The girls were born within ten weeks of each other, Catherine in October and Gemma in December. They SHOULD have been born nearer four months apart, Catherine was due in September and Gemma in January, but Catherine was in no hurry to come into the world whereas Gemma was in such a rush that she almost made it in time for Christmas.

Catherine (left) aged about 6 months and Gemma (right) aged 3 or 4 months.

They had a joint Christening, at which I became Gemma's Godmother and Carol (Gemma's Mum) became Catherine's Godmother, at the village church using water brought from the River Jordan. Both girls took the proceedings in their stride, a sign of things to come.

They very soon got used to having each other around - in the early years, when Carol and I ran the Red Cross Cadet group, they played happily together in the corner while we got on with the serious stuff; they went to pre-school playgroup together and eventually started school together.

Even before they started school they began going to dance classes - not together at first, but that soon changed! - and became regular performers in the "competition circuit," attracting a definite "cute factor" vote from judges. The high spot of their stage career was being placed second with their rendition of "Let's Go Fly a Kite" in the national finals in London. Neither of them had the killer instinct for a successful stage career, though, so other interests took over as they grew older and their medals and trophies are gathering dust and the "Dance Class Days" consigned to Memory Lane.