Ysgol Llanllechid from Bethesda and St. Peter’s R.C. Primary School in Cardiff are the joint winners of the special competition for schools organized by Glamorgan County Cricket Club to celebrate their centenary of being a first-class county, with the pupil’s work being viewed today by HRH Prince Charles, the Club’s patron, during a visit to their headquarters at Sophia Gardens to mark the anniversary year.
With Glamorgan having been elevated to the first-class ranks in 1921, the Welsh county invited schools across Wales to take part in their anniversary celebrations with an open call for creative interpretations celebrating cricket in Wales and Glamorgan’s special anniversary. Ysgol Llanllechid have won the section for video and film entries, whilst St. Peter’s provided a range of material in the literacy category. “We had over 120 entrants for this year’s competition,” said Andrew Hignell, Glamorgan’s Heritage and Education Co-ordinator, “and the standard of entries in all of the various categories was very high.”
Ysgol Llanllechid produced a bilingual film highlighting some of the key skills for cricket, interwoven with action shots of some great Glamorgan players. (Click here to view their video) Gwenan Davies Jones, the school’s Head said “We are a rural primary school located in Snowdonia, where the team and community spirit is strong. But we are also a very outward-looking school, proactively engaged with links worldwide, including with India where pupils share their passion for cricket.”
“The children had tremendous fun preparing the video and for us, as educators, it was rewarding in itself to observe the pupils’ ability to combine their creative, IT, sports and communication skills in such an effective way. We always encourage Ysgol Llanllechid pupils to think outside the box and to reach for any goal they set their hearts on, and being the joint winners of this competition is a fantastic example of achieving the unthinkable. We’re all bowled over!”
The winning entries from the Year 5 pupils at St. Peter’s included a cricket haiku plus various posters and a celebration rap, with Gareth Rein, their Headteacher, saying “The children and staff members at St. Peter’s School were delighted to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Glamorgan being a first-class county. Our pupils had great fun in writing poems and making posters, and they were thrilled to learn that they had been successful with their entries.”
“Being at Glamorgan’s headquarters today for the royal visit has been a wonderful opportunity for our pupils to not only visit the superb facilities at Sophia Gardens but also to take part in this special event and to proudly show their winning entries to HRH Prince Charles. These will remain very cherished memories for our pupils.”
The following schools were also highly commended for their entries to the competition - Abertillery Learning Community, Cefn Cribwr Primary School, Ysgol Parc-yr-Rhun from Ammanford and Ystruth Primary School in Blaina.
“We have run similar competitions before with primary and secondary schools throughout Wales,” added Andrew Hignell, “including the celebration of the Ashes Test matches being played at Cardiff and Glamorgan playing host to international games in the Champions Trophy and ICC World Cup. However, I think that the overall standard of entries for this year’s competition was the highest we have ever known, with the joint winners creating some exceptional pieces of work which we were delighted to show to the Prince of Wales during his visit to our headquarters, and which we can subsequently share online and in the CC4 Museum of Welsh Cricket.”