The world’s oldest living twins marked a major milestone yesterday when they celebrated their 104th birthdays.
Evelyn Middleton and Edith Ritchie enjoyed a special concert and visits from friends and relatives at Bonnyton Care Home at Ellon.
The twins, whose maiden name is Rennie, were born on November 15, 1909, when King Edward VII was on the throne.
Mrs Ritchie recently had a hip operation and it was feared that the sisters would have to spend their big day apart because she was recovering in hospital at Peterhead.
But Mrs Ritchie’s son, Nathaniel, said the sisters were able to spend the day together after all.
He said: “I did not think my mother would make it home for her birthday but she was out of hospital on Thursday.
“The staff brought my auntie upstairs to my mother’s room so that they could have lunch together for their birthday – which is the first time they have seen each other in about six or seven weeks.
“She helped to cut her birthday cake but she could not manage to blow out all the candles by herself.
“There was a concert downstairs and my auntie loves music, but we mostly stayed with my mother to keep her company because she could not manage downstairs.
“The staff did very well. My mother was smiling and both her and my auntie were dressed nicely.”
The non-identical twins were born near Foveran, where their father was a farm worker, and later went to school at Barthol Chapel and Udny Green, before working on local farms from the age of 13 until they married.
Mrs Ritchie married her late husband Nathaniel in 1929 and had a family of four, nine grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren. Her husband died in 1987.
Mrs Middleton and her late husband William – who died at the age of 99 – had four children, 12 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.
The wo-men’s mother, Mary Rennie, lived to the age of 101.
The twins have always been close, living within 40 to 50 miles of each other, and now spend most of their time together in the same corner of the sitting room at Bonnyton.
They have lived through both world wars and two Summer Olympic Games ceremonies in London, as well as witnessing the reigns of five monarchs.
The sisters were alive when the Titanic sank in 1912 and grew up alongside the women’s suffrage movement.
When Elizabeth II became Queen in 1952, the twins had already lived under four kings, including the monarch’s father, George VI, Edward VIII, George V and Edward VII.
They had to get used to new technology such as TVs and phones and later watched men walk on the moon.
Mrs Middleton and Mrs Ritchie were officially named the oldest living twins in the world in February 2012 at the age of 102 and were recognised by Guinness World Records.
Other surviving twins over the age of 100 include Lily Millward and Ena Pugh, who were born in Llechach, Wales, on January 4, 1910, and Ann Primack and Charlotte Eisgrou, who are the world’s oldest surviving identical twins. They were born in December 1909.
Mrs Ritchie’s eldest daughter, Eveline Smith, 83, who lives at Cruden Bay, visited her mother yesterday morning. She said: “The home has arranged a little party for my mother and Edith. She does not speak a lot but I’m sure she was having a nice time.”
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