White Lantern Film teamed up with ex-Steps singer Lee Latchford-Evans to promote ‘Pier Pressure’, a series of 3 dramas, written and directed by young people from the town exploring what is like to grow up in one of the UK’s top tourist destinations.

Lee has taken a role in one of the films, where he talked to the youngsters involved in the project at the Millennium Volunteers building in Bournemouth on Thursday 26th July. "I am delighted to be involved,” says Lee. “I just want to get a positive message across about the issues that they face, bringing in some of my own personal experiences, and basically giving them the message that life is what you make it".

With funding provided by MediaBox, the £6 million Department for Children, Schools and Families fund for disadvantaged 13-19 year olds, Pier Pressure has enabled over 30 young people to write, produce and film the three films independently for the first time. Supported by award winning film makers through active learning training, the young filmmakers are examining many aspects of the town that have affected them personally.

The participants are able to reveal honestly how sharing their town with huge numbers of tourists every summer (and the increased strain that puts on local amenities, traffic, parks and beaches and so on) has affected their lives. The films also explore how the emphasis on fun and enjoyment, and the pressure young people experience in terms of fashion, drugs, alcohol, money and personal appearance, have all had an impact on the way they have grown up – something Lee has himself experienced, growing up in the media spotlight with image conscious band Steps.

Bournemouth has long since shed its ‘pipe and slippers’ image and is no longer known as a place for pensioners to live out their retirement but has instead become one of the liveliest tourist spots in the UK, rivaling Newquay and Brighton as the best seaside destination for people under 25.