The Day The Olympic Torch Came To Town

20 August 2019
Community

The Day The Olympic Torch Came To Town

This month marks the seventh anniversary of the day when the Olympic Torch came to East Grinstead as part of the 2012 Summer Olympics Torch Relay. To mark the occasion RH History Uncovered remembers the day the Olympic Torch came to town, and for a few hours the eyes of the Olympic movement and sporting world were on the town of East Grinstead and the nearby villages of Copthorne and Felbridge.

For 70 days in the summer of 2012, the Olympic Torch worked its way around the UK as part of a relay to bring the Olympic spirit which would capture the nation’s imagination to communities nationwide. The torch was carried by around 8,000 torch bearers across the UK including a wide range of people – sports people, the military, representatives from local communities as well as numerous celebrities.

The Olympic Torch relay which had started life at the Temple of Hera in Olympia, the spiritual home of the Ancient Olympic Games passed through East Grinstead on Tuesday, July 17. As well as the town, the torch made visits to nearby Copthorne, arriving by road from Crawley, before travelling to Felbridge by road before being conveyed once again after the visit to East Grinstead, by road onto Tunbridge Wells.

Whilst in East Grinstead, a town with its own Olympic connections with sporting stars including hockey players Laura Unsworth and Sophie Bray, and rugby 7s player Tom Mitchell either lived or played sport in the town, the torch was carried by runners along the A264 enroute to London Road, before winding its way along the town’s High Street before leaving East Grinstead.

The journey through East Grinstead which formed part of the Brighton and Hove to Hastings phase of the relay was watched by excited crowds of residents of all ages as torch bearers brought Olympic spirit to East Grinstead. In Felbridge, the UK’s oldest full time firefighter at the time, Surrey Fire and Rescue Service’s Malcolm Styles, 63, a firefighter for 34 years was chosen to carry the flame through the village.

The famous torch which had begun its journey in Land’s End on May 19 arrived at London’s Olympic Stadium in time for the lighting of the Olympic Flame for the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony on the evening of July 27. The torch arrived on a speedboat, piloted by footballing great David Beckham before the lighting of the flame cauldron which was formed by 204 converged petals.