TWO elderly Leyland women are whiling away their winter afternoons challenging the record books for playing Scrabble.

Pensioners Marion Needham, 77, and her friend May Thompson, 86, play the word game up to ten times a day. They have saved all their score sheets from the past seven years. So far May, of Oakmere Avenue, Withnell, has clocked up the best score with 376. Marion, of Bent Lane, said: "Every Friday after lunch we start playing Scrabble and play through until 10 o'clock at night, stopping only for a cup of coffee. Sometimes we have up to ten games a day."

But the two players are still a long way from beating the world record.

The Guinness Book of Records says the highest score for one game is 1,049. The word caziques - a native chief of the West Indies - earned one player a record score of 392. Mrs Needham, added: "Playing Scrabble is better than gossiping."

The game is also a relaxing change for May who suffers from arthritis and is housebound. She has cared for more than 100 foster children and deserves a well earned rest.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.