YOUNG actors from across North Ayrshire put on a series of short plays at the weekend warning of the dangers of knives, drugs, roads and the internet.

Around 60 secondary school pupils from the Three Towns attended the first of three events designed to hammer home the safety message.

The event, backed by North Ayrshire Council, Police Scotland and NHS Ayrshire and Arran, was staged in the 3 Towns Motor Project on Saturday.

And it proved a huge success with the visiting pupils, who contributed to lively debates about the issues raised.

The visitors were divided into four groups, who watched the plays performed simultaneously in different areas of the Motor Project. After each short play, discussion followed on the issues raised with contributions from the police, NHS and community workers.

Actor and director Steven Duffy developed the scripts with input from the young actors themselves, covering drugs, knife crime, road safety and internet safety.

Saltcoats resident Steven, best known for his roles in the movies Small Faces and Gunpowder Treason and Plot, as well as the TV drama Tinseltown, said: “The young people involved have put a tremendous amount of work in over a short space of time and they really delivered today. I’m very proud of them.” The teenagers performed four individual pieces, then joined together for the finale.

The drugs play centred on so-called “legal highs” – a hot issue at the moment after it was revealed a few weeks ago that half of the people hospitalised after taking legal highs in Scotland, came from Ayrshire and Arran.

In the debate which followed, NHS Ayrshire and Arran’s Marie Wilson revealed up to 17 per cent of ‘legal highs’ actually contained illegal substances.

The short play on knife crime led to a lively debate with many contributions from the visiting schoolkids.

Asked if the girl in the play had a valid reason to carry a blade, one youngster replied: “Naw. She’s gonnae stab somebody.” Other youngsters talked of knife crime in the Three Towns area and how it had impacted on their school and family lives.

The internet safety play – where a young girl was persuaded by a boyfriend into posing for inappropriate pictures – provoked discussion on cyber bullying, with the pupils sharing some of their own experiences of similar issues.

And the road safety play, showing the dangers of using mobile phones while out and about, hammered home the message that youngsters – and drivers – need to take special care.

Police sergeant Mo Boyle, local authority liaison with North Ayrshire Council, said: “The concept came from community worker Damian Taylor. We were one of five groups to get funding from Choices For Life, a national initiative for young people, which offers advice on drugs, alcohol, tobacco and online safety.

“Damien, North Ayrshire Council and Police Scotland put the bid together with help from KA Leisure North Ayrshire and NHS Ayrshire and Arran.

“We hope it is a more enjoyable approach than lecturing to young people on the issues. This is the first of three weekends and most of the secondary schools in North Ayrshire are sending young people to this. There’s been a lot of really great partnership working behind this.

“What has been brilliant for me is we have young people playing a key part in delivering the message on safety. As well as the actors, North Ayrshire Council’s Young Apprentices have helped enormously.

“Steven has been fantastic and has come up with some fabulous scripts.” After watching the plays and taking part in the debates, the pupils got the chance to use buggies, play internet games and take part in sports.

Schools from the Garnock Valley and Irvine/Kilwinning area are set to visit during the next few weeks.