PUPILS at Holsworthy Primary School were given the opportunity to lift one of the Olympic torches used during the opening ceremony of the games in 2012.

The torch belongs to Denise May, from Morwenstow, who was a torch-bearer at the 2012 Olympics.

Denise has an MBE in sporting achievement from the Queen, which she was awarded for her dedication to sports education and the pupils of Ash and Willow classes were delighted to welcome her to their school.

Denise visited the school to kick-start the pupils’ LKS2 topic of ‘Celebrations and Traditions’. From this, the pupils then created persuasive letters to Denise to try and persuade her that the school should keep the torch.

Class teacher Aymee Bailey said: “The children loved her visit and really understood that this is a precious slice of history that happened during their lifetime.”

Their next task in English is to write a persuasive letter to the mayor of Holsworthy, Cllr Jon Hutchings, to persuade him to hold the Olympics in Holsworthy.