Young people in St Albans are putting together a piece of theatre to raise money for and awareness of a leading mental health charity, Young Minds.

Beth and Lucy Wilson, of St Albans, have launched a project using their “passion and enthusiasm for the arts” to raise money for the organisation.

They are doing this by creating a piece of theatre which showcases the many different attitudes towards mental health issues in young people.

The project itself is being put together and run by people between the ages of 16 and 21, working closely with the Trestle Arts Base, and Beaumont School.

Beth, 19, is a former pupil at the secondary school, while Lucy, 16, is currently studying there.

Two performances will be put on during July - one at Trestle on Saturday July 16 and the second at Beaumont on Thursday July 21.

However, they needed to raise some funds beforehand in order to finance the production, and to pay for the hire of the theatre, marketing and props.

Money from ticket sales and collections at both performances will go to Young Minds, along with any money raised above the target £1,000 needed – of which the full amount has now been raised, according to an update posted today (Wednesday) on a crowdfunding page – to put on the show itself.

Beth said: “The production raises awareness of young people’s mental health issues, and the main theme is that you never really know who is affected by mental health issues – it could be someone you know.

“The main challenge for us is to make sure all the ticket sale money goes directly to the charity. But we cannot finance the production without raising some money beforehand, so we are performing once at Trestle Arts Base – and because they are a charity, we don’t want to take any money from them.”

Their crowdfunding page says: “Mental illness can feel very lonely, because it is a battle that no one else can see, but we want to show people that they are not alone, they deserve help, and that anyone could be affected.”

Beth, who is currently on a gap year before starting university in September, said that she was prompted to help Young Minds as she is aware of young people dealing with mental health issues, “and the charity does so much work with others around them too, such as siblings”.

For more information on the project, see the blog at: https://theatreofminds.wordpress.com/