Twins celebrating 80th birthday milestone

It"s not often that twins get to celebrate their 80th birthday together, but Athlone women Kitty Fagan and Nellie Connaughton did just that with their family, friends and neighbours at the weekend. Born Kitty and Nellie Hynes, the sisters were the second set of twins in their family. The family of eight lived in Glasson, their father Dan, an Athlone native, was a blacksmith, and their mother Katherine was originally from Tipperary. Twin brothers Dan and Joe are now deceased. Kitty was married to John Fagan of Killeenmore, a farmer, and Nellie was married to Jimmy Connaughton from Tang, who was a bus driver. Both men are now deceased. They each had four children and Kitty has one grandson and Nellie has 15 grandchildren. Their families organised a surprise 80th birthday party for the twins in the Shamrock Lodge Hotel last weekend.