0:00:02 > 0:00:04In Armagh or Tyrone,
0:00:04 > 0:00:08on a morning in June in 1951,
0:00:08 > 0:00:10I fell between two stones.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16Collegelands - in County Armagh,
0:00:16 > 0:00:18but skirting the Tyrone border -
0:00:18 > 0:00:19is part of who I am.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24The River Blackwater,
0:00:24 > 0:00:25the village of the Moy.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29My childhood home is a recurring theme in my poetry.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36The townland is home to only 42 distinct surnames.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43And in amongst the apple trees that carpet the countryside,
0:00:43 > 0:00:46one family has blossomed.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48- NEWSREADER:- A County Armagh family
0:00:48 > 0:00:51is celebrating a birthday party with a difference today.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54The Donnelly family were marking one member's 90th,
0:00:54 > 0:01:00but in total, the 14 surviving siblings' ages come to 1,117 years,
0:01:00 > 0:01:02making them, they believe,
0:01:02 > 0:01:04the oldest living siblings in the world.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08'I just rung around and checked the date of birth and found
0:01:08 > 0:01:10'we're just short of 1,200 years between us.'
0:01:10 > 0:01:12And I don't know, I think that has...
0:01:12 > 0:01:15We've learned a lot in 1,200 years of life.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18That's Austin Donnelly.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21I grew up in Collegelands
0:01:21 > 0:01:24with him and his twin brother, Leo.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28"My mother was the schoolmistress,
0:01:28 > 0:01:31"the world of Castor and Pollux.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33"There were twins in her own class.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37"She could never tell which was which."
0:01:37 > 0:01:41Austin and Leo, the twins my mother could never tell apart,
0:01:41 > 0:01:46were only two of the 16 Donnelly children.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50There were only three Muldoon imps.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52Hardly world-record material.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14'There are 14 of us'
0:02:14 > 0:02:20and all as healthy as we were when we were, I'd say, 50 or 60.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23And some of them even 20-year-olds. They haven't changed.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26We don't change. We're in the land of youth.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30Could this tiny corner of rural Armagh
0:02:30 > 0:02:32really be the land of youth?
0:02:32 > 0:02:37Just what is it about this place that has contributed
0:02:37 > 0:02:39to the Donnellys' longevity?
0:02:39 > 0:02:41Well, there was always plenty of work.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44We're going to replace the crankshaft in this engine here.
0:02:44 > 0:02:45I think caring about one another.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48The drink was never seen amongst us, at all.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51I would have trained every four or five nights a week.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53There was never a fat Donnelly reared.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55When you're young, if you get good food,
0:02:55 > 0:02:57then it's built into your bones.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00It's built into you. That is what'll give you longevity.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04So, could the 14 remaining Donnellys
0:03:04 > 0:03:08be the world's oldest group of living siblings?
0:03:08 > 0:03:13Austin, the youngest, at 70, thinks it is, at least, possible.
0:03:13 > 0:03:15'In life experience, what must we have between us?'
0:03:15 > 0:03:19Jesus was here 2,000 years ago. We're here near the half of that.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22'I thought that must be some kind of a record. I did some research.'
0:03:22 > 0:03:25The nearest family I could find was 200 or 300 years less.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27I thought, "This is interesting".
0:03:29 > 0:03:32'There had been somebody in Coventry, I think, some brothers,'
0:03:32 > 0:03:35and they were around 1,000 years but then, some of them had died.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38As the brothers in Coventry know only too well,
0:03:38 > 0:03:40time waits for no man.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45It's important for us to get this Guinness world record registered.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49If we lose one of our family, that takes almost 100 years off it.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52One of the elder brothers then, when it was mentioned earlier,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55he says, it's all right, but he says when we start going,
0:03:55 > 0:03:58he says, you may keep on your good suits.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12'I know this graveyard.'
0:04:14 > 0:04:16My parents are buried here.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21If you're born in Collegelands,
0:04:21 > 0:04:23this is where you'll end up.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31Deep into an Armagh winter,
0:04:31 > 0:04:35Austin, who first contemplated a world record,
0:04:35 > 0:04:37was laid to rest.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39'It was nine o'clock in the morning'
0:04:39 > 0:04:42on Christmas Day, Austin went to the Lord.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45That's...where he is now.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51Austin and I were the twins.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53We shared the same pram together.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55We grew up together.
0:04:55 > 0:05:00And Mummy dressed us just the same, when she was out walking with us.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04Austin and I were two, when everybody else was one.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07So, if anybody tackled us, they were tackling the two of us.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12The siblings, who once numbered 16,
0:05:12 > 0:05:14are now 13.
0:05:16 > 0:05:17But through the grief,
0:05:17 > 0:05:21the chance of a world record remains.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25'Now that Austin is gone, the baton has been handed
0:05:25 > 0:05:27'to myself and Terry'
0:05:27 > 0:05:30and we are going to do this. And we will be in the Guinness
0:05:30 > 0:05:35Book of Records, as the oldest family in the world...
0:05:36 > 0:05:39..the Donnelly family, from Collegelands.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44Having taken up the baton from Austin,
0:05:44 > 0:05:47Terry and Leo must piece together an accumulation
0:05:47 > 0:05:49of family documents.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55I believe the oldest family in the world - somewhere around 1,000.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58Well, I think we can beat that, Terry. What do you think?
0:05:58 > 0:06:01- Well, that's to be seen. - Start counting.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08So, you've Brian ticked here, Terry. So, what age is Brian, Terry?
