Announcing the Winner of the Skelmersdale Young Writers Competition…

Students from Skelmersdale’s St. James, Maharishi, Holland Moor, St. Thomas the Martyr, and Crow Orchard schools recently took part in a creative writing project that aimed to inspire young minds to explore the world of storytelling. The initiative, a collaboration between local author Susan Brownrigg and About the Town, encouraged children aged 7-11 (KS2) to craft 500-word short stories about Skelmersdale.

The response to this creative endeavour was overwhelming, and as the submission deadline of October 13th approached, young authors poured their hearts and creativity onto the pages, painting vivid pictures of their town, and offering unique perspectives and boundless imagination.

The participating students showcased remarkable talent, making the judging process no easy feat. The stories were brimming with imagination and a deep connection to their hometown!

After careful deliberation, the judges were thrilled to announce Faye Crowley, a student from Holland Moor Primary School, as the winner of the Skelmersdale Young Writers Competition.

Faye’s exceptional storytelling earned her a set of signed books by Susan Brownrigg, our esteemed local author and judge, which she will receive during a free visit to Holland Moor, where she will also deliver a talk offering invaluable insights and inspiration to students.

Acknowledging the remarkable talent in the competition, the 2nd and 3rd place runners-up will also see their stories published on the About the Town website. All submissions, whether winning or not, were celebrated at our Writer’s Showcase at the Concourse Shopping Centre on 18th November. To express our gratitude for their participation, all children who submitted work had the opportunity to collect a free selection box.

Our 1st Place goes to… Faye Crowley from Holland Moor Primary School for the story, “The Winning Piece”

On a Monday night in early October, I was at training with my team at JMO Sports Park, and I was playing great. I was scoring, tackling, showing off some fancy skills and having fun. Once the session had finished, I played with my friends for a bit, taking some freekicks trying to get the perfect shot off when suddenly, the manager of JMO came over and had a chat with my coach. She looked at the man concerned, she was asking many questions. Slowly, she glanced over to us and continued chatting.

Once the man had gone to the next pitch, my coach came over and told us all the news. It was bad. JMO were closing for 4-5 months due to the construction taking place on the pitch we train on. We can return after it has been built but where will we train for now? Luckily, Liverpool road’s Sunday league pitches were more than welcome to let us train there for the next couple of months.

A rumor has been told that the Lionesses, (the champions of Europe), are going to get the new training ground! I can’t believe it! Also, the ground will be the academy for the England girls team. This is unreal!

A few weeks later, we were training on the grass and it was all good but I just couldn’t wait to see the academy. I already have butterflies in my stomach and we still have weeks and weeks to go till we are back on the astro-turf. If I play well, I could have a great shot at getting scouted and into their summer academy! I saw their latest training video on YouTube and the U11 coach of the girls team said he was looking for a skillful, strong, versatile and fast forward. I’m literally the definition of skills and strength, I got this!

Once the construction was over, we thanked the manager of the Liverpool Road pitches and returned back to JMO. It looked amazing, the small stand was so cool! I couldn’t wait for train next week! The next 7 days passed as fast and lightning. Perfect! As I slipped my football boots on and got in the car, that’s when it hit me. I’m actually going to be playing next to the Lionesses! My dream was slowly coming true.

After I had finished all my drills, we went into a match. I was up top, I was more than ready to show what I’ve got. I chased every ball down, I tackled and won the ball back and I showed off some great skills. I got the ball from my midfield, I took an amazing touch to the side of the defender and I shot. Top bins! I jogged back to the half way line telling my teammates good job when the scout came over to me. He said the words I’ve always wanted to hear, I’m in the England U11 Girls team! Can you believe it? I’m in!

Judge Susan Brownrigg said of the winning Piece, “Faye’s brilliant story scored highly with me from the offset. I loved the first-person narrative, and I thought the voice of the main character was really strong. I felt like I was in the main character’s football boots as the drama unfolded.

I especially liked how Faye mixed short and long sentences to vary her writing and how she shared the character’s emotions throughout. I also thought the story idea was topical with an original choice of Skelmersdale location. Back of the net, Faye!”

Our 2nd place runner up is…. Nuala Summerfield from Crow Orchard Primary School with the story, “The Sinister Shadow of Skelmersdale”

The sun reflected on falling droplets all around as Joanne rushed through the rainy Tawd. Overhead, birds tweeted tunefully in a nest of hanging, dripping leaves. Water trickled slowly down below, from the stream, meandering through glistening trees.

Joanne could feel water dripping quietly from her hair, and trickling slowly down her neck. She somehow felt calm and relaxed, even though she was late for her shift at work.

Turning around toward a peacefully tweeting bird, Joanne spotted movement in the leaves and went to investigate.

