SINGER and songwriter Rich Cottell has been sharing his experiences of cyber bullying at Hardenhuish School in Chippenham.

Since January, Devonshire indie popstar Rich Cottell has been performing and speaking to as many as two schools a day as part of a UK school tour, reaching as many as 10,000 students a week.

He took on the initiative to warn young people of the dark side of the internet, because a close member of his family was bullied online so badly she was driven to self-harm and had to have two years of therapy.

The musician, who has also supported The Wanted on tour, also performed three songs and posed for selfies with the students. He funded the recording of his LP Go Geek by teaching music in primary schools throughout Devon.

He said: “I have been playing music for as long as I can remember and love to write my own songs. To have people listen to my tunes and go away feeling positive is just the best feeling.”

Kara Brewerton, events assistant at the school, said: "Hardenhuish was buzzing with excitement. Rich was able to draw on his own experiences of cyber-bullying, to deliver an empowering, thought provoking and highly relevant talk on e-safety to the engaged pupils.

"The event left pupils with key points about staying safe online."

Mr Cottell urged students to ignore and ultimately block the people who gave them grief, set a strong password, set their accounts to private, protect personal details and report any trolls to CEOP, the police, Childline or a responsible adult, keeping a record of the offending posts.

He also urged them never to post online when they were in a bad mood or angry with anyone and to never send inappropriate images.