WORCESTERSHIRE Paralympian Becky Redfern turned down a sporting celebration event at Buckingham Palace in order to attend her gradation from the University of Worcester on Tuesday.

Redfern, from Droitwich, won a silver medal in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB13 at the Tokyo Games and recently competed in the Commonwealth Games.

She was invited to the palace to celebrate her success with the rest of Team England and the Royal Family on Tuesday afternoon as a result.

But such was her pride at graduating from the university with a degree in Primary Initial Teacher Education, she admits even the Royal Family were not worth missing the special moment.

"I am so excited and proud to be graduating," said the 22-year-old.

"I have even declined an invitation on the same day to celebrate Team England’s success with the Royal Family at Buckingham Palace as my graduation means so much to me and my family.   

Her road to graduation has not been straightforward.

Redfern, who has a visual impairment, gave birth to son Patrick, in July 2020, and had accepted that she would not be competing in Tokyo.

But, with Covid-19 postponing the Games by a year, she took up the challenge to be on the starting block.

With swimming pools closed, Becky swam in a hot tub in the garden and did gym sessions in a shed, balancing this with lectures and being a new mum. But she came away with her second silver.   

Add into all that was just the small matter of a degree.

The former Droitwich Spa High School pupil said the location, course and level of support at Worcester made it perfect for her to continue elite training.  

"Starting my time at Worcester was very daunting, especially with my visual impairment," she said.

"However, the first few weeks were made a lot easier with the guidance from older students in terms of finding our way around and the additional support from the Disability and Dyslexia Services.

"Despite packing a lot into my four years at Worcester – two World Championships, Covid, having a baby, winning silver at the Tokyo Paralympics – I thoroughly enjoyed my time at uni and am very grateful for all of the support and flexibility that the University gave me with time away training and competing."