LAST CHANCE - POETRY TAKES CENTRE STAGE IN SCHOOLS FOR BBC COMPETITION

POETRY is about to take centre stage in primary schools across the UK for the launch of an exciting BBC competition to find the pupil who can best recite well known poems off by heart.

Every primary school teacher in the UK can put forward one 7 to 11 year old pupil from their school to enter the contest and see if they can clinch the coveted title.

But it’s not for the faint hearted! The pupil chosen to represent their school, will then do battle with their peers in regional heats which will be held in libraries up and down the UK.

The nationwide group of poetry performers will then be whittled down to just 12 finalists who’ll compete at a final compered by Jeremy Paxman during The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival next April (2009).

To help them improve their performance all the finalists will be taken through their paces during a master class with actors and poets. The winner will be awarded an Off By Heart trophy and his or her school will also receive a prize.

The whole process will be documented in a one off 90 minute film by independent production company Silver River and will be shown on BBC Two.

But there’s more to reciting poetry than just being able to memorise William Wordsworth’s musings or Roald Dahl’s rhymes. The eventual winner of the UK contest will have to show that they not only understand the poems in question, but they will have to prove they can perform them too.

Daisy Goodwin, who’s edited eight poetry anthologies and is Head of Silver River says, “Learnt young, poems will stay in the head for life, adding lustre to the good moments and illumination in the bad. Who knows how many hitherto unpromising nine-year olds may discover a fluency and confidence that they never knew they possessed and find themselves on the path to greatness?”

To enter the competition teachers should visit:- www.bbc.co.uk/schools/teachers/offbyheart.

The closing date for entries is 19 December 2008!

Poems to learn Off By Heart:-

1. Alligator by Grace Nichols

2. The Way Through The Woods by Rudyard Kipling

3. The Pig by Roald Dahl

4. Daffodils by William Wordsworth

5. The Owl and The Pussycat by Edward Lear

6. Leisure by W H Davies

7. Talking Turkeys by Benjamin Zephaniah

8. Matilda by Hilaire Belloc

9. The Tyger by William Blake

10. A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns

11. The Listeners by Walter de la Mare

12. The Walrus and The Carpenter by Lewis Carroll

13. The King’s Breakfast by A A Milne

14. Macavity: The Mystery Cat by T S Eliot

15. The Lake Isle of Innisfree by W B Yeats

How to learn verse:-

1. Read the poem to yourself.

2. Now read the first line of the poem out loud. Take your eyes from the page and immediately say the line again. Glance back to make sure you got it right. If you made a mistake, try again. Now do the same with the second line. Repeat the procedure for every line in the poem.

3. Go back to the beginning. This time, read the first two lines out loud, look away and repeat them aloud. Check. If you made a mistake, try again. Now move on to the next two lines, going through the whole poem two lines at a time.

4. Repeat the process three lines at a time, then four lines at a time, then five and then six. By the sixth pass, no matter how long the poem, you will have it memorised.

5. Recite the whole poem just before you go to bed at night.

6. Crucial: stop thinking about the poem. Your sleeping mind is very important for memory.

7. The next day, you should find (after a glance at the first line to bump-start your memory) that you can recite the whole poem.

Santa Watch WebCam Live Again For 2008!

OVER the last few years we have had a webcam facing the havens to keep an eye out for Santa.  Once again we will be putting our camera live, so all the kids on Merseyside can keep an eye out for the man himself.   We will be helped by NASA and ESA as we have the had over the last two years as they track his every move,,,  We are also running an interview with Santa in next weeks issue...  So keep your eyes on here this Christmas!

