A CHARITY fundraising former Dudley Mayor has described what a “great honour” it was to carry the Queen’s baton ahead of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Steve Waltho, a former councillor for Wordsley and St Thomas’s wards and Mayor of Dudley in 2015-16, was selected to be a batonbearer in the Queen’s Baton Relay in recognition of his extensive charity fundraising efforts.

Despite being the borough’s former first citizen, Steve’s stint carrying the baton was in Chasetown rather than Dudley due to the sheer volume of inspirational people selected to carry the baton in the borough.

Accompanied by his wife Jayne, the former Mayoress of Dudley, he carried the famous baton through the streets of Chasetown on Wednesday July 20.

He said: “It was a great honour to be nominated then selected to take part. The organisation was brilliant and on the minibus waiting for the baton to arrive all 10 of us were asked for brief introductions. All I can say is it was very humbling to be amongst such a diverse group of public heroes on a day I’ll never forget.”

Over the years Steve has raised an estimated third of a million pounds by completing many and varied action-packed charity challenges for causes close to his heart – including £55,000 during his Mayoral year – a feat which earned him an MBE.

After undergoing surgery for prostate cancer last autumn, he decided it was time to quit local politics after 24 years of serving the local communities as a councillor.

He stood down at the last election in May but he’s still keeping busy in the community.

The grandfather-of-three, who was a shift team leader at Oldbury chemical plant Solvay for many years, is chairman of the Saleem Foundation and he helps out weekly at the Black Country Foodbank with wife Jayne and sings with the Gentlemen Songsters. He’s also a patron of Access in Dudley and a member of Dudley’s ex-Mayor’s group; and next month, on August 19, he plans to lead a group from Dudley on the ninth consecutive annual ascent of Ben Nevis in Scotland in memory of legendary Dudley peacemaker Bert Bissell.

To keep himself fit for that and to give himself something to focus on he raised £2,000 for Prostate Cancer and Access in Dudley by scaling 20 peaks in the Lake District earlier this year.

People can see the Queen’s baton in Dudley on Sunday July 24.

Precise timings can be found here.

The relay will make its first appearance at the Halesowen Fun Run after which it will make its way to Stourbridge onto Wordsley, then Dudley, Brierley Hill and then finally onto The Waterfront, Merry Hill.

A number of roads will be closed to accommodate the baton and onlookers.

A full list of road closures is available online at dudley.gov.uk/cgtraffic.