FORMER Home Secretary David Blunkett recalled memories of playing football at a Worcester college as he prepared to return this weekend.

Mr Blunkett will be the guest speaker at New College Worcester's (NCW) speech day on Saturday.

"It's a great pleasure to return to New College Worcester," he said.

"They never allowed me in as a student - although as a competitor with five-a-side football played with ball bearings in the ball, I certainly used to kick hell out of them.

"On this occasion it will be just good to rejoice in the standard of education, the opportunities which now exist for young blind men and women and enormous changes which technology has brought, in terms of access through the internet to information and educational content, never available in my day.

"I'm looking forward to a joyous occasion and perhaps even to kicking a ball about."

Mr Blunkett first met students from NCW, a residential school and college for blind and partially sighted students, at the Right to Read' campaign in London this year and readily accepted the invitation to visit the school in person.

College principal Mardy Smith said: "David was so impressed with the confidence of our students.

"We pride ourselves on our students' ability to flourish and David spent time chatting to the students, comparing his own experiences of school life with the lives of students at New College Worcester. We are delighted that David is presenting our prizes at speech day and joining us for this special event."

The college recently celebrated an important step in its history when it established independence from the RNIB, becoming an independent non-maintained special school.

It was also thrilled to receive an outstanding' Ofsted report and was also awarded Specialist Special School' status, enabling it to improve support for students and, through its Outreach work, for visually impaired students in other schools and colleges.