THIS nation is at present gripped in paroxysms of anxiety about its youth. In particular, it worries about children who play truant from school and hang around the streets all day, drinking, smoking and worse.

It even happens here in Craven although, thankfully, it is comparatively rare.

So it came as a bit of surprise the other day to meet a personable young lad who admitted, quite openly, that he regularly "bunked off" from his Settle schools - but for reasons which would strike your average hoodie dumb.

Matthew Hurst, you see, did a runner through the school gates to work as a drystone waller. During the day, that is. At night, he was pulling pints in local pubs, waiting on tables or washing up in restaurants like the Angel Inn at Hetton.

He was working 18 hours a day, despite the fact he has wealthy parents, to raise cash to finance a dream. And at the ripe young age of 19 he has achieved that dream and is already building on its success.

The Hurst family, of Hanlith Hall, near Kirkby Malham, made their money from sheer hard work.

Dad Michael came from a working class family in Lancaster and once cycled 16 miles a day to and from work.

Then he built a big chain of upmarket fish-and-chip emporia (these were posh restaurants, not street corner chippies), sold out, bought a country estate and now makes a living buying and selling hotels.

And like many self-made men, he believes his four children - three sons and a daughter - should stand on their own two feet, although I'll wager he didn't know too much about Matthew's extra-curricular activities, all of which started from a gift and grew into a full-time business.

Having been moved to the wilds of Malhamdale at the age of five, Matthew had become a country lad through and through, roaming the fields studying wildlife, hunting rabbits with ferrets, and - as he admits with refreshing openness - poaching the odd trout from the Aire.

He was, therefore, fascinated when his dad gave permission for a falconer to fly over his land, helping reduce the plague of rabbits that afflict the Dales.

He watched with awe as the man's Harris hawk swooped on its prey and then got involved in the act - "I would put my ferrets into a warren to put up the rabbits for the bird."

Then the falconer became too busy for the time-consuming hobby and asked Matthew if he would like to have the hawk.

"You bet," said the then 11-year-old and that was the genesis of the Malhamdale Falconry, which is now a top attraction at scores of country shows in England - and even Highland Games gatherings north of the Border.

"I was not much good at classroom work - much more interested in sport," he told me, looking me straight in the eye. "But as soon as I was given that first hawk I began to think of ways how I could convert that hobby into some sort of a business.

"At first, I needed to build an aviary and buy some of the necessary kit, which does not come cheap. Then I began to think of breeding birds of prey and they are not cheap either.

"So I started the drystone walling in the afternoons and took any evening job I could get my hands on. It all stems from there."

I have said in this column before that, sadly, I find far too few young people to profile because, for obvious reasons, they have yet to achieve much to write about. In young Matthew's case, the opposite applies because he has already packed into his young life more than I have space to cover here.

He has, for instance, represented England in international youth games at both fell running and cross country.

He has played hockey for the North of England and turns out regularly for North Ribb at rugby union but also plays soccer for Gargrave 2nd eleven.

But I suspect that his sporting days will be somewhat limited in future because of the growing success of Malhamdale Falconry, which now boasts a flock of more than 50 birds of prey - hawks, falcons, eagles and even vultures - and which performed at more than 50 shows this summer.

Now the big-time beckons. Matthew has won a contract from English Heritage to fly his birds at the most prestigious shows in the UK: at Chatsworth, home of the Duke of Devonshire; the Royal Agricultural and the Great Yorkshire shows and even the Royal Highland Games, one of the Royal Family's favourite venues.

"I don't go out and get drunk or go to many parties," he says. "I think that's a waste of time when there are much better things to do. My next challenge is to get my helicopter pilot's licence."

Read that and weep, hoodies.