The Friends of Dronfield Station (FoDS) helped to announce the winners of the sixth annual essay competition at Henry Fanshawe School.

200 young people had entered the competition, sponsored by FoDS, and judges said the quality of the entries was extremely high.

The first prize was given to a 15-year-old student who wrote a compelling story about a young boy being evacuated from home during wartime.

Headteacher Martyn Cooper said: “It is great to see our students engaged in a cooperative exercise with an important community group such as the Friends of Dronfield Station, which continues to maintain a great relationship with Henry Fanshawe and all the other schools in the Dronfield area. The essay competition provides students with an unusual and challenging way of following the curriculum and continues to produce high-quality results every year. Congratulations to our students and to the staff in the English Department.”

Jan Alexander, FoDS member and essay judge, said: “This is the sixth year I have had the pleasure of judging the essay competition and it never disappoints. It is fascinating to see how every year the students manage to include some reference to trains and stations in their stories in very imaginative and creative ways. This year the quality of the entrants was very high, and it proved to be a difficult job to separate the prize winners from the other entrants. Well done everybody.”

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