UlsterNet.co.uk

Sion mother of five sets of twins celebrates 80th birthday

Thursday, 9 February 2012

Mrs Alice Nelson, from Sion Mills, enjoys her 80th birthday celebrations in Floyd’s Restaurant, Ballymagorry at the weekend. GF0613JR

A WOMAN from Sion Mills made national headlines in the early 1960s after giving birth to her fourth sets of twins - and remarkably went on to have a fifth set! She also gave birth to two other children. That same woman is back in the news - having just celebrated her 80th birthday at the weekend.
The image of Alice Nelson, which first appeared in the Tyrone Constitution on January 4, 1964, was beamed across the UK and Ireland.
The 31-year-old had given birth to Malcolm and Melvyn (the latter now sadly deceased) in the 'wee hours' between New Year's Eve of 1963 and January 1, 1964. They were the fourth set of twins she had given birth to since 1958, and would not be her last, later joined by her youngest son, Gary Nelson. His twin sadly died within days of the birth.
They were delivered in Tyrone County Hospital with the help of Sister Mae McGarvey, a well-known midwife from Gortin, who, as a centenarian, can still be seen driving to sports matches near her home in Gortin - and she meets with Mrs Nelson for a coffee every Saturday.
Alice's story grabbed the imagination of news editors and readers in 1964. Television's Nationwide later followed the family-of-11 in their New Street home for a documentary.
“I remember the people from Nationwide did a camera shot up the street. There were two pints of milk outside every door and then outside our house you could see two crates of milk," Gary Nelson quipped.
Fond memories
The 45-year-old has fond memories of a three-bedroom house 'full of craic', which he shared with his 10 siblings and parents, Alice and Thomas. The girls shared one bed, the boys another, all "top and toe".
“If you were last out of bed in the morning you never went out because there were no clothes left for you to wear," he said with a chuckle.
“When you woke up every morning you had to keep your socks on because somebody would be away with them."
There was "no bullying" or need for friends. The siblings stayed close and were hard to distinguish with their uniform, dark hair and skin.
“My father was a bricklayer. He earned £24 a week. People used to say to him to go on social security because he would have got more money, but he refused.
“My mother worked night shifts in Herdman's Mill. My father came in from work and she went into work and then came home and looked after her children. She never had a fridge or a washing machine."
More than four decades later the family has grown to 47, from the oldest grandchild aged 30 down to the youngest great grandchild born a number of months ago.
Gary added: "My mother is a very easy-going woman. She never complained. She still loves children. She's like a wee 'mother hen'."
And the bond remains strong between the twins, who are all middle-aged.
“Melvyn was knocked down on the Main Road in Sion when he was eight years old. He had to get his spleen removed and his leg was broken, and [his twin brother] Malcolm felt the pain of that," Gary recalled.
“He had to attend the doctor with these phantom symptoms. And Michael knew every time Venice [his twin sister] went into labour. He would phone and say 'my back's killing me'. People don't believe that when you tell them, but I have witnessed it myself."

Subscribe to read full newspaper »

Send this page to a friend »