IT'S a triple celebration for Simon, Andrew and Chris Farrell. On December 28 the triplets celebrate their joint 21st birthdays. The boys, who still live at home with mum and dad John and Sheila at the family home in Wyndham Avenue, Deane, were the first triplets to be born at the then new maternity unit at Bolton General Hospital.

And dad John admits that over the years the boys - who came as a bit of a shock to their prospective parents - have been a bit of a handful.

"And expensive too," jokes John, a former miner at Parsonage Colliery in Leigh.

Winding the clock back more than two decades, Sheila and John already had three children, aged 18, 16 and nine, when they decided to complete their family with baby number four.

They were looking forward to the birth of the new baby when a routine scan revealed that there was more than one.

Doubling

"We were told initially it was twins," recalls John.

Then, just a month before the birth, they were told that it wasn't twins, it was triplets, and they would be doubling their family in one fell swoop.

Speaking shortly after the birth, Sheila admitted: "I was absolutely staggered, even though there was a history of twins in both our families."

John added: "It was certainly a shock, but, by the time we learned it was going to be triplets, we'd got used to the idea of more than one baby anyway."

When born Simon weighed 6lb 3oz, Andrew 5lb 15oz and Christopher 5lb 13oz.

Today, Chris and Simon work for a catalogue company while Andrew is employed by the Royal Mail.

Looking back, Frank, says: "They were hard work and we used to go around like zombies most of the time. But I wouldn't change a thing."

The boys celebrated their birthdays early with a party last weekend at Deane Conservative Club.

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