Young poets are proud of their prose

JAMES Fitzsimons, winner of the under 9s, cover designer Katie Atkins and over 9s winner Dylan Crane

Saddleworth Festival

BUDDING young poets from schools in Saddleworth have showed off their talents with a glossy book of rhymes and verses.

Using the Huddersfield Canal as their inspiration, young pupils put pen to paper and entered a competition as part of the Saddleworth Festival of the Arts to mark 200 years of the local waterway.

Now 38 poems have been bundled together in the book to treasure, with a charming illustration from eight-year-old Katie Atkins on the front cover.

Festival organisers launched the book at the Saddleworth Museum, as Delph Youth Band provided rousing music and children proudly read out their poems.

Winners were chosen from entries from St Chad’s, Uppermill, Holy Trinity in Dobcross, Friezland primary, Diggle Primary, Knowsley Junior, St Mary’s in Greenfield, Christ Church Denshaw and St Anne’s in Lydgate.

Author Livi Michael, who wrote the foreword to the book, said: “It has been a great pleasure reading and selecting these poems.”

The book will be on sale at each of the schools and at the Saddleworth Museum in Uppermill.



Here’s a few samples:



First prize 9s and over



Thoughts on the Stanedge Tunnel

Slowly we move through

The water,

The horses on

The tow path pulling with

All their strength and might.

Dylan Crane, aged 10

Holy Trinity C. of E. Primary School, Dobcross



Second prize 9s and over



My Canal

I have a big fat canal

But I call it big cuddly pal.

My canal sleeps with a teddy at night,

So that makes me feel alright.

Big Buddy Pal has a friend called Fairy

And you can say she’s hairy.

My big baby canal is very freaky

And always very,very sleepy.

My canal likes narrow boats

And once he said they wore coats.

So that is all.

Oh, and he goes to the mall.

I know it sounds impossible

But life is adorable.

So I’m saying a big goodbye

And I’m not telling a lie.

Leah Brown, age nine

St Chad’s C. of E. Primary School, Uppermill



Joint Third prize 9s and over



The Arteries of Britain

The arteries of Britain run like the country’s blood

Built by the Georgians they never can flood

Made for transporting wool and food and coal

Now they’re full of touring boats that give it a new soul.

The children use the water to fish and feed the ducks

Away from all the bustling cars, trains and filthy trucks.

The anglers use their nets to try and catch the fish

Then they go and take them home to make a tasty dish.

The flocks of geese and goslings bob happily up and down

While little ducklings learn to swim, trying not to drown.

The canal is home to many of Mother Nature’s friends

Its trees and hedgerows give them food on which their life depends.

Violet Winterbottom, aged nine

Friezland Primary School, Greenfield



Joint Third prize 9s and over



The Peaceful Canal of Diggle

Water

silently trickling

in a canal

spreading swiftly.

Trees

swaying constantly

in the wind

Kyle Smith

Age 11

Diggle School



First Prize Under 9s



Seasons of the Canal

The first snow of winter falls on the white, frozen canal.

Snowy, white trees hang heavily over the canal.

Parents pull their children along the snowy tow path, on a sledge,

While ducks skate scarily across the frozen water.

Spring slowly dawns with yellow daffodils as bright as the sun shining on the bank.

Birds sing in the trees with leaves starting to grow.

Ducks dive down to find fish, while their ducklings swim after them.

White swans and black geese with proud, long necks swim around.

The bright blue sky and the hot summer sun warm the ducks bathing on the canal.

Boats glide and the fishermen are looking for their tea.

Happy people and bikers rest while they are having a picnic.

Colourful flowers are reflecting on the sparkling canal.

Autumn wind blows the golden leaves off the trees and they rain onto the canal.

Dusty, crispy leaves rustle as the children kick them on the tow path.

Children throw leaves on the canal to have lots of fun.

The last days of autumn soon give way to winter.

Every season is beautiful on the canal.

James Fitzsimons, aged six

St Chad’s C. of E. Primary School, Uppermill



Second prize Under 9s



Canal

Canal gleams in the moonlight all night long

And in the summer sun shining bright,

Never stops swishing and swerving side to side.

At last it stops when day is over,

Still as a mouse and as blue as the sea,

Lovely canal, soft and rough, never stops singing.

Suzie Bennett, aged seven

St Chad’s C. of E. Primary School, Uppermill