Olympic sailing hero Ben Ainslie has described himself as a proud Macc lad and thanked everyone in the town for their support.

Ben, 35, won his fourth gold medal at the London games to become the most successful sailor in the competition’s history.

He was chosen to carry the Union Flag at the closing ceremony to mark his outstanding achievement.

And in an exclusive interview with the Express he gave a special thanks to everyone in his home town who cheered him on.

"I was just want to say a big thank you to everyone for their support.

"I’m really proud to have been born in Macclesfield and I have a lot of fond memories so it’s a really nice feeling to know everyone remembers me and was rooting for me.

"I remember being a school kid at Terra Nova and it being a really happy time."

One of Ben’s first encounters with the water was on Redesmere Lake, Siddington.

He said: "I remember going there a couple of times with a friend and her parents who had a dinghy.

"It’s funny to think about now as we were just mucking about really and I couldn’t have imagined that this would have happened.

"In fact sailing is the last thing I thought I would have been doing with Macclesfield being so far from the sea.

"I just enjoyed playing football and having a great time with friends."

Ben’s uncle and cousin still live in the town as did his grandparents until they died.

Last week the Express reported plans are afoot for him to be honoured by the council after what is expected to be his last Olympics appearance and a book of congratulations has been opened for him in the Grosvenor Centre.

However Maxonians were left disappointed after learning the town would not be getting a gold post box.

Royal Mail announced it would be painting a box in Restronguet in Cornwall, where Ben moved when he was eight, rather than his town of birth.

Despite being asked to consider painting a post box for Ben in Macclesfield as well, Royal Mail stood by its decision.

So here at the Express we decided to come up with our postal tribute to our Olympic hero.

We painted our own postbox, which sits outside our office for people post their news and events and took it around the town.

Ben criticised the decision by Royal Mail as well as giving our unique tribute his blessing.

"It’s a bit upsetting.

"Obviously I was born in Macclesfield then my family moved to Cornwall, then I lived in Lymington.

"It's a shame really because no one asked where I’d have liked a post box – and in an ideal world I would have had one in all three places.

"But it’s great to know the Macclesfield Express painted their own – that’s really cool, thank you."

Royal Mail said the boxes were painted in the community the athletes are ‘most closely associated with’.

The Express’ newly-painted box now has pride of place outside our office just off Market Place.

And Ben has promised to try and squeeze a trip to the town into his hectic schedule over the coming months.

He is off to America next week where he will be based for a year but he said: "It would be great in one of my trips home to come and say hi and would be really nice to show everyone how much appreciative I am."