Rare joy for Yorkshire family celebrating its sixth generation

The Flavell family has welcomed newly delivered Sonny Newsome to the fold, just nine days before their most senior member Evelyn turned 102.

Sonny had been due to arrive on Evelyn Flavell’s birthday but he entered the world early, on December 3.

Mrs Flavell, who lives in South Kirkby, Wakefield, said: “This is a wonderful early birthday present, having hugs and kisses with little Sonny is just brilliant.”

New great-grandmother Katrina Callam, 55, who lives nearby, added: “The family has lived in the village all our lives so we’re quite well-known.

“There’s so many Flavells now to be honest - I don’t think I know exactly how many there are of us in total, maybe 40.”

Aged between Evelyn and Sonny in the Flavell clan are Sonny’s mother Paige Steel, 21, Paige’s mother Donna Steel, 37, her grandmother Katrina, who also lives in South Kirkby, and great-grandmother Marion Tennant, 76.

The youngest three generations of the family, Sonny, Paige and Donna, live close to each other in Barnsley.

Despite the amazing achievement, the Flavells are not the first Yorkshire family to secure six living generations, that landmark is believed to belong to the Hanson family from Bradford following the birth of Finley James Mellor on Christmas Day last year.

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the most generations of a family in living history is even higher. An American family welcomed its seventh generation in 1989.