LEIGH'S oldest surviving twins - Arthur Shufflebottom and Louise Kirkpatrick (pictured) - celebrated their 80th birthday on Tuesday.

And since Arthur's battle at birth, life has taken a similar path for the Milton Street born pair.

Both were pupils at Leigh Council school, and at 14 went to work in the mills - Arthur at Bedford, and Louise at Booths Factory, Platt Fold.

Arthur, and wife Doris, went on to bring up five sons and two daughters and Louise reared four sons and a daughter.

And both suffered war time tragedies.

Arthur joined up in 1938 and was sent to Belgium on May 10, 1940. Seventeen days later he had been captured and spent the rest of the hostilities in a French POW camp.

"It's something I never talk about," he said.

Arthur later married Doris, whose husband had been killed in 1944 in Holland at the age of 26, after being accidentally shot by 'friendly fire'.

Meanwhile Louise married John Hailwood, who was also called up, only to be captured and survive in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.

On release he was accidentally shot and killed, strafed by American planes.

Louise married again, but lost her second husband 12 years ago.

"That's the fortunes of war," said Arthur, who was given up for dead when he was born with meningitis.

All the family and neighbours gathered round when the doctor didn't give the first born of the two eight pounders much hope of life.

Older by half an hour, Arthur, who has 16 grandchildren and six great grandchildren, said: "But I showed them. I'm still the boss of the Shufflebottom family."

Now he likes messing around in the garden at his Lilford Street home and relaxing by watching the soaps.

"I have to," he said.

The couple had a bit of a family do at Louise's Lakeside, Leigh, home on Tuesday.

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