A set of triplets are today celebrating their 85 birthdays – and a place in the record books.

Neville Jones, Edna Doodson and Iris Hopkin are believed to be the oldest surviving triplets in the UK.

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The family are meeting up for a long weekend of celebrations at Mr Jones’s Portesham home.

Mr Jones said that last year they had seen an article in the national press with three brothers who were meant to be the oldest triplets in the UK, but Mr Jones said: “They were three years younger than us.”

He said the family emailed the paper, but never got a response.

The triplets were born in Salford on June 14, 1929, Neville is the oldest, followed by Edna 20 minutes later. Iris is the youngest and was born 20 minutes after Edna.

They also had an older sister, Margaret, who met and married an American soldier, Peter Calubeck, and went to live in the US. Sadly she passed away seven years ago.

The family were all evacuated during the Second World War, when the triplets were 10. The sisters, who are identical twins, lived together in one house and Mr Jones was nearby.

He went on to work for the post office as a telecoms engineer, before doing national service in the signals, and then returning to the post office.

Edna and Iris worked as machinists in a factory making women’s clothes in Manchester.

Mr Jones met his wife when he went into hospital after an accident. He said: “Margaret, my future wife, was a nurse and I was a patient.” The couple have been married 61 years.

Mr and Mrs Jones have lived with their daughter Alison and her family for 25 years in Portesham.

They will be celebrating with their family across the weekend.

Mr Jones said he had experienced a ‘brilliant life’ and said he had been ‘very lucky’.

He said the best part about being a triplet was always having someone there.

He said: “You’re never lonely, you’ve always got someone to talk to, someone to turn to.

“It’s nice – I wouldn’t swap it.”

Looking into claim

GUINNESS World Records are currently looking into Neville, Edna and Iris’s claim as the oldest triplets in the UK and possibly the world.

The organisation said the last time the record was looked at was 2005.

As of 2005 the oldest living triplets on record were: Minna Dora Blöcker, Luise Amalie Stefener and Bertholdine Alwine Bernecker (neé Hoberg). They were born to Ludwig and Henriette Hoberg in Melle, Germany on January 31,1914, and held the title of the oldest living triplets in the world, having celebrated their 91st birthday in 2005.