Don’t just sit there: join in the summer fun!

SOCCER skills . . . Javid Maroof (left) and Thayub Ahmed tackle football.

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FROM Bollywood dancing to basketball and circus skills to street cheer, Oldham Council’s Passport to Summer programme has something for everyone.

The action-packed agenda, which runs until September, boasts more than 1,000 events in which youngsters can get involved.

Sessions take place at dozens of locations across the borough giving all children a chance to beat the boredom.

Oldham’s first Youth Mayor, Mohammed Adil, officially launched the programme at Greenhill Community School where he tried his hand at cricket, tennis, football and rugby.

He said: “Passport to Summer is a fantastic scheme that offers the youth of Oldham an unprecedented range of things do this summer.

”Summer holidays offer a huge amount of free time but this year there really is no excuse for sitting at home bored.

“There’s so much variety in this programme that you could probably try a new activity for the first time every day of the week. You can go climbing one day, for example, create a play and learn how to dive or cook the next — the opportunities are endless.”

Councillor John McCann, Cabinet Member for Community Services, said: “Despite the weather, we have experienced an excellent reaction to the first week of Passport to Summer.”

“The number of followers keeping updated on Facebook and Twitter are already on the up and visitor hits to the website at www.ouroldham.info jumped by 200 per cent in the first week. I would also like to encourage parents to log on to that website and have a look at what’s on offer.

“There are some very creative ideas about how to fill youngsters’ time - and many will be on their doorstep.”

Youngsters taking part in Passport to Summer events can enter a competition in which they could win an iPod.

Budding photographers should take snaps based on the theme of Summer In Oldham and entries will be split into three age groups (8-12, 13-16 and 17-20). The winner in each will pick up an iPod Nano while runners-up get a mystery prize.

Entrants can submit as many photographs as they like by e-mailing a jpeg to summer@oldham.gov.uk with their name, age, address, telephone number, where the picture was taken and a few lines about why they think their photo should win.

A gallery of entrants’ photos will be also displayed on the Passport to Summer group on Facebook.

Entries must be received by 5pm on Friday, August 29.