‘There’s always something of a link between twins, no matter where they are’

This week, twin sisters Florence Sullivan and Isobel Graham will celebrate their 80th birthdays at opposite ends of the country.

They were born in Garvanagh, Ballintra, the eldest children of Johnston Leslie - a farmer - and his wife, housewife Mary, either side of midnight in 1943 so Florence celebrates her birthday today, April 19, and Isobel’s is tomorrow.

Growing up the twins were inseparable. Born in wartime, things were basic and some might say better. They would be followed by another sister, Ruby, who would move to Derbyshire, England and go on to marry a gentleman called Chisman, while Joshua Leslie, who would marry Sandra, was the only son of the house. They still live in Ballymagroarty.

Ballintra-born twins Florence and Isobel enjoying a break on the Aran Islands

“I remember hearing one time about my aunt Ruby being sent for messages to Ballintra and one of the things she had was a pot of jam,” says Amanda Sullivan-McCarthy, 52, Florence’s daughter, who works in retail in Clonakilty, Co Cork. 

“The jar fell off her bike and smashed and she was very upset. Jam would’ve been considered a luxury in those days, which showed how things were. They lived a happy life, helping on the farm and granny would’ve made their clothes."

Opportunity came to both, though. Midway through her teens, Florence went to Scoil Mobhí in Glasnevin to train to become a primary school teacher, as Gaeilge. Upon graduating, her first post was in Skibbereen in west Cork and in 1969 she married John Sullivan, a local farmer and they settled in Dunmanway.

Florence signs the register on her wedding day in 1969, with husband John Sullivan and twin sister Isobel watching on

“My mother always said at the start she couldn’t understand the accent here,” Amanda adds. 

Isobel, meanwhile, had stayed on at secondary school in Ballyshannon and having completed a secretarial course worked in Derbyshire for a spell before settling in Bangor, Co Down. 

John and Florence

Her husband, James Graham, would’ve frequented south Donegal as his mother was one of the Hughes family, who ran the post office at Cavangarden, between Ballintra and Ballyshannon. Isobel and James tied the knot at St Ernan’s and would both work in the Civil Service in Belfast, having no children. 

Florence and Isobel’s younger sister Ruby used to take her children - Jane, Rowena and Nigel - to Donegal from England in the summers, where all the cousins would spend weeks together each year. It seemed a world apart from Derby and Joshua’s children - Tamara, Cheryl, Carrie-Ann, Steven and Greg, who were younger, would show them the ropes. It was quite the trek from Cork as well.

“Dad would sometimes have to stay at home on the farm so my mother, my brother Leslie and myself would head to Donegal,” Amanda adds. “In those days it felt as though the journey took forever!!  You’d be on the old roads and have to pass through every town - like Knock and Ballysadare - on the way up. We asked ‘how long more?’ quite a lot.

“We used to help grandad (Papa) in  the bog when we got there and would be annoying and tickling him when he was milking the cow, as well as working with the hay with uncle Joshua. I always remember us disagreeing about the term ‘fork’ for the hay. We always maintained in west Cork it was a 'pike' for the hay and a fork for eating your dinner with.”

James and Isobel 

Florence and Isobel used to spend alternative Christmas holidays in Cork and Down and following the pandemic, with the journey a bit much from south to north in the depths of winter, the family hopes to meet in Donegal this summer.

“There’s always something of a link between twins, no matter where they are,” Amanda adds. “I remember one Christmas my mother bought Isobel a card and when we went to see her, Isobel had a card for my mother, too. It was the exact same card. My husband Lar and I have twins now as well - Zach and Farah, who are seven - and one could be in one room and the other in the next and they would be doing exactly the same thing. Twins, I feel, are always joined at the hip, even when they’re apart.”