Communal games for children of the Border

Children drawn from throughout Northern Ireland and the six Border counties in the Republic will converge on Omagh tomorrow to…

Children drawn from throughout Northern Ireland and the six Border counties in the Republic will converge on Omagh tomorrow to compete for a peace trophy sponsored by Nobel Laureate John Hume.

More than 200 children will be taking part in the event organised by the Community Games aimed at fostering friendships between children from the two communities in the North and from both sides of the Border.

The Community Games organisation has been growing in the North over the past year with the help of money from the EU's Peace and Reconciliation Fund. Five full-time staff work from a Belfast office. This has seen a 20 per cent increase in participation in Community Games activities, with committees set up in each county in the North.

Tomorrow's sports challenge takes place at Omagh Leisure Centre, a particularly poignant choice of venue given that this was where families of bomb victims endured the nightmarish experience of waiting for news of relatives. The organisers say the choice of Omagh is "symbolic of community togetherness".

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Teams for tomorrow's competitions will be mixed, with representatives from all the counties playing together. The prize for the overall winning team is an activities weekend in Mosney, while the peace trophy will be shared by each county representative throughout the year. In addition to competitions in a range of sports from soccer to unihoc, lots of fun events are also guaranteed.