Anti-drugs stage show (From Free Press Series)

Anti-drugs stage show

TORFAEN teenagers caused a song and dance about drugs as they hit the stage in Cwmbran, backed by money recovered from drugs busts.

Torfaen's Musical Youth is made up of youngsters, aged ten to 17, who write their own lyrics with an anti-drug message.

They received funding from the Home Office's recovered assets fund that collects money seized from convicted drug dealers.

Musical Youth is backed by Torfaen Council's social inclusion unit and co-ordinator Jay Ryan brings youngsters together to raise awareness of drug and alcohol issues.

She said: "This project all came about through outreach work.

"I visited places like Cold Barn Farm Youth Club and talked with them about drug and alcohol issues. We talked about concerns they've got."

Following conversations in youth groups around Torfaen, the youngsters wrote lyrics about the issues and choreographed dance routines, in preparation for the show at the Congress Theatre.

Cold Barn Farm's group wrote about the increasing problem of drink spiking.

Band member Katie Hillard said: "It's important - we have heard of people being spiked in our area. We thought people should be aware of it - we all like parties and were thinking about when we were older and wanted to know more about it ourselves."

All musical youth members got a buzz out of performing last Friday and enjoyed the experience.

Alicia Gullick, 13, from Trevethin, said: "We used to turn the lights off when we first started singing in front of each other because we were so nervous."

Just three months later, all were performing on stage before an audience. Unclassified performed a track about the dangers of cocaine and backed lead singer Mandy McDonald.

Lauren Jones said: "It's important to show and make people aware of all the problems with drug and alcohol abuse and the things that can happen to you if you take them."