Winners of the iconic Lancaster Castle collage competition revealed

As part of the Lancaster Health Festival members of the public were invited to complete a collage of Lancaster Castle.

Almost 300 participants and members of the public visited The Storey last week to view and vote for the winners of the contest entitled "Celebrating Community".

The event was hosted by Sarah Baines - University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trusts’ Development Lead for the Lancaster Integrated Care Community (ICC).

This year saw 55 entries from 26 different schools, care homes and community groups.

The winners for each category were: (0-16 years): Year 5 and 6 pupils from Quernmore Primary School; (17-64 years): Positive Futures North West; (65+): Ashton Manor.

Commenting on the competition, Sarah Baines, said: “Showcasing the collages has been a great way to show everyone the amazing skill, time and effort that has gone into creating them. It is the third year we have held the competition and it aims to improve wellbeing through a fun and collaborative activity, which enables space for social creativity and meaningful conversations.”

Among the runners up were Oakfield Nursing Home. A spokesman said: “The residents have enjoyed working on the collage and the pictures have led to many fantastic discussions about the castle and the Pendle Witches."

One of the schools that took part in the competition was Ryelands Primary School in Lancaster. A school spokesman said: “The children have been learning about Lancaster Castle this term so this community competition fitted perfectly with our studies. We have supervised small groups of four pupils at a time working on the collages and this has enabled the pupils and teachers to spend quality time with each other, listening and learning about each other and the local environment.

"The children foraged for all the components of the collage themselves and spent time discussing them and encouraging each other whilst developing the collage. Completing the collages together has impacted positively on the wellbeing of not only the children involved, but the teachers and the rest of the school who have encouraged and supported each other throughout the process."