Dedicated Beryl Walker received some good news today after being hailed the world’s oldest papergirl – aged 88.
Sprighty Beryl started her round 35 years ago – and has so far cycled 40,000 miles and delivered 500,000 newspapers.
Every day at the crack of dawn the evergreen octogenarian jumps on her trusty old bike to begin her deliveries to 100 homes.
During her career Beryl, of Gloucester, has cycled the equivalent mileage of riding from the UK to Australia and back – TWICE.
Beryl, who turned 88 on Tuesday, is seven years older than the oldest papergirl listed in the Guinness Book of World Records – Joyce Pugh, 81, from Shropshire.
And Beryl’s boss Julie Behan, who runs Keelings Newsagents in Westgate Street, Gloucester, says she has never let her down.
She said: “Beryl is so reliable and always waiting for her papers outside at 6.10am on the dot every morning. We have been here for five years and she has never let us down.
“Beryl is certainly a character and knows everything, she is very popular with the customers.”
She delivers around 100 papers a day to homes and businesses – and one of her customers is local Tory MP Richard Graham.
He said: “Beryl’s enthusiasm for the job is an example to us all. She may be the oldest female paper deliverer in the country but you wouldn’t know it. In rain or shine Beryl’s always up early to do her job.”
Incredibly Beryl isn’t the even the oldest newspaper deliverer in the town.
That title goes to World War II veteran Jack Mews, 92 – the UK’s oldest paper boy.
