Reproduced below there are ten winning entries, plus two, to our 2019 Christmas Card Competition, the rest are runners-up. See if you can pick which is which. That isn't an easy task, as our judges found out. There were many more entries that were worthy of mention too BUT there has to be winners and usually it was some little thing that stood-out that secured selection. All the youngsters were obviously motivated and all worked hard. Some however put just that little bit more effort into the project. Our judges were Joy, our Vice Chair, who is currently attending an art course, Alison, our Welfare (BCS) representative, Anthony who, although not an RBL member is a local amateur artist of some repute and Allan, who just happened to be visiting on Judgement Day, Allan is a marine engineer, yacht captain and retired commercial illustrator.

There were 125 entries, the youngest being not yet five years old - he was one of the "plus two's" mentioned above; we thought the little ones should get a mention and being the youngest of those, he's their representative (look for Elliot). The other wasn't much older but was so "on message" that we couldn't not give him a prize (look for Hayden). Schools in our District that participated were, in alphabetical order: Aston-le-Walls St. Mary's Catholic Primary, Boddington C of E Primary Academy, Byfield School, Chipping Warden Primary Academy and Culworth CEVA Primary Academy. Unfortunately due to pressure of work, Woodford Halse C of E Pimary Academy were unable to enter this year. We would like to thank the children and staff of all those schools for so enthusiastically taking part in our Christmas celebrations.

Our new President, John, in full regalia, gave out the Certificates and prizes, examples of which you'll see in the images below; he was supported by your editor. The presentations were done at school assemblies in front of all the students, teachers and some proud parents. John and I came away refreshed; the youngsters were a delight and the staff incredibly supportive. We look forward to next year's competition, which will again be for a different project.

Prizes included book and Hobbycraft tokens (we asked the winners to choose), and of course a Certificate of Merit. The certificate issued to each of the winners is reproduced below; the recipient's name and school was hand-written in the appropriate place...

Although the theme was "what our armed forces do in peacetime", some entries were more oriented towards last year's "thank you" campaign, and remembrance. Although completely off-message, one in particular was very poignant, as it was a young lass's memorial to a father who died too young. All those were included in the judging too, some of which appear above.

The objective was to make a card for us to send to all our Members and this we did, using some of the children's artwork and the dedication that appears below. We hope everyone enjoyed seeing how creative the youngsters in their local school can be.