ARTISTIC youngsters form Derby High School have been treading the boards in a bid to bring back a top award to Bury.

Around 40 pupils performed an eight-minute play before a panel of judges in the final of Greater Manchester Police's "On the Beat" comp- etition.

Manchester's Bridgewater Hall was the venue for the final, with the winning team receiving a trophy and a cheque for £1,000. Special achievement prizes were awarded in eleven categories.

The event was part of GMP's Youth Matters programme which involves young people in pro-active community projects by looking at ways of dealing with crime and anti-social behaviour as well as encouraging better citizenship.

This year's theme for the competition was "Our community, our future, our responsibility."

Derby High pupils took on around 500 other youngsters from teams representing each of the other ten police divisions.

Their play, written by drama class students at the Radcliffe Road school, centres on two rival gangs who realise their lethal behaviour towards each other is futile. Rather than fight, they learn to co-operate and work together to make the most of life.