TWO almost life-size cows have been the focus of attention in Walkhampton for the past few weeks, taking up residence in the parish church and the window of Walkhampton Stores.

Villagers have been raising money until the cows come home, as part of the church?s harvest festival campaign to ?Send a Cow? to Uganda.

The two cardboard cows have helped villagers gauge their progress towards the target of £750 to fund a cow for a poor family living in Uganda.

The congregation of St Mary the Virgin Church, Walkhampton, decided that their harvest-giving should benefit the charity ?Send a Cow? which provides livestock and training for desperately poor families in Uganda. Cows provide such families with milk, manure and surplus produce to sell.

In areas where cows would not thrive, goats or poultry may be given instead. One of the key features of the project is that each family must give the first-born female offspring from their animal to another needy family.

The parochial church council knew it would be a tall order for them to raise the £750 needed to fund a cow alone, so they decided to make it a village project. Lady Modiford?s School harvest service featured the project and the children have been covering the outline of a cow with coins as well as bringing produce to the church.

Walkhampton Crusaders held a beetle drive and Walkhampton Cottage Garden Society gave a generous donation.

The cow in the shop started out white but has gradually become covered in black patches sponsored by shoppers putting donations in a collecting tin on the counter.

The culmination of the project was the harvest festival service at the parish church, on Sunday, September 29, when the congregation, encouraged by Jim Knight, the school head, and the Rev Nick Shutt, bid for the assembled produce and then enjoyed a shared lunch.

Thanks to all these efforts the community has now raised £875 ? more than enough to send a cow to make a difference to the life of an impoverished family in Uganda.

The cardboard Daisy and Buttercup can now be put out to grass . . .