THOUSANDS of people have signed a petition to urge a change to the route of the Olympic Torch when it comes to Selby this year.

The torch will enter the country at Land’s End, Cornwall, on May 19, and will travel about 8,000 miles around the UK, with the aim to take it within ten miles of more than 95 per cent of the population.

The 70-day relay is due to pass through York, Tadcaster, Camblesforth, Monk Fryston, Barkston Ash, Scarborough, Filey and Beverley, and will visit Selby on June 19.

But residents of South Milford and Sherburn-in-Elmet are unhappy that it will not pass through their villages.

Now, a petition started by residents Myrtle Hall and Alma Hodgson has been signed by 2,000 people, and presented to Selby District Council, in the hope that they can appeal to the Olympic Committee to alter the route.

Mrs Hodgson said: “South Milford and Sherburn have four schools in the area, and we think it’s a historic village we have here.

“I think it’s important. We have one of the biggest areas in the Selby district and if we have to go to Fryston, they won’t be able to cope with us.”

The village gala will be held on May 19, and Mrs Hodgson said the Union Jacks and flags would be left up ready for when the torch came through, if the committee changed its mind.

She said: “It seems so stupid, going round the bypass when it could go through the village and it will be a mile shorter. It’s ridiculous. We’re hoping the petition will help change their minds and the route can be changed to come straight down rather then go on the bypass, where no-one can go stand and see it.”

Mrs Hall said: “We’re thinking very positively. We’ve written to Sebastian Coe and our local MPs as well as the petition. If we want something bad enough, you have to fight for it.

“We think it’s absolute madness, going on the bypass when they could come through Sherburn and include the 1,118 schoolchildren here. They said they wanted to come through historical places, and we have a thousand-year-old church.”

“We feel disappointed for our children, because it’s a once-in-a lifetime event, and to go a longer route instead of coming through Sherburn, I can’t see why they would do that.”