COVENTRY’S Lord Mayor has joined the world’s oldest family for a rare family reunion over tea and pastries.
Councillor Michael Hammon was joined by the 12 living Tweed family, who are originally from Coventry and have a combined age of 1,038 years.
Originally a family of 16 siblings, between them they have 33 grandchildren, 59 great-grandchildren and 29 great-great-grandchildren, with the newest member of the family, great-great granddaughter Jessica Lillian White, aged just 3 months old.
The Tweed family was officially recognised as being the world’s oldest family by the Guinness World Record book in 2014. Their combined ages at the time were 1,019 years at 336 days.
Now family now lives across the UK, meaning such family get-togethers are extremely rare.
Phyllis Smith, the 79-year-old 15th sibling in the Tweed family, said: “It’s wonderful that we can all get together and we must make the most of these opportunities.
“Most of us live in Coventry but we rarely get together like this, so it’s been a lovely opportunity for us to see each other again.”
Brother Reginald continued the family tradition of singing ‘You Are My Sunshine’ with his siblings at family get-togethers with a rousing rendition.
Marking the event with gifts of scarves for the ladies and ties for the men, Lord Mayor Coun Michael Hammon said: “It’s been a privilege to meet the world’s oldest family and it’s great that they have stayed so close over all the years.
“It was touching to see them all catching up with each other and sharing their memories.”
