Schoolgirls have their Olympic poem legacy etched on park benches

Two schoolgirls are to have their poems permanently etched on a bench in the Olympic Park after beating hundreds of primary school pupils across east London in an Olympic legacy poetry contest.

They were joint winners in the 2013 Children’s Legacy competition chosen from 650 “future poet laureates” at the second annual Children’s Legacy competition.

Saarah Rahman, from Poplar’s Bygrove Primary, made it with her poem ‘Olympians’, along with Elizaveta Polyakova Reed from North Beckton Primary who wrote ‘Here I Come’.

They read their winning entries to a packed audience at the Stratford Picturehouse in front of judges who included Jo Bell, the official Canal Poet Laureate for 2013. Each received book tokens for themselves and their schools.

The contest organised by The Legacy List official park charity with Stratford’s ‘Discover Children’s Story’ centre involved writing and drawing work about how the youngsters will feel when they can finally play in the park, which reopens this weekend.

It involved poetry workshops in playgrounds and gyms at 13 schools with 1,200 youngsters taking part and 650 entering the final competition.