29 August 2012 Last updated at 01:09

In pictures: Paralympic torch relay

A cauldron is lit as the four national flames unite to form the Paralympic flame in Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire, 28 August 2012

The Paralympic flame is heading for London as part of a 24-hour relay after a cauldron-lighting ceremony for 3,000 invited guests, including Paralympians and representatives from disability groups.

Torchbearers smile after lighting the cauldron during the torch relay ceremony at Stoke Mandeville Stadium in Buckinghamshire, 28 August 2012

Four national flames, kindled last week, were united in a cauldron at the ceremony in Stoke Mandeville - the spiritual home of the Paralympics.

The Paralympic cauldron is lit following the torch relay ceremony at Stoke Mandeville Stadium in Buckinghamshire

The national flames were kindled at the summits of the highest peaks in Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales

Speaking ahead of the flame-lighting ceremony, Eva Loeffler - the daughter of the founder of the Paralympic Games, Dr Ludwig Guttman - paid tribute to the role the Stoke Mandeville Games played in defining the modern Paralympic movement.

Parade around the athletics track following the torch relay ceremony at Stoke Mandeville Stadium in Buckinghamshire, 28 August 2012

Some 150 local residents took part in a lantern procession and formed a guard of honour for eight torchbearers who carried flames representing the four home nations. Children had gathered at Stoke Mandeville last week to make the brightly-coloured lanterns, using canes and tissue paper.

Paralympian Sally Haynes (front) carries the torch with other former Paralympians around the athletics track following the torch relay ceremony at Stoke Mandeville Stadium in Buckinghamshire, 28 August 2012

Sally Haynes - seen waving here - was one of the Paralympians who carried the torch around the Stoke Mandeville athletics track. Haynes took part in the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960 and went on to compete at a further three Games, winning medals in the Epee discipline of wheelchair fencing.

A torchbearing team carries the Paralympic Flame on the Torch Relay leg between Aylesbury and Weston Turville

The flame is being carried 92 miles from Buckinghamshire to London's Olympic Stadium by 580 torchbearers.

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In pictures: Paralympic torch relay

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