NEIGHBOURS Catherine Bradley and Violet Price have shared a lot more than a cup of sugar in their 76 years together.
When the pair moved next door to each other on Bryn Garmon in Mold in 1935, they had no television set or radio and the only heating they had came from coal fires.

“We thought it was a luxury, “ said Catherine, 86.

“We had both lived near each other on Milford Street and there we had to wash in a tin bath every Sunday.”

Violet, 88, said: “In all our years together we have never had words. When we needed to borrow something we just walked in and took it, we never knocked on doors.”

When the schoolgirls moved in with their parents on the same day – April 2, 1935, aged 10 and 12, the rent for the then council houses was five shillings and eight pence a week.

Little did they know then that more than 70 years later they would still be next door neighbours having both married and raised families of their own.

Catherine said: “We are like sisters. We know everything about each other. I can tell her off and she can tell me off.

“We see each other every day. It is a real comfort to have each other, a lot of people end up on their own. It has all been plain sailing for us.”

The pair take regular holidays to Blackpool and attend Mold’s Darby and Joan Club every week.

Violet said: “We used to go to the Savoy cinema and it cost “thruppence”, we watched black and white cowboy movies.

“We still do everything together.”

Their fondest memories include dancing down Bryn Garmon on VE Day in 1945 and holding street parties to celebrate Royal weddings and the Queen’s coronation.

Catherine said: “When we moved in there were no houses around us, we were surrounded by fields. It was a lot nicer in those days. Things have changed a lot.

“During the war everything was rationed. You had to have your wedding breakfast at home, but your neighbours would give you something towards it. But then the swinging 60s came to Mold and The Beatles played here.”

The pair attended each other’s weddings and raised their families together, but sadly both have suffered the loss of their husbands.

“It has been lovely all these years with Violet,” said Catherine.

“We never thought about how long we had been neighbours. The years just kept going on.”