A sisterly bond is hard to break, especially if fate is on your side.
That was the case for Jenny Baker and Belle Fosters, sisters from Felling who recently moved into the same care home after falling out of contact for several years.
The siblings met again purely by chance at Bedewell Grange care home in Hebburn, South Tyneside, having last seen each other in 2014 for the older sister Belle's 90th birthday party.
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Now, the pair are making up for lost time, catching up and sharing many beautiful memories together.
Belle moved into Bedewell Grange in April 2019 and Jenny arrived at the end of November.
The day they were reunited, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house and they soon slipped back into their old sisterly ways.
Growing up close in Felling, the sisters were confidants despite their age gap.
Jenny was the baby of the family, but they also have two brothers, Joseph and Edward, who both emigrated to Australia.
The younger sister always looked up to the older one, and when Belle was married, Jenny felt very close to her and her family.
Jenny was bridesmaid for Belle and remembers wearing a beautiful pink dress and when Belle had her first son, Colin, Jenny was 10 and developed a very close relationship with him.
Jenny loved her job working as a civil servant at the Ministry of Labour in Newcastle. She worked there from leaving school until she retired while big sister Belle worked in the sweet factory at Team Valley until she had her sons.
Now the sisters live on the same floor in Bedewell Grange and they spend lots of time catching up over coffee and a cake together.
Jenny says: “It is so wonderful to find my big sister again after all these years and to be able to spend so much time together, we are so happy. Sisters are the best kind of friends - there's no friend like a sister."
Rebecca Travis, General Manager at Bedewell Grange, comments: “We are so delighted for Jenny and Belle, it was such a special moment when they were reunited again.
"Now they are inseparable, chatting away – making up for lost time! We are just so happy we were able to bring them back together.”
Bedewell Grange on Campbell Road, run by Barchester Healthcare, provides residential and dementia care on both a long term and short term basis.
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