JUST one year ago Liam Rayner was at war with the world - and wouldn't have been a likely candidate for this celebratory edition.

The teenage tearaway was at loggerheads with his parents, out of school and unwilling to listen to anyone who offered him help.

But in just one year he has tried to turn his life around. He is now a committed volunteer and has embarked on a new course.

Reflecting on his past the 17-year-old former Claydon High School pupil said: “I was living at home in Sproughton and I wasn't too great in school. I was getting into trouble a lot. It got to the point that they could have expelled me.

“I thought I knew exactly what was right for me and wouldn't listen to anyone else so I ended up dropping out.

“My relationship with my parents broke down too so I moved out and sofa-surfed for a bit.

“I went to work in a farm for a bit but I was lazy.”

Then Liam went to live at the Foyer in Ipswich, a charitable organisation which helps youngsters into independence and gives them a place to stay. The experience of having to fend for himself shocked him, and made him determined to get his life back on track.

He started volunteering with fellow young people as part of the Millennium Volunteers and is in the process of producing a music CD.

He is now studying agriculture at Otley College and is hoping to go into farming eventually.

And Liam is convinced he has changed for the better, and for good. He added: “I've changed my life - it's put everything into perspective.

“I realised I took everything my parents did for granted and it must have been hard for them to deal with me. It has made me a better person.”

For more information about volunteering visit www.wearev.com.

How many of you watch Big Brother and thought you’d be good as a BB Housemate? How many of you have said living in the foyer is like living in the BB house?

Ipswich Foyer has ties with a school in Romania and as part of an 18 week course that 12 residents are attending they have a 3 week module on Citizenship.

The residents were given the task of raising money for the Romania school their target was £150, after much decision they decided that they wanted to hold a Big Brother event.

The residents gave the staff a list of requirements.

• Diary room
• Rest breaks
• Games
• Food (always guaranteed to get residents involved)

The residents decided that they would turn their lounge into the BB location and that they would have to participate in 6 tasks, which included looking after an egg. An egg!!!!!!

All I can say is poor eggs. There carer’s were not great one was dropped, one was sat on, one got cracked, and apparently had “had enough of the BB event and decided to end it’s own life.” At the end of it all one egg remained in tacked.

Now I have no idea who came up with this but another task was to knit a scarf. I don’t know about you, but in my whole life I am pretty sure I have never met anyone under 60 that could knit. How do you think this task went? Actually I was pleasantly surprised by the results it ended up 8 inches long with 2 different colours, I am truly impressed.

The staff gave the residents a surprise challenge of looking after a virtual baby, kindly donated by Suffolk College. Everybody shared the baby duties and the data recovered from it’s computer showed that they hadn’t neglected it’s basic needs.

They took wonderful care of the virtual baby, but they were so bad at looking after eggs that one committed suicide!

There’s loads of stuff I haven’t mentioned like nominations, evictions and decorating the BB chair. It all sounds like they had great fun and have so far raised £90 for the school in Romania with more money expected to come in.

Well done Ipswich Foyer!

If you would like to get involved in anything like this speak to your Foyer staff, and it’s a great feeling to raise money for people less fortunate than yourselves.

The medically recommended weekly alcohol allowance is 14 units for females and 21 units for males. Below there are figures of how many units are in different types of alcohol. How many units do you drink?

Crime and Alcohol abuse causes:

85% of crime in pubs and clubs

33% of burglaries

50% of street crime

30% of sexual offences

Shocking innit!

Men and women, after drinking too much, may not be able to “perform” as well as they’d like.

Having unprotected sex whilst drunk can lead to STD’s.

Memory loss, attention, and concentration problems are all consequences of too much booze.