Our Greatest Team Parade

[2][3] The parade took place the day after the closing ceremony of the Paralympics to ensure that the maximum number of athletes were able to participate and to avoid clashing with other commitments.

[3] Stewarded disabled viewing areas were available at Mansion House, St Paul's Cathedral and Trafalgar Square.

[5] Due to the previous day's 2012 Paralympic marathon and also for capacity reasons, the viewing area along The Mall between Admiralty Arch and the Memorial were restricted, reserved and ticketed only for those groups who had made invaluable contributions to the Games and their athletes.

Zara Phillips (as she then was) was also in attendance, but in her capacity as a member of the Great Britain Eventing Team, rather than as a royal.

The group consisted of a Brazilian Style Bloco Orchestra, Acrobatic Trickers called the Catchy Shubby Elite, dancers and the theatre group Smoking Apples[9] carrying two giant lion heads, each with the motifs of Team GB and Paralympics GB, going first.

In the ancient world crowds would line the streets to welcome their triumphant Olympians home, where they would be ecstatically venerated and their victories chronicled for the ages, with names like Leonidas of Rhodes and Milo of Kroton reverberating through history.

[3][5][8]Prior to the parade in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Laura Trott stated that she thought that the parade was going to be amazing and added: One of the best things about London 2012 was the fantastic support all Team GB competitors received from the fans at all the venues and from the British public everywhere.

[1] Once the parade had made it up The Mall towards Buckingham Palace, the crowds and Team GB watched a fly past from BA and the Armed Forces consisting of the following; Prime Minister David Cameron also hosted an event afterwards to commemorate the athletes' achievements.

One of the giant lion heads leading the parade at St Clement Danes Church , near Aldwych
A large screen was put at the base of Nelson's Column, showing the parade