Founder of Valentine's Day tradition passes on torch

Reg Ling, 93, has hosted the annual Valentine's Day ceremony for 32 years

A man who has lit a lamp dedicated to Valentine's Day for more than 30 years is passing the tradition on to the next generation.

Reg Ling, 93, created the annual ceremony in Frome, Somerset, in 1993 and every year since has lit the town's Valentine's gas lamp on 14 February.

But now he is ready to hand over the responsibility to Eddie Young because he has said he is "too old" to continue and has been suffering with arthritis.

"It began to have an importance which I didn't realise initially and then later on began to see it was much more significant than I thought," Mr Ling said.

The annual ceremony starts with a firework launch at 17:30 GMT to summon residents to the top of Catherine Street ahead of the lighting of the lamp at 18:00.

There, people drink mulled wine and listen to poems, live music, and a speech by Mr Ling reflecting on love before he lights the lamp.

Mr Ling said he came up with the idea after saving the lamp-post from being thrown away in a skip and proposing to the Catherine Street Community Association group he was part of to make something of it.

When he took it apart he found it was a gas light and contacted British Gas to help him get it working again.

At around the same time, he was given a 1930s Royal Mail post box - which is in service - and decided to attach it as he believed there was a romantic symbolism of people connecting with each other under a unique gas lamp with an antique post box attached.

A local artist helped him decorate the lamp-post with a floral design.

A firework is set off 30 minutes before the ceremony begins to summon residents

Mr Ling told the BBC: "The Valentine lamp today would be something that signifies light, which of course is life and love, which is caring.

"Caring to me is what love is about, and of course love itself has multicolours of a coat."

He added: "The Valentine lamp came together by accident and coincidence, it almost took over me rather than me taking on the lamp."

Mr Young said it would be a "privilege" to take over the tradition.

"It's a bit of an honour. It's a little bit daunting, but I'm very flattered to be asked to do it.

"The ceremony itself is a movable thing. You don't want to get tied down to things too much. It's nice to involve as many people as possible because it's a community ceremony, very special to Frome," he added.