HAMWORTHY rolled out the red carpet for its proud torchbearers with cheering, flag waving crowds enjoying the sunshine.

Free of traffic and lined with hundreds of residents, normally busy Blandford Road took on a carnival atmosphere as the Olympic Torch Relay approached.

“This is the closest I will get to the Olympics,” said Hamworthy resident Mary Jones, waiting with her family to wave flags as the torch passed Symes Road.

“It’s amazing to think the flame has travelled all the way from Greece.”

Youngsters were let out of school early, some with torches they had made themselves, to take part in the once-in-a-lifetime pageant as the relay of eight bearers held aloft the precious flare.

Proud to have taken part was torch bearer Joy Edkins, 59, from West Parley, whose father Peter Cowles from Lymington was due to have carried the flame in Hamworthy, but sadly died two weeks after being selected, at the age of 86.

“I wanted to do this as a tribute to my father,” said Joy, and the whole family was delighted when she was allowed to honour him in this way. One little girl travelled from France for the occasion, to watch along with her aunt Karen Smith and grandma Sheila Smith, who live at Turlin Moor.

“It was exciting,” said Molly Punyer, nine, who lives in Normandy.

“We had to come out because it’s not something we will ever see again,” said Sheila Smith. “But it did go past a little too fast.”