2026 Year 4 Third Prize
Our Daily Struggle by Nura
For I was a girl as young as you
Maybe a little older or younger than you
But there was a very visible difference between us
I was poverty stricken
From dawn to dusk I would lay on a bag of wood
I was pale and weak
But not because I didn't sleep
But because I worked 14 hour shifts back and forth
At a match factory
A large on in fact, it was even so large it could fit more than
1,400 girls
As we work we handle things like phosphorous
It is so disgusting that girls get something called
"Phossy Jaw" from it
But as we worked a journalist called "Annie Besant" saw
the terrible working conditions
So, as we wait, we hope Annie Besant will
COME
July 2026 saw the 138th anniversary of the Matchgirls Strike. On 10th July, to mark the occasion, The Matchgirls Memorial were hosted at the Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives to present prizes of the annual Schools Matchgirls Poetry Competition.
Prizes were presented to the winners of this years school poetry competition from both Blue Gate Fields Junior School and William Patten Primary School. Our judges this year were Dr Anna Robinson and Fawzia Kane.
Nura won Third Prize in the Year 4 category with the poem, 'Our Daily Struggle'.