SKELETONS, pumpkins, scarecrows and ghouls have crept their way to households in Barrow and beyond - as residents fully embrace the spooky season.

Halloween is fast-approaching, meaning the season of pumpkins, scary costumes and trick-or-treating is upon us once again.

Households across South Cumbria have been gearing up for the spine-chilling event by dressing their homes with some frightening decorations.

Last year, Youth Club team leader Les 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.

To get others involved, he created a Facebook group ‘Furness Scarecrow Avenue/Street’, which now has nearly 6,000 members, with the aim of encouraging the community to display spooky scarecrows outside their homes.

An estimated 6,000 scarecrows were created and displayed for last year's event, which aimed to bring the community together in a safe way during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr McLeese said: "The idea was that families and the community could work together to create scarecrows and, in their bubble, they could walk around the area and visit them.

"We were blown away with the response and how the community came together.

"We saw whole streets working together, local businesses donating items and working with local schools.

"We even had a few messages off some of the community that stated they do not normally get involved in Halloween anymore as their children have grown up but this gave them the opportunity to take part in a community event.

"Seeing the community pull together in such a creative way was brilliant. We knew if we were to do it again this year that there may be less interest, however, we were asked by some members of the community if we would, so we decided to put the event on again and hope this will be the start of Barrow's own annual community event."

And households in Barrow and beyond have already begun putting up their Halloween decorations.

Mr McLeese said: "We have over 150 postcodes registered at the moment but we understand there is a lot more taking part.

"We have the usual colouring competitions going on. It would be great to see streets working together again this year. The scarecrows can go up anytime but we ask that they be displayed between October 29 and 31."