ELEVEN siblings were brought together for the first time in 88 years in an emotional reunion.

When Joseph and Gladys Moore of Lion House, Hawes, had twin girls, Irene and Evelyn in 1930, little did they suspect that that they would have a further nine children. With an age span of 22 years between them all, they would not all meet up until the oldest two were octogenarians.

The reunion came about after several family members expressed a desire to meet up and it fell on James Cooper, a grandson of Joseph who lives in Richmond, to do the organisation. Due to family circumstances, some of the eleven ended up living in Hereford, although many still live in North Yorkshire.

Finally all seven brothers and four sisters, along with spouses and other relations, came together at the Wensleydale Creamery for a lunch.

They were: Irene Miller, Evelyn Cooper who are the twins born in 1930, then Margaret Oversby, Joseph, Kenneth, John, Cecil, Elizabeth Webb, Brian, Dennis and the youngest Colin born in 1952.

Family spokesman Dennis Moore, who is the second youngest, said: “When we decided to have a get-together where else could it be but Hawes?

“It’s been a great day we had a photograph together and we learned a lot of the family history, swapped stories and pictures and more importantly got to know each other a bit better.

“We all resolved to keep in touch.”

Several relations of the family’s grandparents Joseph and Elizabeth Moore, who also lived at Lion House, were present. Elizabeth had a son before marrying Joseph called Fred. He retained his mother’s name Cockett and became a regular soldier and was the first Dalesman to be killed in the First World War in October, 1914.

Both he and his younger brother John Moore who also died in the conflict are commemorated in Hawes church.