A CELEBRATION of the Yorkshire dialect was a highlight of the Mrs Sunderland Music Festival yesterday.

Competitors from across the area revived the local language with performances of dialect poetry in Huddersfield Town Hall.

Christine Goodwin, of Thurlstone, near Penistone, was among the winners with her recital of Poem T'Cure Narrative Barm in the open dialect speaking class.

She also won the open dialect poem class for her own poem, T' Ferst Christmas.

Ms Goodwin, 52, was presented with the Henderson-Smith Cup as overall winner of the poetry writing classes.

She said: "I just can't believe it. I am so thrilled.

"It is a wish of mine that dialects keep going.

"I am a teacher and I think it is so sad that children are corrected too much. I really hope it keeps going."

It was only the second time that Ms Goodwin, who has been writing poetry for more than 30 years, had taken part in the Mrs Sunderland festival.

She said: "I chose poor material last year, with not enough dialect in it.

"I was determined to come back with better poetry this year and this was the best I had written."

Birkby youngster Andrew Uttley, 16, impressed judges in the open classical guitar solo.

Andrew, a pupil at Rishworth School, Ripponden, won the class with his performance of the Four Ballad Stories by Milan Tesar.

Andrew, whose older brother, Richard, came second in the piano concerto class on Tuesday, said: "I am really pleased to have won.

"It was quite a fast piece and was very demanding on the fingers.

"I had to practise fairly hard for it."

Andrew, who won the class last year, will now qualify to play in the instrumentalists' challenge tomorrow.

He said: "I would like to win because my brother won it before, so it would be funny if I won it, too - and there's some money in it."

Results:

Prepared Reading (10 and 11) - 1 Jessica Ramsay, 2 Jennifer Fellows, 3 Faye Chesswas.

Verse Speaking (14 and 15) - 1 Hannah Young, 2 Alana Clifford, 3 Emelia Jules.

Verse and Prose Duo (13 and under) - Jessica and Thomas Ramsay. Verse and Prose Duo (14 to 17) - Matthew Hall and Justine Wilkinson.

Prepared Reading (12 and 13) - 1 Alex Whitwam, 2 Francesca Verity, 3 Natalie Moody. Prepared Reading (14 and 15) - 1 Hannah Young, 2 Alana Clifford, 3 Rachael Beaumont.

Verse Speaking (16 and 17) - 1 James Lawson, 2 Claire Foulkes.

Bible Reading (14 to 17) - 1 Claire Foulkes, 2 Alex Hunt, 3 Rachael Beaumont. Bible Reading (18 and over) - 1 Mrs H Pollard, 2 Mrs R Chambers, 3 Mrs A Jones and Helen Wickham.

Prepared Reading (16 and 17 ) - Claire Foulkes. Prepared Reading (18 and over) - 1 Kate Garner, 2 Donald Cameron, 3 Gillian Greaves.

Piano Solo 20th Century Open - Carl Schofield. Piano Solo Chopin Open - 1 Andrew Hawkett, 2 Lin Yang, 3 Heather Cornell and Carl Schofield.

Piano Solo Sonata Open - 1 Andrew Hawkett, 2 Leo Nicholson, 3 James Morris and Lin Yang.

Classsical Guitar Solo (10 and under) - 1 Elizabeth Kepczyk, 2 Emily Crowther , 3 Charlie Smith. Classical Guitar Solo (12 and under) - Kate Barrett.

Classical Guitar Solo (14 and under) - 1 Aidan Lesser, 2 Adam Colbeck-Dunn, 3 Jon Ross and Chris Dyson. Classical Guitar Solo (16 and under) - 1 Matthew Finegold, 2 Katie Smith.

Classical Guitar Solo Open - 1 Andrew Uttley, 2 Daniel Laycock, Nicholas Razzell.

Dialect Speaking Open - 1 Christine Goodwin, 2 Carol Walker, 3 Alan Walker and Jean Hill. Dialect Poem Open - 1 Christine Goodwin, 2 Audrey Bemrose, 3 Muriel Shackleton.