Alcohol awareness performances at high schools

The performance also includes a workshop to engage students in

A UK-based theatre group has come to Guernsey to perform a piece about alcohol awareness to Year 9 students across the island.

Last Orders, performed by the Solomon Theatre Company, was to deliver key messages about the dangers of alcohol use to support what students learned in PSHE [Personal, social, health and economic education] lessons, organisers said.

The company said it brought to life serious issues which could affect young people, and those involved said they believed that drama could convey a strong message.

The Health Improvement Commission has funded the visit.

'Engaging and appealing'

Andrea Nightingale, substance use lead at the commission, said: "It's a different way of getting really important messages and positive choices to students around the age of Year 9.

"It's really important to get those messages across in an appealing and engaging way.

"We hope that it's a prevention message. So we're hoping that a majority of these young people haven't started using alcohol and all the associated harms with it.

"We really hope that it intervenes early and that we prevent them, until they are at an age where they can understand, and they can make informed choices and the right choices."

Solomon team leader Sammy Tootell said: "It just gets the messages out really well to the kids; it's a better environment for them to learn from because they almost experience it first hand.

"So it's just more memorable and it gives them that chance to feel like they've experienced things that they won't hopefully experience in the future."