Award hope for blind arts group

Youngsters in the project learnt performance and theatre skills

A theatre project set up by a former soap actor to help visually impaired children benefit from drama is up for a UK-wide National Lottery award.

UCAN Perform, set up by Hollyoaks veteran Bernard Latham, and his wife Jane, has already been voted the most popular lottery project in Wales.

Children from five Cardiff schools took part in a performance after learning about acting and technical skills.

The winner will be announced on a BBC programme on Saturday 23 September.

The couple were inspired to start the project by a visit to a school for the blind in Sierra Leone, made at the request of the country's former British High Commissioner.

Mr and Mrs Latham worked with a choir of blind children.

We were blown away by our mistaken perception that these children were not capable of doing these things Jane Latham

"We'd never had any experience before [of working with visually impaired children] and we did a 17-venue tour of the UK, and ended up doing a concert in front of 2,000 people in Westminster Abbey," said Mrs Latham.

"The RNIB Cymru were fantastic in supporting us in that tour. We decided to do a small workshop with local children because we were blown away by our mistaken perception that these children were not capable of doing these things."

They carried out their first workshop at the Sherman Theatre in 2004, and following a number of pilot projects, set up the company in August 2005.

They received lottery funding of £4,800 from the Arts Council of Wales and signed an official partnership agreement with the RNIB Cymru.

Community need

Following support from the Millennium Stadium Charitable Trust and the Wales Council for Voluntary Action, the company will now be working at 13 theatres across Wales over the next three years.

Mrs Latham explained: "The aim is for us to intend to train other youth theatre leaders and help them dispel the same fears we had about working with visually impaired youngsters.

"We know there's a great demand. We would not have had the great success we've had if there had not been a need in the community."

Bernard Latham with children from the Sierra Leone project

Voting lines for the final, which takes place on a special BBC1 programme Everyone's a Winner on 23 September, will remain open until Friday 22 September.

Mr Latham said: "The children are all thrilled to have come this far and winning this award would really help to highlight their achievements."

Peter Tyndall, chief executive of the Arts Council in Wales, added: "Full credit must be given to UCAN for demonstrating how all the people of Wales can and should have opportunities to enjoy the arts."

The three other shortlisted finalists are Midnight Street Soccer, which uses football to involve young people in community activity, Post Pals, which sends cards or gifts to sick children and Sunbeams Music Trust, which provides music therapy to special needs children.

A programme entitled Songs of Sleone which follows the Lathams' project with the Sierra Leone children is being re-broadcast on BBC Radio Wales on Monday 25 September.

Votes can be registered on 0845 4348937 or www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk