Football opportunities in Orkney are on the rise thanks to support from the Scottish FA.
More children than ever before, 143 in total, attended a variety of summer holiday programmes, run in partnership with Orkney Active Schools.
Local coaches provided sessions at the Pickaquoy Centre in Kirkwall, St Andrews Primary School and Stromness Academy.
Catherine Johnson, Active Schools co-ordinator, said the football sessions were also attended by tourists visiting the scenic island.
She said: “It was great to see so many children attending our programme. This year’s numbers were up from last year by more than 25%.
“We had a mixture of local children from various schools and also children who were on holiday in Orkney.”
The sessions were free of charge due to them being funded by the Scottish Government’s CashBack for Communities fund.
Diversionary and participatory sporting activity is key to the CashBack programme.
Of the 20 national organisations now funded through CashBack to provide positive opportunities for young people, eight of these are sporting bodies –
Scottish Football Association, the Scottish Football League, Scottish Rugby Union, Scottish Sports Futures, basketballscotland, sportscotland, ClubGolf and
Amateur Boxing Scotland.
In total, over £8 million has been spent on sporting activities and facilities up to 31st March 2011, with a further £16.1 million committed to projects from 1st April 2011 to 31st March 2014.