YOUNGSTERS travelling from the region to attend a major international festival next month are taking with them a personal message from Tony Blair.

The Prime Minister recorded a video message for young people from County Durham to take to the YMCA Europe Youth Festival.

Ten youngsters, aged 16 to 18, from Consett, will join more than 8,000 youngsters from across Europe at the event in Prague.

They will present the video to YMCA bosses and it will be screened during the event.

Consett YMCA manager Billy Robson said: "Mr Blair was great."

Members at the Consett centre raised money to send five teenagers from Dubnov, Russia, to the festival, after hearing they could not afford to go.

It followed a visit to north Durham in February by Russian youth leader and former Soviet military intelligence officer, Misha Kuschkov.

Mr Robson is also preparing to take a group from Derwentside on an exchange trip to Nazareth, Israel, funded by the British Council.

He said. "When they visit other countries they realise they are better off than they thought. Working in somewhere like a women's refuge in Poland brings it home - it is a life changing experience."