Hundreds of Stafford pupils will greet Olympic Torch

A spectacular circus parade involving hundreds of Stafford schoolchildren will greet the Olympic Torch when it visits the town next month.

Acrobats, dancers, stilt walkers and jugglers will lead a procession of community groups and children before the flame passes through in May.

The torch begins its local leg of the journey in Gnosall on Wednesday, May 30 and makes its way through Haughton and Stafford before heading off to Stoke.

To get the crowd going, a huge parade will wind its way through the town centre from 4pm on the day.

Schoolchildren will be joining the parade, before getting a front row seat to see the flame go through the town.

Local organisations, sports ambassadors and dance troops have also been invited to join the parade that will assemble in Victoria Park, before moving through Mill Bank and up the High Street towards Market Square where acrobats will perform from a specially constructed 26ft high arch.

Families will get the first glimpse of the torch in the borough when it passes the 30mph speed limit sign as it comes in to Gnosall.

The flame will only be seen when the convoy is in 'torchbearer mode' – and it leaves that mode at Manor Road and picks up again after Station Road, in Haughton.

The flame will leave the village at the bus stop in Prince Avenue and the next opportunity people will have of seeing the torch will be near Stafford Castle.