TEENAGERS are being saluted for going to town with an anti-drugs message.

Next Saturday, the youngsters, all aspiring musicians, will give a public concert on Redcar High Street as part of Drugs Awareness Day.

Budding rock bands signed on for the event at Skelton Youth Centre at the weekend, when a professional singer and a dancer offered technical advice on voice projection, dance routine and confidence building.

It was a follow-on to the first auditions, held in June, when 60 young people played and sang at the youth centre.

Eight bands which took part in the June event will perform live on stage throughout the Saturday, when there will be entertainment, information stalls and give-aways during what is being organised as a family fun day.

Helen Woodrow, head of Skelton Youth Centre, said: "The aim of the day is for everyone to have fun, but to be aware of the underlying serious issues."

She said the young people involved were society's greatest resource in helping to spread important messages on the dangers of drugs to the wider community.

She said: "I am a youth worker. I love working with young people, and for young people to do this is the best way to spread the message.

"I am a firm believer in peer education. Peer pressure has a major input in our young people's lives. If we can harness that and use it positively, those young people can promote the fact that you don't have to do drugs to have a good time."

Dave McLuckie, lead councillor for public safety with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, said: "It is excellent that young people are carrying the message of how deadly drugs can be, to the wider community. It shows the majority of young people today do care for the environment and the people who live there.

"Peer pressure can be used two ways. It can be used to force young people down a certain route to disaster, or used to the good in educating young people to ensure they don't go down the other route, to a dangerous conclusion."