A FORWARD thinking conference being held in Halton and offering young homeless people the chance to meet and talk to senior decision makers is being supported by the Prime Minister.

Tony Blair has sent a letter of support to the Belvedere Training Project outlining his encouragement and support for his Minister for Local Government and Housing, Hilary Armstrong, to attend and speak at the Conference.

Whilst the Conference, which is set to take place at the Auto Quest Stadium in Widnes on October 16, has been co-ordinated by the staff at the Belvedere Training Project which works with young homeless people, it will be run by young people for young people and has attracted guest speakers from a variety of organisations.

Halton MP Derek Twigg will address the delegates as will Jeremy Spafford of Centrepoint whilst the Housing Minister, Hilary Armstrong, will speak in the afternoon.

Halton's Mayor, Cllr Tony McDermott, along with the Borough Council's Chief Executive, Mike Cuff will also address the conference.

The closing speech will be given by Cllr Marie Wright, who has been influential in organising the conference and who works daily with young homeless people.

Supported by the SRB fund, the Conference will combine speakers with drama presentations relating to being homeless and including video diaries and monologues.

There will also be a series of workshops including health issues, how to survive living rough and how to access services that are already available.

The day will also see the launch of a very special new book - a Life Skills Manual - the first of its kind which includes information on a wide range of basic life skills.

Conference organiser, Marie Wright, said: "We in Halton are committed to giving young homeless people a voice and this conference is designed to do that by bringing together a whole range of different people who are involved with homelessness either personally or through their work.

"We were delighted to receive a letter of support from Tony Blair and thrilled that Housing Minister Hilary Armstrong has agreed to take part in the conference.

"We feel that this is an indication of the importance placed on this conference and look forward to it being a great success."

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