JOE Bullock and Josh Ward are delighted with the early success Barrow Raiders' community development scheme has been enjoying.

Raiders team-mates Bullock and Ward are running skills camps at Craven Park throughout August for players aged five to 13 in an expansion of the programme they first trialled over the Easter holidays.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays have seen them hold the second two-day camp of the summer and Barrow prop Bullock, who also works as one of the club's development officers, is pleased with how well they have been received.

“It's going down as well as it can do, really,” said Bullock. “The first camp we had 26 kids down to and that's good for just a free camp where they were able to come down and enjoy themselves.

“Then the JETs (Junior Education Training session) programme we did throughout the back end of the summer at school was very successful. “I think we had over 200 kids coming to that and doing specialist skills camps, so it's been quite successful.”

Ward echoed those sentiments and believes they are both getting to grips with making the sessions highly beneficial for those attending.

“We started it at Easter and that was a bit of a trial run, but the summer ones have really kicked off,” said Ward.

“We had over 20 kids for the first one, which is really good as it has only just started. We're still new to it, but we're giving it our best shot and the kids really seem to enjoy it.”

As well as spreading the reach of rugby league and the club, another aim for the community development programme is to help establish a route for players from the area to progress from youth rugby to the Barrow senior team.

“The important thing is we're setting up a pathway from junior rugby into representative rugby,” said Bullock. “So we're giving them an opportunity to learn our systems and then they can go through into the under-19s we've just set up and then hopefully go into the first team.

“It's all about getting the kids at these camps who are eight-years-old to, hopefully, one day play for Barrow.”

Read more: Barrow Raiders' Josh Ward brings sunshine into lives of young prospects