DOZENS of children took part in a sporting event held by police in a bid to reduce anti-social behaviour.

PCSO Sammi Salisbury, of the South Flintshire policing team, organised the Zorb football and Penna Cage event over the weekend for local youths as part of Operation Bang.

Operation Bang was launched by North Wales Police to educate youngsters surrounding arson reduction and the dangers of deliberately starting fires.

The event was held at the Argoed Fields in order to encourage the young people of Mynydd Isa to engage with North Wales Police.

Sgt Neil Hughes said: "It was really well attended and took a great deal of organisation.

"It was spoiled slightly by the wet weather but the children made the most of it and there was lots of worn out kids by the end which it great to see.

"We had five operation bangs in South Flintshire where we received funding to do work with children during the half term to keep them off the streets and behaving."

The funding was supplied by Police and Community Trust (PACT) and the Arson Reduction Team and was supported by the North Wales Fire and Rescue Service.

Aura Leisure and Libraries provided the sporting facilities whilst the Argoed Sports Association and Mynydd Isa Football Club allowed the event to take place on the all-weather pitch.

PCSO Sammi, who organised the event, said: "The original plan was to have the panna cage football and Zorb football, however, due to the awful weather, it was unsafe to use the body zorbs so Aura Leisure and Libraries provided a big zorb ball which allowed two individuals to take part in at a time and the kids loved it.

"All of the young people took part had a great time and took part in both activities and stayed until the end. Aura also provided them with refreshments.

"In previous years, there has been a rise in ASB incidents in Mynydd Isa, around the location of the Argoed. On the night of the event, there were no ASB incidents at the location so Operation Bang has proved to be successful."

Another Zorb football event will be held on Friday, November 2 in the Hawarden High School sports hall between 4.30pm and 6.30pm.