A SPECIAL version of this year's Commonwealth Games was hosted in Ealing last week where more than 1,100 primary schoolchildren took part.

The mini games were staged at The Compton High School and Sports College in Northolt.

Pupils from primary schools across the borough were invited to take part along with England Rugby International Phil Greening and Paralympian Lee Mitchell.

This year's Commonwealth Games will take place in Manchester but Ealing's mini version has already been deemed a great success.

Like the forthcoming games in Manchester, months of planning and training went into making the copycat event a triumph.

A group of nine pupils aged between 14 and 15 who are studying for the Youth Sport Trust's Junior Sports Leader Award were the brains behind the event.

They wanted to put together a sports event which would provide a chance for all pupils of all abilities to take part and become their own sporting hero.

Kevin Gold, 15, Junior Sports Leader at The Compton High, said: "We played a big role in organising the games.

"We stayed behind after school for the last six months. There were no problems on the day and it went really well. It was a complete success.

"We hope to do it again next year and get more schools involved."

Hazel Mackay, Headteacher of Lady Margaret Primary School, Lady Margaret Road, Southall, had 22 children representing the school at the games.

She said: "It was tremendous for our children to put into practice some of the skills they have learnt and also to meet with a lot of adults who deal with sports. The whole team were really good with children.

"It was organised in such a fashion that it gave the children a sense of importance and youngsters older than themselves were giving them encouragement."