Phoebe's miraculous memory wins national bible contest

A Shropshire teenager has walked away with first prize in an unusual national contest.

Phoebe Griffith, 17, from Shrewsbury, won the senior section of this year's Cranmer Awards for reciting, from memory, prayers and bible readings.

The teenager, who attends Moreton Hall School in Oswestry, represented the Church of England's Lichfield diocese along with Charlotte Eyre, from Cound, near Shrewsbury, and juniors Fabioloa Keowig, 11, and 14 year-old Laura Cook.

They were among scores of young people from across the country to battle it out in London earlier this month in the annual Cranmer Awards contest. Each had been the victor of a regional heat and fought for the coveted national title at Charterhouse.

Organised by the Prayer Book Society, it sees 11-18 year-olds reciting, from memory, their favourite passage from Cranmer's 1662 Book of Common Prayer, the Anglican church's founding liturgy, which the charity works hard to defend and promote.

The Bishop of London, Dr Richard Chartres, presented the prizes, saying how special it is to memorise prayers and scripture.

The chairman of the judging panel, the Rev Fred Arvidsson, chaplain to King's School in Canterbury, congratulated all the finalists on the high quality they achieved, saying they showed clarity, differentiation, pace, projection and tone in performances.

The contest was the brainchild of veteran journalist Charles Moore, then editor of The Spectator magazine who went on to edit The Daily Telegraph, and is now in its 22nd successful year.