Full steam ahead for budding young writers

The Friends of Littleborough Stations has launched a writing competition and budding young writers are being encouraged enter.

The competition is open to year five and six children who attend primary schools in Rochdale. The competition theme is railways and the prize is a family day out on a steam train.

To be in with a chance of winning the prize children need to submit a railway related story.

A spokesperson for The Friends of Littleborough Stations, said: “The subject must be railway related but can be on any topic, for example a report of a day out or an imagined event.

“The format may be prose or verse; if prose it must be at least 150 words long and if verse it should have at least twenty lines divided into verses.”

Competition entries must be submitted before 31 March 2012 and must be accompanied by a letter from a teacher on school notepaper certifying the authorship of the work.

Entries will be judged by the Committee of The Friends of Littleborough Stations and at least one outside judge, hopefully from Northern Rail.

The three entries judged to be the best will be submitted to Northern Rail for inclusion in their magazine “Connections” or another publication at their discretion.

The three winners’ work will be displayed on the platform display boards at Littleborough and Smithy Bridge stations for the summer months.

The top winning entry will be awarded the prize of a day out for a family (2 adults and up to 3 children), on one of the Special Vintage days to be held during June and July 2012, donated by the Worth Valley Railway and the Vintage Vehicles Trust

This includes travel in the specially restored vintage carriages behind a steam engine and entry to the Museum buildings.

Entries complete with name, address and school name and certifying letter should be sent to before 31 March:

The Secretary, Friends of Littleborough stations
2 Schofield Street
Littleborough
OL15 0JS