14.06.2012
Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick MSP formally greeted Olympic torch bearers outside the Scottish Parliament this morning.
As the torch passed the Scottish Parliament, it was exchanged between torch bearers Sally Hyder from Edinburgh and Sophie Hanson from Alnwick (pictured above with the Presiding Officer and the Cabinet Secretary for Parliamentary Business and Government Strategy Bruce Crawford MSP, who was also in attendance).
Speaking ahead of the event, the Presiding Officer said: “As the Olympic torch has travelled across the country, the world has not only witnessed Scotland’s stunning landscapes and cities, it has also seen some of our inspiring people.
"Individuals like Sally who have demonstrated the same determination and focus that is required of Olympic athletes.
"It will be an honour to pass on the Scottish Parliament’s good wishes to Sally as she carries the torch past Holyrood.”
Sally Hyder is an author and a mother of three. She has multiple sclerosis and has used a wheelchair for the last nine years. In June 2011 she was the first disabled person to attempt to scale Ben Nevis in her wheelchair. With the help of friends, family, military personnel and Edinburgh fire fighters she made it halfway up in a battery-powered off-road wheelchair, before the wheelchair gave up. However, she is attempting the feat again this year and is determined to get to the summit.