Year 8 student Amy Attrill was presented with a cheque for £500 as the Under 18 Winner for MP Tony Baldry’s Jubilee Poetry Competition. Her poem ‘The Bicester Twister’ was chosen out of 150 Under 18 entries as best representing Bicester in the Jubilee year. Judges Tony Baldry, Jason Slaymaker (Chairman of the Bicester Jubilee Steering Committee) and Nigel French (owner of the Coles Bookstore) were impressed by Amy’s excellent prose.
Bicester Community College Teacher of English and organiser of the student entries, Mr O’Neill, accompanied Amy to the presentation at the Coles Bookstore with her parents, which Mr Baldry attended. Mr Baldry said ‘We have had an impressive number of entries ranging from raps, lyrics and poems. There was a lot of optimism and a lot of creativity in the poems. The decision was really difficult.’
Amy penned her words with only 24 hours before the deadline, as she read about the twister spotted in the town. ‘ I looked at the newspaper and quite liked the idea of having a twister in the poem. I started it at school and thought about it overnight and finalised it in the morning.’ Amy’s poem was also shared on the Bicester Jubilee website, where it received widespread coverage in the local press.
The Bicester Twister
Bicester may not seem like the most exciting town,
But unusual things are happening all around,
One day a guinea fowl appeared in my school,
Everyone was saying,
”Wow! That’s cool!”
A rare bird here in our midst,
Probably last spotted during the Blitz.
The other day there was a twister,
Hanging ominously over Bicester,
Black clouds were looming,
The thunder was booming,
Trees were blowing in the storm,
Hail stones crashing on the lawn,
The sky lit up from a flash of lightning.
I’ve never witnessed anything so frightening!
Now we’re going eco, now we’re going green,
It’s not just Bicester Village that will have to be seen,
Designer shoes and handbags all in pink,
An eco-town, low energy houses, a new rail link,
What do the people of Bicester really think?
Restaurants, shops, a cinema with seven screens,
New development everywhere or so it seems,.
Soon it will be a weekend of Jubilee celebration,
Bicester, a part of our great British nation,
The flame en-route to Olympic glory,
Wow, what a fantastic story!
Union Jack flags flying,
Children frantically waving,
As the Olympic torchbearer pounds the paving,
Through the streets of the exciting town of Bicester,
A guinea fowl, an eco-town, Olympic torch and a twister!
Amy Attrill
