PATRIOTIC Okehampton resident Donald Bibey says being selected as a jubilee runner for the Queen's Jubilee Baton Relay is a great honour and privilege.

Mr Bibey is one of 5,000 individuals from across the UK who will carry the baton 500 yards during its journey which spans the 22 Commonwealth countries ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in July.

The Queen's Baton Relay has been the traditional curtain-raiser to the Games since the 1958 event in Cardiff and in honour of her golden jubilee, the relay began its epic trip from Buckingham Palace on Commonwealth Day, March 11.

It will return to the UK on June 6 and pass through hundreds of towns and villages throughout the following 50 days with a community celebration being held each evening.

Sixty-eight-year-old Mr Bibey, who was a RAF bandsmen at the time of the Queen's Coronation and a Coronation Medal holder, will carry the baton in Barnstaple on June 18 — day 13 — and is inviting people to donate a pound for each yard he runs so he can raise £500 for the New Okehampton Hospital Appeal.

Half of the UK runners will be made up of celebrities, present and former athletes like Roger Bannister, Seb Coe and Steve Cram, and the remaining 2,500 will be 'ordinary people' who embody community values, spirit and national pride.

Inside the baton for the 21st century, sensors detect and monitor the runner's pulse rate and transform this into a dramatic blade of pulsating light — the baton took its first breath and began to beat when it was handed to the Queen for the start of the relay.

Mr Bibey was nominated by his son, Allister, who is chief superintendent with Devon and Cornwall Police and he said it was a complete surprise to hear five months after the nomination was made that he had been picked.

'It's a great privilege and honour to be part of something like this which is a celebration of the nation and the Commonwealth,' he said. 'I am delighted that I can also use this opportunity to raise money for Okehampton's new hospital.'

A sponsorship envelope in which to place your £1 donation will be available from Okehampton Town Hall, the Okehampton Times office or Okehampton Medical Centre.

The Commonwealth Games runs from July 25 to August 4 and will be the biggest multi-sport event ever to have taken place in this country.