Tofa Mezehbin, a Year Nine student at Sarah Bonnell School in Stratford, wrote in to the Recorder about how a visit from Eastenders star Rudolph Walker inspired her to succeed.

Tofa began: “We didn’t know he was coming, the teachers told us ‘someone famous’ would be coming in, so we all waited very anxiously and then Mr Walker walked into the assembly hall, all the daily EastEnders watchers were very excited.

“He told us about his life, how he started his career and how hard it was to reach his goal.

“Mr Walker told us that he came to England from Trinidad in 1960, when he was only 20 years of age.

“He had always wanted to be an actor since he was a little boy, he knew that was his goal and he went for it even though a lot of people said he won’t be able to reach that goal.

He had to do various jobs when he arrived in England, he worked in cafes, he had to work as a cleaner, cleaning people’s houses, cleaning toilets in restaurants etc.

“It wasn’t very easy and he had to go to a lot of auditions until he finally got a part.”

Rudolph Walker, who plays Patrick in the BBC soap, spoke to the students about a new schools drama project he was representing and encouraged aspiring actors at Sarah Bonnell to get involved.

Tofa continued: “After that Mr Richardson announced the form with the best punctuality which was my form, 9N.

“Mr Walker was the one presenting the certificate. Being the Form Representative, I went up to collect the certificate and I was honoured to have been able to shake hands with someone like Mr Walker and to have gotten my picture take with him.

“I must say having someone like Rudolph Walker telling us about his life and how he managed to get to where he is now was very inspirational.

“He really inspired me to try and be the best I can, he taught me that if I work my hardest and concentrate on my goal, I will one day be able to reach it.”