The deadline for the Write around Air Street competition is Friday 18th January 2008 at 6pm, good luck!
Can you write a great story or poem on the theme of ‘air’?
Perhaps you could imagine you’re a bird or balloon flying through the air.
Or maybe you’d like to write a story about something that happened in Air Street.
It’s up to you!
Five lucky winners will see their writing transformed into a story trail in the Air Street area in April 2008. Four runners-up will also have their work temporarily on display.
That’s not all…the school that produces the best selection of entries will win some great prizes from Borders too! What are you waiting for? Get writing!
How to enter
1. Write a poem or story up to 50 words on the theme of ‘air’.
2. Fill in the entry form below or post it with your entry to ‘Write Around Air Street’, THE SOUTH, Brighton Writers’ Centre, 49 Grand Parade, Brighton BN2 9QA by Friday 18th January 2008.
3.Please do not write your name on your entry.
Competition rules
- The competition is open to children who live or go to school in Brighton & Hove.
- The competition is only open to children who are aged between 5 and 11 by end of January 2008.
- Your story or poem must not be more than 50 words.
- Your entry or poem may be typed or handwritten.
- Your entry must be received at THE SOUTH by Friday 18th January 2008.
- The judges’ decision is final.
- By submitting your entry you are agreeing to have your work reproduced as a story trail in Air Street.
Teachers' Ideas Pack!
An Ideas Pack has been put together to give you some ideas on how to approach the Write Around Air Street competition with your class. Please click here to download pdf version
If you are a parent and your child is thinking of entering the competition you may find some of the information in the Teachers' Pack useful too.
Tips for writing your Write around Air Street entries
Getting Started
- Perhaps you could brainstorm all the words, emotions and ideas which remind you of ‘air’. Don’t fell worried: just write whatever comes into your head. Later on you can pick out the best bits.
- Think about what you might see in the air – a bird, a plane, a cloud, a plastic bag. You could write a poem or story from their point of view.
- You could go to Air Street, in Brighton, with an adult. Take a notebook with you and write down any ideas you have.
Doing your writing:
- Have a look at your initial ideas. What are the best bits?
- What form will you writing take? Is it a letter, a poem, a story, a conversation or something completely new?
- Is it something real or imaginary? Which words express the way you feel?
- Are you yourself, an object, another person, an animal? Or perhaps you want to describe an event or scene you have imagined.
- Do you have an image in your mind and can you think of the words which help paint that image?
- Arrange you ideas on the page. Take as many tries as you need before it sounds the way you want it to.
- Perhaps you could say your ideas to an adult or friend and they could write them down for you to make it easier to think.
Improving your work:
- How does your work look on the page? Would you like to make it into a shape which shows your ideas better?
- Read out your work to another person. How does it sound? Do you like it? Are there any words you could change to improve the sound?
- Read through your poem or story and check that you have spelt words correctly and put full stops and commas in the right place. Of course, you will not be judged on spelling but it will make it easier for us to understand and then your writing will shine through!
- Good luck!
Write around Air Street workshops-poems
On Saturday 1st December writers Rachel Rooney and Catherine Smith ran four writing workshops at the Jubilee Library, Brighton, to help some local children write some poems for the Write around Air Street competition. 36 children came to the workshop and wrote some fantastic poems. You can read some of the group poems that were written below. Maybe you could try a similar idea?
Clouds
When I look up to the sky I see
A ghost waiting to scare me
Pegasus flying to Atlantis
A man with a moustache about to shave
Pasta twirls waiting to be eaten
And a spaceship floating to Mars
By 5- 7 year old morning group
The Air’s Prayer
Please
Stop breathing me in, I want to be free!
Share your cars, your fumes are killing me.
Brush your teeth, you have really bad breath.
By 8-11s morning group
Dear Wind
Dear Wind
I am writing on behalf of my anger!
Why do you slap me in the face like an angry mum?
Why do you steal my scarf like a cold, shivering robber?
Why do you pluck the leaves like a crazy guitarist?
Yours lividly,
The 8-11s morning group.
Clouds
When I look up at the sky I see
A ghost scaring the clouds
Pegasus flying to Africa
A grumpy old man getting cross with the birds
A dog barking at the aeroplanes
And a fish swimming in the blue sky
By 5-7s afternoon group
The Air’s Prayer
Please stop polluting me with your horrible machines and strong fumes.
Please cease sending wisps of poisonous gases into my face.
Don’t swallow me – just because I’m invisible doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings.
By 8-11s afternoon group
Dear Wind
Dear Wind,
Why do you wreck the trees like a beserker?
Why do you howl in the night like an injured wolf?
Why must you blow my hat off like a strong fan?
Why do you batter the flowers like a toddler have a tantrum?
From,
The 8 – 11s afternoon group
Interesting Facts about the History of Air Street
Did you know..........?
- Air Street was originally laid out in the mid 18th century and was called Boar’s or Beard’s Lane until the early 1800s.
- Air Street connected the top of North Street with Church Street and in 1840 it was one of the worst slums in Brighton.
- In 1841 the people who lived down Air Street had jobs such as a beerseller, a constable, a horse dealer, a gardener, a painter and a fisherman.
- These are some of the people who lived on Air Street in 1846;
Leopold Boffi- model and figure maker, Philip Pollard- wheel wright , Robert Jacobs – eating house keeper.
- In 1849 someone described Air Street as filthy because many of the buildings were slaughter houses and there was a cess pit (a pit of sewage) in the centre.
- Luckily in 1850 the North Street Quadrant was built which backed onto Air Street and the area was improved.
- By the mid 1860s shops were built in the back yard of the quadrant, some of the occupants around this time include Mr. Dinnis, a shell and toy dealer and Mr. J. Brookes, a tailor.
- On the other side of Air Street there was a church built in 1853-54 and was enlarged in 1867. The church was closed in 1983 and later demolished.
Maybe you could use some of these facts to write a story or poem about Air Street in the past!
Submit your poem online
To submit your poem online CLICK HERE
| 
