Original 1948 Olympic Torch Paraded Through Fareham

A

gathering of outstanding sporting heroes from past and present Olympic and

Paralympic teams got together with our sports stars of tomorrow on Wednesday

night, in Fareham town centre, looking ahead to

2012.

However, even

the greats can sometimes be overshadowed by an object.  But this is no ordinary object and the entire

parade centred around an original Olympic torch used in 1948 – the last time

the games were held in the United Kingdom.

The

torch, part of Hampshire County Council's collection, held at Fareham’s

Westbury Manor Museum, was the prototype for all the torches used in the

Olympics that year.  It’s a relay torch

and was innovatively designed, by Paines Fireworks, to use a smokeless solid

fuel system that blazes for fifteen minutes - giving athletes enough time to

run with it and to hand it on to the next runner before it burned out.

The torch

was proudly held aloft by Fareham’s Chris Davidson – National Under 17 Archery

Champion.  Also present at the event were

Portsmouth’s Katy Sexton MBE, first British

female swimmer to achieve a gold medal in the 2003 World Championships; Peter

Hull MBE – Paralympic swimmer and three time gold medallist - and Fareham’s Yasmin Parsons, part of the England under-17 netball squad who

achieved a bronze medal in the last Commonwealth Games.

Curator

of the museum and the current ‘torch guardian’ in charge of the collection, Tom

De Wit, spoke to FarehamPeople at some length about the event and also the

recent cuts to museum budgets.  Despite

those cuts in local government Tom remains fantastically optimistic about the town’s ongoing commitment to culture and heritage.  He tells us, “it was great to have these

people all gathered in our town.  Inspiring

people who have battled against odds and can show the next generation exactly

what you can do if you put your mind to it!”

Tom also

added that, “events like these highlight what great sporting facilities and

clubs this area has”.

Despite

the potential stormy times ahead for Fareham’s museum, Tom remains positive and states that, “we

obviously have to look at delivering our services efficiently but our

commitment to deliver has not and will not change”.

The

Olympic Torch event is just one of many that will lead up to the 2012

Olympics and you can see it for yourself at the museum until the end of December.

Tom also revealed to FarehamPeople a little bit about future 

events that will include a boat built from donated bits of wood - all of which have

some emotional value to them.  It will dock in Fareham while on route around the

country.  Keep an eye out for more

details on FarehamPeople!