AN ANDOVER family has had a year of celebrations as it welcomed its fifth generation of females into the world.

Kayleigh Forster gave birth to daughter Elianna at Winchester hospital in August and has her mother Lisa Forster, grandmother Gillian Davison and great-grandmother Josie White on hand for help and advice.

And for a family who loves a gettogether - while Elianna was being born the rest of the family were at another cousin’s birthday party – there has been plenty to celebrate.

Since last November, great-greatgrandmother Josie has turned 90, Gillian 60, Lisa 40 and Kayleigh 21.

Now 91, Josie (Nana) is a grandmother of 13, great-grandmother of 12 and great-great-grandmother of two after Elianna was born.

“It makes me very proud,” she said of being able to watch four generations of her family growing up, but jokingly added, “they need to stop now as there are too many presents to buy.”

Talking about the words of wisdom which Josie imparts to the rest of the family, Lisa said: “She always says that as long as you have a roof over your head, food in your cupboard and love in your life, nothing else matters.”

A philosophy which the family continue to live by.

They came to the Andover area more than 20 years ago when Gillian, who now works as a cleaning supervisor at the Army headquarters, was posted to Bulford as a military wife and later settled in the area.

Describing how Lisa giving birth to her son Kyle when she was 17 brought the family closer together, the 60-year-old said: “As Lisa was so young at the time, that was a very proud moment for me, we went through a lot together.”

“She kept me strong,” added fulltime mum Lisa who also became a forces wife posted to Larkhill before moving to Venice Court.

Both Gillian and Josie were with her as Kyle was born 23 years ago which gave Josie the chance to try the gas and air.

“That was fun,” quipped the 91-year-old.

The great-great-grandmother only moved to Andover in recent years from Darlington to be nearer to Gillian’s side of the family. Her husband Charlie – known as Chalky because of his surname White – passed away 35 years ago but he had served with the 4th Tanks, Royal Tank Regiment which saw them posted around the world including Hong Kong and Singapore.

Charlie was awarded an MBE for his military service and they had four other children David, Sandra, Charlie and Jane who is Gillian’s twin.

Now that Josie lives nearby, she and Gillian enjoy taking Gillian’s camper van down to the seaside and shopping together. There is always a family Christmas shopping trip before they all get together on Boxing Day and Mother’s Day is always a special occasion. This year saw Lisa – who is also mum to Kayleigh, Keisha and Kiaya and grandmother to Kyle’s son Finlay – cooking a roast dinner for 12.

As nursery nurse Kayleigh embarks on new motherhood with partner Paul, she said: “It is lovely to be able to have my great-grandmother here to see Elianna growing up.”