More than 80 young people went to the A690 Youth Initiative's wing in the Sandhill Centre, Grindon, every day, to enjoy the charity's Easter events.

Activities included MC-ing, video games and arts and crafts.
And teenagers from A690 also used their holidays to tidy up residents' gardens in Plains Farm as part of the Initiative's Dream Scheme.

The scheme sees young people earn points for helping out in the community which they build up to get a trip or special event of their group's choice.

Lee Ferry, project manager at the A690 Youth Initiative, said: "We have had our most successful Easter programme to date and we engaged about 100 young people every day.

"We also had outdoor activities going on, such as gorge walking, caving and climbing."

Lee is putting the success of the Easter programme down to the success of the A690's "mobile youth village".

As reported in the Echo, the travelling club for teenagers saw antisocial behaviour rates plummet in Sunderland during the winter months, and it has now temporarily been moved into the Sandhill Centre.

The village is open on Friday nights and includes everything from a games area including a Wii console to a DJ/MC area, with a football cage and caravan offering health advice.

The project also aims to get young people involved in positive activities on other days of the week – such as the Easter programme.

Lee said: "We have got 130 to 140 young people coming every week, so it's going really well."

Detached youth workers at A690 are also working with young people at night.

They are hitting the streets armed with sports bags and are getting teenagers involved with street games such as football, rounders and cricket.

A690 also ran MC-ing competitions at Grindon Young People's Centre on Mondays and Wednesdays during the Easter break and took young people with special needs on trips.