2023 Year 5 First Prize
A Change in Fate by Aris and Zia

You’re fired Miss
And your sis!
Out the door,
You shall go.
Oh please good sir,
I implore
Please don’t show me
The door.
You insolent rat
I shall threaten you
With my bat
I shall squash you flat!
Will I stay? I say nay
Even without pay
This factory is a whip that flays
My sisters, we shall fight
All in unison, unite.
We shall show them our might.
For we are the matchstick girls

On 1st July 2023, a new musical composition was premiered at the Great Hall of the Peoples Palace at Queen Mary University in Mile End, to commemorate the 135th anniversary of the Matchgirls Strike of 1888.

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The Matchgirls Memorial ran a schools poetry competition to celebrate the event.

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Judges were Tanya Landman, Author, Dr Anna Robinson, Senior Lecturer UEL & Poet, Chris Searle, Retired Teacher, Author and Poet

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Aris and Zia from William Patten Primary School won First prize in the Year 5 category with the poem, 'A Change in Fate'.