A SCHOOLGIRL from Altrincham has won £500 worth of books for her school library in a short story writing competition.

Nine-year-old Lottie Bardwell, who attends Bowdon C of E Primary School, scooped the top prize in the Altrincham Retail Park contest, which was part of a wider campaign to get more children reading.

As part of the initiative, children were invited to write a short story based on the sentence ‘I like Altrincham because…’.

Keen animal lover Lottie, who has two cats called Welly and Rosie, wrote about enjoying visiting Pets At Home at the retail park and mentioned her own favourite book, ‘To Be A Cat’, by Matt Haig.

Lottie was presented with her prizes at her school, on Grange Road, by Jo Francis, head of retail property management at the Crown Estate.

Jo said: “We had some wonderful entries from young writers like Lottie who had obviously put a lot of thought and effort in to their entries.

“Lottie should be very proud of the fact that she has won this fantastic prize for her school library and not only will she be benefitting herself but also other pupils in her school.”

Deputy headteacher at Bowdon C of E, Liz Brierley, said: “We are delighted that Lottie has won and very proud of her indeed.

“Her prize is a massive boost to the school library and all the children will benefit so we really do owe Lottie a big thank you and Altrincham Retail Park too.”

Visit altrinchamretailpark.co.uk for more information.