SPONSORS are needed to help promote an anti-drink driving message to schoolchildren across Hartlepool.

Road safety officials are keen to attract sponsors to help them stage a hard-hitting play in schools after the production Too Much Punch for Judy, proved successful at Henry Smith School.

The play, performed by Essex-based APE Theatre Company, tells the true story of a teenage girl who is held responsible for her sister's death in a drink-drive incident on the way home from a night out.

Steve Nicholson, head of year ten at the school, said: "Theatre in education provides a novel way of influencing teenagers' behaviour to road safety.

"The staff and pupils gained a lot from this performance and it is hoped that pupils will benefit not just in the short term, but also in the longer term by becoming safer road users."

Paul Watson, Hartlepool Borough Council's road safety officer, has appealed for people to to help stage other educational performances.

He said: "We are constantly looking for new and imaginative ways of delivering the road safety message."