Britain's oldest family add up to 575 years

Like most birthday girls, 105-year-old Fanny Billington wanted to invite her family to celebrate reaching the landmark.

But unlike other pensioners, her relatives included her four sisters aged 102, 98, 92 and 90 and her 88-year-old `baby brother'.

Fanny is part of an amazingly long-living family - whose surviving six members have notched up a combined 575 years.



She celebrated the occasion yesterday with a party at the Northwich care home where she lives with her sister Jenny, who turns 103 soon, attended by family from across Cheshire and Greater Manchester.

Widowed sisters Mary, 98, from Barnton, near Northwich, Sarah, 92, of Sale, and Ann, 90, travelled to the home to make it a family affair when they toasted Fanny's achievement and her second letter from the Queen. Brother Arthur, 88, who lives nearby, also attended.

"We are part of a long-lived family and it must be down to our genes - everyone says it is amazing, but to us it's normal," said Arthur.