ABERGAVENNY and district was gripped with 'flame fever' on Friday as resident and visitors young and old alike lined the streets anxious to catch a glimpse of the torch which in just a matter of weeks will herald the start of 'the people's Olympics'.

The flame was carried over the border into Wales by Abergavenny's Gareth John, chairman of Disability Sport Wales with Hazel Cave, a youth worker at Raglan Baptist Church leading the cavalcade through the streets of Monmouth.

Just a few minutes later the Olympic torch convoy descended on her home village of Raglan, where Danielle Seivwright from Newport delighted the large crowd of school children and local people who waved Union flags and Welsh dragons as she jogged along the high street.

The convoy soon hit Abergavenny where thousands of excited children from across the area gathered to watch the spectacle which included sponsors' vehicles and the band of the Welsh Guards.

By the time the torch got to Union Road it was being carried by 16-year-old Sean Lewis, from Llanbradach, Caerphilly, who had made arrangements to sit his A' Level physics exam at 7am that day so that he could carry the flame in Abergavenny.

In a short ceremony on a stage erected in the Waitrose car park he handed over the torch to retired yoga teacher, Dorothy Turner, aged 70, from Caldicot who ran the final leg to Llanfoist.

The torch then went into 'convoy mode' on board a coach as it made its way to Brynmawr where flag waving spectators were delighted by the headline catching jump for joy of Nadine Struijk, a Dutch synchronised swimmer.

After yet another spell in convoy mode the torch arrived at one of the area's most iconic landmarks - Blaenavon's Big Pit.

Pupils from the new Blaenavon Heritage Primary School added to the atmosphere of the day by wearing the five colours of the Olympic rings. Other school children, many who had brought picnics with them, lined the roads from the Gilchrist Thomas Industrial Estate through to the town centre.

Ellie Costa, aged 16, who excelled at tennis and is now a top cyclist, climbed the steps of the pit head winding gear to signal the start of the next phase of the relay as she set off towards the town centre.

Torfaen mayor Councillor Wayne Tomlinson said, "It's a remarkable once in a lifetime event for the area and one which will go down in history. Combined with the weather this is just the tonic needed to lift people's spirits."

A short while later the relay was in Pontypool where 31-year-old Ray Morgan from Usk was 'honoured' to be carrying the torch. Abergavenny born Ray currently runs for Pontypool Running Club and raises a lot of money for various charities by running marathons around the UK and abroad.

Despite the good weather and electric atmosphere, one unhappy reader told the Chronicle he felt the day had been marred by 'over officious organisers'.

Ronnie Radford questioned the need for the town to be closed for the whole day for a 44 minute event and suggested that the positioning of the barriers made it difficult for prams and wheelchairs to get through the town.

"In Hereford, there were 25,000 people watching the torch relay and the organisers removed the barriers 30 minutes after the procession had gone through.

"In Abergavenny, the Hardwick and the Llanfoist roundabouts were closed for a ridiculous amount of time. The organisers should have been made to witness the chaotic about-turns having to be made at various locations due to the chaos they caused by not removing the barriers sooner.

"When these were eventually removed they were not taken away as the bollards and metal signs were left over the weekend as potential dangers propped up against walls and on pavements. "