Chris Flood

Chris dedicated thirty five years of her teaching career to emotionally and socially disadvantaged children, including teenagers in trouble with the law and children on the autistic spectrum. She's done it all with cheerful energy, enthusiasm and commitment and former pupils still stop her on the street and remember her very fondly. (Presumably even the ones who set her hair on fire and stole the school's minibus!) She's also inspiring as an athlete. At 40 she took up marathon running and ended up in the Elite Women's category at the London marathon. She now belongs to (and helps run) the Long Distance Walkers Association. In her sixties she would regularly take teenage boys mountain biking in the forest, it was genuinely one of her favourite days out! You can imagine what a brilliant grandmother she is. Now effectively retired, she's turning her energies to village work and an archaeological dig. She's a real inspiration. I'm SO proud of my mum and I can't think of anyone better fitted to carry the Olympic torch: we've all known her as Wonderwoman for years now :)End of paragraph 1 Delete 'and stole the school minibus' Replace with ' and trussed her up with sellotape'