9 July 2002: Young poets receive medals from The Queen, and the first garden party of Jubilee year takes place at Buckingham Palace Prize-winning young poets from around the UK gathered at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, 9 July 2002 for a very special presentation ceremony. All were winners in a poetry competition organised to commemorate The Queen's Golden Jubilee.  The Queen's Golden Jubilee Poetry Competition saw almost 4,000 children from across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland put pen to paper to commemorate 50 years of The Queen's reign. The themes of the entries, judged by a panel of leading poets chaired by Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, ranged from The Queen herself to particular incidents or historical events which happened during the past last 50 years. Entries were received in English, Scots Gaelic and Welsh. Gold, silver and bronze medal winners from three age groups - 7-11 year olds, 11-14 year olds, and 14-18 year olds - arrived at Buckingham Palace with their families and teachers to receive their medals from The Queen in person. First to receive his medal was Tony Managh, 11, from Wellington, Shropshire. He won top prize in the category for 7-11 year olds with a moving poem about the Aberfan disaster of 1966. Tony said: "I got the idea for the poem from our teacher, who was telling us about what happened in Aberfan that year." Other poems had humorous subject matter. Alexander Pirrie, 13, from Bideford, Devon, brought commemorative poetry bang up to date with a Royal rap called 'Boogie in the Garden.' It opens with the lines: "Hey there Queen! Gonna boogie in the garden. Boogie so loud Gonna need a Royal Pardon." Alexander said: "I had the idea when Party at the Palace was announced. And I had also read a poem called 'Gran, Can You Rap?'. I wrote my poem for homework: it took me about one and half hours. I had to make a few copies before I got it right." The gold medal in the senior category, for 14-18 year olds, was won by Laura Craigen, 18, from Oxford. Her poem imagined the thoughts of Burmese, the horse ridden by The Queen for so many years. All nine winners received a specially designed medal based on Raphael's 'Study for the Figure of Poetry', a drawing which has been in the Royal Collection for over 300 years. The fifty best poems have been published in a book entitled 'Fifty Jubilee Poems', profits from which will go to two nominated charities for young people: Barnardo's and I-CAN. All entries will be preserved for posterity in the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle. After the presentation the young poets enjoyed a reception where they met guests including the Poet Laureate, two of his fellow judges U. A. Fanthorpe and John Agard, and the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, the Right Hon. Estelle Morris. The full list of winners is: Age 7-11: Gold - Tony Managh, 11, of Park Junior School, Wellington, Shropshire; Silver - Louise Shaw, eight, of St. Martin's Church of England Primary School, Dorking, Surrey; Bronze - Eden Latham, 10, of St. John's Waltham Green Church of England Primary School, Fulham, London SW6. Age 11-14: Gold - Alexander Pirrie, 13, of Edgehill College, Bideford, Devon; Silver - Thomas Trevor-Roberts, 12, of Trevor-Roberts' Preparatory School, London NW3; Bronze - Claire Pelly, 12, of The Godolphin School, Salisbury, Wiltshire. Age 14-18: Gold - Laura Craigen, 18, of Wychwood School, Oxford; Silver - Nina Matheson, 17, of Tain Royal Academy, Ross-shire, Scotland; Bronze - Helen Nightingale, 17, of The Henley College, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. Read the winning poems. In the afternoon the theme of 50 years continued, when The Queen met some of several hundred guests born on 6 February 1952, the day of Her Majesty's Accession. The fifty-year-olds were present at the first garden party of Jubilee year in the gardens of Buckingham Palace. The 8,000 guests also included individuals nominated to attend by charities, professional associations, local and central government, the Civil Service, and the Armed Services. Also attending the event were The Prince of Wales, The Duke of York, The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. Heavy rain in the morning cleared up to allow the guests to enjoy the Palace gardens, which had recovered well from the two large concerts held during Jubilee Weekend. Guests partook of traditional garden party refreshments. Catering for garden parties is on a large scale and for each party the fare includes 20,000 sandwiches, 5,000 bridge rolls, 9,000 scones and 4,500 slices of Dundee cake.     Back to July index