The Ross winners of the Age Concern Seasonal Scribbles writing competition were presented with their prizes by the Mayor of Ross, Councillor John Davies, at the Ross Heritage Centre last Thursday, January 15th.

Entrants were invited to write a short story or poem on the theme of Christmas Memories and they were judged locally by Mary Sinclair Powell, Manager of the Heritage Centre, Tessa Lysaght of Ross Books and representatives at John Kyrle High School.

The winner was Pat Rollnick who wrote a beguiling story about Christmas mice, Stephanie Presdee came second with a longer, heartrending narrative about an east European refugee, and third was Erika Bluth's account of experiencing Two Christmas Eves, one in east Germany and the other in west Germany.

Mary Sinclair Powell said: "I thoroughly enjoyed judging this competition although it was very difficult to choose, it was surprising how close all the entries were."

Janet Macdonald of Age Concern said she appreciated all the support they had received for the project. "I am grateful to the Mayor for agreeing to come here and present the prizes and to Ross Books, Colemans and the Onestop Stationers for donating the prizes.

"I am also grateful to Sue, Alison, and Hilary, who have worked so hard at Age Concern, and all the work that went in originally to get the project going. And of course my thanks go to the writers of all those lovely stories."

The Mayor of Ross, Councillor John Davies, also praised the writers of the stories. He said: "In this modern age it is great to see people still putting pen to paper."

Winning writer, Pat Rollnick, told The Ross Gazette that she belongs to the U3A writing group which has 11 members. They meet at the Ryfield Centre on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month at 2 pm.

The top three entries were read at The Ryefield Centre Christmas Day lunch and all the entries can be viewed at Ross Heritage Centre.