Mark Gillespie presents reading competition winners with prizes
United keeper Mark Gillespie went back to William Howard School last Friday to meet the winners of the Summer Reading Competition which was launched ahead of the first game of the Euro 2016 Championships which kicked off in France at the beginning of June.
The competition, designed to encourage boys and girls to read books, magazines and newspapers, was deemed a huge success by William Howard's Literacy Lead Tracey Hill.
"We had almost 150 entries and the standard and quality of the book reviews produced was fantastic," she said. "We went into the project hoping that the involvement of professional players from our local football club would encourage our students to read and that has most definitely been the case.
"The positive video messages the players sent to the school have been played over and over again and the end result has been that our children have read books by authors we hadn't even considered.
"Our overall winner produced a fantastic, in-depth review of his chosen book but, it has to be said, everybody who took part was a winner because they all put a huge amount of effort into the work they produced."
Entries from boys and girls of all ages included written and typed book reviews, top trump cards and comic strips.
The winners were selected by Carlisle United and the four house winners received a signed football, presented by Mark Gillespie last Friday.
The overall winner, Elkan Hershon, will be invited to the first home game of the season at Brunton Park where he will be presented with a signed home shirt. Elkan’s review will also feature in the Match Day Programme.
Mpingo Winner and Overall Winner - Elkan Hershon (The Complete Molesworth) - Year 7
Runners Up: Elliot Potts (1984), Ross Mattinson (Mr Strong), Maisie McCone (Paper Towns), James Lawrence (Lord of the Flies).
Ndizi Winner - Lewis Bell - (Adidas Ace) - Year 8
Runners Up : Henry Dunning (Demon Thief), Amy Askew (Mockingbird), Megan Daniels (Woman in Black), Lee Mitchinson (There’s a boy in the girls bathroom).
Acacia Winner - Lauren Craig - (Tomorrow when the War Began) - Year 10
Runners Up: Annie Booker (Shiver), Molly Robson (The Football Academy), Sade Burke (The Boy who cried Wolf), Bethany Jackson (A Song of Ice and Fire).
Baobab Winner - Harry Sidaway - (The Hobbit) Year 8
Runners Up: Katie Hill (A Solitary Blue), Rosie Hillary (Eleanor and Park), Oli Craggs (Wonder), Lucy Sisson (Secret Garden).