The event, attended by around 160 guests, including Royal Liver CEO Steve Burnett, Barbara Wellford, Regional Adviser for English in the North West and Cllr Warren Bradley, was a great way of rewarding the fantastic efforts of this year’s short-listed candidates.
The competition is part of a campaign driven by LCC to improve literacy scores throughout Liverpool and is a feature of with Royal Liver Group’s sustainable community investment programme.
The project is open to every secondary school pupil in the city and is totally inclusive of children with physical and learning difficulties. This is a core concept of the competition, and something Steve Burnett CEO is keen to uphold.
“We were determined that the competition should be fully inclusive and open to all secondary school pupils across Liverpool, giving all children the chance to practise their creativity and express their pride in the City, whilst learning valuable and sustainable skills.”
This year, the competition was won by Dylan Lewis, who is a patient from the Alder Hey Hospital School having had an unsuccessful kidney and liver transplant in March last year.
Dylan, aged 14, has been ill for some time and him mum Margaret Lewis attributes Poetry of Place for improving his recent state. “Dylan has really not been well over recent weeks, but being able to join in something other children are involved in has really motivated and inspired him.”
“It has started him off on a real poetry run, he has bought himself a notepad and some of the poems he has written have been put up around the Alder Hey School and Hospital. He never imagined he would make the short-list, so to actually win has given him a real boost.”
Dylan is currently waiting for another kidney transplant and receives dialysis three times a week. It meant that he was too ill to make the awards ceremony yesterday, but esteemed guest Cllr Warren Bradley, who supports and the project, kindly volunteered to go to Alder Hey Hospital School to present Dylan with his deserved prize.
"We really appreciated Warren Bradley coming to this morning” Margaret Lewis continued, “it was a really nice touch. He has obviously taken time out of a very busy schedule. He was more than happy to wait until Dylan was ready for his photograph to be taken, and helped make him feel like the centre of attention."
Warren Bradley commented: “Education is the one of most important cultural investments that we can make. It’s an investment in our future and judging by the standard of the poems, Liverpool certainly has a bright future. It was an honour to meet Dylan – he’s full of talent and determination and was a very deserving winner.”
Tim Warren, Assistant Executive Director for LCC Children’s Services says. “My congratulations go to all of the 700 schoolchildren who submitted poems this year and I am delighted that after seven years of supporting the project we have a winner from Alder Hey Hospital School.”
For more information contact Cara Newton at Royal Liver Group:
T: 0151 600 4264
E: cara.newton@royal-liver.com
Royal Liver Group 2007 Royal Liver Assurance Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.