A LUCKY pensioner from St Helens has scooped more than £109,000 and set a national record playing bingo.

Norman Rawsthorne, won the National Bingo Game prize of £100,000, the Regional prize of £9,688, as well as the club prize of £57, having completed a full house in just 39 numbers - the fewest anywhere nationwide.

Norman, who joined the Mecca seven years ago, will now share the prize money with his wife, Irene and her sister and husband who were with him at the time of his win at the Mecca Club in Southport.

Norman, who retired 11 years ago after working in a coalmine says he is delighted with his win. He joked: "I went from hell to heaven." The couple have three children and their eldest daughter lives in Australia, whom Irene is off to visit shortly. But Norman, who suffers from hip and knee problems, says the flight is too long for him and will enjoy a fishing holiday in Ireland instead.