Florence is at the cutting edge
of the news!

March 26, 2002

Seaham grandmother Florence Islip could well hold the title of the Sunderland Echo's oldest papergirl - and her round is certainly bigger than most.

In fact the 81-year-old delivers the news to people thousands of miles across the world - bringing smiles and tears to ex-pats.

But the headline news the widow really longs to deliver to her friends abroad - a new swimming pool for Seaham - has yet to become reality.

Mrs Islip, of Napier Road, Northlea, said: ‘I cut out all the snippets and stories about Seaham and Dawdon from the Echo and send them to people around the world.

‘I do it as a pastime. It keeps me in touch with people, otherwise I would be lonely. They seem so grateful at hearing news from Seaham. They are all homesick.’

Mrs Islip's enormous paper round begins with collecting stories from the Echo and sending them to her sister, Sarah Pert, who lives near Portsmouth.

Once Sarah is finished with them, she returns them to Mrs Islip, who posts them off to Doreen Richardson (nee Boed), an ex-Dawdon resident now living in Victoria, Australia.

Doreen then forwards them to six Seaham friends across Australia, and the articles are eventually posted back to England - to a former Seaham family living in Yorkshire.

Champion swimmer

Mrs Islip said: ‘I've been doing this for about three years now. There are lots of newsy bits to cut out of the Echo and the people really enjoy reading about Seaham.

‘But the news I'd really like to tell them would be that the council is making a large swimming pool in the town. I couldn't use it, but the young ones could.

‘My elder sister Betty was a champion swimmer when Seaham Harbour Swimming Club was in existence. She won the cup ten times and I think the town needs a pool.’

Mrs Islip plans to continue her paper round in the future, and has yet to give up hope that a swimming pool will eventually be built.

She added: ‘I think Caroline House in St John's Square would make an excellent adult pool, while the old court house could be used for children. I'd love to be able to cut out news about that happening.’

From Sunderland Echo

Copyright (c) 2000-2002 Sue Kelly