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Westminster Bridge sprinter Florence Ilott honoured in heart-warming Twitter thread

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BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images

A man’s Twitter thread celebrating his grandmother, who once sprinted across Westminster Bridge before big Ben struck 12 times, is receiving lots of love.

Author Scott Pack shared a story about Florence Ilott, his late grandmother, who had a brief stint of fame in the 1930s after she became the first person to run across the bridge in that time.

It was quite the national celebration, and the event was covered by a whole host of news outlets including Associated Press, Daily Sketch and Evening Standard. Florence was the first person to make it across the bridge by the tenth chime – a feat.

There's even a clip of Florence from the Huntley Film Archives.

Pack’s thread was liked thousands of times and he thanked people for the influx of loving messages to his grandma, who passed away back in 2002.

“Thanks everyone for your kind words about my nan,” he wrote.

She would have been very surprised and touched by the reaction to her story. But first I would have had to explain the internet to her.

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