Here Richard O'Brien and Stephanie Winter reveal what inspires them.

A talented young poet from Bourne Grammar School scooped a runner-up prize in a prestigious poetry competition at Oxford University.

A-Level student Richard O'Brien (17) entered the university's Christopher Tower Poetry Competition with his poem entitled Texting in Church.

Richard, who won a £250 prize for his verse, said: "It's really good to come this far. The theme for the competition was change and mine was about someone who had lost their faith in religion. I write a lot about relationships between people and this was about a different kind of relationship."

Richard said he started taking his writing seriously two years ago and added: "This is when I started taking a lot of care over what I write. I have won in the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award for the last two years.

"I am hoping to study English and French at Brasenose College, Oxford, because I am quite interested in literature.

"I will continue writing and eventually I would like to write novels or go into journalism."

Richard enjoys writing and said: "You can say what you want in a poem and it can be just the right length to express a thought."

Richard Cave, head of English at Bourne Grammar School, said: "Richard is an exceptional student and this is massively impressive. The competition is the most prestigious for young poets. This is just another step of his development as a poet."

One of the judges was poet and lecturer Peter McDonald, director of Tower Poetry. He said: "The judges were particularly impressed by promise shown in the poems, where verbal flair and inventiveness were matched with impressive formal control."

The competition is now in its eighth year and has a reputation for discovering fresh and exciting poetry talent.


Local poet Stephanie gets Bourne poem published

A WOMAN with a flair for words has had her first poem published in a collection called People and Places.

Stephanie Winter (48), of Willoughby Road, Bourne, chose Mayor Jane Kingman-Pauley and her husband Bill as the subject for her poem which is called Our Bourne.

She said: "I chose them because everybody in the town knows them and they are central to Bourne."

Flattered by the poem Mrs Kingman-Pauley invited Stephanie to the Mayor's annual dinner, which was held in April.

But Stephanie very nearly didn't enter the poem for the contest, which includes entrants from around the country. Close to the deadline, her daughter Sally saw the potential and insisted the poem was submitted.

Stephanie, who is a pharmacist and teacher of writing classes at Peterborough, said: "I have always written poetry but never entered a competition before. What you write yourself you do not often think is very good.

"My poems are observations on life," adds Stephanie, who always
carries a notepad in case inspiration strikes.

In the case of Our Bourne she said: "When I wrote it, it all came in one go."


Our Bourne

No don't pour scorn on our little Bourne
Come on be fair
We have our own Mayor
This year it's Jane and she's got Bill
No, no he's not over the hill
They've got their own market stall
But no even that's not all
Bill will sing and play
With his bands Tut and Legend
No, he's not round the bend

Jane rushes to functions with high heels and a smile
Bye Bill, I'll be back in a while
Wishing she was taller built
In her regalia of fresh gilt
We are lucky to have the pair
They do their best to show they care
A laugh and joke
To cheer up the miserable folk.

– By Stephanie Winter. This poem appears in People and Places published by United Press.