A Paralympic silver medallist has inspired children at a Bolton primary school after paying them a visit.

Harrison Brown, from Halifax, visited Bolton Parish Church Primary School on Tuesday, September 10 – the day after he returned home from the Paris games.

Headteacher Angela Worthington said children were thrilled to meet the Paralympian, who let them hold his silver medal.

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She said: “They had loads of questions for him, they were just really excited – they got to have a hold of his medal and see how heavy it felt. He also brought his lanyard from the Olympic village and he explained what all the parts of that meant, they passed that around and had a look at that as well.

“They were just totally awed – so were all the staff, the staff were absolutely in awe of the challenges he’s had in life and how he’s really not been defeated by the challenges that he’s had.

“He talked about life at primary school and how old he’d been when he got his wheelchair and why he didn’t use prosthetic limbs, and the challenges with trying.”

The visit came about after the parents of nine-year-old year five student Zoya, who is a wheelchair user herself, got in touch to find out more about wheelchair sports.

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Mrs Worthington said the Paralympian even demonstrated some of his moves to the children.

She continued: “The children were incredibly shocked – there was a big gasp – when he literally jumped off his seat on to the stage in school to show them how he’s able to just hop in and out of his wheelchair – they were just absolutely thrilled that he’d come and that we’d been the first place for him to visit.

“He said he would look into being able to borrow some of the special wheelchairs that they have at the wheelchair basketball group and actually bring them into the school so that some of the children can have a turn at wheelchair basketball too.”

The headteacher hopes the visit will show children that they can do anything.

Mrs Worthington said: “It’s incredibly important for children to see that there are so many opportunities out there that they’ve probably never even thought of – he told them that he only started when he was seven, playing basketball, he was on the team in his teens.

“It just shows children that with hard work and determination, you can achieve amazing goals.”

If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.