Many people say that our teenage years are the best of our lives. But no-one said it would be easy! So what is it like to be a teenager today, living in the nearby area?

I am a teenager myself, and will be 15 in July. I live in Balsall Common, which is a small village in between Solihull, Coventry and Birmingham – you might have driven through it on your way to one of these towns.

It is quite quiet (although developers have started to take over), with an omnipresent sense of belonging to a community.

The travel facilities can be relied on – most of the time – but there are not many activities for bored teenagers in the village.

Most of the people of my age have nothing better to do than hang around outside the local shops, in large groups.

From these groups, chip missiles are usually fired on a regular basis and music blares out from phones – and no, it is not good music.

This mass gathering occurs because there are not any other places to go; maybe if more facilities for teens were introduced, this wouldn't happen.

There is a youth club, but it is mainly for younger teenagers; there is a library but it isn't open for long, and there is a tennis club which, again, closes before the group meets up.

But it isn't all doom and gloom. The schools are all successful, especially Heart of England Secondary School, which is always telling pupils the pass rate at GCSE, and how amazingly it did in the Ofsted inspections.

Overall, I think Balsall Common is a lovely place to live. Even though adults may appreciate it more than their children, it has a great atmosphere and a sense of community which would be hard to find elsewhere.