She stumbled backward in surprise at what she found.

Once she had recovered from her shock, she peered closer again, to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating.

Sure enough, there was a figure that appeared to be a shadow ….. of nothing!

She screamed as the shadowy figure grabbed her leg with a long, pointy hand.

“Ahhhh! Get away from me!” Joanne screeched, scrabbling away. Frantically, she ran away from the creature, who was chasing after her with outstretched arms!

Running through a subway, Joanne stopped to catch her breath. Had she lost the figure? Barely a few seconds later, the shadow leapt out at Joanne!

“Ahhhh!”

Screaming, she tripped and fell straight into a puddle. She leapt up and ran straight into the, now darkening, Tawd.

Hidden in the shadows, the creature followed Joanne to the library.

Arriving at the Skelmersdale library, Joanne fought for breath, after sprinting the last minute. The forest had seemed to be dark and against her, surely the library would be a place of safety.

Joanne walked through the automatic doors, and stared in horror. Half of the books ….. were gone! And the workers were hidden behind the shelves, scared stiff.

Somehow, the black figure was there, hidden in a shadowy corner!

“How?” Joanne murmured in surprise.

Joanne thought fast and decided to act as soon as possible.

She could feel her heart thumping rapidly in her chest. She knew that what she was about to do was life threatening ….. but it was the only way. Joanne left in the direction of the Concourse …..

Minutes later, Joanne burst into the library to find it under hysteria’s grip. She brandished a pan and a fishing net. Books were being flung in all directions as Joanne quickly ascended the carpeted stairs up towards the balcony.

Hitting a lightbulb with the pan, Joanne was trying to demolish any source of light she could find.

The library was turning dark without the artificial lights. This was just what she wanted.

Quickly grabbing the net, she leapt onto the fence of the balcony. She jumped. It was as if everything had turned into slow motion. All around the motion full library Joanne could see bewildered faces of workers staring.

She landed with a loud crash. Crash!

“Argh!” she screamed in anger at the shadow. The shadow was now under the fishing net and scrabbling frantically to escape the engulfing darkness of the library. Joanne ordered everyone to grab as many library books as they could and pile them on top of the bulging net.

“That should hold it down for now,” she thought to herself grimly. She grabbed another book and threw it on for good measure.

Joanne and the workers celebrated with the luxurious chip shop curry at the end of the disastrous week.

Joanne found the stolen books a few days later….. in abandoned trolleys in the jungle-like Tawd. Typical!

Our 3rd Place Runner up is… Olivia Rawsthorn from Maharishi School with the story, “The Story of Skelmersdale”

One Saturday morning Olivia and Ruby had a play date. Olivia’s mum took them to the library with Olivia’s little sister Evie.

At the library they go to the colouring table. While colouring, Olivia felt something on her foot, she looked down and screamed, it was a giant spider! As big as her head! The spider crawled away into a dark corner. Olivia, Ruby and Evie followed it. In the dark corner Olivia found a book. She picked it up and turned it around and there was a big eye stirring at her! She screamed and threw the book. Ruby went to pick it up and tried to open it but it wouldn’t open.

They took the book to the librarian and asked ‘how do you open this book?’ The librarian handed them a piece of paper and said ‘you need a key’. Evie opened the piece of paper which said ‘Go to the Concourse and in the Pirate Park there will be a key’.

The girls ran to the Concourse, straight to the Pirate Park. They rummaged through the different parts of the park and in the treasure chest they found a key which also had an eye on it.

Olivia grabbed the key and the 3 friends run back to the library. They put the key on the book and it absorbed into the book. The book then zooms up into the air. Olivia grabs it and pulls it down onto the table, it opens to a page called ‘Alien Killer!’ They read the Alien Killer spell, they all look at each other and laugh saying ‘that was a waste of time!’

They walked out of the library and see lots of people running and screaming shouting ‘Aliens, help!’

The girls see aliens running out of the swimming baths – there are 3 of them who were like squidgy octopuses about the size of a bear. They were green and purple and sucking people up into their tentacles.

The girls ran back into the library, grab the book and run back out. Olivia chants the magic Alien Killer spell:

Alien manos veen

Then aliens won’t be seen

Alien mandoss vettals

Turn aliens into petals

They looked shocked as it didn’t work!

Evie holds Olivia and Ruby’s hands and says ‘we’ll all try together’. They say the spell again proudly but nervously. Repeating the magic words… and then the aliens rise up into the air – they disintegrate slowly into petals and fall from the sky.

Everyone cheers, the girls have saved the day!

The End….

or is it???

A huge thank you to or sponsors of this project, Susan Brownrigg, Enviroseal & Rainwater.