GOLD medalist Zac Purchase will raise an Olympic flag when he returns to Worcestershire this weekend.

An enthusiastic crowd is expected to greet the young Olympian, who rowed to victory in Beijing last month, when he visits Upton-upon-Severn on Saturday to raise a 2012 London Games flag after the original one was stolen.

The ex-pupil of the King’s School, Worcester, began his sporting career as a member of the Upton Rowing Club in 1997 and the informal ceremony will be poignant for everyone involved.

Peter Webb, chairman of Upton’s trade and tourism association who arranged the visit, said it will be “absolutely fantastic” for the entire town.

“It’s great that we’re getting a replacement flag, but the big news is having Zac here to raise it,” said Mr Webb. “There won’t be a big, formal reception. We’ll give him a snack, he’ll talk to some of the local school children, raise the flag and say a few words.

“I’m just hoping for a big crowd to welcome him.”

As previously reported in your Worcester News, the flag was stolen hours after it was hoisted into the air on Sunday, August 24, as part of Upton’s ceremony to mark the countdown to the 2012 London Games.

The replacement, donated by the British Olympic Association, will be raised at noon on Saturday. At 11.30am, 22-year-old Mr Purchase, who now lives in Reading, will meet local school children at the town’s White Lion pub.

“It’s just absolutely fantastic that he’s agreed to come,” said Mr Webb. “We have to keep pinching ourselves – we’re only a town of 2,500 people. It’s all about raising Upton’s profile and helping our local businesses. The floods are a distant memory now but we still need people to visit us.”

Earlier this week we reported how a camera owned by Mr Purchase’s mother, Sarah Hoyler, had been stolen from her home in Plymouth.

Mrs Hoyler is still appealing for the video camera containing footage of her son winning at Beijing to be returned.

l At 2pm on Saturday, Mr Purchase will take part in an open-top bus parade through his home town of Tewkesbury. He will be joined by his family, most of whom still live in the area, and given a civic reception at the Tewkesbury Borough Council offices.