Parade to honour town's Olympians

Peter Reed was one of 13 rowers from the Leander Club who won medals

Plans have been finalised for a civic parade to honour 13 Olympic medallists from the same Oxfordshire rowing club.

Four-time Olympic gold medal rower Sir Matthew Pinsent will lead the parade through Henley-on-Thames in an open-top bus next Saturday.

Thirteen rowers from the town's Leander Club won medals in Beijing as part of Team GB, including gold medallists Steve Williams and Peter Reed.

Organisers of the parade met on Thursday night to finalise their plans.

Williams and Reed were part of the winning men's fours team.

Silver medallists Alex Partridge, Josh West, Tom Stallard, Rick Egington and Matt Langridge, who were all part of the men's eight team, are also due to attend.

'Great day out'

Anna Bebington, one half of the bronze medal-winning women's double scull team, is also due to be part of the parade, along with Steve Rowbotham and Matt Wells, who won bronze in the men's double scull.

Team GB's rowers won a total of six Olympic medals in Beijing.

The bus parade through Henley will be followed by autograph-signing session and a reception for local schoolchildren at the town hall.

Robert Treharne Jones, of the Leander Club, said everything was now "falling into place" for the event.

"We've just had a last minute meeting between ourselves and the town council and the River and Rowing Museum, who are the three main parties involved in organising what we hope is going to be a fantastic day.

"Things are looking really good, really positive and it should be a great day out."

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