Olympic success finally brings gold post boxes to Wilmslow

Wilmslow's Olympic heroes have finally been honoured with a gold postbox after an appeal by a resident to acknowledge the success of stars from the town.

Victoria Pendleton won one gold and one silver medal in the velodrome at this summer’s games.

And Craig MacLean won gold as the tandem rider for Paralympic star Anthony Kappes.

Both are set to be given the freedom of the borough and have roads named after them by Cheshire East council.

However the pair both had postboxes painted gold in the towns where they were born.

Victoria, who retired from cycling after London 2012, was originally born and raised in Stotford, Bedfordshire, but lives in Wilmslow with her fiance and Team GB scientist Scott Gardner.

Craig, from Grantown-on-Spey, in Scotland, has lived in Alderley Edge and Wilmslow for more than four years to be near his training base at the Velodrome in Manchester.

However, after a resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, contacted Royal Mail to point out the town didn’t have a gold postbox, the firm agreed to paint one.

The Chancellor, George Osborne, met Craig and watched the box, outside the Tesco Express store on Alderley Road, being painted on Friday.

At the event, Mr Osborne said: "Congratulations to Craig MacLean.

"It is brilliant that he is a hero of Wilmslow and the gold letterbox will be a permanent reminder of his incredible achievement this year."

Craig’s achievements were marked with an open-top tour of Wilmslow and a civic reception last Wednesday.

At the event, he told the Express that Wilmslow had become his second home and thanked everyone for their support.

He said: "I’ll be one of the few athletes to have gold postboxes in two different towns."

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "A local resident contacted us recently and pointed out that Wilmslow has two cycling gold medallists from London 2012 – Victoria Pendleton and Craig MacLean – and wondered if we might paint a postbox gold to celebrate this fact.

"We are pleased to be able to help Wilmslow remember the successes of its local residents during London 2012 by painting another iconic red postbox gold, and we are delighted that the local MP, George Osborne, agreed to join us at the painting."