First minister describes Riley’s poem as ‘inspiring’

FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon has described a poem written by an Arbroath schoolboy as “brilliant and inspiring”.

On Saturday, the Tele published the poem written by Riley Beattie, 11, a pupil at Timmergreens Primary, which was read globally after his mum Lynne shared it on social media.

Despite his work going viral online, Riley was still keen for one more person to see it and hoped the publicity would bring the poem to Ms Sturgeon’s attention.

He didn’t have to wait long for his wish to come true, as the first minister was alerted to Riley’s poem on social media and shared both the poem and the Tele story with her 1.1 million followers on Twitter.

Ms Sturgeon said it was great to see some of the fine work being done by young people across the country.

Speaking to the Tele, she said: “The Day the World Changed is a brilliant and inspiring poem and I would like to thank Riley for helping us all better understand what it is like for young people to have to live under the current restrictions.

“I know that asking people to stay away from loved ones is a lot to ask of people but I think that Riley is absolutely right that when we do come out the other side of this, we will cherish being able to be together so much more.

“These are definitely challenging times for all of us but this poem really shows that while it is difficult and can be upsetting, there are things we are still thankful for, such as those working in the NHS and looking forward to going back to normal.”

Riley himself was delighted to hear Ms Sturgeon has now read his work.

He said: “I am so glad that the first minister of Scotland has seen my work.

“I heard she had liked the poem that I wrote on social media on Saturday. It is just incredible – I’m so happy that she has seen and d enjoyed it.”