A GROUP of former homeless youngsters will be at this week's Labour Party conference to air their opinions to ministers and MPs.

Two young people from Bury and Mark Tyrer, a 22-year-old from Leigh, have co-developed a play with six of their contemporaries from across the country.

They will perform the play at the Grand Hotel in Brighton tomorrow together with a cast of young carers, care leavers and homeless youngsters.

The presentation, which will be sponsored by children's television channel Nickelodean, reflects the group's hopes for the future and explores their experiences of education, training and employment.

It was put together during projects organised by the National Children's Home.

The two youngsters from Bury are members of the homeless group Hype while Mark is involved in Leap, a young persons housing project.

Mark is currently retaking his GCSE examinations at Leigh College with a view to taking A-levels.

He lived in a hostel for a number of years and said Leap, which is funded by the National Children's Home, helped him back on his feet.

He said: "The play will be very worthwhile for us all.

"It helps to build confidence."

The National Childrens Home is witholding the names of the two from Bury for "personal reasons."

Deryk Mead, National Children's Home chief executive, said: "We want to give young people a voice and we hope the politicians are listening.

"The Government's policies for young people will be much more effective if they draw on young people's views and experiences.

"They know most about the real problems they face in their communities and often have the best ideas about what needs to happen to solve them."