A MUM'S pride in her two young Down's Syndrome sons shone brighter than the Olympic Torch when they were plucked from the roadside to help her carry the flame on an historic day for Reading.

Brenda Morton did not know until the eleventh hour that Piers, eight, and Joshua, four, would be allowed to join her in Bath Road on Wednesday, as the Torch made its way out of the town after two days' celebration.

The Royal Berkshire Hospital urgent care matron, who was cheered on by husband Bill and her A&E colleagues, had nominated the youngsters as torchbearers but when their application was rejected by organisers because of their age, she successfully put herself forward in her role as chairwoman of the West Berkshire Down's Syndrome Group.

The 49-year-old, from Shinfield - who last year raised �3,500 for the group by running the Green Park Challenge and is planning to open a social club for members - later asked if the children could accompany her and did not find out that her dream would come true until she arrived for her duties at 7am.

Brenda, 49, from Shinfield, who with Bill adopted Joshua when he was 12-weeks-old so the boys can grow up supporting each other, told The Chronicle: "It was everything it was meant to be."