Charlie's first love was music. From a musical family he got my first violin when he was three and was taught by his Gran and Dad.

As well as the violin Charlie also played, piano, drums and guitar. 

He explained: "Music gave me lots of opportunities in life. I have taken part in a music festival in Poland and I play the organ at my local church. When my sister and I put on a concert to raise money for a boy I know in Africa called Witness, we raised enough money to buy chickens, goats, cutlery, plates and clothes.

"People are sometimes surprised that I do so much music as I’m profoundly deaf. When I was two, the doctors told my mum and dad that I wouldn’t even hear if a plane took off next to me. I got Cochlear Implants a year later. Around the same time, I started going to AVUK every fortnight. Mum says that I didn’t really have any speech before then and that I used to hide under the table rather than have to try and learn new words. But Auditory Verbal therapy teaches you how to make the most of your hearing and always encourages you to believe you can achieve more."

Charlie's other passion is sport and his love and talent at tennis has gone from strength to strength.

In September 2024, he retained both his junior single and doubles titles at the National Deaf Tennis Championships, winning the singles title for the fifth year in a row. The competition was held at the National Tennis Centre and Emma Raducanu was training on the court next to him!

He also fulfilled a dream of playing at Wimbledon, winning two exhibition matches on the ‘Play your way to Wimbledon’ finals day. He is excited to be steeping up to the seniors and is in contention to be selected for the Deaflympics in Tokyo later this year.

Charlie was invited to Queens Club tennis during the 2024 summers championships as an ambassador for Deaf Tennis and talked to HRH the Duke of Edinburgh about the importance of equality in sport. He also competed at the European Deaf Tennis championships in Crete, where he made it through to the quarterfinals in the boys singles.

Charlie has also completed his Level 2 LTA coaching qualification and coaches at two tennis clubs. He has also landed a sponsorship contract with PlayBrave, joining Jamie Murray on the tennis roster. He is currently revising very hard for his A levels and is looking forward to studying Sports Management at Loughborough University in the Autumn.

He added: "AVUK taught me never to give up and I hope that by performing here today with my family you can see that I never have."