The children’s programme for LitFest 2022 started with a bang when over 60 children from Marlborough St Mary’s CE Primary School sang on the steps of Marlborough Town Hall to officially open the festival. LitFest also provided local schoolchildren with six free schools events in Pewsey and Marlborough for at least 1,000 children and young people from 19 local schools. Bestselling children’s author, Dame Jacqueline Wilson, had her young audience hanging on every word in Memorial Hall, Marlborough College and children’s author Morag Hood got the little ones drawing along to her stories and author Tracey Corderoy enchanted slightly older children with her funny chapter books. And for the first time we had free pop-up storytelling in the Merchant’s House garden and St Mary’s churchyard.
PRIMARY SCHOOLS COMPETITION
Marlborough LitFest runs an annual competition with local primary schools. This year 13 local schools took part, with nearly 800 entries in total. The 2022 competition was centred around the Platinum Jubilee and invited children to write a story using words or pictures, about the theme of ‘The Day the Queen Came to Stay’. Seven prizes of £25 White Horse Bookshop book tokens each were given to the winning entries, donated by competition sponsor Haine & Smith, the opticians in Marlborough.
The winners were: Franklin Barnes, Year 4 at St Francis School, Pewsey; Eleanor Bell, Year 3 at Pewsey Primary; Iliad Brady, Year 6 at Easton Royal Primary; Chloe Hewitt, Year 7 (now at St John’s Academy), previously at Marlborough St Mary’s Primary; Astrid McCraig, Year 2 Great Bedwyn Primary; Beatrix Meagor, Year 2 at Burbage Primary; Tilly Stacy, Year 4 at Great Bedwyn Primary.
Laura Briscall, Marlborough LitFest Schools Co-ordinator, said: “We were thrilled with the number of competition entries. The Queen’s Jubilee seems to have really inspired the children this year and the level and variety of creativity was fantastic!”