Fflur wins Let’s Talk Farming poetry prize

A ten-year-old pupil at OM Edwards School Llanuwchllyn has won a prize worth £100 in an all-Wales poetry competition run by NFU Cymru.

Fflur Haf Davies, who is in year six, wrote the winning poem, based on farming throughout the four seasons. The competition for children under 16 was part of this year’s NFU Let’s Talk Farming programme to bring more knowledge to the public about "food from farm to plate" and the prize was appropriately a selection of model farm toys, produced by the Britains toy company.

The view of the judging panel, headed by NFU Cymru President Ed Bailey, was that Fflur’s poem in Welsh was outstanding. "It demonstrated good seasonal knowledge and sentiment, awareness of agriculture as a business, a feeling for the hardships that often face the farming community, a sense of humour and a pleasant end-of-year message for Christmas," Mr Bailey said.

Fflur said, "I am very proud to have won this competition and I enjoyed writing about farming. I had already learned a lot about farming because it was the theme for the year at school. My grandmother was brought up on a farm so we chatted quite a bit about some of my ideas for the poem."

Llanuwchllyn OM Edwards School Head Dilys Ellis-Jones said, "We are all delighted by Fflur’s win and very proud of her achievement, particularly as the competition covered the whole of Wales. We felt farming was an important enough subject, especially in a rural area like ours, to have it as this year’s theme and it was an extra stroke of luck that the NFU competition was taking place at the same time."

Harriet Lampard from Britains Farm Toys said, "All of the entries this year have been absolutely brilliant and really impressive. The children have articulated perfectly just how much they have learnt about farming earlier in the year. With their prizes they can now put their learning into practice with their own farms!"

Fflur lives with her sisters Mari, aged five, and Swyn, aged six, with mum Siwan, a teacher, and dad, Ifan, a vehicle repair mechanic, at Tŷ Du, Llanuwchllyn. Fflur added that she would share the enjoyment of her Big Farm Toys with her younger sisters.

The prize of £100 worth of Britains Big Farm Toys was presented to Fflur by NFU Cymru Meirionnydd County Chairman Huw Roberts, who farms at Bryngwyn, Llanuwchllyn, and Carys Roberts, NFU Cymru Group Secretary.