A GROUP of young people treated Hereford locals recently with an emotional insight into the struggle of homelessness through a live performance called If You Walked a Mile in My Shoes.

The moving performance told the individual stories of 14 young people, who shared their own true-life experiences through prose, poetry, songs, rap and film, to guide the audience through their past, describing their emotions, questions of identity, making their voice heard and fight for survival.

Six of the young people had also used their poems to produce a series of short films called Six Stories of Home describing in detail their feelings of homelessness, care and home.

Head of Herefordshire Supported Housing for Young People Project (SHYPP), Alicia Lawrence, said: 'It was amazing and we had such great feedback with comments congratulating the young people for such a fantastic artistic performance. The audience also commented that it was an inspirational evening with the young people being so brave, so honest, so talented and it was a privilege to walk a little way in their shoes'.

If You Walked a Mile in My Shoes was performed live at The Courtyard, Hereford and was facilitated and directed by Toni Cook.

The audience over the two nights of performances included the Deputy Lieutenant of Herefordshire, Lady McFarlane, High Sheriff of Herefordshire, Nathaniel Hone and the Mayor of Leominster, Jenny Bartlett.

The second night also included SHYPP's annual award ceremony where young people received recognition for their work, positive engagement and contribution.

Awards were presented to Jack New for Young Person of the Year, Ryan Faizey for Community Impact and Sam Bauress for Transformational Change.