Barrow Raiders’ latest venture into engaging with their local community may have been planned at short notice, but it proved to be an instant success in searing heat.

The first of the club’s ‘Raiders on the Road’ events, which is being run in partnership with Furness College, took place at the recreational ground Ormsgill Community Centre last Thursday.

The fact there weren’t enough water bottles by half for the kids involved gives an indication of how many bought into the idea, despite the stifling temperatures in last week’s heatwave, as more than 20 youngsters did just that.

The session was run by the Raiders’ community liaison officer Siona Hartley, while she was assisted by the club’s Papua New Guinea internationals Stargroth Amean and Wartovo Puara.

Hartley said: “It’s an idea we’ve had for a while because we’ve been really keen to take rugby to the communities.

“It’s just a case of finding the right time, ie the summer holidays, in which to do it.

“Basically, the idea of this initiative is to bring rugby to the communities that we feel will benefit most from us being here.

“It’s starting off as a bit of an experiment this first time, so we’ve come to Ormsgill. Hopefully we will build on this as each holiday comes, we will have Raiders on the Road as something we will feature in our community.”

The Raiders’ roadshow has since visited Mill Lane, Walney, and the Vulcan Estate and will head on to Barrow Park tomorrow before heading out to Askam and Millom.

Simonetta Tribocchi, a community development officer with Cumbria County Council, said: “This only came about on Tuesday when the Raiders came down to us because we were having a community meeting we said ‘yeah, let’s go for it.’

“Obviously, the community have pushed it on Facebook and we’re completely surprised with how many have shown up.”