The Venture is described by the Guardian as a 'gem of a project' and by the former Secretary of State for Wales as 'one of the best children's organisations in the country, if not in Europe'?.

Based in one of the most disadvantaged housing estates in Wales, an adventure playground was originally conceived as a response to extremely high juvenile crime rates and few play facilities. Since 1978 it has grown organically to meet the needs of local children, young people and families and the surrounding community.

The Venture now employs probably the largest local, multi-disciplinary team in the UK, working with everyone from babies to adults using as many approaches as it can muster to tackle a wide range of all too familiar problems.

With record reductions in crime and an international reputation for good practice, the Venture has been adopted in Wales and Scotland as a model for children's services.

In 1978, when the Venture project began, the main objective was to tackle very high levels of juvenile crime and almost non-existent play facilities.

Wrexham's Caia Park produced 50% of the county's juvenile crime with less than 8% of its population and supplied youngsters to most of the children's homes in North Wales. 'The making of a criminal', by sociologist Patricia E Mayo, in 1970, had compared Caia Park unfavourably to the rough end of Marseilles. Like so many other huge housing estates, its bleak environment mirrored the hopelessness of many of its residents.

Clearing old mattresses from the marshy rubbish tip, teenage 'rejects' began building an adventure playground, a place where they could have fun and call their own.

Those themes have continued, unabated, for thirty years. By 1996, it was described as 'the most comprehensive play environment in Britain' and the Venture has continued to grow in size and diversity, as well as experience and influence.

Most important, however, was the growth in understanding of what would need to be done if it was to really tackle the reasons for so many wasted lives. Starting earlier; joining things up and supporting children in their key struggles have been dominant themes of the last twenty years.

Whilst an adventure playground was already an attempt to intervene at a younger age, starting the Early Years Centre in 1987 - with its parent and toddler group, playgroups and support and skills training for parents - took us even further upstream.

Over these last thirty years, the Venture has developed into an organisation run for - and in consultation with - children and families. With the adventure playground ever-central, it has broadened its scope to incorporate a wide range of activities including: a host of sports and outdoor pursuits; environmental and construction work; arts and crafts; drama; dance; photography; IT; children's libraries and reading and homework clubs.

In an area listed by the Wales Assembly Government as having the worst education deprivation in Wales, the Venture runs inter-agency projects which engage the hardest to reach teenagers who are failing at school; with young people engaged in alternative curriculum activities to raise aspirations and move towards their true potential.

Whilst none of the Venture's component parts are individually unique, their scale and combination certainly are: achieving a diversity and depth of provision at a local level unequalled elsewhere in the UK or, to our knowledge, beyond. It provides a richness of experience for its children and young people. We are proud of the fact that easily the most common remark from visitors, whether journalists, government ministers, academics, community practitioners or senior officials, is 'what confident children!'?