BACK gardens and parks were alive with the sound of football as the town's dads played sport with their sons following the latest six-week Dads and Lads scheme organised by Lancashire County Council.

County Councillor Alan Whittaker, Cabinet Member for Education and Young People, joined 180 dads and lads from nine Chorley primary schools at Clayton Green Sports Centre yesterday for an inter-schools event which will test all of the skills they have been learning together.

The Lancashire Dads and Lads project is an innovative scheme that links literacy with sport to encourage fathers to become more involved in their children's education. The participating schools receive a bag of equipment and activity cards together with a selection of books, all with a sporting theme, for families to use.

The project involves seven to nine-year-old boys because of the gap in the interest in books which begins to open between boys and girls at that age. Each week an item of sporting equipment is taken home to practise a skill such as throwing, catching, kicking or dribbling, using skill cards, and a book or poem on a sporting theme they can read together.

Coun Whittaker said: "This is a brilliant scheme that encourages dads to spend more time with their sons, and use their shared interest in sport to help their boys education.

"The day will be a really enjoyable way to finish the six-week course. I expect the event to be very competitive although the real winners will of course be everyone who has taken part."

Certificates and prizes will be awarded to competitors and a trophy is presented to the winning school.