The mother of a Helston schoolgirl, who is helping to bring the Olympic Flame from Greece to Cornwall alongside David Beckham and Princess Anne, has spoken of her family’s pride in their lucky daughter.

Alison Higgs, from the Leedstown area, said it was “slightly surreal” that her 15-year-old daughter Georgia had been selected to join the British Olympic delegation, who will receive the flame at a special ceremony in Athens this evening.

She said: “We have known for about six or seven weeks and it was really hard to keep it quiet – but we had to sign a confidentiality agreement and we didn’t even tell any of our family until yesterday.

“It’s huge, Georgia’s a little overwhelmed at the moment but I just hope she holds it together, because it will all go by very quickly and it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Georgia, who has played badminton at county level for the past five years and is a student at Helston Community College, will not only be representing her school but the whole of Cornwall when she helps transport the flame back to RNAS Culdrose later today.

Amongst the other representatives along for the ride are London 2012 chief Lord Coe, British Olympic Association president Princess Anne, London Mayor Boris Johnson and old Goldenballs himself, David Beckham.

When asked if Georgia was excited to meet the famous footballer, Alison said: “Yes, she’s a 15-year-old girl, so I think that’s fairly self explanatory!

“She had no idea that he was going to be there. We assumed that Seb Coe would be, but we certainly didn’t know about David Beckham or Princess Anne. Although at 15 there were quite a lot of those names that she was not familiar with.”

As with many of the announcements surrounding this year’s Olympics, Georgia’s selection as representative for Helston Community College was shrouded in mystery.

Alison said: “When we went to the school and met with the PE teacher I said to Georgia ‘goodness, you’re not in trouble are you?’ but then we got into the office and I was given a form to sign before they would say anything.

“I cast my eye along the form and saw that it said ‘Olympic’ so I thought that it would be something to do with going to London – but I had no idea that it was Athens.

“Georgia was sat there with her mouth open, she was absolutely speechless. She’s never been to Greece before and meeting all these famous people as well, it’s just amazing on every single level.”

Alison and her husband Martin are rightly proud of their daughter, as are her sisters Rosa, aged 13 and Morwenna, aged seven – although Rosa will be missing her sister’s Culdrose appearance because she has to be in the school play. “She’s absolutely gutted!” Alison said.

Packet readers can see Georgia in action this evening on BBC2, when the Olympic Flame Handover is broadcast live from Athens at 5.15pm.

The Olympic Torch and UK delegation are due to arrive in to Culdrose at 7pm tomorrow to a fanfare of celebration covered by the world’s media.

It will be a big moment for Georgia, especially as she’s billed to be one of the first of five young sport ambassadors to step off the plane - but Alison has some sage advice to calm her daughter’s nerves.

She said: “She spoke to me last night and she was quite – anxious is not the right word – but overwhelmed.

“So I told her to pick her feet up and not fall down the stairs!”