Going Gold For The Olympics

3 August 2012, 16:58 | Updated: 5 August 2012, 09:08

Royal Mail are painting some of their iconic red post-boxes gold to mark the success of British Olympians, and one's been turned gold in Bedford.

A postbox in Bedford's St Paul's Square is now golden after Etienne Stott took gold in the Canoe Slalom Double on Thursday 2 August 2012, along with teammate Tim Baillie.

Etienne grew up in the town and still has close connections to the area.

He's a regular visitor to the Viking Kayak Club where he used to train before becoming professional.

Akudo Ike from Royal Mail told Heart what message they want the golden post-boxes to send to the athletes:

"We want it to say congratulations we're very proud of you, you've achieved so much, we recognise that you have worked hard all these years to be the best at what you do."

Akudo says its not just about honouring the athlete but also reminding people in the town that they have something to be proud of:

"We want them to look at it and remember why it's there, we want them to look at it and feel a sense of pride that somebody from their hometown has achieved something so great and just really to tap into that spirit of the Olympic Games this year." 

With high hopes for other local athletes, such as cyclist Victoria Pendleton, we may see more post-boxes going gold soon.