A supergran at the head of one of the country’s biggest families has 125 birthdays to remember – and it costs her £1,500 a year.
Barbara Gamston, 90, had nine children, 30 grandchildren, 71 grandkids and 15 great-great grandchildren.
She writes all the birthdays on her calendar and sends out money on a sliding scale according to age.
Right now she is saving up for the biggest outlay of the year next month, with 12 of the birthdays landing in June.
Barbara of Rotherham, South Yorkshire – where most of the huge brood still live – said: “If they’re under 13, I’ll give them £5, a bit older and I’ll give them £10 and anyone 21 or over I’ll give £20.
“I might have forgotten a few over the years, but more often than not they get a card with a bit of money.”
Soon she will have two more fivers to fork out as she has another couple of great-grandchildren on the way.
Samantha Savage, 55, the second youngest of Barbara’s children, said: “People will ask how many kids there are and she’ll say something like 20 and I’ll have to remind her it’s over 100.
“But she still sends birthday money to everyone – she hates June because that’s when more of the birthdays are.”
Barbara said: “I can’t remember how many there are sometimes, but I love them all to death.”
Barbara and her late husband Eric started their family in 1953 when they had daughter Paula, who sadly died three years ago. They lost two babies – Tina aged six weeks and Barbara, who was stillborn – before their last child Lisa arrived in 1969.
Eric, a long-distance lorry driver, died aged 61 in 1994. Barbara said: “I used to joke my husband only came home nine times – the nine times I got pregnant. We didn’t intend to have a big family, it just happened.”
She usually sees at least one of her family every day, so lockdown was particularly hard on her.
Samantha said: “We had to get her on antidepressants which she was embarrassed about but we told her she had to be open about it. Even if it helps just one person who went through the same thing, she will have done a good thing by speaking out about it.”
Barbara began work aged 14 in a pickle factory. She retired from her last job as a sheltered accommodation warden aged 59 after a heart attack.
Samantha said: “She’s so bright and bubbly. She loves life and her family.”
