THE Christmas story may be 2001 years old, but rarely have the principal protagonists been portrayed by a couple with a combined age of 126.

But the stars of a nativity sketch at Newport's St Julian's Baptist Church this Christmas are doing just that. They believe they are the oldest Mary and Joseph in Britain.

Lynda Strickland, 60, who is about to retire after 14 years working for the South Wales Argus as the editor's secretary, will be making her acting debut playing Mary.

And she asked 66-year-old Tony Baglow, a friend for more than 40 years, to play Joseph. "On the basis that most Josephs are about nine years old, I would have thought 66 must be close to the record," he said.

Mrs Strickland, of Croydon Close, is also the Argus community correspondent for St Julians.

She said: "It's not a proper nativity as such, although we are playing Mary and Joseph. It's a comedy Christmas sketch with a serious meaning. They wanted volunteers, and foolishly, I said I didn't mind doing a small part - the next thing I knew I was Mary. I roped in Tony to be Joseph, we must be the oldest Mary and Joseph in town."

The skit warns of the dangers of losing sight of why we celebrate Christmas in the first place. It features a photographer, adding in elements of the modern Christmas - turkey, tinsel, revellers - to the traditional nativity scene of new-born baby Jesus and his doting parents.

The scene becomes so vibrant that the photographer decides he can ditch "the dreary couple at the back".

Mr Baglow, of Caerleon Road, said: "Our particular part is to sit there and things go on around us. It's not a conventional nativity at all. These add-ons of Christmas eventually obscure the parents and child. We haven't got speaking parts, but the script says we're supposed to give 'meaningful looks. "

With their combined life experience to draw on, that shouldn't be a problem.