkins, scarecrows and ghouls have crept their way across Barrow and beyond.

With the Coronavirus pandemic forcing society to adapt to new ways of life - residents of the town have found a devilishly good way to celebrate this year.

Youth Club team leader Leslie McLeese came up with the idea to throw a town-wide celebration to mimic the success of his VE day street party on Gleaston Avenue, Barrow.

He said: “I came up with the idea of our street creating scarecrows for family bubbles to either drive or walk pass, something like we do at Christmas to visit people’s decorations.”

To get others involved, he created a Facebook group ‘Furness Scarecrow Avenue/Street’, which now has 4,900 members.

He said: “With this amount of people wanting to take part we created the group Furness Youth Work partnership which is a group that will represent the young people in Furness on a local level. The groups consists of youth workers and local charities such as mine - Leonard Cheshire Youth Ability, Dropzone Youth Projects, Springmount Walney, Furness Multicultural Form and A Stitch Different.

“We feel that young people have had a really tough year this year and we simply wanted them to have something to look forward to to put a smile on their faces and something they will remember for the rest of their lives.

“The support from local people has been immense and we cannot believe the amount of people taking part and creating some wonderful scarecrows as a family. I am a bit worried mine are not going to live up to some of the creations we have already seen.”

For those without a garden, some community groups are offering their green space, including Hindpool Tigers, Askam Rugby, the Gables Hotel, the Nautical on Walney, the Newton Pub, Walney Community Centre and Shared Lives Ulverston.