77127-321CHILDREN were able to enjoy a healthy snack and try out a few games when an Active Kids roadshow came to town.

The fun day, at Sainsbury's in Bridgemead, was part of an ongoing campaign by the store to encourage youngsters to lead a healthy life.

Duty manager Stuart Black-burn, 35, said: "Active Kids is a great initiative.

"I feel extremely strongly that all children should be offered the chance to try out fun activities.

"Kids being active is the first step towards involvement in sport, whether it be in school or for a local club."

As part of the scheme, which is fronted by the Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Homes, customers can collect Active Kids tokens for schools, which exchange the tokens for sports equipment.

On Saturday youngsters were also able to enter a prize draw to win play equipment for their schools.

Sainsbury's regional food adviser, Pat McDonald, 55, who visits schools in Swindon and other towns to encourage healthy eating, said: "Whenever I go to a school the children are always really receptive and interested to talk about healthy eating.

"It's been fantastic to see so many people here and we've had plenty of people registering their schools to win prizes.

"All the kids really enjoyed the healthy food and the games and that's just what we want to see.

"This initiative will hopefully make a difference to the health of young people and allow them to enjoy sports more."

As well as trying healthy foods, such as grapes and cucumbers, the youngsters also got to have a go at some games.

Ben Wade, 22, was on hand to help them with beanbag throwing, frisbees and walking on giant monster feet.

He said: "It went really well. All the schools in the area had been told about it so we had lots of children entering their schools in the competitions.

"It was a shame the weather wasn't a bit better but it didn't seem to put people off coming.

"We thought it would be popular and it was.

"We're just trying to get kids to have a healthy lifestyle by bringing sports and nutrition together."

Gareth Bethell