One West Kirby Announce Winners of their ‘What IS YouR Vision’ Competition

A local Community Group, One West Kirby, has announced the winners of their ‘What Is Your Vision’ Competition.  The Competition offered 14-18 year olds, attending West Kirby schools, the opportunity to be creative about a future West Kirby through art, design technology, photography and creative writing.  

Competition Organiser, Iona Horsburgh of One West Kirby, said “We are anticipating that Wirral Borough Council will shortly commission a Masterplan for West Kirby and the views of young people are often forgotten in these consultation processes.  We wanted to make sure that our local pupils were given a platform to present their ideas to experts and to show off their incredible creativity”. 

There were over 300 entries and the shortlisted work was judged by a panel of experts including award winning photographers, architects, artists and an internationally renowned scriptwriter alongside local Councillors.

One West Kirby Chair, David Rawlinson, said "We were delighted to engage with pupils from West Kirby and Calday Grange Grammar Schools. The quality of the pupil's work and their creative thinking was incredibly impressive and we are hoping that future plans for West Kirby will take note their work.”

Award winning architect and Judge, Adam Hall, said of the Design Technology submissions:

“Along with the other judges, I was incredibly impressed with the range and creativity of architectural design ideas that were presented to us.  The winning ideas provided an exciting insight into the minds of the local young people of West Kirby and how they see a future vision for the town as an attractive, sustainable, green place to live, work and play.”

Stephen Gray, Headteacher of Calday Grange Grammar School said “It made me immensely proud to see such amazing ideas put forward by our students. There is no doubt that this was an enriching experience for those involved and I thank the team from One West Kirby for coming into school and spending such valuable time with our students. It is a pleasure to be part of such a project.”

Judges included three local Councillors who were impressed with the quality and ideas of the pupils. Cllr Simon Mountney said:

“I was delighted to see the depth of thought that had gone into the designs and concepts the students submitted. We should never underestimate the depth of feeling and insight the younger generations have about our environment and architecture.”

 A clear theme that came through in the submissions was an awareness by the pupils about the environmental impact of their design ideas and a desire to ensure future developments expanded on the concept of green technologies and sustainability.  The pupils also fed back that they felt that West Kirby lacked colour and many of their ideas showed buildings in a new light.

Simeon Clarke, Headteacher of West Kirby Grammar School said  “We are thrilled that two of our students have been announced as joint winners and we congratulate them on their success. This achievement underlines our belief that these students have the potential to become great artists or designers in the future.”

Reimagined building on Dee Lane designed by Tatum, West Kirby Grammar School, Joint Winner in the Design Technology Category.

As well entries for creative arts the competition also invited entries under a creative rriting category where pupils created stories about a future day out in West Kirby.  Judged by PR and Communications specialist Emma Gunby, Editor of West Kirby Today, Cllr Jenny Johnson and internationally renowned author and script writer, Murray Watts.  

It cut through the blue like a knife, effortlessly gliding along.  The jolting ripples sliced in two, going from the darkest of blues to a plain white.  A perfect line formed behind me, exposing my travels, sneakily calculating to reveal to everyone where I was headed.  

Extract from Harry, Calday Grange Grammar School, Joint Winner of the Creative Writing Category.

Once again the quality of the work by local pupils provided innovative ideas for West Kirby’s future, author and scripwriter Murray Watts said of the entrants work:

“We need hope and vision more than anything, as we enter this New Year and encouraging young people to take part in such dynamic and creative forward-thinking is truly inspiring.  I have been so impressed with the quality of the writing, the power of language and original thinking from these school children. It is a privilege to be involved.”

In total 10 Winners and 2 Commendations have been chosen from entrants from West Kirby Grammar and Calday Grange Grammar Schools who will receive masterclasses from the expert judges.