Super grandmother, 90, welcomes 100th grandchild after latest addition to huge family
Meet the 90-year-old who has just welcomed her 100th grandchild into the world.
Winny Stokes had 14 children who went on to have 34 of their own kids.
But the latest arrival to the brood brings the number of grandchildren, great grandchildren and greet great grandchildren to 66. It means Winny now has exactly 100 grandchildren. She hit three figures in the past few weeks when the latest member of her family, baby Hunter, arrived.
Widow Winny, who was married to Ken, said her children would top and tail in bunk beds every night growing up — and they were all in bed by 7pm. It also meant family holidays to Blackpool required a 52-seater coach.
Winny, from Gloucester, said: “I just couldn’t believe it when I was told I had 100 grandchildren. I had 14 children altogether. Sadly one of my children, John, died when he was just three hours old, and we lost Tony 13 years ago when he was 51 years old. I married my husband Ken when I was about 20 years old and we lived with my mother and father but we had to move as there were five of us living in that house."
"We moved a short distance away. It was good because we had four bedrooms there. The children would sleep in double beds and top and tail in bunk beds as well. It was okay and they were comfortable until they got bigger.
“Ken was ever so good you know getting the washing up together and I would be downstairs in the kitchen with the children peeling the potatoes for the dinner.”
Daughter Tracey Stokes, 54, said of her upbringing: “We all had jobs to do. Dad would always be ‘one up all up-do your jobs. Dad would get all the get the children up on Sunday and they would get in the washroom.
''The cleanest children would go in the bath first, so the girls would go in first and the boys afterwards. There was always moaning from one or the other complaining that they did not want to get in the bath with one of the others because they picked their nose or something.”
"Dinner time was always eventful. The children were not allowed to leave the table until their plates were cleared.
"They were guaranteed to have three hot meals cooked a week — and Winny would knit for all the children with plenty of hand-me-downs passed through the generations."
Authors: Kim Horton and Alex Shipman
© South West News Service