Doesn't time fly when you are enjoying yourself. It hardly seems five minutes since I went to the Airedale Writers' Circle children's writing competition presentation evening. It was in fact a year ago.

This week I went to the event again, and it was tremendous to see and feel the enthusiasm of the youngsters - especially as the guest speaker was Gil Baverstock, the daughter of Enid Blyton.

The Writers' Circle had an incredible 560 entries, involving 36 schools as well as individuals. The imagination and skill of the youngsters - especially the use of vocabulary - was truly amazing, and as Mrs Baverstock said it says a great deal for the teachers in this area.

She also stressed her view that you can gain more from books that through the Internet or watching TV. I'm sure not everyone would agree - but it makes a lot of sense to me. I can't think of a more pleasant way to learn than settling down with a book. You might say I'm prejudiced, but there is something reassuring about the printed word.

My thoughts and comments sparked off a mini-debate on the myth of the paperless office. More and more paper is being sold than ever before.

The computer was predicted to replace all kinds of things. Isn't it strange that whenever you look at a PC package there's nearly always a free printer involved?

Well done to all of the youngsters who entered the competition, which is getting bigger and better each year.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.