A MULTI-agency sports initiative for youngsters has recruited his newest partner by asking the children themselves to help organise its Millennium extravaganza.

Plans for the Burnley-based Splash 2000 are already under way and organisers have taken the unusual steps of inviting youngsters to sit on two meetings leading up to the event.

Splash, Sports and Leisure Activities for the Summer Holidays, involves Burnley Borough Council, Burnley Police, Lancashire County Council and other community and voluntary groups.

However the recruitment of youngsters to its programme panel is believed to be one of the best moves yet as organisers will know exactly what children like and dislike about the popular scheme.

Questionnaires have already been distributed to children who took part in this year's event and a recruitment drive has begun to find young candidates to sit on panels that will meet in January and March next year at the Thompson Centre in Burnley.

Splash has been running borough wide for the past seven years and involves a whole range of sport and leisure activities over a three week period during the school summer holidays.

Activities ranged from golf to ice skating and football to athletics as well as day trips and outings.

Simon Clayton, treasurer of Splash, said that recruiting youngsters is the perfect way to get fresh ideas and make sure that Splash 2000 is an event to remember.

He said: "Splash has got bigger and bigger over the years and is now a popular part of the sporting calendar in Burnley. We want next year's event to be one to remember so getting children involved from the very beginning is ideal.

"Over the next few months we will be looking to recruit a number of youngsters to sit on two meetings we will be holding earlier next year. Their ideas will be listened to and amendments will be made to the event criteria according to what they tell us is popular and not."

As well as the face-to-face meetings with youngsters, organisers will also be taking on board information given to them from the questionnaires that have been filled in.

Questions such as favourite and least favourite event and what new events would you like to see will give the Splash team an idea of what youngster want.

Any youngsters keen on joining the Splash committee should contact either Simon Clayton or Sue Whitehead on 01282 434301.

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