Two best friends who have never lived more than ten minutes away from each other since meeting nearly 80 years ago have now moved into the same care home.
Olive Woodward and Kathleen Saville, both 89, first met at school when they were 11 and have been inseparable ever since.
They have spent their entire lives in Mansfield, Notts, raising children and grandchildren just streets apart.
Now widows, the pair are residents of Berry Hill Park care home in the town and have vowed never to be separated.
Kathleen said: “We are 89 but we look 63. We have been good friends and never fallen out. We are still good looking.
“We have never argued over anything. Olive’s a good friend. If I needed her she would always be there.
“We don’t cause any trouble in the home, but we sometimes have to knock the staff into shape.
“We knew we would always be friends when I met Olive. She means a lot to me.
“We’ve stayed friends being telling each other what we think and never arguing.
“If Olive goes first she’ll come back to fetch me. We’re going to be friends in heaven.”
Great grandmother-of-four Olive added: “She is jolly and a good laugh and we don’t argue.
“If I’m unhappy or in trouble I only have to go to Kathleen and we’ll always end up laughing.”
The pair met on the first day of term in 1941 when they sat next to one another at Ravenshead School in Nottingham,
Kathleen’s husband Leonard, who worked for the Coal Board, died in 1989 after a 35-year marriage.
Olive, who has two grown-up daughters, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, lost her husband Roy in 2004.
Sally Tebbett, home manager at Berry Hill Park, said: “The sparkle is still there. They are full of mischief.
“Kathleen is a proper flirt and has her lippy on every day. She says ‘if you have got it, flaunt it.’
“Olive is a bit more reserved but they egg each other on. They never stop chatting and giggling.
“It’s so endearing, they genuinely love each other and you can see that.”
