Children's Poetry Competition

Woodlands Farm's writer in residence, Clare Best, organised poetry competitions at two local schools: Kirton Primary School and Middlecott School Kirton. Children wrote on subjects connected with the farm and with healthy eating. Many of the poems entered were written at Clare's workshops following school visits to the farm.

Gerard Benson, the well known children's poet and performer, and founder of 'Poems on the Underground', was competition judge and prize-giver. On National Poetry Day, October 6, he performed his own poems, read out the children's winning poems and awarded certificates and prizes at special assemblies at both schools.

Middlecott School Winners

Year 8

I will put in the magic box for my best mate

I will put in my box some wool of a sheep,
Because it feels rough and curly like a little girls locks.
I will put in my box a male turkey,
Cos it can have up to seven wives, one for each day of the week!
I will put in my box the smell of manure,
Because it smells of everything mixed together and more.
I will put in my box the smell of the wind,
Cos it smells fresh and cold like ice floating around.
I will put in my box the cold, frosty weather,
Cos it is like winter as well as summer all mixed together.
I will put in my box a cows piece of fur,
Cos it is as glossy and as smooth as a plate of gold.
I will put in my box two colours, yellow and brown,
Because these are the colours of the hay and straw.
I will put in my box something just for you,
The sky like a puddle of ice and water so blue.
I will put in my box two vegetables swedes and carrots
Because the carrot reminds me of Christmas and the swedes like a bowling ball.
I will put in my box two sounds a cow mooing and the whistling of the wind,
Because the cows sound sweet and wind sounds like wolves.
My box will be made of strong steel so nothing gets out,
and the corners will be made of strong lions fur.
The middle for detail will have two gold living snakes
wrapped around a sword and wrapped around each other.

Jenny Anderson

Middlecott School's Poems