The residents of Stone, and those further afield, descended on Stone to welcome home their Rio Hero.
Organised by Stone Town Council and Stafford and Stone Canoe Club the homecoming celebrations for local legend Joe Clarke were a massive success. Joe was the focus of the town as the streets were flooded with people of all ages, from babies to pensioners, who had lined the designated route to cheer on Joe’s return.
The celebrations began with 30 minutes of bell ringing at St Michael’s church before Joe started his procession.
The parade itself began at the top of the High Street and continued down along Stafford Street and on to Westbridge Park. Joe was driven in a classic drop top silver Rolls Royce and was clearly revelling in the support that had come down to see his homecoming parade. Young and old furiously waved the provided Union Jack flags and shouted words of encouragement as he was driven past.
Once at the canoe club on Westbridge Park Joe swapped the luxury of the Roller for a more familiar mode of transport…….a kayak! Held aloft by family and friends Joe was carried around the final human slalom course as he made his way to the main stage to greet the crowds. A paddle guard of honor lined the route for Joe’s entourage made up of club members and Joe’s family.
The roar all along the route was fantastic but in the much more congested Westbridge Park the volume hit new peaks.
Once at the stage there were words from the Town Mayor before Joe took the rapturous applause from the massive crowd that had turned up. Joe acknowledged how overwhelmed he was by the thousands of people who had turned up to welcome him home and confirmed that he’s looking forward to Tokyo 2020 where he plans to defend his Olympic title.
Local artist Emma Joustra had produced one of her distinctive drawings (Emma did our logos too don’t you know!) of Joe which was printed on 5000 postcards ready for the marathon autograph session which took place after the main celebrations. Ben Owen, and then The Cartoon Kings provided a great sound track to wrap up what was a truly golden day in Stone’s history.
A final thank you to everyone who submitted photos to us. We’ll put together a gallery over the next 24hrs and we have some video footage to edit together. It’s been a crazy but brilliant day for us and A Little Bit Of Stone! We are so proud of Joe, our town and the people of Stone and beyond…Today was truly a momentous day for all
