A former coronary nurse from St Albans has made it to the final stage of an international speaking competition by sharing stories from his past.

Adam Shaw is now the last European entry in the Next Greatest Speaker and Author Competition.

The 40-year-old, who lives in Albert Street, uses his experiences of growing up in a mental health hospital and working as a nurse to try and help others in the video he has prepared for the competition.

He said: “I realised what mistakes people made and the things they regretted most at the end of their lives.

“Now I intend to get to people before they make these mistakes.

“I found that a lot of my friends were coming to me to help them through serious stuff.

“Having to really open yourself up and being quite vulnerable in order to connect with people is what this competition is about.”


 

More than 200 people from across the world entered the competition and Mr Shaw is now in the final 20.

He said: “I was shocked to get through – I haven’t really got my head around it.

“I knew I was up against some really good competition.

“I entered it to learn rather than to do well.

“I wanted to test myself and to push my comfort zone.”

He now needs people to watch his video online and to vote for him as the winner.

He added: “Being the sole representative for Europe I feel it is my job to step it up a level and really carry the flag.

“I haven’t even considered winning yet. It is so surreal at the moment.”

To view Mr Shaw’s videos and to vote for his entry visit http://videomsgr.com/sites/shaw/index.html .