Lochaber schools Wild Poetry winners announced

The Trust is delighted to share the winning entries to our 2021 Wild Poetry competition.

Despite the challenges created by home schooling during the pandemic, there was a flood of entries from pupils from across Lochaber with around 200 English and Gaelic poems from 11 primary schools.

Our annual Wild Poetry competition is run alongside the Fort William Mountain Festival and entries are normally displayed in the exhibition space at the end of February. Due to restrictions, this year’s exhibition was unable to go ahead but we are sharing the winning poems online and at The Highland Bookshop, Fort William, when it reopens.

The Wild Poetry competition is open to all primary school pupils in Lochaber who want to tell us what makes our wild world so wonderful. The current lockdown restrictions have given us all a new appreciation of nature and how it helps us both physically and mentally, the poems submitted by these young people reflected this. It was so wonderful to read how time spent in nature has helped so many young people during this difficult time. 

The winners are:

English P1-3

1^st – Cooper Spence, Inverlochy Primary

2^{nd –} Gracie Stafford, Kilchoan Primary

3^rd – Eilidh Ross, Lundavra Primary

English P4-7

1^{st –} Edie Crosbie, Kilchoan Primary

2^{nd –} Sine Grant, Invergarry primary

3^{rd –} Lola Foster, Arisaig primary

Gaelic P1-4

1^{st –} Anna Fothergill, Bunsgoil Mhalaig

2^{nd –} Aiden Mclean, Bunsgoil Mhalaig

3^{rd –} Muireann Beck, Bunsgoil Mhalaig

Gaelic P5-7

1^{st –} Lucia Young, Bunsgoil Mhalaig

2^{nd –} Ella Summers, Bunsgoil Mhalaig

3^{rd –} Emma Macleod, Bunsgoil Mhalaig

It has been a real privilege to read about how pupils in Lochaber interact with wild places. Whether it was spending time on their bikes in nature or simply just a walk in their local woodland, each poem offered a special insight into why nature is so important to us all. It was a difficult task to decide the winners.

Some stood out because of their captivating subjects. Others attracted us with their descriptive words, flow and rhythm, conjuring up that special quality of an animal, or a place, or the feel of taking part in something outdoors in our wonderful wild weather. Well done to everyone who took part!

• Huge thanks to all the pupils, schools and teachers; plus The Highland Bookshop, Fort William, for its kind donation of book tokens as a prize; and to the High Life Highland Countryside Rangers who helped judge the poems.