Winners of a railway-themed poetry competition have taken part in an awards ceremony to see their entries on display.

The ‘Write on Track’ competition was organised by the Marshlink Line Community Rail Partnership – one of Southeast Communities Rail Partnership’s 10 community rail lines – in collaboration with the Rye Harbour Writers and supported by Southern Railway.

The theme of the competition was ‘a positive experience of train travel’, such as a first rail journey, memorable trip or exciting day out.

On Saturday 31 January, the wordsmiths gathered for a community celebration at Rye Station where they were presented with a framed copy of their poem and saw the completed exhibition on display in the waiting room.

Read the winning poems in the over-18 category here and the under-18 category here.

The poems will be on display at Rye Station for the next few months.

S C Morgan from the Rye Harbour Writers said: “We were thrilled with the different entries that we had for this competition. There was such a wide range – some dealt with the past, whilst others dealt with the present. We were particularly excited about the young people getting involved.

“Congratulations to everybody who won. It was just a great event and a great project.”

Kevin Boorman, chair of the Marshlink Line CRP, said: “It’s great to see these poems on display at Rye Station. Clearly a lot of work and thought has gone in to them and the atmosphere they bring over – the sense of travelling, the sense of things in the past – they evoke memories of the last 200 years of the railways which, of course, the project was designed to do.

“Very many thanks to everyone who has taken part and sincere congratulations to the winners. Well done.”

Keep up to date with future news, projects and events from Southeast Communities Rail Partnership via their website.