The Young Carers Project (YCP) fulfils a rich tapestry of roles for its members - confidant, support network and advocate among them.

But one of the most important is giving them an arena to let their hair down, something their caring roles allow them little opportunity to do.

And in the having fun stakes, the magic word is activities. These are the lifeblood of the YCP experience and include everything from a trip to the bowling in Sutton to last summer's magical weekend in Paris.

They are typically divided along age lines and the youngest - those aged six to 10 - form the so-called young young carers group.

With a day's school behind them, nine-year-olds Nicola Skey and Daniel Lumsden, Ryan Bell, 10, Teea Porter and Jamie Tuffenelli, both seven, gathered for last Monday's somewhat unusual activity session.

As Ryan remarked, as he sat painting with his friends at the start of the session: "We usually go out and do something."

But the main item on the agenda last week was the youngsters' first rehearsal for the carers' inaugural Christmas Show, a rendition of Dickens' timeless A Christmas Carol.

And with just a couple of sessions with director and community arts worker Peter Allen to go before the big day, on Saturday, December 8, the pressure was on.

But according to project worker Lucy Dean: "Some of the quietest ones have decided to be in it. I was surprised how enthusiastic they were about doing it - it's very much their show."

The 'young' young carers' mission was to put together four scenes for the Ghost of Christmas Future to haunt Scrooge with.

And having seen them in action, if I were Dickens' great anti-hero, I'd turn heroic pretty quickly.

All of them brimmed with energy, enthusiasm and ideas, many of which Peter took on board, as they worked entirely without a script to create the dystopian vision that will turn Scrooge into a Class A goody.

I wouldn't want to give the game away to those of you who have already booked the date in your diary, but Nicola's newsreader - entirely improvised during the rehearsal - and Ryan's scary teacher are well worth the wait.

Afterwards, Peter said: "They are a brilliant group and we've now got four brilliant scenes."

There's a fantastic rapport within the group, which is all the more remarkable given the fact that Jamie and Nicola have only just joined, while Teea is relatively new herself.

Jamie's impressed with what he's seen so far, with one small qualification. He said: "I really like everything. But I heard there was a snooker table here, but I still haven't found it."

Published Oct 25

November 6, 2001 16:00