SNOOKER is being used across East Lancashire to give disadvantaged youngsters a break.

The Weekly roadshows are currently being held at four venues across the area - and children taking part will get the chance to meet former world champion and ‘king of the jungle’ Steve Davis.

The Paul Hunter Foundation, which has used snooker as a way of learning and inclusion for nearly a decade, is running weekly events in Burnley, Pendle, Hyndburn and Rossendale.

The Foundation, launched in memory of Hunter who died in 2006, was successful in bids for the Well Being, Prevention, and Early Help Service - formerly known as the Young People’s Service Mini Competitions for BME Youth Work in Burnley, Pendle, Hyndburn, Rossendale and Preston areas.

The proposal from the Foundation has been put together with the support of young representatives of the BME community and North Lancs Training Group.

Chris Lovell, who is running the scheme, says snooker is a perfect working tool and helps break down barriers and gives troubled youngsters a sense of purpose.

“Snooker strives to give the young people involved the opportunity to develop and improve their confidence, learn and enhance a new skills,” said Lovell. “The aim is to support the development and application of their maths skills, develop relationships with other people that are able bodied, disadvantaged and in some instances of an authoritative nature in order to increase their self-worth and contribution to society.”

The roadshows, launched in September and earlier this month, are being held at The Zone, Hyndburn on (Saturdays 3-5pm), Brierfield Young Peoples Centre (Thursdays), Haslingden Library (Mondays 5.30-7pm and Wednesdays 7-9pm) and Stoneyholme and Daneshouse Young People’s Centre, Burnley (Fridays 7-9pm).

In each area, there will be a 15 session programme for young people to attend, each session will last for two hours and will be flexible to meet the needs of the area and will be held in local community venues allowing the provision to be delivered in the evenings, at weekends or during holiday periods.

Each youngster that completes the programme will receive a snooker cue and case.

They will have the opportunity to take part in weekly bite sized fun sport activities including mini competitions such as 60 second challenge, team relay games and shoot-out snooker applying the proven model used previously within Lancashire and throughout the county since 2008.

Progress and attitude will be awarded as ‘Star of the Night’ certificates will be issued to celebrate supplementary achievements of effort, sportsmanship and supporting others. Opportunities will exist to lead small activities under full supervision for young people who excel and show potential in the initial stages of leadership.

All young people will have the opportunity to achieve an accreditation in Basic Snooker Skills from the profession’s National Governing Body, the WPBSA, with a targeted 80 per cent achievement rate.

Support will be sourced within the local communities to support any specialist needs or barriers to participation by young people that want to attend.

During the sessions, invitations to the police, drugs awareness and sexual health teams will be made to enable young people to feel comfortable and confident to access these services in a relaxed environment.

Expert delivery will be given by the Foundation team on snooker skills together with information, advice and guidance provided by qualified skilled professionals on employability skills and also signposting to a positive outcome of FE, jobs, apprenticeships or a programme of study.

Celebration events will be held during the early part of November featuring six-times world champion Davis who will join the team and visit each area to meet the young people taking part and support any community initiatives where possible.

“This is a valuable piece of work during challenging times for these communities,” added Lovell. “Snooker has always been an inclusive sport that’s welcomed anyone to take part.

“The successful achievement of these projects is down to the hard work of all the team during the past years.

“Our vision is to bring the people of Lancashire together and everyone is already looking forward to meeting Steve in November, it’s given them all something to build up to and look forward to.”