A WELL-KNOWN York man is set to celebrate his 85th birthday with a sponsored walk with an Olympic torch - which he carried in 2012.

Terry Haw, a former football and tennis coach from Fulford, plans to walk round the church and churchyard of St Lawrence in Lawrence Street for 40 laps in 85 minutes tomorrow (Wednesday) at 2pm - to raise money for the church's fund.

As it is the year of the Olympic Games, Terry will be joined by the Olympic torch which he carried in the run-up to the Olympic Games in London nine years ago.

“I would love for people to come and watch my sponsored walk,” Terry said.

Terry was chosen from 67,000 nominees to be one of the final 8,000 runners to bear the torch in 2012 - when he ran with it for 300 metres in the village of Aiskew near Bedale, which he said was the “proudest day of his life".

Terry was nominated to be an Olympic torch-bearer in recognition of his charity work helping and coaching young people, starting in the 1960s with a youth club at St Lawrence.

Earlier in his life, Terry became a qualified football referee and ran a football club for cubs. He went on to coach swimming, badminton and tennis. He only gave up being a tennis coach at the age of 75.

After the ceremony in 2012, runners were given the chance to purchase their own replica of the Olympic torch.

The replica torches have three sides, with each side having a message for the athletes - respect, friendship and effort.

Terry and his wife Jean celebrated 65 years of marriage in June.

They met at St Lawrence’s church, where Jean’s father, Mac Milner, was the choirmaster.

The couple have two sons, Simon and Neil, who were at the finish line in Bedale in 2012, to cheer on their father.