Adult winners Barry Meacham (far left) and Dawn Beek (far right) with Sam Kirkby (middle left) and Liz Magee (middle right) from Poole Poetry Group © Nick Ashby
Junior winners Anna O’Neill (L) and Alexandra Pilz (R) with one of the trail boards sponsored by Nationwide Building Society © Nick Ashby
The winners of the spring poetry competition held at Kingston Lacy earlier this year have just been announced at a prize-giving ceremony.
The National Trust estate near Wimborne asked visitors to write a poem relating to spring and encouraged them to explore the gardens to gain inspiration. Around the garden there was a trail of classic poems written by well-known poets such as Lord Byron and Beatrix Potter, along with local poets including Thomas Hardy and Viola Bankes, one of the children who used to live at Kingston Lacy.
A wide range of poems was submitted and the National Trust worked with Poole Poetry Group to carry out a shortlisting and judging process. The adult category was won by Dawn Beek with her poem entitled ‘Springtime at Kingston Lacy’. Second place went to Briar Kit Esme with ‘Spring there will be a moment’ and third place went to Barry Meacham with his poem ‘Spring’.
The joint first place winners in the children’s category went to Alexandra Pilz, aged eight, with her poem entitled ‘Kingston Lacy’ and Anna O’Neill, aged 11, with ‘My DandeLION’.
Sam Kirkby, one of the judges from Poole Poetry Group, said: “Well done to everyone who entered the competition. It is really wonderful that you can sit down at eight years old and write something like the poems that have been created. Poetry has taken me all over the country and I love encouraging children to pursue this beautiful skill.”
The winners enjoyed a morning at Kingston Lacy and were treated to a tour of the house followed by lunch in the Stables Restaurant. Each winner received a range of prizes including poetry books, fridge magnets and gift cards.
Rob Greenhalgh, Visitor Experience Officer at Kingston Lacy, said: “It was wonderful to see how the re-awakening of the garden for spring could inspire so many poems and it really encouraged people to develop connections with special places such as Kingston Lacy. The gardens here are beautiful and constantly changing through the seasons and it is great that we have inspired people to pick up a pen and write some poetry – many had never written poems before this competition.”
The poetry trail around the garden was made possible with funding by Nationwide Building Society, and Poole Poetry Group organised a series of drop in workshops to help and inspire people to write poetry.
Adult category – first prize
Springtime at Kingston Lacy by Dawn Beek.
A warm, beautiful day
And what do I see?
The wonder of springtime
Wrapped around me.
A riot of colour,
Up high and below
Rhododendrons, azaleas,
Camellias on show
Fresh green upon the trees
Replacing the brown
Clear brightness and life
Spring wearing her crown.
The birdsong and blossom
Fill our whole being
Bombarding our senses
The sounds and the seeing
Soft white cotton clouds
Against sky of blue
Pink and white horsechestnuts
Bedecked for me and you
This wonderful place here
Is tended with care
So we can all wonder
And we can all share.
Child category – joint first prize
Kingston Lacy by Alexandra Pilz
The house is very luxurious,
It makes me very curious
To touch interesting things,
But then an alarm bings
And staff come running along,
To see what is wrong.
They are also very kind
So they don’t really mind.
The pigs in the pigsty,
Grunt as I cry,
Poor things,
I wish I could lend them wings.
I’m pretty sure they won’t fly away
Because I think they’d really like to stay,
To eat some more delicious food
Which might at least change their moods.
But as I’m about to go,
To a very good show,
I am sad to leave this poem here,
For I’d like to have it near.
My DandeLION by Anna O’Neill
My dandeLION is the best,
Better than your ‘lion’-
Its silver mane is swept by a roar of wind,
It’s surely the King of the Forest…
My dandeLION is the best,
Better than your ‘lion’-
Because MY dandeLION can tell the time-
AND it doesn’t even have a clock…
My dandelion is the best,
Better than your ‘lion’-
And that’s
FINAL
