In response to COVID-19, the SPAR Lancashire School Games launched a virtual programme of activities to ensure that children across the county had access to a structured sport timetable throughout lockdown. SPAR UK has now reported that the virtual programme has garnered an impressive 30,000 video views on YouTube, while over 10,000 children have taken part in the virtual sports day.

Designed for three main age groups (Year 1-2, Year 3-6, and teenagers), the ten-week ‘Stay at Home Heroes’ timetable included daily online resources and celebrity video features.

Dominic Holroyd, Children and Young People Development Officer at Active Lancashire said, “COVID-19 has had a significant impact on children’s physical and mental health during lockdown. The closure of schools, sport clubs, and sporting facilities created a huge barrier for children and young people to access the physical, psychological, and social benefits of taking part in regular sporting activity. 

“Many children do not have gardens or easy access to green spaces and Sport England found that for many families, the activity levels of children depend hugely on the activity levels of their parents. We also know that those living in areas of deprivation or BAME backgrounds are less likely to be active than those who are from affluent areas or from White British backgrounds.”

 “With this in mind,” Dominic Holroyd explained, “the SPAR Lancashire School Games virtual programme provided parents, teachers and carers with a fun, eclectic mix of sporting and cognitive challenges to work into their daily home schooling routine, or for those caring for keyworkers’ children. All challenges were designed to be easily adaptable at home, i.e., swapping rounders bats for rolling pins and using toilet roll as obstacle points.”

Stats for the virtual programme:

• Over 41,700 people accessed resources on the website
• 30,000 video views on YouTube
• 19,200 hours of video watched on Facebook
• Over 10,000 children took part in the virtual sports day

Last year, the SPAR Lancashire School Games engaged over 100,000 children across Lancashire, with 2,500 attending the county finals event at Stanley Park in Blackpool. This year’s virtual programme was hosted through the games’ website and social media channels, and the county finals took place online, in the form of a virtual sports day.

James Hall & Co., SPAR wholesaler for the north of England, is celebrating its fourteenth year of sponsorship for the SPAR Lancashire School Games this year.

Source: SPAR UK

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About SPAR UK

The UK became a member of SPAR in 1956 when a group of independent wholesalers was granted the SPAR licence by SPAR International. There are five regional partners in the UK with strategically placed Distribution Centres in each region. A central office, located in London, provides national marketing and buying services for the group and supports the development of the brand

SPAR has led the convenience market in the UK for many years but has faced increasing competition. Always innovative, the five regional partners have continued to grow the brand. Throughout the UK, a combination of independently-owned licensed retailers and company-owned stores can be found, spanning forecourts, airports, train stations, city centres, and local neighbourhoods.