Aspiring writers from two schools in the Leominster district were congratulated by Leominster Rotary Club President Peter Deakin as he awarded prizes and certificates to the top three competitors in the Rotary International Young Writer Competition.

Presentations were made in school assemblies to Vida Thorpe of Kingsland School who was placed first and to the runners up, Lucy Mould and Sophie Stead, from St Michael's School, Bodenham. The top three entrants were congratulated on their lively imagination, their fluency and their writing skills while the overall quality from both schools was commended by the judges. Vida's work now goes on to the next round of competition which includes entries from Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester.

Rotary International Young Writer competition is a first for the Leominster club and was organised by Past- President David Farrell.

Last year's visit to Leominster of the new District Governor Jan Harris (the first woman District Governor) sparked a thought in David's mind when she mentioned the various young people's competitions in Rotary. As a retired teacher of English he thought that the Young Writer competition could attract a good response from Leominster and district schools. Three schools expressed an interest though one later withdrew asking instead to be included in next year's competition when it is hoped that more local schools will rise to the challenge in even greater numbers.

Helping David with the judging was a Past-President of the club Keith Howard, a retired Headmaster, the President Peter Deakin and his wife Maeve.

The Leominster Club have also recently been involved in the Rotary Young Chef competition.