Identical twin sisters have celebrated their 100th birthdays, with one saying she does not feel any different from when she was 50.
Anne Brown and Florence Boycott saw each other for the first time in years for a party on Thursday at Mrs Boycott’s care home in Barnsley – the South Yorkshire town where they have both lived all their lives.
The women were surrounded by their friends and five generations of their family as they celebrated at The Firs residential home.
Mrs Brown remembered how even their father could not tell the difference between them when they were children.
“They couldn’t tell us apart,” she told the PA news agency. “My dad was hopeless. He could not tell us one from the other.
“We were very close. We were always together, never one without the other.”
Mrs Brown added: “It doesn’t feel any different from when I was 50.”
She said she thought the secret to a long life was “just getting on with it” and early nights.
“We’ve just crawled on year after year and we’ve got to a hundred.”
Mrs Boycott’s daughter, Kathy Lindsay, said the twins were two of 10 siblings – “five boys and five girls – in a two-bedroom house.”
“So, it makes you wonder how they managed. And it was outside toilets and tin baths in front of the fire. They were well looked after though.”
Mrs Lindsay said they looked absolutely identical when they were young, adding “I’ve got them mixed-up.”
“My auntie Anne once walked into the house and I thought it was my mum. I said ‘What are you doing here, mum’, and it was my Auntie Anne. I’d get them mixed-up on the phone as well. Their voices were the same.
“They used to swap boyfriends if they’d got one they didn’t like and things like that.”
Asked what their secret was to long life, Mrs Lindsay said: “I think that they’ve both got good genes, really. Neither of them has had a serious illness.
“My auntie had to have a knee replacement but my mum’s not had any operations or anything like that. I think they’re just lucky.
“They’ve lived a nice life and behaved themselves.”
Mrs Lindsay said the twin sisters worked together for many years at Sugden’s shirt factory in Barnsley after leaving school, and her mother did a range of other jobs, including at a bakery, a dairy and as a school cleaner.
She said her aunt was still working in her mid-90s on a sewing stall in Barnsley Market, and continues to lives independently.
“She’s done all sorts my mum, she’s a Trojan. They’ve both been workers,” she said.
“My mum’s worked really hard, as well as bringing us up, and my auntie’s been a worker. And they both loved their bingo.”
Mrs Lindsay said her mother was asked to re-open the local bingo club a few years ago as their oldest and longest-serving customer.
Mrs Brown has one daughter. Mrs Boycott had three daughters, one of whom died, and she has seven grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.
Mrs Lindsay thanked The Firs for putting on a good party for the twins.
She said: “It’s absolutely brilliant, I can’t thank them enough. We always said my mum will make a hundred and she has, bless her.”
