HYNDBURN has one of the worst records in the country for teenage pregnancies and Lyndsey Cunliffe is better placed than most to give advice and support to young people dealing with their first sexual relationships.

After all, while her friends were preparing to get their GCSE results, she was giving birth to her baby daughter Crystal.

She became pregnant at 15 and gave birth just after her 16th birthday -- on the same day most of her friends were starting to plan their futures after getting their GCSE grades.

Now, some six years on, 21-year-old Lyndsey, from Oswaldtwistle, is preparing to celebrate Crystal's sixth birthday and can't help but think of the teenage girls throughout the area who are going through the same torment she experienced back in 1995.

It would have been very easy for Lyndsey to have become just another statistic which places Hyndburn among the worst in the country for teenage pregnancies.

Recent figures show that in Hyndburn, 70.55 per every thousand of girls under 18 become pregnant.

But instead of accepting her fate, Lyndsey has set about helping teenagers who find herself in the same position as her.

After working as a Millennium Volunteer at the Brook Advisory Centre -- a drop-in centre for teenagers in Blackburn which offers advice about sex as well as support -- she was appointed to a full-time post helping teenage girls through pregnancies.

She said: "The message I want to get across is that life isn't over just because you are pregnant or because you can have a baby. It wasn't for me. I feel I have achieved a lot.

"At Brook we offer the sort of support and advice which I wasn't aware of."

The statistics in Hyndburn are directly linked to deprivation, according to the Government.

Resources are now being helping to tackle the problem. Last month, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Primary Care Group began distributing 75,000 condoms to health centres throughout the two boroughs. At a cost of £5,000, it is hoped the condoms will be used by the teenagers experimenting with sex.

A Step-In clinic has also been launched in Rishton by the Communicare NHS Trust in a bid to provide youngsters with somewhere confidential to go. Lyndsey said: "Knowing that condoms are available like that will help, I am sure.

"The only place I knew condoms were available was in the chemists and it was embarrassing to go in there -- and expensive.

"But the right support has to be there. Teenagers need to know there is someone they can talk to about their problems.

"I think part of the problem in some of Hyndburn's towns is that teenagers are worried about talking to people about becoming pregnant or having sex in case it gets back to a family member.

"I also think education has been a problem in the past.

"By the time we had sex education at school, I was already pregnant.

"I hope teenagers feel they have someone to turn to and talk to, be it us at Brook or at the other clinics. They should be able to access all the facts."

Lyndsey's sentiment is one shared by local councillors in Hyndburn.

Coun Ann Scaife has welcomed the Step-in Clinic. She said: "At the moment, many youngsters are terrified of seeking help because they fear word might spread about them.

"This town suffers from a real village gossip mentality which means everyone knows everything about each other."

Sylvia Cullen said, from Communicare, said: "The new facility in Rishton will provide youngsters in the town with similar facilities to those available in Accrington and Blackburn but which may have previously been out of reach to youngsters in Rishton.

"We are confident the plan as a whole will help young people in Hyndburn avoid unwanted pregnancies."

Suzanne Tytler, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley NHS PCG development manager, said of the new condom scheme: "It's a way for young people to have access to free contraception without going to the chemist. They will be available from nurses without the need to see their GP." I can understand parents being concerned that this is seen as promoting sex but the figures bear out that teenagers are indulging in sexual practice anyway. We would rather they do it safely."

"A combination of many factors, including poor facilities and education in the past along with social deprivation have led to this situation locally.

"This should go a long way to helping youngsters who want to have sex do so safely."

Lyndsey added: "I have done so much since having Crystal and other people can do the same. I loved her from the first time I felt her kick. When I first saw her she was just beautiful."

Lyndsey's projects at Brook have included giving teenagers eggs to look after and treat as babies, in the hope they will realise just how much care and attention a baby needs.

Teenagers are also given dolls which behave exactly the way a real baby does, right down to needing its nappy changing.

But she added: "I want to educate people about how hard it is to be a teenage mum, and how to prevent getting into the situation I did."