Hamish Bond meets with St Joseph's School Stratford pupils

He's won plenty of medals throughout his career as a professional sportsman, but Hamish Bond also won the attention and hearts of the youngsters at St Joseph's School Stratford last Thursday when he came to visit them.

Hamish was in Stratford as a guest speaker at the BDO Farming Expo, and the organisers planned his visit to allow time for him to visit a local school before the event.

Hamish spoke about a range of topics, from the importance of practice and preparation for anything, be it an Olympic rowing event or a school test, to the need for balance in your diet and in your life, before answering pupils' questions at the end.

With some of the youngsters having only turned 5 recently, keeping their attention could have been a hard job, but Hamish kept them entertained, making his talk relevant to their age as well as getting plenty of laughs when he told them he kept his medals in a sock.

The medals were passed around to be held by each pupil in turn, while Hamish told them he had only been to Stratford once before, when he was 11 years old, to play in a hockey tournament.