Muriel victorious in a war of the words

Muriel Bradshaw won scrabble gold for the second time in three years in the North West Region at the 2018 National Indoor Games of The British Polio Fellowship in Leicester last month.

She secured first place ahead of fellow scrabble specialist Mary Guild, from Rosyth, who has competed against Muriel in the finals for the past four years.

They will compete in another head-to-head next year, on the charity’s 80th anniversary.

David Mitchell, national chairman of The British Polio Fellowship, said: “For a board game, Scrabble is taken very seriously at the National Indoor Games and Muriel and Mary’s tussles over the tiles are the stuff of games legend.

“They both have words running through them like a stick of rock and I’m sure each will want to have the last word at what will be the biggest event in games history in 2019.”

Held every year, the Indoor Games enables people who had Polio and now live with Post Polio Syndrome (PPS) to compete in sports and games.

Qualifiers from regional heats join over 200 competitors from across the UK to compete for individual and team success.

David added: “The North West region can boast a lot of strong, consistent competitors like Muriel, but everyone is going to want to win in 2019.

“The outcome is literally decided by words and not deeds in Scrabble, but Muriel and her squad will need to be on top form to triumph again next year.”