It takes a lot of commitment to pledge the next six months of your life to helping others, especially when you have travelled from all over Britain and from a country on the other side of the world.

But that is exactly what 18 young people, nine from this country and nine from Thailand, are doing in Keighley.

They will spend the next 12 weeks helping voluntary and community projects in the Keighley area before jetting off to the Far East to spend the same amount of time helping out projects in the Buriram Province of Thailand.

The young people have joined the World Youth Programme, organised by Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) and the Prince's Trust to promote understanding within local and international communities.

During their time in Keighley they will pair up, live with a host family in the area and take part in voluntary work with community groups and organisations. It was the chance to discover more about different cultures and to help out on community projects that attracted Clair Lewis, 23, from Liverpool, to the programme.

She will be working at Branshaw Special School with Walaipoon Mahamai, or Maew as is she known to her friends. The two are also staying with the same host family in Skipton.

Clair, who was previously working with a homeless project in her native city, said: "I had already done voluntary work and it's important to me because it's linking communities from overseas and Britain and allowing us to get a global perspective on communities in this country. It will provide us with the chance to take some of the skills we have over to Thailand, and vice versa.

"I've never done this kind of work before so it will be very challenging and will give me a different perspective.

"This part of Yorkshire is really beautiful and it seems really friendly, with people very willing to talk to us.

"I'm looking forward to going to Thailand and I'm trying to pick up the language -- Maew's a great teacher."

Maew, 21, who hails from Lamphun Province, in the north of Thailand, said: "I'm here to learn English, learn about the culture in the UK and to help people.

"It feels very exciting and fun every day because everything is new and everything is interesting. It is very different to Thailand -- the language, culture, family life, weather and the food.

"I love everything in Keighley and think that in the future I would like to come back here."

Once they have finished the project, Clair hopes to help people with drug problems, while Maew is keen to pursue a career in computers.

After a week of adjusting to their new surroundings, the group got their hands dirty by taking part in a summer clean-up around Highfield on Saturday. They were joined by residents and young people, a team from Bradford probation service, and Keighley and Highfield SRB chairman Cllr Lynne Joyce.

The summer clean-up was organised by Highfield SRB, in partnership with Keighley Area Panel and Bradford Council's cleansing department. The event follows on from the success of last year's tidy up when an astonishing 50 tonnes of household rubbish, ranging from sweet-wrappers to a vending machine, was removed from the area.