New arrival marks five generations for this Sheffield family

The birth of a baby boy in the Ibbotson family from Sheffield means they now have five generations alive.
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Brenda Ibbotson, aged 100, is the oldest family member and celebrated her milestone birthday on January 23.

She was in the news after she received her Covid jab at the newly-opened NHS Covid-19 vaccination centre at Sheffield Arena on January 28.

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The Sheffield centenarian was born and has lived in Loxley all her life and has looked after her mother in the family home and brought up two boys.

Five generations of the Ibbotson family. Brenda  Ibbotson,Neil Ibbotson, Louise Hegarty, Amy Littler and Joshua Cooper. Picture Scott MerryleesFive generations of the Ibbotson family. Brenda  Ibbotson,Neil Ibbotson, Louise Hegarty, Amy Littler and Joshua Cooper. Picture Scott Merrylees
Five generations of the Ibbotson family. Brenda Ibbotson,Neil Ibbotson, Louise Hegarty, Amy Littler and Joshua Cooper. Picture Scott Merrylees

She has lived through many historic events, including the rollout of many other significant vaccine programmes, including diphtheria, TB, polio, measles and flu, and welcomed her first great-great-grandchild in May.

Then comes Brenda’s son Neil Ibbotson, aged 69, who is married to Angela Ibbotson; they have a daughter called Louise Hegarty, who is 48-years-old.

Louise is the mother of Amy Littler, aged 22, who gave birth to a baby boy called Joshua Jack Cooper this year on May 17.

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Amy Littler and Jack Cooper, who is Joshua’s father, welcomed their baby boy on May 17, completing the fifth generation of the family.

Speaking about the family, Angela Ibbotson said: “I think it's quite a rare thing these days. My mother-in-law isn’t very mobile; she has to walk with a zimmer frame and needs quite a bit of care but, generally, you wouldn't think she was 100.

"She's chuffed to bits that she is still here and able to see her great-great-grandson; we're dead chuffed as well.”

Louise currently lives in Warrington, and Amy lives in St Helens, but the family met up in Sheffield on Friday, July 9, after Covid restrictions eased, meaning they could finally see each other once again.

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Angela said: “We stay in touch on Zoom, FaceTime, telephone calls and so on and because of Covid we didn't see very much of each other, unfortunately, because they live so far away, it’s nearly a couple of hours trip over there and back.

“It’s just a shame that we're a bit scattered, but we get to see them as often as we can, and we send photos and zoom call, so that makes up for it a little bit.”