72 Years Longest Standing Neighbours Guinness World Record

Pensioners prepare to enter Guinness Record Books as Britain's longest standing neighbours

Inseparable Mary Tilley and Evelyn Hodge are set to clinch a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as Britain's longest-standing continuous neighbours.

Mary, 94, moved into her housing association home in 1935 when the rent was £13 and thrupence a week.

She was joined a year later when 72-year-old spinster Evelyn - then a newborn baby - moved in with her parents.

Mary, who has two children, four grandchildren and two great grandchildren, said: "I love living here. Evelyn is great company.

"We meet every morning for a natter then have tea together in the afternoon. Often she'll pop round in the evening and we'll watch TV."

Mary is also thought to be one of the longest social housing tenants in Britain.

She rents her home in Cambridge from housing association Hundred Houses Society, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.

When she moved in with her husband she knew every one of her 100 neighbours, there was just one car in the street and neat hedges between each three-bed semi-detached house.

The pair had the hedge removed 40 years ago so they could wave to each other through their windows.

And now they only have to walk five paces to the other's front door.

Sadly for Mary - who had one daughter - Evelyn is now the only person she knows in the street.

Over the years the friends have shared many experiences - some happy, some sad and some miraculous.

In 1944 the war Second World War was brought to their doorsteps when a German bomber crashed in the allotments just yards from their houses.

Mary said: "It was incredible. The pilots bailed over Wembley - nearly 70 miles away.

The plane, a Dornier, crashed on the only patch of land not covered in housing for miles and all it hit was a post."

When Evelyn was little she was friends with Mary's daughter, Sheila, also 72, and girls would holiday together in Scotland with Evelyn's grandparents.

But as the years wore on Mary and Evelyn grew close, despite the age difference.

Evelyn said: "We got really close when my parents passed away in 1999.

Mary's husband died in 1992 so both of us were alone.

"When you point it out, it is an amazing amount of time to be neighbours, yet the years have flown by.

"We have seen many changes during our lives together as neighbours - but fundamentally our homes are still the same as they were when we both came to live here."

Mary added: "I'm blessed to have Evelyn. My son John (62) lives in a village 10 miles away and I love that.

"But there's no replacement for having someone on your doorstep."

The friends are waiting to hear if they'll get an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.

If so, Mary will join her sister Ethel Granger in the famous tome. Ethel held the world record for the smallest waist in the 1930s-1950s - a miniscule 13 inches.

A spokesman from the Guinness Book of World Records said: "There is currently no category for Mary and Evelyn but our records team are looking into the matter."

Chris Jackson, Hundred Housing Society's chief executive, said: "We believe the Mary and Evelyn and the longest standing neighbours in the country.

"Creating good neighbourhoods is very much part of the planning process for new housing areas.

"Mary and Evelyn are model examples of how it should be done and we could all learn lessons from them.

"They are simply amazing people and we are proud to have them as tenants."

Source : dailymail.co.uk