SCHOOL might seem a bit tame for youngsters returning after weeks of exciting activities in West Craven.

The area has been given a massive £250,000 boost in the shape of "Active Futures", a project paid for by the Lancashire Children's Fund and delivered by Pendle Leisure Trust and Pendle Council.

It will run until March 2006, with a variety of holiday and term-time activities for youngsters aged 10 to 13 in the West Craven area.

Getting the Active Futures programme under way were summer holiday activity sessions in Barnoldswick and Earby. They started at the West Craven Sports Centre, Barnoldswick, at the beginning of the summer break and have also been running for the past three weeks at the New Road Community Centre, in Earby.

At each venue, young people have enjoyed an exciting and innovative mix of arts, sports and adventure activities, many of them designed to link into local events such as the Barnoldswick Festival, which starts this weekend.

The young people at Barnoldswick have been making flags for the festival and bugs lanterns and masks for the Barnoldswick Bugs weekend - the culmination of the seven-week event. They also enjoyed a trip to Tropical World, in Leeds.

In addition the youngsters have enjoyed a variety of indoor sports, music and dance sessions as the first phase of the Active Futures initiative. It wraps up today (Friday) with a disco at West Craven Sports Centre, but the programme then switches to a weekly after-school club, also at the sports centre.

Dave Moreton, of Pendle Leisure, said: "We are very fortunate to have received this funding from the Lancashire Children's Fund. West Craven is a rural area, which does not receive as much funding as urban areas.

"The funding means we can provide a dynamic and varied programme of events for the young people of the area."

Managing the Active Futures programme is Jennene Renninson, from Barnoldswick. Besides working at the West Craven Sports Centre, she is actively involved with various local arts groups and organisations.