Rail enthusiasts' essays are just the ticket

Ripon Grammar School students have won praise for their record number of first-class railway-themed entries in an essay competition created in memory of former deputy headmaster Michael Wallace

MORE than 30 students from Ripon Grammar School rose to the challenge of producing a railway-themed research essay for a popular annual competition in memory of a former member of staff.

All essayists chose their own titles and entries covered topics from the Tokyo Metro system to how food on trains shaped rail travel, the Great Train Robbery and the use of trains as metaphor.

Senior category winner Alexa Turner explored how the railways revolutionised Victorian Britain while the junior category winner Riya Nair examined the history of the Indian railway.

Runners up were: Evy Reed, William Auckinson, Caitlin Ostler, Bella Kirby and Hayley Chung.

Both winners receive a £150 prize with second and third place in each category receiving a prize of £50, along with a personal tour of the National Railway Museum (NRM) in York.

The competition was set up in memory of Michael Wallace MBE, the Friends of the NRM honorary secretary and a former deputy headmaster at Ripon Grammar School who died in 2018.

After teaching at the school for 34 years, Michael wanted to leave a legacy to help young people and set aside £2,500 to be shared over five years with the winners of a railway-themed writing competition.

Head of sixth form at Ripon Grammar School, Terry Fell, said: “We were delighted by the range and quality of the essays these young writers produced, many of them writing their first research essay.”

First set up in 1977, The Friends of the National Railway Museum is a registered charity, which supports railway heritage and the work of the museum. For more information visit: www.nrmfriends.org.uk www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/visit.