Well done to South West school boy Tom Daley who, at 15 years old, became World Diving Champion on July 21. His feat is amazing not only because of his age, he became the youngest person at 13 to win the European Championship in 2008, but because he has had a very difficult year in his private life.

Tom, like too many other children in school, had been bullied. The bullying was so bad after the Beijing Olympics; his parents had to change his school.

At 15 and studying for his GCSEs, that must have been a big decision to make but it just shows the extent of Tom's suffering at the hands of these pupils who wanted to make his life a misery for some strange reason.

Bullies bully for lots of different reasons; maybe they were bullied in the past and it makes them feel good to be nasty to someone else, maybe they have insecurities or are inadequate in some way, maybe they are just cowards with nothing better to do. Bullying can be anything from persistent name calling to physical abuse and can have devastating effects on the lives of those affected.

The Yale School of Medicine researchers conducted a study in 13 different countries recently which lead to the conclusion that there may be a connection between school bullying and children who resort to suicide. There have been tragic cases in the national press of children driven to end their lives because of bullies.

The Yale study showed that children and teenagers affected by this bullying are from two to nine times more likely to even think about suicide than the

others. It's a worrying statistic.

In Britain, Childline have a number to call if you are being bullied (0800 1111); they receive lots of calls and can help. Their main advice is; don't ignore it, tell someone because it's not your fault. Keep a record of what's happened to you and try to stay away from the people doing the bullying if possible and ask your friends to keep an eye out for you.

Tom's dad said after his son's win: "If they (the

bullies) can understand this, I say to them, he fought back, he's held his head high and did not give up. He has not let you beat him. He has come out

winning. He is a world champion."

So Tom Daley, well done for winning a world

championship at just 15, well done for making the South West proud and well done for showing those who may be being bullied right at this very moment in time, that you can rise above it and beat the

bullies.