YOUNG people in Hartlepool have been coming face to face with the grim realities of homelessness and inner city poverty.

A group of youngsters from the Owton Manor and Rossmere areas of the town spent a weekend in London as part of a study programme to help raise their awareness of social issues and dangers that can ruin young lives.

The trip was organised by the Owton-Rossmere Detached Youth Project, which works with young people, helping them develop their sense of social responsibility and make informed choices about their lives.

It is funded by the Owton-Rossmere Single Regeneration Budget Partnership and Hartlepool Borough Council.

The youngsters, eight girls and ten boys aged between 13 and 18, came back from London with a clearer view of some of the realities of real life.

Kirsten Bennett, one of the two full-time detached youth workers in the project, said: "We saw the tremendous contrasts between the great wealth in the city and the poverty and large numbers of homeless people."

Despite the serious aspect of the trip, the youngsters also found time for a visit to the Millennium Dome.

The London trip marked the end of a six-month programme of studies, in which the pupils have been finding out more about a range of social issues including sexual health and teenage pregnancy, car crime, drugs and alcohol.

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