A ground-breaking new environmental project is helping to rehabilitate drug addicts at The

Ley Community in Yarnton. Katherine Macalister investigates

Sally, a shy, 21-year-old blonde, is showing us slides of the beautiful Shropshire countryside where she has been working as a volunteer for Earthwatch, helping to survey an old Bronze Age fort.

Most of the volunteers on the trip had to pay thousands of pounds for the privilege, but Sally's expedition is being paid for by NatWest Bank.

You would never guess that the slim, neat girl in front of us was a heroin addict from the age of 15.

Her story is harrowing - but no worse than the hundreds of life histories heard at the drug rehabilitation centre every year.

Both Sally's parents were drug addicts, so she grew up in a drug and crime culture. She says, simply: "I didn't like myself much when I was growing up and I was very unhappy."

Even so, taking up the referral to the Ley Community was the bravest decision she has ever made, and nothing prepared her for how hard she would have to fight to stay off the drugs and get her life back on track.

She adds: "Coming to The Ley Community was a big life change for me and it was hard and difficult at first. I was withdrawing badly and I didn't know what to expect when I arrived. I thought we'd just be sitting around watching TV all day."

Anyone who has heard about the Ley Community knows that the 14-month rehabilitation programme is one of the most successful in the country, which accounts for its long waiting-list.

Intense self-analysis and learning life skills are part of the course. The 56 residents are up at 6.30am every day cleaning the centre and preparing breakfast. They are all expected to take part in the running of The Ley.

But Earthwatch has become an intrinsic part of this rehabilitation process and, after a three-year study, sponsored by NatWest Bank, the charity has shown that taking residents on environmental projects improves their chances of completing their rehabilitation.

They are only eligible for the trips when they have embarked on work experience projects near the end of their stay and are ready to deal with being away from the secure atmosphere of The Ley.

Hence Sally's slide show. She was one of 12 residents chosen every year to embark on such a mission.

"It really stretched my personal boundaries," she explains. "I didn't really get an education and I knew that all the people going were very educated so I assumed they were better than me. But when I got there I just got on with it and the students were really friendly.

"The fort was all about learning, about history, and I'd never done anything like that before. It was good to mix with normal people who don't do drugs. I really got a lot out of it."

She adds: "I didn't quite understand what the project was about at first, or why they were bothering, until someone told me that without a past there is no future. I started getting interested after that.

"We would go to the pub some evenings and I would make sure I didn't drink. That was where I set my own boundaries and stuck to them and it felt good." Her speech sums it up. You can listen to the statistics and aims of the project but it's not until you hear first-hand how it makes a difference do you realise how vital Earthwatch is. Unfortunately, with the three-year study over, the funding has also dried up and The Ley Community and Earthwatch are looking for new sponsors in the next six months.

Dr Robert Barrington, chief executive of Earthwatch, says: "People from all over the world pay 1,000 to 2,000 to come on these trips and none of them objected to The Ley residents accompanying them.

"They were all living in unusual conditions with people from different cultural backgrounds and there is a lot of goodwill on the field projects."

The results speak for themselves - 95 per cent of residents who go on Earthwatch projects will not go back to crime after completing their stay at The Ley Community, and 87 per cent of them said they were left with a higher sense of self-esteem.

An impressive 25 per cent of Earthwatch residents are now in managerial positions or completing further education.

"It gave me faith in my future," Sally concludes, turning off the slide machine to huge rounds of applause.