PARALYMPIC gold medal winner Naomi Riches will pass on her experience and advice to BNU students as part of a new mentoring initiative.

The Marlow star, a former BNU graduate, is one 25 leaders in their field who will give up their time to meet students either face to face, over Skype or the telephone.

She said: “It is a pleasure for me to be involved in this programme.

“I hope to be able to help them achieve their dreams by imparting some of the knowledge I have gathered in the world or sport and the world of business.

“I would have jumped at the chance had I had the opportunity to have access to something like this when I was a student and athlete.

“Whilst I had a lot of support back then it is different to having someone in the industry helping you.

“It is up to the students how they want to benefit from the programme. There is no script and we are here to help them as much as possible, so it is up to them what they want to get out of it."

Paul Morgan, Head of Sport at Bucks New University, said: “This is an exciting venture and it is fantastic to have such a great calibre of mentors.

“There was a buzz in the room from students as Naomi Riches launched the programme, given all her achievements.”