| My Home Town |
A LOCAL POEM COULD WIN YOU £1,000
All you have to do is write a poem about something or someone from your home town, or even write a poem about your home town. £1,000 goes to the winner of the competition which closes on the 31st of December.
The competition is open to poets of all ages and is designed to encourage new poets to get more involved in writing poetry.
“Poetry is one of the most accessible art forms and more people should be writing poems. Many new poets are unearthed by competitions like this,” said Peter Quinn, Managing Director of United Press which is running the competition.
You can send up to 3 entries for the competition. They must all have a maximum of 160 words and 20 lines each. The closing date is 31st December.
Send your entries (with a LOOSE stamp if you want to be sure of a reply after the competition has closed) to United Press, Admail 3735, London, EC1B 1JB.
2008 is a big year for Stephanie
A poem about her home village has won a national competition for Stephanie Spiers of Rising Brook in Stafford.
The poem, which is all about Rising Brook, has won £1,000 for Stephanie in this free to enter annual competition held by United Press.
“I was absolutely stunned when I was told I had won the competition,” said a delighted Stephanie. “This is the first major competition I’ve ever entered and I’m really delighted that I decided to send in my poem. I’m probably going to use my prize to help finance the launch of a novel I’ve written.”
Stephanie entered the competition after noticing an item in her local newspaper. “It was free to enter so I thought I would write a poem about Rising Brook and send it in. All submissions need to have a local theme.”
The competiton was judged by Peter Quinn, managing director of United Press, who told us, “I love Stephanie’s poem. It’s both descriptive and emotive. She’s obviously a very talented poet and a very worthy winner of the competition. We hold our local poem competition every year to encourage people to write about their home area and it’s aimed at encouraging more people to get involved in writing poetry. We have had entries from people aged nine to 99, many of whom have never written poetry before.”
To enter ring 0870 240 6190 or visit www.unitedpress.co.uk/localpoem
Stephanie is a trustee of Rising Brook Writers. “We visit senior citizens groups to bring the joys of creative
writing to them,” explained Stephanie. “The venture, which is supported by lottery funding, has great benefits for
the mental health of the elderly.”
THE RISING BROOK
Springing up at Hyde Lea, by sacred hill fort ring,
Rushing headlong down bank, while grazing cattle sing,
Whistles under M6 gully, sending winging bats all in a scurry,
Trickles under nettled slopes, where water voles are in a hurry.
Forced under graffiti footbridge, to skirt the fence by Highfield’s Club,
Sings alongside the football pitch; wide-eyed vixen hides her cub.
Darkly under West Way, squeezed by pipe and drain,
Bubbles into sunlight, lets the allotments ease their strain,
Plays seek under school lane, dapples to glimpse the daylight,
Plunges under the four four nine; murky, black as any night.
Whipping downhill, picks up speed, tumbles through Brook Glen,
Railway embankment looming large, culverted by ancient men,
Emerges, gushing fierce; races into Silkmore Lane,
Bank bursting torrent, laughs and chortles o’er the man-made plain.
Spills pell-mell to water meadow, gushing with a new-found glee,
At the Radfords, begins in earnest; its journey to the far off sea.
Stephanie Spiers, Stafford.
Inspiration wins £1,000 for Marjorie in our "Home Town" competition 2007
A poem about village life has won £1,000 for a South
Yorkshire woman in a free to enter annual competition.
But there’s an unusual story to why Marjorie Beachill wrote an inspirational poem about her home village of Wath on Dearne near Rotherham.
Marjorie has only just become a UK citizen. She was born and lived most of her life in Hawaii.
“I came to Wath nine years ago,” explained Marjorie. “A new man came into my life and because I loved him so much I travelled half way across the world to be with him.”
Marjorie and husband John, are happily settled in Wath. “I can look on Wath as someone who has been here for several years but also with the fresh eyes of an outsider,” explained Marjorie, who works for the N]HS.
"“I have been writing poetry, for most of my life, but this is the first time I have entered a competition. I saw a paragraph in my local newspaper and when I noticed that the competition was free to enter I told myself that I had nothing to lose and plenty to gain.”
“Many thousands of poems were entered for the competition and it was a difficult choice in picking the £1,000 winner,” said Peter Quinn, Managing Director of United Press, who judged the competition.
“Marjorie’s poem stood out to me as being touching, affectionate,
from the heart and very endearing. She obviously has fallen in love
not just with John, but with the whole village.”
MY VILLAGE
If there’s one thing you’ll learn
From Wath-upon-Dearne
It’s just how a village should be.
You can take any path,
Queen of villages, Wath
England’s beauty is right here to see.
For what once was the goal
To mine enough coal
Built a people of vitality.
And now I look around
From my house to the town
And am glad to live here and be me.
For from Hadrian’s Wall
To the tip of Cornwall
I have travelled for many a day.
Round the world I have flown
Many villages known
But when asked I can honestly say.
I shall always return to Wath-upon-Dearne
To my village, my heart’s final stay.
Marjorie Beachill, Wath-upon-Dearne, South Yorkshire
Owen wins £1,000 in our "Home Town" competition 2006
An article in his local paper has left Billinge poet Owen Lowery £1,000 richer. Owen (37) started writing poetry a year ago but when he saw an article about a national competition, he decided to "have a go".
The article asked for entries to a £1,000 national competition, requesting poetry about your home town.
"When I saw the title of Owen's poem – Ode to Billinge – I thought, how can anyone make an interesting poem out of a title like that," said United Press Director, Peter Quinn, who judged the the competition which received over 9,000 entries. "But Owen managed to do it. It's a great poem and just shows what a beginner can achieve. Owen is so serious about poetry that he can go on to even greater things."
Owen, who is disabled after a teenage judo accident, started a creative writing course at Bolton University last year under the tutelage of John Glover, a published poet.
"I did a lot of research for my poem in which I wanted to reflect the fact that Billinge is a small town which has to struggle to find its own identity because of its position between several big towns," explained Owen. "I didn't think a poem about a town like Billinge would have a chance of winning a big national competition but it's my town and I wanted to write about it."
"That's what makes Owen's poem stand
out from the rest," explained Peter Quinn. "His
subject matter is a challenge but the result is truly impressive.
That's what makes a great poem."
ODE TO BILLINGE
Above
you, heaven and the seagull’s call.
Before you, a map of imperial fall.
Between you and Ireland, no greater height.
The Armada fled your beacon bright.
Beneath you, miner and quarryman died.
Your heart caught fire when their bellows sighed.
You spewed up your stone to build our homes.
We salved your wounds with suburban blooms.
Within you, seams like capillaries spread.
Your slopes play host to the sleepless dead.
Inside your taverns legends spring to life
Of the royal blade and the robber’s knife.
Refuge of romance, by Saint Aydan blessed.
Blind to all commerce is your ancient crest.
In this land of rainfall and black cloud burst,
For what the greedy fear, the poet thirsts.
Owen Lowery, Billinge, Lancashire