Rotary Club of Formby - Carol Wagon Routes 2008

Wednesday, 10 December 2008

Start at Royal Hotel at 6.00pm. - Liverpool Road; Alt Road; Monks Drive; Alt Road; Abbots Way; Abbots Close; Priory Close; Fountains Way; Friars Walk; Seafield; Ditchfield; Beaufort; Marshall Way; Formby Fields; The Nurseries; Hawthorne Crescent; Halfway Cheapside; Redgate; Redgate Drive; Alt Road; Byland Close; Crowland Way; Whalley Drive; Bolton Close; Selby Drive; Romsey Avenue; Cleve Way; Buckfast Drive; Battle Way; Cartmel Drive; Kirkstall Drive; Tintern drive; Fountains Way - END

Friday, 12 December 2088

Start Railway Hotel at 6.00pm. - Formby Street; Windsor Road; Park Road; Park Avenue; Windsor Road; Balmoral Drive; Sandringham Road; Hampton Road; Balmoral Drive; Edinburgh Road; Osborne Road; Lancaster Road; Belvedere Road; Altcar Lane - Halfway point - Ashcroft Road; Liverpool Road; Marina Road; Kent Road; Liverpool Road; Birkey Lane; Dickinson Road; Norburn Crescent; Dickinson Road - END

Sunday, 14 December 2008

Start Harington Road Shops at 5.00pm.  - Wicks Green; Warren Green; Ince Crescent; Warren Green; Harington Green; Wicks Green; Wicks Crescent; Wicks Green; Larkhill Lane; Dunes Drive; Gorse Way; Squirrel Green; Proctor Road; Harington Road; Birch green; Oakfield Drive; Barkfield Lane; St Peters Avenue - Halfway point - Firs Link; Firs Crescent; Holmwood Drive;Barkfield Lane; Vicarage Road; Holmfield Park; The Evergreens; Holmwood Gardens; Weld Drive; Beech Drive; Holmwood Close; Harington Road - END

Monday 15 December 2008

Start at Bay Horse at 6.00pm. - Church Road; Davenham Road; Church Road; Alderson Crescent; Church Road; Formby Gardens; Old Mill Lane; Gores Lane; Graburn Road; Gores Lane; Old Town Lane; Freshfield Road; St George's Road - Halfway point - Freshfield Road; Marsh Brows; Granton Close; Marsh Brows; Brows Lane; Rosemary lane; Lonsdale Road; Rosemary Lane - END

Wednesday 17 December 2008

Start Junction of Paradise Lane / Heatherways at 6.00pm. - Paradise Lane; Kenton Close; Paradise Lane; St Annes Road; West Lane; Brewery Lane; West Lane; Stanley Road; Rimmers Avenue; Massams Lane; Green Lane; Timms Lane; Gores Lane -
Halfway point - Gregsons Avenue; Argameols Road; Victoria Road; Freshfield Road; Grange Lane; Gores Lane; Piercefield Road; Green Lane; Wrigleys Lane; Canterbury Close; Wrigleys Lane; Wrigleys Close - END

Sunday, 21 December 2008

Start Junction of Kirklake Road / Sefton Road at 5.00pm.  - Ward Avenue; Brooks Road; Bushbys Lane; St Lukes Drive; Church Green; St Lukes Drive; Bushbys Lane; Lime Tree Way; Chestnut Way; Beechwood Drive; Elm Drive; Beechwood Drive; Bushbys Lane; Pinewood Avenue; Jubilee Road; Cambridge Road; Stapleton Road; Mayfield Avenue; Stapleton Road; Elsworth Close; Stapleton Road - Halfway point - Stapleton Road; Barton Heys Road; Eccles Road; Carrs Crescent West; Elson Road; Carrs Crescent; Crescent Avenue; Andrews Lane; Andrews Close; Rostron Crescent; Elson Road; Foster Road; Sealand Avenue; Queens Road; Kirklake Road; Sefton road; Kirklake Road - END

Monday, 22 December 2008

Start in Brackenway - Gorsefield; Brackenway; Deansgate Lane North; Longton drive; Lingdales; Hawksworth Drive; Southport Road; The Spinney; Ryeground Lane; New Road; Church Road; Paradise lane; Heatherways; Heathfield Close; Spymers Croft; Brackenway - END