An annual theatre performance teaching children about the dangers of drugs has marked its 25th year.

Wings To Fly is shown to around 3,000 Year Six pupils from 90 primary schools across Caerphilly County Borough and Blaenau Gwent each year.

The play follows the story of a group of teenagers and deals with issues surrounding drug use and peer pressure.

This year’s performances were held at Blackwood Miners’ Institute last month.

Brian Wilkins, chairman of Blackwood and Risca Crime Prevention Panel, has been involved with the project for 13 years.

Mr Wilkins, 80, said: “Around 75,000 people have seen Wings to Fly since it first started in 1996.

“I’ve spoken to people who have told me it’s had a positive impact on them, but it’s one of those indefinable things.

“We do it in the belief that we are doing good.

“The police support us and the chief constable of Gwent Police [Pam Kelly] is happy to put her name to it, as well as the chief education officer at Caerphilly County Borough Council.”

Mr Wilkins explained that the idea for the play came from former crime panel chairman Tony Curtis MBE, after his daughter moved from primary school to comprehensive school and started hearing stories about drug and alcohol use.

Horrified by what his daughter was telling him, Mr Curtis commissioned Margaret Rooney, then-arts development officer at the council, to write the play.

The play receives funding from the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent, and is supported by community safety officers and school liaison officers.

Mr Wilkins added: “Without people like school liaison officer PC Carolann Powell, crime prevention panel treasurer Colin Gilbert and his wife Debra, we wouldn’t be able to do this.”

The 2020 cast was made up of 13 actors aged between 14 and 19 from the council’s youth theatre, with 18 cast members for the Welsh version.

The council’s arts development officer, Kate Verity, has been involved with the play for ten years. She said: “We meet with the police beforehand to discuss current drug trends to make it as relevant as possible.

“For the first time this year, we have a male playing the main character, Penguin.”

Ms Verity explained that the decision to cast a male in the role was related to the death of 13-year-old Carson Price in April 2019.

Dewi Moore, 15, who played Penguin, said the show has “many messages”, including “preventing peer pressure and the consequences of drugs”.

Cast member Ellie Jones, 15, said: “The performance went really well. I feel proud to be a part of this group.”