Year 8 pupils Isobel Printer and Ellen Eyres and Daisy Turnbull from Year 5 were celebrating after discovering they were winners in the cycle crime prevention competition which has been run by the police in Portsmouth.

The launch of the competition in October saw Safer Neighbourhood Teams from across Portsmouth visit schools to give a short presentation about cycle crime prevention, with ten top tips for keeping their bicycle safe, including getting their bike security marked and using a D-lock when leaving it unattended.

For Junior School children, the competition was to design a poster highlighting cycle crime, with the opportunity to win a brand new bicycle donated by Velocity Bikes.

Daisy’s entry attracted the judges’ attention and she was thrilled to be presented with her new bicycle and hear that her posters have gone to print. The posters are going on display in libraries and community centres around Portsmouth, and they have also been blown up for billboards in Palmerston Road and Commercial Road, so keep an eye out for them whilst you are doing your Christmas shopping over the next few weeks.

Senior school pupils in years seven and eight had the challenge of producing a 20 second jingle suitable for a radio commercial. Having caught the judges’ attention with their catchy melody, Portsmouth High School pupils won again! This time Isobel Printer and Ellen Eyers each won an MP3 player and the opportunity to professionally record their jingle at 107.4 The Quay. The Portsmouth-based radio station will be airing their commercial for 1 week starting on Monday 10 December.

Chief Inspector Andy Houghton supervises cycle crime prevention in Portsmouth. He said: “This competition was primarily aimed at educating young children about the importance of looking after their bicycles.
“Last year over 1500 bicycles were stolen in Portsmouth and we have taken a variety of steps during 2007 to reduce that figure significantly. The response we had for this competition was overwhelming and entries were of a consistently high standard.