York City Football Club has teamed up with City of York Council to run a new programme run by dads, for dads.

The scheme is part of a government-funded initiative called 'Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities'. York is one of a number of cities in the UK that has been chosen to pilot the scheme to help support parents and enhance their parenting skills. It promotes violence-free, healthy lifestyles and aims to build on parents own values, rather than telling them how they should be parenting.

The dads' programme explores how the way men were fathered themselves affects the way they father their own children. The programme is free and is open to any dad who has a child or children between the ages of eight and 13 years of age, regardless of their age or background.

The programme offers dads a toolkit of different techniques that they can use with their children, while acknowledging that most dads already do the best they can, with the experience and knowledge they have.

The programme will be held at York City Football Club,  starting on Thursday 27 September for three hours per week for 13 weeks.

Anyone wanting further information, or who would like to book a space on the programme should contact Barry Jones on 01904 554351 or Phil Martin on 01904 554581.