Hundreds of children in Great Yarmouth have expressed their love for their mothers by writing poems.
The competition was organised by Market Gates Shopping Centre to celebrate Mother’s Day and 420 poems were submitted.
The styles of the entries varied hugely - some short and funny, others long and gushing - but every poem shared the common themes of love and gratitude.
Isabelle Lown from Ormesby Infant School was chosen as the winner in the 5-7 category and Ruby Smith from Freethorpe Community Primary School was chosen as the winner in the 8-11 category.
Isabelle’s poem opens with the lines, “My mum makes me so happy when she sings songs to me. My Mum is good at cooking, she makes spaghetti bolognese for tea.”
Ruby’s poem reads, “My mummy is so funny, I think she’s the best. My Mum is quite strange though, to bed she wears a vest.”
Dee Greenwood, deputy manager of Market Gates Shopping Centre, said: “The poems were of an exceptionally high quality which made picking a winner in each of the two age categories exceptionally difficult.”
Submissions were received from Rollesby Primary, Ormesby Village Infant and Junior, Freethorpe Primary, Filby Primary, Edward Worlledge, Catfield Primary and Alderman Swindell schools, with the latter chosen as the school which entered the best poems overall.
Isabelle and Ruby were accompanied by their mothers at Starbucks, where both children and their mothers were presented with a £25 voucher each.
The children read their poems to their mothers at the presentation and the poems were then shared on the shopping centre’s Facebook page, with the writer of the most-liked poem receiving an additional £25 for their mother and themselves.
Mrs Pulham from Alderman Swindell also attended and was presented with a cheque for £100 to acknowledge the overall quality of the entries from the school.
Mr Greenwood said: “When we ran a Mother’s Day portrait competition in 2016, we had some fabulous pictures drawn by local school children.
“This competition has confirmed that we not only have some excellent artists in Great Yarmouth but some very talented poets too.”
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