WEARSIDE and Teesside youngsters have been swapping regeneration ideas.

Youngsters aged from ten to 14, from Whinney Banks, in Middlesbrough, spent a day in Sunderland's East End and Hendon.

The trip was organised by Mickey Waters, of the Community Link team, Sunderland's Back on the Map partnership and Paul Surtees, youth participation worker for Middlesbrough's New Deal for Communities partnership.

It followed a similar event last year, when a group of Hendon youngsters visited Middlesbrough for the day.

The day began with a visit to the Community Link Team Shop, in Hendon, followed by a swim and lunch at Hendon's Raich Carter Sports Centre.

The youngsters spent the afternoon at the Catholic Youth Centre, Hendon's young people's project and the Stadium of Light.

A spokesman for the Back on the Map partnership said the visit was to thank Whinney Banks' New Deal for Communities for last year's trip to Middlesbrough.

"It created similar benefits in terms of encouraging ideas and providing networking opportunities. It also gave us the chance to promote some of the successful regeneration projects that are going on in and around the East End and Hendon," he said.