MERL announces the first winner of its steam colouring-in competitions – University of Reading
08 August 2007
A five year-old who sent in her picture of a brightly coloured-in tractor will be presented with a winner's prize on Friday 17 August at 11am at the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL), Redlands Road in Reading.
Children from across the country sent in their colouring-in sheets after collecting them from MERL's stand at local steam rallies.
The winning child, who will be accompanied by her family, is Georgie Cliff, aged 5, from Petersfield who went to the Steam and Vintage Show at Milestones Museum in Hampshire.
MERL, which is owned and managed by the University of Reading, attended the shows to promote its 'Heavy Metal' archive project to steam enthusiasts, tractor historians and model makers. The touring archive exhibition's next show will be the Wokingham and Reading Country Show on Sunday 19 August.
Nicolette Evans, MERL's Project Outreach Officer and one of the judges, said,
"We were really pleased to see a wide variety of coloured engines and tractors which made it a hard job to decide on the winner."
"We also used the competition to show children in a fun way how tractors, steam engines and ploughs work and make them aware of the museum which houses a wide range of steam and agricultural machinery," she added.
Entries came in from families based close to the show venues and as far away as East Sussex, Horsham and Northamptonshire.
MERL also runs children's activities during half-term holidays and is used by local schools as a learning-aid for history lessons.
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Notes for editors:
Photographers are invited to cover the prize-giving at 11am on Friday 17 August at the Museum of English Rural Life, Redlands Road, Reading. Copies of the other entries for the competition will also be on display.
For further information, please contact Nicolette Evans, Project Outreach Officer on 0118 378 8660 or by email at n.evans@reading.ac.uk.