Olympic Torchbearer Extraordinaire!

Julia's grandad, (who by the way, is 87 years old), was chosen from among thousands of applicants to be an Olympic Torchbearer on the 14 July, to run the torch from Boscombe to Southampton.
View a local newspaper photo by clicking here and video footage by clicking here.

...Swanmore resident Sydney Dean, who was nominated by two city councillors, Thérèse Evans and Deputy Mayor Frank Pearson.

Mr Dean, 86, of Hill Pound, has lived in the area for 50 years and was nominated for his years of charity work including the Mayor of Winchester’s charities.

He said: “I’m like a child waiting for Christmas, it cannot come soon enough. I could not believe it when I found out.”

Mr Dean will carry the torch through Boscombe on July 14 and said nothing would stop him completing the route.

He added: “I’m going to get pushed around the route in my coffin if I don’t make it to the big day so I have made back-up plans!”

Mr Dean spent 40 years in the navy rising to Lieutenant Commander and has worked with national charities such as Mission to Seafarers and the St George Foundation, which helps children in Sierra Leone.

Cllr Evans, ward member for Wickham, said: “Sydney is ‘Mr Swanmore’ and has raised thousands of pounds for local and national charities, and I cannot think of a more deserving person to carry the Olympic flame.”