Highlights of a busy day include a lunchtime visit to Much Wenlock in Shropshire, a site with special significance for the Olympic Games. Dr William Penny Brookes established the Wenlock Olympian Games there in 1850.
When Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic movement, visited Much Wenlock in 1890, a tree was planted in his honour on the Linden Field, the site of the annual Games. Today’s visit by the Olympic Torch Relay will include a stop at the ‘De Coubertin Oak’.
Shropshire-based Olympic bronze medal winning archer Alison Williamson, set to compete for Team GB for the sixth time this summer, will carry the Flame in Much Wenlock.
Later in the afternoon the Olympic Flame will take in the historic Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage site. Torchbearer Lydon Flavell from Wolverhampton, will carry the Flame across the Ironbridge Gorge. He was nominated for his courage and determination after losing his wife to breast cancer two years ago.
Earlier in the day the Flame will take a trip on a canal boat on the Pontcysllte Aqueduct and Llangollen Canal.
119 Torchbearers will carry the Flame today. The first Torchbearer of the day, at the Queen’s Park suspension bridge in Chester, will be aspiring badminton player Jennifer Moore, 16, from Chester.
The day will end at an evening celebration in Stoke-on-Trent, where Olympic Hockey gold medal winner Imran Sherwani from Rugeley will light the cauldron.
On Day 12 the Flame will be carried through the following communities:
Chester, Wrexham, Rhostyllen, Acrefair, Trevor, Oswestry, Pant, Llanymynech, Welshpool, Shrewsbury, Cressage, Much Wenlock, Benthall, Broseley, Ironbridge, Telford, Newport, Gnosall, Haughton, Stafford, Shelton, Stoke-on-Trent.
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Watch video highlights of the Torch Relay Day 11
