Royal Liver Group

Joseph from St Edward’s College in West Derby beat hundreds of other entries to be named winner at the sixth annual Poetry of Place awards ceremony at the Royal Liver Building. Joseph’s prizes included a selection of poetry books, a VIP tour of the Empire Theatre and tickets to a show and a one-off piece of art to illustrate his poem.

Royal Liver Group, runs Poetry of Place in partnership with Liverpool City Council’s Raising Achievement Team. It is open to every secondary school in the city and sees entrants write about their favourite Liverpool places.

This year’s finalists were picked from hundreds of budding poets that entered and their works were voted for by members of the public via the Royal Liver website. Royal Liver Group Chief Executive, Steve Burnett, presented prizes to all 26 finalists at the ceremony at the Royal Liver Building.

At the end of the ceremony the winners were named and Joseph was joined on stage by runners up, Benjamin Carver from King David School, with his poem, ‘Lee Park Golf Course’ and Elle Murphy from Archbishop Blanch School, who wrote ‘An Unsolved Mystery’.

Steve Burnett said: “Poetry of Place began with the aim of raising levels of literacy in Liverpool by engaging with young people and fostering their interest in creative writing. By giving pupils the chance to write poems about their favourite local places we hope to inspire them to develop their writing skills while expressing the pride they have in their city.”

Since it was launched in 2002, the Royal Liver Group Poetry of Place competition has received more than 7,500 entries and the competition has become a fixture in the lives of English teachers and pupils in Liverpool’s schools.

“I am delighted to say that Poetry of Place has again been an overwhelming success,” said Steve. Since it’s been running, every secondary school in Liverpool has entered the competition and it has played a key part in our award winning Corporate Social Responsibility strategy.

“It has also achieved its aim of engaging the city’s young people. In fact, during the first five years that the ran, levels of literacy in Liverpool’s schools went up, with English results for Key Stage 3 – the age group of our young poets – getting better year on year.

“Poetry of Place alone can’t claim credit for this but combined with the other fantastic initiatives run by the Raising Achievement Team, and with the support of parents and teachers, I believe that it has made a real difference.”

Mary Kelso from the Raising Achievement Team said: “It is extremely encouraging to see that this competition is having an impact upon literacy in the city’s schools. Enthusiasm for Poetry of Place grows each year as does the quality of poems submitted. We hope the competition continues inspiring young people in Liverpool.”

ends

Pictured: Winner, Joseph Crawford and Royal Liver Chief Executive, Steve Burnett.

For more information please contact Royal Liver Assurance:
Richard Edwards
0151 600 4268
richard.edwards@royal-liver.com

Lisa Walker
0151 600 4271
lisa.walker@royal-liver.com

Notes to editor:

Joseph’s winning poem:

THE EMPIRE THEATRE

Spectacular, noble, marvellous and grand!
Come and enter a magical land.
Imaginations set on fire!!
In our very own Liverpool Empire
This theatre is just great for plays.
What a wonderful way to spend your days.
Come and watch the fine big stage,
Famous actors all the rage.
The theatre’s in Liverpool’s town centre,
In 2008, all tourists will enter.
It’s full of culture, tradition and fun,
Musicals and plays that will run and run.
Buy a programme and creamy ice-creams,
Then enter the world of dreams.
Dancers, singers and costumes galore,
Jokes and laughter, “We want more!!”
No two nights are ever the same,
One week the Tweenies, one week Fame.
Noddy for the little ones, they love him so well,
And for the Grannies, there’s Glen Campbell!
I’ve been to the Empire many times to see
Christmas pantomimes so funny.
I love Shane Ritchie as scary Scrooge.
But my favourites were the Chuckle Brothers, they’re HUGE!!
“Oh yes he is”, “Oh no he isn’t”
“From me to you” and “No I didn’t”
And you won’t believe me but Elvis is alive and well!
I saw him with my Auntie Mel.
Then I had to see Come Dancing with Lionel Blair.
My Mum made me go, it wasn’t fair!
I normally sit in the stalls in row number three,
And look at the royal box, a Queen to see!
Oh the theatre is magical!!!
I would just like to say.
And the Empire’s the best!!
Hey, hey, hey, hey!!!

Royal Liver Assurance Limited is an incorporated Friendly Society and was founded in Liverpool in 1850. In 1911 it built and opened the landmark Royal Liver Building which continues to be its Head Office for its operations throughout the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.
Today, Royal Liver employs around 1,000 people, has approximately 3.4 million policies in force.
Royal Liver Assurance is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the UK and the Financial Regulator in Ireland.
Royal Liver is a member of the Association of Mutual Insurers (AMI).