BARRY Police had a “terrific response” to their recent limerick competition run in conjunction with Crime Prevention Month and the “At Home” at the Barry Police Station.

The entries ran into hundreds.

The competition, for children under 14, had a prize of £1 for the winner and consolation prizes for the runners-up.

The limerick had to end with the line “Help the Police – Ring 999”.

First prize went to Paula Nichols, aged 10, of Handel Close, Penarth, whose winning entry was:

“Stop! Don’t let them get away with it.

“Don’t just stand there, don’t just sit.

“Lock your windows, bolt your doors.

“Please help us stop them break the laws.

“And anything that you see.

“Help your local constabulary.

“Get to a phone in the nick of time.

“Help the Police – Ring 999.”

Second was a 13-year-old Barry boy, Gwyn Morgan, of Denbigh Way, whose limerick reads:

“Good citizens, follow this line,

“Should you see an ominous sign,

“That thieves are at work

“Your duty don’t shirk

“Help the Police – Ring 999.”

Third was another Penarth girl, nine-and-a-half-year-old Yvonne Whannell, of Uppercliff Close, Penarth Head.

Her limerick was:

“If you one day suspect a crime,

“And want to stop it just in time,

“Remember then this little rhyme,

“And follow this advice of mine,

“Help the Police – Ring 999.”

A police spokesman said that the competition had revealed plenty of budding poets in the Barry and Penarth area and the judges had had a hard job choosing the winning entries.

All the limericks had been of a very high standard and each entrant will receive an acknowledgement of their entry.

THIS month is the wettest November on record at the meterological office at Glamorgan (Rhoose) Airport, where 7.8 inches of rain fell in the first 22 days.

The previous highest since the office started in 1954 was 7.24 inches, and that was for the whole of November, 1963.