THIRTEEN out of the 15 primary schools supported by Hunterston Rotary Club have enrolled in this year's annual Literacy Art competition.

And the news would have delighted the late Eddie Shiels, who set up the competition alongside his wife Pat, a retired head teacher.

Eddie was a member of Ardrossan and Saltcoats Rotary club, and latterly an honorary member of Hunterston Rotary.

Over 20 years ago, Eddie and Pat came up with the idea of creating a new competition, based on reading, that would engage children with their local libraries.

It was unique in that, it would not be between school, but run within each school.

Ardrossan and Saltcoats Rotary ran the competition up until the club folded due to the lack of numbers.

Four of the remaining members proposed that they merge with Hunterston Rotary.

One of the key factors in the merger was that Hunterston would extend their coverage beyond West Kilbride and Seamill to include the Three Towns, thus continuing the link with the schools.

Since then Largs Rotary Club disbanded and the Hunterston club decided to include the Largs schools so the competition continues to grow.

The format is very simple. There are three categories in each school, with a suitable book for each category being selected by school, there is no requirement for all schools to choose the same book.

The categories are:

  • P1-3: A drawing depicting what the child remembers best about the book.
  • P 4-5: A drawing and a short account of what the child likes best about the book.
  • P 6-7: A review of the book.

Teachers judge the best three in each category in their own school and these are forwarded to the local library where the nine final entries from each school are put on display by the library staff.

The three winners, one from each category in each school, are then selected by the library staff, who have the difficult task of judging the fantastic drawings and book reports.

The culmination of the competition will be in a number of prizegiving events in all the local libraries; Ardrossan, Saltcoats, Stevenston, West Kilbride and Largs.

Certificates will be awarded to all the finalists in each category in each school and a prize of £10 and a winner’s certificate awarded to the best in each category in each school.

This year’s prize giving events will take place during the last week of November and the first week in December.

Final dates and times will be notified as soon as possible. Pupils, their families and teachers are all welcome to attend these events.

Sadly, Eddie passed away recently, but at his funeral, mention was made of how proud he was at having created this competition.

Club secretary Alex Blair was able to tell Pat that the competition was still going on, and this year more schools than ever before were taking part.

The club and the libraries are keen to see this competition continue and, with the cooperation of the schools, they hope to carry on for as long as possible.