McKillop’s SPAR, Ballymena has boosted sports days of three local schools with generous donations.

The store has donated sports day kits containing banners, posters, race bibs, running tape and the all-important medals to Braidside Primary School, Kirkinriola Primary School and Castle Tower School, alongside water and healthy snacks to keep pupils going throughout the event.

It comes as 606 primary schools in Northern Ireland got their sports day boosted at the end of term thanks to SPAR, EUROSPAR, ViVO and ViVOXTRA’s Schools Sports Day Campaign for 2025.

This is the 5th year in a row that the store has made donations to local schools to help them create the best sports day they can for their pupils.

In total, over 30 sports day kits were supplied to primary schools from McKillop’s SPAR Ballymena.

Eamonn McKillop who owns McKillop’s SPAR, Ballymena commented; “It is an important end to the school year for children’s parents to gather and enjoy sports day with them, so we were delighted to support local primary schools again this year, in making their event the best it could be. We see the families every day in our store, so we were also happy to attend the event and cheer everybody on, while also providing water and snacks courtesy of our store.”

Bronagh Luke from SPAR NI said it was an essential part of their community outreach; “There are over 500 SPAR, EUROSPAR and ViVO branded stores in NI which support their local primary schools in many ways throughout the year, so providing the Sports Day kits to schools is a fantastic way to round off the summer term and school year. Keeping active and enhancing the health of those in our local communities is a key priority for our stores as we continue to nurture the neighbourhoods we operate in.”

SPAR NI’s School Sports Day initiative began over 13 years ago, and has supported thousands of schools, helping enhance their end of term fixtures in the past decade, and Bronagh Luke says it is one that has been embraced by retailers and communities alike; “This is a really valuable engagement tool for our retailers to form meaningful connections with those in their community. These partnerships are created to engage with young people and help our store areas thrive across Northern Ireland and we’re very proud to see them grow year upon year.

“We wish all our sports day participants a very happy summer holiday!”

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