In 2008, Bridgend became global news. There had been more than 20 suicides in two years in the small Welsh town - all young people aged between 15-28, who had killed themselves by hanging.
It became known as a ‘suicide town’ and ‘death valley’ - and a mysterious ‘internet cult’ was even blamed for the deaths. But, no one has ever been able to explain why they happened.
The community was hurting, in need of help. Especially the local schools.
But where does an evangelical church fit in?
The First West Baptist Church is a church based in Louisiana in the United States. It believes in preaching a conservative interpretation of the Bible, and they encourage people to convert to their faith.
Mark Fenn, a pastor with the church, said they had read about the suicides and were “determined that if there was anything we could do to bring encouragement to the young people of Bridgend, we would offer ourselves to that end”.
I was just 11 when they arrived at my school, Cynffig Comprehensive.
I remember them coming into our assembly, and i assumed they were famous.
They would sing Taylor Swift songs for us, or bring in football freestylers and body builders.
I remember thinking they were just so cool. I even asked one of them for their autograph.
But, as well as helping us after the shock of the suicides they were also spreading their version of Christianity.
A version which on their website says they oppose “all forms of sexual immorality, including…homosexuality”
A version which says they “speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death.”
Will George was a pupil at Porthcawl Comprehensive School, another school visited by the Louisiana church. He came out when he was 14, he remembers the concerts, but also a conversation about gay marriage:
“It was us asking them what they thought about equal rights and gay marriage, and that’s when they came back saying…we dont believe that gay people should get married.
“They pushed queer people back into a box and said queer people shouldn’t have the same rights. That’s definitely not going to help suicide prevention, is it?”
Will said he complained to his school, but nothing was done. The church visits continued the following year.
Will said he was “very upset, very angry by it.”
And it wasn’t just pupils who complained about comments made by the church; teachers did too.
Dr Rathkey was a science teacher at my school. She asked for the church to not attend her biology lessons as she felt uncomfortable with their comments about creationism. Which is the theory that the world was created in seven days by God.
“They would go into Darwin and why certain science was a lie basically.
“It’s just misinformation and I’m a teacher and I’m there to educate my pupils and whatever beliefs I have have no relevance on what I have to teach”.
We asked the First West Baptist Church about this, and they said that “highly qualified, high school science teacher” from the church did teach a “pro-creationism view” in these lessons, But they say my school asked them to do this.
I also asked the schools why they didn’t take complaints seriously from pupils and teachers. Porthcawl Comprehensive School responded saying they had no record of any formal complaints being made about the visits. While Cynffig Comprehensive School didn’t respond at all.
What a church believes is completely up to them, but schools in Wales have a duty to protect their children; and in this case, they didn’t. Schools have safeguarding policies, which include promising to treat all children fairly and report all incidents of homophobia.
But from what we've been told, the schools broke their own rules by not taking these complaints seriously, and allowing the visits to continue despite knowing the church’s views.
The initial purpose of these visits was to help a community that was vulnerable and looking for solutions. And while the visits may have begun with good intentions, teachers and pupils in Bridgend have been let down by the people who should have protected them.
You can watch our full documentary here