THE school holidays mean there is very little happening officially in the village just now – though this evening, there’s the domino drive that is fun for all the family.

It will be held in the village hall with refreshments at half-time. It starts at 7.30pm and is in aid of St Cuthbert’s Church.

HOWEVER, there is plenty to do, as we are hoping to erect as many scarecrows as possible, on bikes, along the route of the Tour of Britain cycle race that will be coming through the village on Thursday, September 10 at lunchtime.

Please let Alison at the tearoom know that you are intending to make a scarecrow and where you would like it to go!

We are promoting the two Hadrian’s Wall villages – Greenhead and Gilsland – in the publicity for the tour and hoping that lots of people come here to see the race.

It should be fairly hair-raising for the riders, coming down the bank and getting round the corner into the Gilsland road in one piece.

There should be scarecrows all the way from the top of the bank through to The Hill in Gilsland, to welcome the riders after the long stretch of the Military Road.

If they are in place well beforehand, it will show we are getting ready for a big day in the village.

The Greenhead Hotel, Blenkinsopp Inn and the tearoom will be busy, and the village hall is planning to offer hot dogs, having established their expertise in these things at Duck Day.

There will, of course, be road closures from 10.30am until 1pm. The Military Road will be closed to traffic from the Haydon Bridge level crossing to Walltown. The link road from the A69 into Greenhead and up to Walltown Quarry will be closed from 11.45am until 1pm.

So we will need to work out our own movements carefully that day! And we can expect a lot of people parking on both sections of the old A69.

As the race gets closer, there will be what is called a rolling road closure, controlled by a tour steward, from Greenhead to Gilsland, so we will know that the cyclists will appear very soon.

It should all be very exciting and colourful, if all over very quickly!

There will be a prize for the best scarecrow in Greenhead, so get busy!