Dorothy ‘Dotty’ Sivyer and Kathleen ‘Kath’ Whitehead – who refer to themselves as ‘the twinnies’ – were born in 1920 in Chatham.
Kent. The twins moved back in together at the beginning of lockdown to keep each other company, living in the childhood home built by their grandparents.
Fortunately, unlike many sisters, they haven’t been fighting while under the same roof. As a matter of fact, the twins have reportedly ‘never quarreled’, despite their very different personalities.
Kath was a retired primary school teacher and once engaged, but she had never married or had children of her own. She also has a passion for painting and likes to make jewelry and tea sets out of silver.
Dotty, who worked as a physicist assistant, is a widow with three children, six grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. She has a more scientific brain, evident in her chosen career path.
As children, the twins loved catching the tram with their parents to have picnics by the side of the river. They have lived through major historical events, having both done their bit during World War II.
The sisters were just 19 years old when the war was declared in 1939. The eldest sister by a few minutes, Kath worked as a radar operator while Dotty worked as a radiographer, treating soldiers returning from the beaches of Normandy.
Both have seen plenty of the world during their lives, having visited most of Europe on their travels, as well as Canada and Scandinavia.
“We went right up to the North Pole and saw lots of reindeer standing there, looking at us and wondering who these strange people are!” Kath said. “We’ve been to glaciers like the Mortarach in Switzerland. We’ve been to Spain loads of times and went to the Netherlands. We’ve traveled around quite a bit.”
The duo has attributed their long and happy lives to keeping everything in moderation, regular exercise such as cycling and walking, as well as having a large group of girlfriends to socialize with.
“We’ve always been active – we would cycle and walk a lot, we even cycled to Guilford on the hottest day of the year! I used to walk to my work and play badminton in the garden.
I enjoy my beautiful garden, that keeps me going.” Kath explained. “We do have naughty food but we also eat very healthily as well. We’ve never smoked but we do have the occasional glass of wine!”
Kath and Dotty have enjoyed living together in lockdown. Neither of them minds turning 100 too much, with Dotty noting that they are the first members of their family to reach this grand age.
“We’ve had a lovely time together. It’s been good and we want to say thank you to all those people who have made our birthday so happy and nice,” Kath said. “Being together has kept us positive whilst staying inside – and eating chocolate! We play cards together and just chat a lot.”
“We can’t do much about turning 100, can we? It just kind of comes, doesn’t it, I don’t really want it – I’d rather go back the other way! We are the oldest identical twins in Britain, which is nice!”