TRIPLET Christopher Farrell may have been last to be born but he was leading the way on Saturday when he beat his two brothers to a walk down the aisle.

Chris and his identical brothers Andrew and Simon hit the headlines 27 years ago when they were the first triplets to be born at the new maternity unit at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

Chris was the last of the three to arrive in the world and the lightest, weighing in at 5lb 13oz.

The boys have shared all their milestones together and at the weekend at St Marys Church in Deane, the boys were together again, with Simon as best man and Andrew as an usher as Chris married Alison Fisher, aged 31. The couple have known each other for seven years, meeting at the Tavern pub in Hunger Hill, where Alison used to work as a barmaid. She admits to being a bit confused when she first met Chris, not knowing he was one of three. Each of the brothers would go up to the bar in turn to buy drinks.

"I used to think 'he's drunk that quickly'," she laughed.

Alison and Chris, who works as a postman, set up home together in Bolton, and enjoyed a big family gathering at the church and reception which followed at the Moat House hotel.

But with all three brothers together and dressed in matching morning suits how could Alison be sure she had married the right one?

"He was the only one wearing a red rose," she grinned.

Although twins run in the Farrell family, news that triplets were on their way came as a shock to the boys parents John and Sheila in 1977.

The Farrells already had 18-year-old son John, and daughters Lyndsey, 16 and Nicola, nine, when they decided to have a fourth child to complete their family and overnight doubled their offspring.

Despite the large family being close, as she prepared to set off on a honeymoon to Hawaii, Alison admitted to being a bit daunted by the possibility of having twins or triplets herself.

"I am sure it will skip a generation," she said.

Christopher, Andrew, who is a policeman and Simon, who works as a postman, will all soon be back together again and the Farrells will be celebrating again next year when Simon also takes the plunge and gets married.