REGULARS at a Darwen pub might have thought their landlady's hobby was a little "potty".

But there was no doubting Joyce Donegan's devotion to collecting chamber pots in 1980.

Joyce, who ran the Engineers Arms in Duckworth Street, told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph she had been assembling her porcelain parade with pride for 11 years.

She added: "I first began collecting them when I saw a couple on show. If I see one in a junk shop now, or in a window, I like to go in and have a look at it."

Husband Leo, who counted 37 dotted around the hostelry and knew of even more in the attic, said: "We have had some shelves specially made for them. It is really my wife who does the collecting."

Some of Joyce's collection were more than a century old and even the newer additions had usually been around for seven or eight decades.

Joyce, who had been at the pub for four years, said: "I suppose I like them because I've always liked antiques - and this is certainly something different. I'm always willing to take a look at another potty.

"It's certainly a talking point in the pub, particularly to newcomers, and the regulars don't mind.

"If anyone has an interesting potty then it would be nice to see it. They could bring it along to the pub."