Ray's the oldest swinger in the ring

At a time when most pensioners are settling down to Emmerdale with a mug of cocoa, Raymond McMullon is limbering up at his local boxing club for a few rounds in the ring.

At 72, the remarkable pensioner still works 20 hours a week and hopes his latest fitness hobby will help him lose a few pounds in weight.

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Affectionately known at Wolverhampton Boxing Club on Willenhall Road as "Britain's oldest heavyweight", he is building up to doing 12 rounds in the ring with his trainer.

"At the moment I'm up to four rounds but I'm getting there," he said. The Wolverhampton grandfather-of-three, of Cavendish Gardens, Stow Heath, was spurred into taking up exercise after finding he was struggling to put his socks on in the morning.

Now his fitness regime consists of punch-bag training leading up to a series of one-minute bursts in the ring with 30-second breaks in between.

"I got talking to a friend who said I should get fit and invited me to join his boxing gym," he said. "When I started, I was like a feather trying to hit a fly but now I'm managing to catch my trainer and hit him.

"He hits back - if I drop my guard, I feel a glove on my face but thankfully it's not a full-blown punch.

"The youngest member of the club is seven and I'm proud of being the oldest," he added.

When he's not dodging punches, Raymond works at the Co-op pharmacy in Whitmore Reans, collecting prescriptions from doctors' surgeries and delivering tablets to patients who are elderly or immobile.

He also regularly goes dancing with wife June, 61, at the United Services Club in Humber Road.