Budding poet scoops Kindle in SERP competition

Congratulations to Samuel Joys from Merryland Primary School in Laindon, who is runner up in the SERP schools’ poetry competition.

Under the school poem competition – which formed part of Project EDWARD 2017 activities – SERP invited schools to submit the best poem written by one of their pupils, with entries restricted to one from each school.

Poems could be in any form but had to be a maximum of 200 words and relate to road safety (walking to school, driving, being a passenger, horse riding or cycling).

The poetry competition formed part of homework for year 3 and 4 classes at Merryfields Primary.

Samuel’s delightfully simple ditty (above) reads as follows:

There was a young man from Basildon

Who never did put his hazards on

Weather was a fog

He drove into a bog

And everyone wondered where he’d gone!

The competition winner was Maria Azzi, (below) a Year 6 pupil from St Thomas of Canterbury Primary School in Grays.

Maria’s poem, titled ‘I love to ride’, highlights a number of key safety messages for cyclists including taking extra caution when the ground is wet and remaining observant at times. It also highlights the importance of wearing a helmet.

Maria’s prize for winning was an iPad, while Samuel received a Kindle as runner up.

The schools’ competition was one of two organised by SERP as part of Project EDWARD 2017 – the other was open to all employees of Essex Highways, which comprises Essex County Council and Ringway Jacobs, as well as SERP members and partners.

The in-house competition was won by Eric Ovel, a maintenance technician at Essex County Council, and Jackie Roerig, a permitting officer at Ringway Jacobs, for their drink-drive related poem ‘I Wish’.

Project EDWARD
Project EDWARD (European Day Without A Road Death) 2017 took place on 21 September and looked to encourage drivers, riders and pedestrians to spare an extra thought for their safety.

Conceived by TISPOL – the European Traffic Police Network – in 2016, the long-term aim is to use Project EDWARD to spearhead significant and sustained reduction in death and serious injury on roads across the world.

In Essex, SERP supported Project EDWARD 2017 with more than a dozen road safety-related events across the county – as well as the poetry competitions.

The events staged across Essex ranged from young driver activities to pedestrian training, Bikeability cycle training, community speed watch and a ‘surround a town’ event in Chelmsford.

19 December 2017