How a Cookridge home's fish tank helped a Leeds girl into Top Trumps national final

A Leeds youngster who took inspiration from a colourful fish tank in her Cookridge home to win a cards contest will appear in national finals.
By John Blow
Published 28th Jun 2019, 11:13 BST
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Lily Kettleborough, aged 11, will compete in the UK Top Trumps Finals in Nottingham on Saturday.

The schoolgirl is one of just 12 finalists plucked from a starting line-up of thousands from across the UK.

Lily Kettleborough, aged 11, has won her way through to the UK Top Trumps Finals after beating her classmates at Holy Name Catholic Voluntary Academy in Cookridge.Lily Kettleborough, aged 11, has won her way through to the UK Top Trumps Finals after beating her classmates at Holy Name Catholic Voluntary Academy in Cookridge.
Lily Kettleborough, aged 11, has won her way through to the UK Top Trumps Finals after beating her classmates at Holy Name Catholic Voluntary Academy in Cookridge.
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To qualify she had to first play across the country, and then design a pack of Top Trumps.

London judges described the Holy Name Catholic Voluntary Academy pupil's entry as a “bedazzling kaleidoscope, capturing every colour of the rainbow".

From a brief to produce a deck of cards based on 'Our Amazing World', the talented youngster designed a Marine Fish pack of Top Trumps all of her own.

Her mum Laura said: “We're extremely proud of Lily for making it to the Grand Final of the game.

Lily's designs.Lily's designs.
Lily's designs.
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“She found her inspiration for the topic at home. Her stepdad Gary has kept a tank of marine fish for seven years so Lily has grown up with them.

“The fish that are in the tank are a pair of clown fish, a pair of banggai cardinalfish, a bluestreak cleaner wrasse, a mandarinfish and a pair of purple firefish. There are many colourful live corals that are in the tank also - and this was part of the inspiration.”

The chairwoman of the Top Trumps judging panel, Katie Lee, said: “A huge congratulations to Lily. Her pack made the ocean come alive in our London HQ offices – we were extremely impressed.”

Lily’s teacher Sophie Pearson added: “I know how much time and effort she put into her great design - and so would love to see her go all the way.

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“She's shared her journey with the whole school and we're all fully behind her.

“Good luck Lily for Saturday.”

In Top Trumps cards are dealt face down. Players read out one stat - from typically five categories - that they think has the best chance of winning.

The aim is to end up with all the cards by "trumping" opponents by selecting what a player believes is going to be the winning category.

It first hit shop shelves in 1977 and since then more than 50 million packs have been produced across over 1,000 themes.

The game sells all over the world and in 16 different languages, including Icelandic, Japanese and Hungarian.

Related topics:LeedsNottinghamLondon