Tireless Joyce Pugh has been officially named the world’s oldest papergirl – after doing her beloved round for a staggering 41 years.
Joyce, 81, took up the part-time job in 1971 to top up her income from her morning job at a canteen.
Incredibly, the great-gran has delivered copies of the Shropshire Star six evenings a week – dropping a staggering 291,000 papers through residents’ letterboxes.
The OAP has even battled snow and ice – and still does the round on her bicycle if the weather is dry.
Now Joyce has been recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records – who confirmed she has been officially declared the oldest papergirl in the world.
Joyce, who has eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, said: “I do it every afternoon when the papers come out.
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“There are only 20 now, they’ve dropped from 35 since the price went up.
“It takes me about three-quarters of an hour. I’ve got a proper paper bag, I’ve only been through two or three in 40 years.
“I deliver on a push bike and if it is too rough, sometimes I walk.
“My daughter and son started doing it for some pocket money but stopped when they got a proper job.
“Some of the people were missing their papers so I said I would do it for a while but I just didn’t stop.
“It’s good exercise. It’s a bit rough in the winter but I battle through.
“I’ll keep going as long as I can. It all depends how bad the winters get.”
Joyce has carried on the family tradition of delivering the daily news to residents after her sons Philip, now 63, and Patrick, now 61, both had rounds when they were children.
The widow, whose husband Jim died in 1993 aged 65, gets paid just #3.60 a week for her round but she REFUSES to accept any more money.
She said: “I used to come home on the 5pm bus, put the tea on and then go out and deliver the papers.
“The wages are not very good. I get 3p a paper so that’s 60p a day but I don’t do it for the money, I do it for the exercise and to keep people informed every day.
“I’m delighted to be a record breaker, it makes a change to be making the news for once instead of delivering it.”
Anne-Lise Rouse, from Guinness World Records, said: “I can confirm that Joyce appears in the Guinness World Records 2013 and her title is the oldest newspaper delivery person – female.”
Ted Ingram, from Winterborne Monkton, Dorset, was named the world’s oldest paper boy in February 2010 – after doing his beloved round for a whopping 68 years.
The 90-year-old took up the part-time job in 1942 during World War II to top up his income but enjoyed delivering papers so much that he never gave it up.
