An engaging set of twins with long established Cambridge roots have celebrated their 95th birthday.
Ngaire Bisset and Dawn Brittin’s special day was enjoyed at a party attended by family and friends, many of whom who shared memories of their decades spent as members of the Roto-o-Rangi Country Women’s Institute.
Twins Dawn Brittin and Ngaire Bisset with their 95th birthday cake.
Their association with that organisation goes back many years. Ngaire and Dawn’s mother, Mary Campin, was a founding member of the Roto-o-Rangi Institute in 1933, and their own tenure was sufficiently impressive for the twins to be awarded gold service badges a few years ago.
Ngaire and Dawn were born to Mary and Horace ‘Hori’ Campin in Carterton on April 26, 1929. They were a surprise to their parents, said Ngaire’s daughter Kay Hanna, and records show that they weighed 3600 grams (8lbs) apiece. They came to Cambridge when they were three and have remained here since.
Twins Dawn Brittin and Ngaire Bisset with their daughters behind them, Pam Sutton and Kay Hanna. Photo: Viv Posselt
The family comprised older daughter Nathalie, the twin girls and then Jim, who became a highly regarded horse breeder locally before his death in 2013. Written memories include their mother’s lovely flower garden, Saturday night visits to the ‘pictures’ in Te Awamutu, Sunday School and the Cambridge Show.
Dawn’s daughter Pam Sutton said the twins both married local men and raised their own families here. They are both now widows.
Despite their lofty age, the twins are still active, both indoors and outdoors. They live in their own homes, potter in the garden and are skilled floral arrangers. Dawn has long enjoyed doing the flower beds at Cambridge Bowling Club, and Ngaire has a lengthy involvement with St Andrew’s Anglican Church.
Ngaire and Dawn – said to be ‘mirror’ twins – went on to have four children each. Ngaire has 12 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren, and Dawn has 10 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
That was then – Dawn and Ngaire as babies.
