PUPILS from Trinity and St Michael’s VA CofE Methodist Primary School are celebrating after clinching a place at the largest youth sporting event in Lancashire, following victory in a girls’ football competition.

The school battled it out against ten other Chorley schools and will now represent the district at the SPAR Lancashire School Games county finals where they will compete against teams from 14 Lancashire districts in a bid to be crowned county champions in girls’ football.

The pupils from Trinity and St Michael’s VA CofE Methodist Primary School scored success in a highly-contested final against Euxton CE Primary School, which secured the county finals place for Chorley last year.

The win came after a series of round-robin matches between Eccleston Primary School, The Parish of Saint Laurence CE Primary School, Euxton CE Primary School and St Michael’s VA CofE Methodist Primary School.

Gemma Stokes, who is the school games organiser for Chorley and arranged the event, said: “We had a thrilling event. While was Chorley’s first ever girls’ football league, we had over 100 girls playing, so the standard of play was great.

“The girls’ football is always one of the most strongly fought-out sports at the county finals so I wish the pupils all the best. I’ll be cheering you on at the side-lines.”

Now in its eleventh year, the SPAR Lancashire School Games is made up of two main events providing all children in Lancashire with the opportunity to take part in competitive sport.

Schools across the county are now competing for a place at the county finals which will be held at Blackpool’s Stanley Park on July 4, where over 2,000 children are expected to battle it out for glory. A range of sports including gymnastics, football and athletics, as well as two new additions to the 2017 line-up, mixed cricket and touch rugby, will be contested by pupils from 15 Lancashire districts.

In addition, the Disability Swimming Gala took place on March 15 at Lancaster’s Salt Ayre Leisure Centre. The SPAR Lancashire School Games is organised by the Lancashire Sport Partnership and delivered by the county’s school games organisers. James Hall & Company Ltd, the SPAR distributor for the North of England, is sponsoring the event for the eleventh year running. Over £128m of National Lottery and Government funding has been invested into the school games programme.