‘Champions of the region’ are honoured
Oct 4 2007 By David Whetstone, The Journal
PEOPLE who have made a significant contribution to North-East life were honoured last night by the Northumbrian Association.
This year’s recipients of the Hotspur Awards were Alastair Balls, chief executive of The Centre for Life, Newcastle, and – collectively – Tyne & Wear Museums.
The award for Tyne & Wear Museums was collected by chairman Coun Ged Bell and director Alec Coles. The awards were presented by One NorthEast chairman Margaret Fay in a ceremony at Washington Old Hall.
Previous Hotspur Award winners include Beamish Museum founder Frank Atkinson, playwright Lee Hall, artist Antony Gormley, Alan Shearer and – again collectively – Gateshead Council.
Also rewarded last night were the winner and runners-up in the Northumbrian Association’s annual writing competition, open to children in their last year at primary school. The youngsters were challenged to write a poem or a piece of prose inspired by any facet of North-East life.
This year’s winner was James Dillon, 11, of St Mary and St Thomas Aquinas RC Primary School, for his poem
Highly commended were fellow 11-year-olds Ellen Hardie, of Kells Lane Primary School, for the poem
John Danby, Northumbrian Association treasurer, said: “We got a good big entry this year for the writing competition so we were very pleased about that.”
The Northumbrian Association, which has about 200 members, was set up in 1997 to champion the region and to campaign for the return of the Lindisfarne Gospels from the British Library in London.
“Some people think we are wasting our time and that we’re banging our heads against a brick wall,” said Mr Danby.
“But if enough people bang their heads against a wall, eventually it will fall down. We are still optimistic.”
For more information about the Northumbrian Association, visit www.northumbrianassociation.com
Read the winners of the Northumbrian Association's Young Writers Award on page 2
