A few identical twin sisters have celebrated their 100th birthdays in individual care houses 70 miles apart.
Joan and Betty Williams from Hayle, Cornwall, were growing up inseparably, always wore the same clothing and organized local dances during the Second World War where they would go, hand in hand.
And the couple came to the Centenarian Club last month, spent it with their families and talked to each other by telephone on the special day.
The two have also received a letter from King Charles, who, in addition to Queen Camilla, sends a signed congratulatory message for those who celebrate 100th birthdays, 105th birthdays and then then.
Joan was the first of the couple born on January 22, 1925 in their parental home in Hayle.
Their mother, Emily, expected them to give birth to only one child, but received a surprising second when Betty arrived a few minutes later.
At the time, he took care of worries, Betty would be very weak at birth and had to be put aside while Emily and Joan had to get ready.
Initially it was unclear whether Little Betty would survive, but after she was taken care of immediately, she continued and the Williams -tweeling arrived.
Joan and Betty Williams were born on January 22, 1925 in their family home in Hayle; Their mother, Emily, had just expected them to give birth to one child and was shocked when Betty arrived a few minutes after Twin Joan
The sisters would grow up inseparably, always wear the same clothing and organize local dances during the Second World War where they would go, hand in hand
The couple from Cornwall celebrated their 100th birthdays on individual care homes 70 miles apart and has received a signed letter of congratulatory from King Charles and Queen Camilla; Betty is depicted (left) and Joan (right)
The couple quickly became recognized faces in the Copperhouse and the foundry area of ​​Cornwall as they grew in age and form.
Despite the fact that it is by appearance, it was the different personalities of the twins who distinguished their distinction, with Joan the naughty and assuming the two, while Betty eager to learn and quiet.
When they grow up, they went to Bulphiggy School and later Hayle Grammar School, with Joan's love for swing music, crooners and dancing who wore her through the teenage years.
In the meantime, Betty focused more on her school work and took more advanced classical studies before she started working at Primrose Dairy in the nearby village of St Erth.
However, during their teenage years it was that Joan suddenly became very ill with a rare blood disease, which was eventually healed by injections of snake venom, according to a family told in the Cornish Times.
After her sister's illness, Betty studied steno and types in the evening, while Joan started an internship with a company in St Ives who produced internationally praised block-printed silk dresses.
Joan stayed there for a few months, but despised the train journeys, especially during the dark evenings, so she went to the Hayle Co-op where her ability to make fast calculations made her an asset to the store.
During the war years, the girls from local dances enjoyed the American GIS stationed on bases in the neighborhood and helped their mother to take care of the family members who came to stay.
Betty (photo) celebrated her 100th birthday in Trevaylor Manor Care Home, near Penzance
Betty met her husband Jack Reed, who was after the Demobed of the RAF, went to work in Hayle and they soon married in 1951 and initially moved to a flat above a local butcher shop.
Joan moved with his own husband, John Ralton, to Basingstoke, Hampshire, with whom she shared a daughter after the birth of Elizabeth in February 1949.
And within just a few days after birth, Betty was on the train for Waterloo to hold her niece for the first time.
Joan's marriage with John, however, would not go along and a few years later she remarried, this time to Fred, a widower scientist from Aberdeen who died in 2014.
Later in their lives Betty and Jack bought a large piece of land in Penmare, Hayle, and built a bungalow just half a miles of the parents of the Williams sisters.
Due to a leg injury, Betty went with him from Primrose Dairy early, but continued with the choir and earned many prizes at local fetes for her crochet and baking.
She also continued studies in musical theory at a local technical college.
Betty, who was described as eager to learn and grow up, spoke with her twin sister Joan on the phone while celebrating the milestone birthday 70 miles apart
After the retirement of her husband Jack, he designed and built a house in Marazion, Cornwall, with a view of the world -famous St Michael's Mount.
After the death of the parents of the twins, Joan bought their old family home and for the first time in more than 50 years she moved back to Cornwall.
In 2012 after a stroke, Jack moved to Trevaylor Manor Residential Care Home, where he was accompanied by Betty in 2017 before he died in 2019.
Nowadays Betty stays near Penzance in Trevaylor Manor, while Joan is in the Elms care center in Saltash after moving from the Pandemie from the Penzance hospital.
And even though they are a 90 -minute drive, the sisters remain regular contact via the phone call, so that they always have each other – regardless of the distance.
