‘At risk’youngster turns his life around

Jul 2 2008 By Dale Williams

A THEATRE project has helped a Midland teenager who was constantly in trouble with the police to find a new direction in his life.

Nathan Dunn, who comes from Wren’s Nest, Dudley, says if it wasn’t for the Leaps & Bounds scheme he could well be in prison now.

The 18-year-old is one of 60 young people about to star in a show called Wrosne – An Underground Experience.

The show is produced by the Dudley-based organisation Leaps & Bounds which works with at risk young people.

Nathan was taken into care when he was 15. He was constantly getting into fights and was involved with drugs.

But thanks to the project, which will see him performing in front of hundreds of people over four nights in Dudley’s mines, Nathan has now been signed up by The National Youth Theatre for a stint in London.

He said: “I was encouraged onto the Leaps & Bounds project by Wendy Macintosh, one of the youth workers on Wren’s Nest estate.

“Leaps and Bounds has done me good and kept me out of trouble. If it wasn’t for this I could even be in jail now.”

Wrosne follows an eager group of youngsters at the launch of a new nightclub. The shows will start from the visitor centre at the Black Country Living Museum. Spectators will then be taken taken into the mines on canal boats.

Tickets for the July shows on 20, 21, 23 and 25 are now on sale on 01384 812812.