ONE of the stars of a popular TV series has returned to his old school in York to teach boxing classes to children.
TV fugitive hunter Paul Cashmore is a former Archbishop Holgate's CE School pupil and one time MET police officer who stars in Channel 4’s Hunted.
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The Channel 4 programme challenges members of the public and celebrities to stay off the radar and remain at large for two weeks as a crack team of professional chasers from the police, intelligence services and Army attempt to hunt them down.
Paul, who left Archbishop Holgate's in 1991 and used to be a house captain, has returned to take a new boxing club after classes on Tuesdaysfrom 3.15-4.15pm.
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The club is free of charge, for all year groups and genders, and subsidised by the school and Paul is hoping other local schools will take the classes on too.
"It's a great school, and the teachers were superb," said Paul.
"I left school to go to York College where I did a public services course which led me on to joining the MET, aged 21. In the MET I was a member of the most effective under cover robbery squad and got a commendation for running over a gunman when shots were fired.
"During my time at the MET there I reached breaking point after sitting with a teenage stabbing victim, who sadly died.
"After that incident I thought, what can I do to engage young people and mentor them, and as a result I entered a boxing competition for a children's charity.
"I went away and did a training course and started running a boxing gym when I lived in London which was massively successful."
The 47-year-old said he worked as a bodyguard after leaving the police, and originally met with the production company which makes Hunted to audition as a fugitive, but when they realised Paul's background, they offered him the role of a hunter.
The show has been running since 2015 and there are two more series coming out later this year.
Since splitting from his partner, S Club 7 singer Tina Barrett, with whom he has a son, Roman, Paul has moved back to Yorkshire and currently lives in Pocklington.
Paul says the aim of the after school club is to promote health and fitness.
"I'm probably now the fittest and most healthy that I've ever been in my entire life," said Paul.
"I decided to reach out to my old school and I met the head of PE, Ben Brannigan, and we just clicked - his dedication and commitment is unbelievable.
"I'm not teaching the youngsters how to fight, I'm teaching them to walk away, but the classes are a way to keep fit - if you are on games consoles and on your phones playing games all the time you can become utterly lethargic.
"When I am teaching them boxing and say 'well done', you'd think I'd given them a gold medallion, but all I've done is give them a 45 minute training session."
Mr Brannigan said: "It is always great to see former students return to school and in Paul's case, give something back to the community at Archbishops. It has been a pleasure to see the success Paul has had working with our students. In the brief time he has worked with them, we have seen an increase in their fitness and skillset but more importantly their wellbeing. The boxing academy has grown in number each week and is something we hope will continue to be popular each half term."
Paul said he has the capacity to run the sessions at four local schools and also does one on one coaching sessions. You can contact him via his website: paulcashmore.com/
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