A village primary school is going to lose out on much needed funds as some residents in Lacock shun its hugely popular scarecrow trail, which raised almost £14,000 last year.

Friends of Lacock School are worried their appeal will suffer as a result of moving the scarecrow trail – their biggest fundraiser – to the May Bank Holiday weekend, reducing it from a two-week Easter event to just one weekend.

Amy Bishop-Fowler, a mother of two and a member of the Friends of Lacock School, said: “We have organised a duck race for this week to try to raise as much money as possible for the school.

“We raised £13,908 last year and that is not going to be possible over just one weekend this year.

“I think it’s quite sad for the village. It’s a village with school at the heart of it. A lot of people who have had children at the school and don’t now should understand that.”

The chair of Lacock Tenants’ Association, Leo Stevens, explained that a meeting had recently been held where a vote was taken on the scarecrow trail, with some people suggesting that they didn’t want it at all.

A letter went out asking people to vote on whether they wanted it moving to May and how long they wanted it to go on for.

Mr Stevens, a former student of Lacock Primary School, said: “I’m happy that it has been changed to one weekend like any other village in the county which hold scarecrow trails.

“Most people are fed up with the pressures of tourism and the scarecrow trail increases that.”

The secretary of FLS, Ulrika Stokes, said: “We don’t want to argue with anybody, we are just trying to raise money for the kids. We just want to work with the village and we respect their wishes and that is why the scarecrow trail has now been moved to May.”

The scarecrow trail will be held from May 29-31 and a duck race today at 3.30pm with the ducks travelling through to the village ford.