MEDALS and prizes galore were on offer when dads and their sons took part in an inter-school sports event.

The competition, for people involved in the Dad and Lads project which aims to get them spending more time together, was held at Harper Green Sports Centre, Farnworth, and involved boys from six schools. Activities included sports events and reading contests.

Everyone who took part received medals and there were other prizes on offer including books donated by Bolton Literacy Trust. Bolton Wanderers' mascot Lofty also put in an appearance to present some of the prizes. One lucky family won tickets to the Bolton v West Ham game later this month.

The project, which has been running throughout this term, has been jointly organised by Bolton Advisory Service and Bolton Libraries in conjunction with six schools, mainly in the Farnworth area.

Year One boys from the participating schools took home a special bag each week containing a piece of sports equipment, instruction cards and a book or poetry card.

The dads and lads then read the instructions, played the game they had chosen and read the books and poems together.

At the end of the projects, the sons and fathers competed against each other in various sporting activities and answered questions about the books they had read. Last weekend's event was the grand finale.

The schools which took part in the project were St Peter's, Farnworth; St John's, Kearsley; Kearsley West School; Highfield Primary, Our Lady of Lourdes and Queensbridge, Farnworth.

Julie Holmes, a teacher at St Peter's School, Farnworth said: "The boys are really keen to talk about the books they are sharing and the time they get to spend with their dads."

"They are much keener to answer questions during shared and guided reading lessons, and I also feel that I now have a better relationship with the dads as the project has given me more opportunity to meet them."