MAKING a name for himself in junior diving circles is ten-year-old Charlie Minns, from Wantage Road, Wallingford.

He has just won bronze medals in both the English Primary Schools Diving Championships at Hereford and in the Irish championships at Dublin.

His success has earned him a place in the England Talent Programme, which takes youngsters from the regions and hones their skills at a series of residential camps.

But Charlie’s continual success is proving something of a headache for his mother Sarah, a health and safety officer with South Oxfordshire District Council.

She said: “Because there are no diving facilities in Oxfordshire, we have to travel to Reading at least four times a week. And as Charlie improves and needs better facilities, we will have to go to Southampton for the best pools.

“It’s a great shame there are no diving sites round here — when I was younger, every pool seemed to have diving boards.”

Charlie, a pupil at Brightwell-cum-Sotwell school, is rapidly filling up cabinets with the silverware he has won at regional diving competitions.

He has been diving for two years and he is also a karate and athletics enthusiast.