Children's poetry competition 2015.

Out of the 233 entries in our poetry competition, 1st place was awarded to Martha Jane Thomas, age 10 of Elmstead Primary School, 2nd place was awarded to Jake Guy, age 8, of Broomgrove Primary school, 3rd place to Luke Triscott, age 10 of Elmstead Primary School, and 4th place to Sulafah, age 10, of Broomgrove Primary School.  Runners up included: Callum Burgess, Gemma Coppel, Edward Crysell,  Ruthie Brooks-Steele, Alfie and Jole Peter Thomson.
Copies of WDTL can be found at Wivenhoe Station and on our WDTL page.
These were the comments from the judge, Alex Toms, on the winners:

1st Place : 'The Butterfly's Visit' by Martha Jane Thomas
From the first line, I knew this poem would be special! Many poems try to capture those fleeting, inexpressible moments we all have, and this poem brilliantly does just that . The simple, but lyrical language builds up to the final, beautiful image of the butterfly's "feather of a body/ perch[ing] itself on [the speaker's] hand". Well done, Martha Jane!

2nd Place: 'Birth of Sunflowers' by Jake Guy
Abracazebra!! Just like the sunflowers, this poem jumped out at me with its inventiveness and originality. There are some memorable moments in this poem, for example, the "Cyclops marching" and the seeds like zebras. I'd like to see more poems by Jake in the future.

3rd Place: 'Message for the fielder who caught me out' by Luke Triscott
I chose this poem simply because it makes me laugh! I've read it several times and it never fails to bring a smile to my lips!

4th Place: 'Summer' by Sulafah
Cuckoos featured in many of the poems I judged, but Sulafah was the only poet who thought of using the actual sound a cuckoo makes as a refrain. This poem is simple, but beautiful and effective.

New exhibition on Platform 2

The new exhibition on platform 2, is a series of scenes of Wivenhoe, captured by local photographer Jonathan Scott.  The sunny weather (not complaining honestly) has meant that the images I have taken does not do the exhibition justice.  Please pop down and see them, as they are much more striking in the flesh.   

Jonathan's interest in photography started more than 10 years ago but it is only in the last 2 years that he has started to take it more seriously.  He prefers to take seascapes, landscapes and fine art; experimenting with black and white images and spot colour.  He tries to keep the images as close to natural as possible.

John has had his photographs appear in national magazine 'water craft.'  To view more of his work, visit his facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/JonathanScottPhotography or email him johnathanscott@fsmail.net

Poetry on Platform One

A poem by Mary McQueen on platform One, which can also be found printed in our May issue of WDTL