Local youngsters are being asked to come along to a free junior golf festival in Carlisle’s city centre on Saturday 7 August 2010.

Held between 10am and 2pm, it has been organised by Carlisle City Council’s Sport and Recreation team, in partnership with the Cumbria Golf Partnership, Active Cumbria, and is aimed at the whole family especially young people aged between 5-16 years old.

‘Come and Try’ activities will include putting and chipping games; tuition from local golf coaches and a large inflatable golf nets. There will also be a prize draw with the chance to win various prizes donated by local golf shops and clubs.

Carlisle City Cllr Ray Bloxham, Portfolio Holder for Local Environment, said:

“Getting children involved in golf at this age is so important. To involve the local community in an event like this is fantastic and you never know. This initiative could unearth a future major champion in Carlisle."

The event is part of the Golf Roots programme co-ordinated by the City Council sports team. Golf Roots is a high profile and innovative junior golf development programme run by the Golf Foundation.

Through funding from a variety of organisations (Ryder Cup Trust, European Tour, National Sports Foundation and the England Golf Partnership) and individual donations, Golf roots is being delivered in 16 cities across England and Wales. Carlisle has been selected to be one of them.

This Saturday’s event follows on from a series of Tri-Golf and Extreme golf coaching sessions held in schools this summer and a Tri-Golf Festival, held in May where a 120 Carlisle school children aged 5-10 took part. The winners of the festival Stanwix School - will represent the city at a national festival, held this September in Loughborough.                                           

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Notes to Editors:

• Tri-Golf is a 'mini' version of golf designed specifically for young children at infant, primary and junior schools.
• Extreme golf is aimed at secondary aged children.
• It was launched in November 2000 by the Golf Foundation. This involved developing youngster-friendly equipment that has proved to be popular with children, affordable for schools, and easy for teachers to use.
• Tri-Golf is now reaching approximately 500,000 young children per year across the British Isles. It has broken new ground and has demonstrated how golf can be delivered through fun-based activity sessions involving large groups of youngsters. It has reached youngsters who would not normally have considered golf as an option.