Rock'n'roll moment for torch relay (From Clacton and Frinton Gazette)

Rock'n'roll moment for torch relay

12:26pm Wednesday 29th August 2012 in National News © Press Association 2013

The Paralympic Flame got a rock'n'roll welcome in north London on its way to the opening ceremony.

Five torchbearers recreated the pose made famous by The Beatles for their 1969 Abbey Road album on the zebra crossing outside the celebrated recording studios.

Crowds lined the street, cheered and waved Union flags as the proud torchbearers lined up at the crossing in St John's Wood, north west London.

The relay was running about two hours behind schedule, but organisers were hoping to claw back the delay as the torch made its way to Stratford for Opening Ceremony.

On Tuesday night four individual flames representing the four home nations were carried into the stadium at Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire - the spiritual home of the Paralympic Games - and one combined torch was carried out, a beacon of the Paralympic spirit.

Despite much of the relay taking place under cover of darkness, thousands of people turned out on a clear and chilly night to watch its journey and cheer on the proud torchbearers.

Working in teams of five, the torchbearers, both disabled and non-disabled, carried the flame from the stadium to the National Spinal Injuries Centre in the village, before bearing it through Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire to Watford and then on to London.

As Graham Helm, 38, from Lancashire, paraded the flame across the iconic crossing, the crowds cheered. Mr Helm, registered blind four years ago, was nominated as a torchbearer for his work with young people.

Ria Amiraly, a special needs teacher from St John's Wood, said the atmosphere at the relay had been "buzzing".

The 28-year-old said: "You don't get to see people talking every day to each other like they did today, it was fascinating to be part of it. The Paralympics are more important to me because I work with special needs children, I think it's great that people with disabilities are going out there and taking part in sport, it's really important," she added.