Last Friday the Sixth Form students had an interesting and enthralling talk by ‘Swifty’ a.k.a. Darren Swift. He described his time in the military, working as a tracker dog handler in Northern Ireland, and how, having been subjected to a bomb attack, he lost both his legs. He told us about his time in recovery and explained how during this time he had to decide whether to “put my chin on my chest and do nothing” or “pick my chin up and crack on with life and whatever may be in front of me”. This message of resilience throughout his talk was inspiring to us all.

He went on to tell us how, since his recovery, he has helped mentor soldiers who have been wounded to return to a fulfilling life and worked with multiple organisations such as BLESMA, the Royal British Legion and The Not Forgotten Association. In the spirit of ‘cracking on with life’ he has also gone on to have some incredible achievements such as winning gold at the 2003 British Championships in Skydiving and training in the Paralympics team for snowboarding. He is currently working on developing the design for his own ‘above the knee’ snowboards and has done work in TV and on stage!

Swifty’s talk was humorous, interesting, and uplifting, speaking about the resilience he developed during his time in recovery and his own inner strength. We all enjoyed the talk hugely, both benefitting from the important messages we took away and laughing at the humour throughout.

Emma, Year 12