A GOLD medal winning Paralympic athlete, and former Strictly Come Dancing star will be in Saltcoats this Saturday, October 15.

Will Bayley will make the trip to North Ayrshire not to dance, but to play table tennis.

The Poole-born Paralympian, who has also earned an MBE, has a list of accolades which include: a silver medal at the London 2012 Paralympics, a gold medal at Rio 2016, two silver medals at Tokyo 2020 and a Class 7 Gold at the 2014 Table Tennis World Championships in China.

The 34-year-old also featured in the 2019 edition of the hit BBC show Strictly Come Dancing when he was partnered with Janette Manrara.

They danced their way through five weeks of the competition, before the world number one ranked player was forced to withdraw after sustaining a leg injury.

Though he will face an altogether different challenge at St Matthew's Academy this weekend, as he makes the journey north to play with Brighton against North Ayrshire in the British Premier League.

North Ayrshire Table Tennis Club (NATTC) and their usual team of Colin Dalgleish, Martin Johnson and Chris Main achieved their best ever finish in the competition last year coming in second place.

They will look to go one better this time round, with the journey starting at 2pm against league newcomers - who clearly aren't short of pedigree.

The match is the perfect opportunity for fans to catch a glimpse of a world renowned star - and try some table tennis themselves beforehand too.

Before the match, between 12.30-1.45pm, a number of table tennis tables will be set up for anyone wanting to come and try table tennis and have a knock around with friends and family.