CROWDS lined the streets as the Olympic flame made its way through Worcestershire and Gloucestershire today.

Excited Evesham residents turned out in their numbers to welcome the flame through the town this morning. Evesham’s own Fred Kaler was among the torchbearers and walked his leg though the town centre waving constantly to the cheering onlookers.

Teenagers Louis Wilson and Max Theyer were also carrying the torch along with Hassan Mehdi and Ezeigbo Damson from Nigeria.

From Evesham the flame moved on to Wickhamford where 85-year-old Malvern woman Moira Starkey ensured the torch passed safely on its route. The pensioner has raised more than £10,000 for charity. Alex Chantler Mayne also ran the torch through Wickhamford.

Not to be outdone, Broadway’s resident put on a good show for the torch’s arrival. Music, food and entertainment on the village green greeted the torch relay team, which arrived about 20 minutes after schedule.

Among the crowd and proving the Olympics attraction to both young and old were eight-year-old Sam Brealey and his great grandma Freda Berry.

Heroic young Chipping Campden School pupil Courtney Taylor ran the torch through Broadway and American Juliette Cumberbatch completed the torch’s passage through the picturesque Cotswold village.

It was then on to Chipping Campden where twins Emma and Rosie Hamilton took charge. Also carrying the flame was Julie Darwin, a paraplegic after a gym accident aged 15, she is now a biomedical scientist.

Patriotic bunting was aplenty and residents hung out of their windows as the flame passed the crowded streets.

Former Olympian Howard Timms, aged 67, was watching after being invited as part of an event arranged by the Cotswold Olimpicks and said the noise of the crowd took him back to his performance at the 1972 Munich Games.

After a short stop for lunch at Chipping Campden School, the torch continues to Stratford, Warwick and Leamington Spa before ending the day in Coventry.