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Delighted family celebrates arrival of fifth generation of ‘strong willed’ woman

Joyce has five children, ten granddaughters, nine great-grandchildren and one great-great granddaughter.

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All the family. (Shannon Carruthers via SWNS)

By Izzy Hawksworth via SWNS

A delighted family is celebrating the arrival of the fifth generation of "strong willed" women in the family - with 94 years between the oldest and youngest.

Tiny Peyton Carruthers-Hughes is the latest addition to the brood at just eight weeks old.

She completes the vast family portrait with in a heart-warming photo with her clan.

The tot is joined in an adorable picture by her mom Shannon Carruthers, 21, grandma Debbie Carruthers, 52, great-grandma Sally Jackson, 71 and great-great-grandma Joyce Kessell, 94.

Joyce, from Egremont, England has five children, ten granddaughters, nine great-grandchildren and one great-great granddaughter.

Five gen family bottom row Left to Right - Shannon, Peyton, Joyce. Top row left to Right - Debbie and Sally. (Shannon Carruthers via SWNS)

But while she said it's lovely to have five generations of girls and that she "can’t believe she’s a great-great-gran," she joked: "I prefer dogs to babies."

Joyce, known by everyone as gran, has five children - two girls and three boys - who went on to produce ten granddaughters.

There are only five boys throughout the female-dominated family tree.

But while remembering everyone's names and birthdays can be a nightmare, the family share a close bond and regularly spend time together as one big group.

Peyton's mom Shannon said: “I didn’t realize it was going to be five generations. I just knew that we are a massive family full of girls.

Shannon, Peyton and Joyce. (Shannon Carruthers via SWNS)

“We are really close, it’s lovely, and we all live around each other so we constantly see each other. All five of us see each other every day.

“We go out together quite a lot, we don’t take gran out as much now because she’s getting a bit immobile, but I see them pretty much every single day.

“We’ll go out for a cuppa, for dinner or have a few drinks in the house.

“We have a calendar with everyone’s birthdays on and we sort it out for my nan now.

“For the kids, she writes the cards and we’ll put £10 in, but anyone older just gets a card.”

Joyce's niece Alison Draper said: “The family is full of strong-willed women, so it’s absolutely mental.

“We all argue but we love each other so much.

“My gran is so strong willed it is unbelievable, my mum is, Debbie is, Shannon is, and Payton is definitely going to be just like them.”

There are only five boys in the entire family, who Alison described as whipped.

She said: “The boys are all whipped, they don’t get a look in.

“The lasses are definitely the bosses in our family.

“That’s what it’s always been like, and what it will always be like.”

While rare, five living generations of the same family is two short of world record recorded in 1989 when Augusta Bunge’s great-great-great-great-grandson was born.

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