By Duncan Mackay

Sir Philip_Craven_at_Paralympic_Flame_lighting_Stoke_Mandeville_August_28_2012September 21 - The British Government are to be asked to approach the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to get them to back a plan that would see the Paralympic Flame lit at Stoke Mandeville Stadium before every Summer and Winter Games.


A proposal was passed by Buckinghamshire County Council, where Stoke Mandeville is located, backing a regular lighting ceremony at the Paralympics' birthplace. 

They now want the Government to support them. 

"It is the birthplace of the Games and should be recognised as such," said Marion Clayton, the chairman of Buckinghamshire County Council.

They want Stoke Mandeville, where Sir Ludwig Guttmann sowed the seeds of the Paralympic Movement in 1948 by organising an archery competition for his spinal cord injury patients, to become as symbolic to the Paralympics as Olympia is to the Olympics. 

The Olympic flame of the modern-day Games is lit by reflection of sunlight in a parabolic mirror in front of the Temple of Hera in Olympia and then transported by a Torch to the place where the Games are being held. 

London 2012_Torch_lit_at_OlympiaHigh Priestess Ino Menegaki lights the London 2012 Olympic Torch during the Lighting Ceremony of the Olympic Flame at Ancient Olympia in May

"I think that Stoke Mandeville is now increasingly recognised internationally as the birthplace of the Paralympics and I do think that is something we should promote," said Clayton.

The motion follows a successful lighting ceremony at Stoke Mandeville Stadium for London 2012. 

Mary Baldwin, one of the Councillors who proposed the motion, said it was about legacy and ensuring equality between the Olympics and Paralympics.

"Bring the Flame home," she said.

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