One hundred and three year old twin sisters Elma and Thelma celebrated their birthday in style with a suprise party and a VIP visit from the mayor of Stockport, David Wilson.
The two sisters warmed Manchester Evening News readers hearts with the story of their pending birthdays as we took a look back over their long and colourful lives.
The pair were shocked and delighted when a party in their honour was thrown by family and friends in Thelma's back garden on the big day itself, complete with a gazebo, balloons and a few surprise visitors.
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Thelma's son Tony Barratt, a former NME photographer, says the day was "great" and joked "Both ladies sat there like two Queens of Sheba on their thrones."
"The Mayor came and brought them both a bunch of flowers, had some food and chatted and was lovely. Then the BBC came and they both joked that "they were film stars." He says. Another special guest on the day was newborn Evan, Elma's latest great granchild.
Born in Cheadle Heath in Stockport on August 3, 1919, Thelma and Elma Edwards went to Alexandra Park Primary School and aged not much older than eight, the girls would go down to the railway lines with their older brother Robert to look for loose coal that may have fallen off trains, so they could light the fire. "We didn't have much, we were very poor," they say.
The twins loved playing out on the streets, including getting up to mischief like knocking on doors and running off. Aged just 14-years-old, the sisters, who had three other siblings, took jobs as packers and labellers of Smiths crisps, after enquiring after vacancies there on the way home from school. They remained there until they married and gave up work - just three months apart from each other, both aged 21.
Elma married Bill Hewitt, a joiner and Thelma married Joseph Barratt, a hatter, just as the war started and had to watch them go off to war. Elma recalls seeing the city burning red from the bombing. "We once came back from a do with the girls and the whole of Manchester was red with the bombs," she says.
Thelma's husband was captured in Italy and became a prisoner of war at the same camp as Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader, famed for losing his legs while attempting some aerobatics.
In 1959 Thelma and Joe became the landlord and landlady of The New Inn on Wellington Road in Stockport, but left when their son Tony, now 63, was a few months old. Tony remembers his dad bringing home lots of amazing hats and he and his friends loving to see them."
My dad brought home cowboy hats and police hats," he says. "Friends would come round and we would love to look at them all."
Thelma recalled a time when men were fined half a crown for not wearing a hat and said "There was many a time when I was whisked down a side street as Joe had forgotten to wear a hat and didn't want to get fined."
Asked what was the downside of being a twin, the sisters say it was being forced to dress in the same clothes when they were growing up, but the best bit, they say, was always having one another for company. "You didn't need pals," Elma says, "We always had each other."
As Thelma now lives in Kirkham, and Elma still lives in Stockport the twins say they don't get to spend as much time together now, but still speak on the phone once a week. When they get together still enjoy trips to the seaside and days out.
Elma, who has had two children, five grandchildren and six great grandchildren, says the secret to her longevity is a drop of brandy. "I like a drink," she says, whereas Thelma, who has had two children, five grandchildren and five great grandchildren says: "I like my food." Elma also says "Keep smiling, don't worry."
Tony says the day was a bit "exhausting" but both siblings had a fantastic time. "It all went really well," he said. "They just got on with it and it was great."
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