Children's Christmas card designs are a gift for all!

• Children's 'Be Kind at Christmas' designs featured on Council's Christmas card
• Winners and runner up get to meet the Mayor

Well done to all the talented primary school pupils in West Lancashire who sent us their fantastic designs for our Christmas card competition!

There was an avalanche of 168 entries from children all over the Borough, making it an extremely difficult job for our judging panel to decide on a winner.

After carefully looking over all the designs and considering the brief of 'being kind at Christmas', two winning designs were chosen. The first winner was from nine-year-old Mark from Burscough Village Primary School, depicting a scene of friendship on a wintry day. The second winner, ten-year-old Pheobe - also from Burscough Village Primary - wrote a beautiful poem about the impact of kindness. The runner up was Kenzie, 11, from Aughton Town Green Primary School.

Mayor of West Lancashire, Councillor Mrs Marilyn Westley, said: "We are delighted to have received so many creative entries from the talented pupils across the Borough and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the children on my visits.

"We want to thank all the children who sent in entries and we hope our competition helped to spread some festive cheer. There were so many wonderful designs and we are very proud of the talented children we have in West Lancashire."

Mark and Phoebe's winning designs both feature on the Council's official Christmas card sent to dignitaries as well as our friends and partners across the Borough.

All three children enjoyed meeting with Mayor when they were presented with their winning certificates and prizes.

Mrs. Swift, Deputy Headteacher at Burscough Village Primary School said: "The children were very pleased with the Mayor's presentation in school today, and that their parents were able to come and watch. They received gifts and loved the framed print of their winning artwork. The assembly was in honour of one of our teachers Mr. Beer who will be retiring on Friday after more than 20 years at the school and this was a nice surprise for him too!"

Aughton Town Green Primary School Headteacher Mr Huxley added: "Thank you to the Mayor for visiting us on Tuesday. Everything went really well, and the children were delighted to see the Mayor. Kenzie's parents attended the assembly too and he is delighted with his prize."