After completing his AS exams at the end of year 12, Chris and 13 others from his year group in St Mary’s Catholic High School in Menston, Leeds, ventured to KwaZulu-natal in South Africa to teach young children important leadership and understanding skills through sport. The programme was devised by a teacher of St Mary’s and Chris was part of the 10^th cohort to visit the region, which has high levels of illiteracy amongst adults along with high numbers of people suffering with aids and HIV.

Chris said: “This particular charity project has been running for a decade, and has helped hundreds of young people. I was lucky enough to be one of the 2016 group to go out there for 10 days and it was a life changing experience – not just for the young people who really wanted to learn, but for us too. I’ve never seen poverty like it.

“I taught French while I was there and set up mini ‘Olympics’ challenges – using sports to bridge language barriers and teach them important skills that will hopefully set them up for the future. The children absolutely love the project – leaving them was very emotional.”

Chris received a Diana Award, presented annually to young people who help transform the lives of others, at the Leeds College of Music earlier this month. His award was presented by gold winning Paralympian, Hannah Cockroft MBE.