BeritaTREN.COM

Everybody needs good neighbours - and for Catherine Bradley and Violet Price are the perfect example after living next door to each other for 76 years.

They both moved in to adjoining council houses with their families on the same date - 2 April 1935 - and they've both been there ever since.

Over almost eight decades they've shared a lot more than a cup of sugar, and they say they feel more like sisters than neighbours.

And while many homeowners everywhere will have grumbled over 'them next door' from time to time, this pair have lived in harmony with never a bad word between them.

Living in harmony: Catherine, left, and Violet are always popping into each other's houses

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 pair moved next door to each other on Bryn Garmon in Mold, north Wales, 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.'

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.

Like sisters: Catherine, left, and Violet have lived next door since 1935, and even their husbands are pals

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.'

When Catherine and Violet first met in 1935:

l The Prime Minister was Stanley Baldwin l The average annual salary was £200 l A three-bed house cost £350 l A pint of beer cost 2p.

l Life expectancy for women was 59.5 years and for men 52.9 years.

l Cats eyes were first introduced on Britain's roads.

l Alfred Hitchcock's film of The 39 Steps was released in the UK.

l Maiden flight of the RAF's Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft.

l The driving test became compulsory and the speed limit in built up areas was reduced to 30mph.