FORTY years after the death of L. S. Lowry, he has a successor from Urmston – and he’s only seven years old.

Thomas Smith, a pupil at Urmston Infants’ school, has beaten 150 entrants aged four to 11 to win the 2016 Copley Prize.

He had to produce a work based on an L. S. Lowry picture and came up with A Busier Hillside based on the famous artist’s A Hillside.

His pencil drawing will hang in the L. S. Lowry Art and Artist exhibition for a year and his name will be recorded there permanently.

In addition, his mum and dad, Lisa and David, both 40, and his sister Ellie, aged five, have been treated to tickets for the Lowry’s production of Wind in the Willows in October.

David said: “Thomas was taken to the Lowry by his school, and loved it so much that he took the rest of the family there.

Last year’s winner, a street scene, was still on display. That is how we found out about the competition.”

Co-incidentally, Thomas had already painted A Busier Hillside for homework at school so sent it in.

It shows a hill at Rivington Pike where the family had been sledging, populated by at least sixty match stalk men and lots of dogs.

Thomas said: “I preferred drawing people and trees to factories. I can’t believe I won.”

The judges were Noel and Alison Copley who started the competition and curator of the L. S. Lowry collection, Claire Stewart.

Thomas’s sister, Ellie, aged five, another budding artist, presented flowers to the Copleys at the unveiling ceremony last Thursday, August 25.

They met VIPs for coffee and pastries at Pier 8.

To see Thomas’s picture, visits the galleries which are open Sunday – Friday 11 – 5 or Saturday, 10 – 5. Admission free.