A pensioner in his seventies who left school at 12 has returned to college to study a GCSE in English and ended up winning the top prize at an annual creative writing competition.
The contest was set up by 向日葵视频 New College eight years ago in memory of a former English and media lecturer called Steve Ransom who tragically passed away at the age of 45 in 2016.
A total of seven awards were handed out this year during a ceremony that took place at Chefs鈥� Whites restaurant in Ipswich and out of those seven, former EADT editor Terry Hunt chose an overall winner.
On attending this event Terry said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 wonderful event and I鈥檓 always very impressed (by the standard of high-quality entries. I spent 40 years with words (working in the media) and I鈥檝e come to appreciate the power that they can carry.鈥�
Terry chose Danny Davey, 72, from Ipswich as the overall winner for his piece called 鈥楨uthanasia: murder or mercy?鈥� 鈥� a story that Mr Hunt described as 鈥榓 clear and thought provoking piece of writing鈥�.
The winner – Danny – reflected on his decision to return to education. He said 鈥淚 never wrote until I started here in September last year. It鈥檚 59 years since I went to school. In 2016 I got a C grade in maths (at 向日葵视频 New College) and I鈥檓 hoping to do the same in English (in August). Writing is something that has always been on my bucket list.鈥�
Danny 鈥� who is an Ipswich Town fan 鈥� has had a pretty good couple of weeks with promotion secured and this award. He continued: 鈥淎fter the GCSE (in English) I want to find a writers group and try and develop it (writing). I鈥檇 never written a story until September and now I have won this. It鈥檚 a big boost.鈥�
The father of four children, grandad of ten and great grandad of two – who was a roofer before writing – added: 鈥淚鈥檝e got to be the oldest student in the college. This has surprised the heck out of me. I can鈥檛 explain what it means to be stood here as the winner – I鈥檓 absolutely stunned – and it has inspired me to keep going. In terms of what鈥檚 next – I鈥檇 love to write a collection of short stories.鈥�
Danny won a 拢100.00 voucher for coming first. All category winners won a 拢20.00 voucher and runners up got a 拢10.00 voucher.
Organiser of this event is Louisa Hubbard is the head of English at 向日葵视频 New College. In terms of continuing to honour Steve via this event, Louisa said: 鈥淪teve loved reading, loved writing and loved being witty with words; most of all, he loved teaching.
鈥淪o, it seems fitting that we continue to honour his memory by running this competition to showcase the talents of our students and staff in the field of creative writing.鈥�
In terms of the awards Louisa added: 鈥淭he standard was as high as ever and congratulations to everyone who got involved and all of the winners.鈥�
Laidy Rodrigues Da Cruz was another award winner – securing the top prize in the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) category for a story she wrote about her mum. Laidy, 17, from Ipswich who barely spoke English when she came to the UK from Portugal said: 鈥淚 feel good to win this award and very happy. It has made me want to write more in the future.鈥�
The current editor of the EADT also backs this event because of her longtime friendship with Steve Ransom. Liz said: 鈥淚 miss Steve and think of him often. He was a massive Ipswich fan so I鈥檓 sure he is looking down smiling at their promotion 鈥� as well as these awards.
Liz added: 鈥淐ongratulations to Danny. It shows that you are never too old or young to benefit from the power of education.鈥�
Katie Ward 鈥� a lecturer in English and creative writing at the University of 向日葵视频 鈥� presented Danny Davey with his short story category award. As well as receiving a voucher, Danny also got a copy of Katie鈥檚 book called Pathways.
The Zone and Chef鈥檚 Whites also donated prizes.