I was delighted to visit some schools today with surprises for some very talented young designers. Hanima Ahmed, aged 9, from Laygate Community School, had no idea that I had chosen her beautiful Christmas tree design as my official card for 2016. With the help of her teachers at the school, who kept the secret, I called in to the morning assembly and announced that Hanima had won first prize in my annual Christmas card competition. Hanima won an iPad Mini, kindly donated by O2 South Shields. Hanima’s design has now been printed, with support from sponsors JML, and sent out to hundreds of people across the town.
I then went on to Biddick Hall Infant School to surprise my next winner, Macy Finn, aged 6, with some tickets for the Dunes Adventure Island, which the Dunes had kindly sponsored. Macy’s design was really jolly, with lots of snow flakes. Macy and her classmates treated me to two lovely Christmas carols and I enjoyed their amazing Christmas jumpers.
Finally, I dropped in to Bamburgh School to meet 10 year-old Ronnie Scarlett. Ronnie’s card design had really made me smile with his happy snowman and I think he was pleased with his family treat tickets prize, kindly donated by Colman’s of South Shields.
I would like to thank all of the children from schools across the town who sent their fantastic entries to me. I thoroughly enjoyed looking through them all. It was really difficult to choose the winning designs, as the children had worked so hard on their cards. I hope you all have a very Happy Christmas and that you enjoy your school holidays.