0:06:13 > 0:06:15Hello...
0:06:15 > 0:06:17I think I have
0:06:17 > 0:06:19a Guinness world record.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22James Patrick Donnelly. That's Seamus.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30I know they need birth certificates, they need photographs,
0:06:30 > 0:06:32they need different bits of paper.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37There's a birth certificate. That's William Anthony. That's Tony's.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48Leo's looking for this and, at last, I've got it.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56Rosie and Eileen
0:06:56 > 0:06:57and Peter.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05Sean is the eldest in the family, Terry.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08Mairead, Maureen,
0:07:08 > 0:07:10Tony, Terry. I said Tony twice.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20'89 years old?!'
0:07:20 > 0:07:23- You do not look 89, Eileen. - Well, I feel it!
0:07:23 > 0:07:27Kathleen, Colm and myself.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35What Austin has started,
0:07:35 > 0:07:37I don't know where we're going to stop.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39This is definitely going to be a Guinness Book of Records.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52This is where it all happened.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55In 19 and 21, Daddy came down to buy a churn here.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57And he ended up with the whole thing.
0:07:59 > 0:08:00College Hall.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03The big house was, and still is,
0:08:03 > 0:08:06the grandest residence in Collegelands.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08Fit for a family of 18.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Well, this is where all the magic happened.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17This was Daddy and Mummy's bedroom.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21All 16 babies were made,
0:08:21 > 0:08:24and most of them were born, in this room. Except the last few.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27My earliest memory was when I was five.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31My brother said to me, "Leo, go in and tell Mummy you're five."
0:08:31 > 0:08:34And I went in and told Mummy that I was five today, Austin and me.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37There was no big things on birthdays,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40because there was just too many birthdays.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45It may be only bricks and mortar,
0:08:45 > 0:08:47but the big house is very much
0:08:47 > 0:08:49at the heart of the family.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55'If we could bottle the secret for this Donnelly family's long living,'
0:08:55 > 0:09:00I think it's this house and this soil and all the land.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04And proof of that is cos they keep coming back.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09The roots of family are unyielding.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12The Donnelly siblings may have branched out,
0:09:12 > 0:09:14but they know their place in the world.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18We're living here in this house 95 years
0:09:18 > 0:09:19and we were all born and reared here.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22And it's lovely to mark that milestone,
0:09:22 > 0:09:24to bring them all back to College Hall.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29And Mairead!
0:09:29 > 0:09:31Oh, this is fantastic to see you over.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33I couldn't miss it.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38Five boys below me and, then, her and, then, four boys below her.
0:09:38 > 0:09:39And there was ten below me.
0:09:42 > 0:09:43LIVELY CHATTER
0:09:43 > 0:09:46- How are you doing? - How are you, Peter?
0:09:48 > 0:09:51'It's nice to be part of a big family,'
0:09:51 > 0:09:54because you feel that you've someone to call on,
0:09:54 > 0:09:56if ever you're in trouble or in need.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01One, two, three, four...
0:10:01 > 0:10:04We have got everybody here, except Colm and Brian.
0:10:04 > 0:10:10..five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. And me is 11.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13'It might be the last chance to get this family'
0:10:13 > 0:10:14together.
0:10:16 > 0:10:17All looking this way.
0:10:17 > 0:10:18CAMERA CLICKING
0:10:18 > 0:10:21Everybody looking towards me now. We've got everybody in there.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23Good. Hold it like that.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28It's a long time since we've been all together like this.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30- It could be nearly 50 years. - It's 50 years since we were
0:10:30 > 0:10:33last all around this table together. Definitely, I would say it is -
0:10:33 > 0:10:3550 years. At least 50 years.
0:10:35 > 0:10:41This long overdue get-together won't be toasted with champagne.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45Can I take a show of hands for all the Pioneers left
0:10:45 > 0:10:46in the Donnelly family?
0:10:46 > 0:10:50One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54And Brian's a Pioneer is eight. And Colm's a Pioneer is nine.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57So, that's nine out of the 13.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00Now, I might take two pints in the year, if I will take that.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03You're counted out, Leo, if you take it at all.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05Though the Donnellys were Pioneers,
0:11:05 > 0:11:09the family matriarch took a liberal view when it came to alcohol.
0:11:09 > 0:11:14When we were young, you'd be just upstairs and, in this wardrobe,
0:11:14 > 0:11:16you would see the Buckfast wine.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19And it was after the babies were born.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21And it was taken as a tonic.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25So, Maureen, are you saying, after every time...
0:11:25 > 0:11:28- Mummy would... Yes. - She had her wee drink?
0:11:28 > 0:11:31- No! No!- There was nothing to drink.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33It was to build her strength.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35She was feeding the babies, so you did need something extra,
0:11:35 > 0:11:38rather than just the milk or whatever.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41It's funny we didn't all become alcoholics, when we were breastfed
0:11:41 > 0:11:42with the Buckfast wine!
0:11:42 > 0:11:45Perhaps the Donnellys should put their good health down
0:11:45 > 0:11:47to a certain tonic wine,
0:11:47 > 0:11:48but it seems another family
0:11:48 > 0:11:52has been drinking from the cup of eternal youth.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55"The world's oldest family have lived to a grand old age."
0:11:55 > 0:12:00- How many siblings are in that, Mairead?- Originally, there were 16
0:12:00 > 0:12:03- and they're now down to 12. - 'It was very interesting.'
0:12:03 > 0:12:07Another family from Coventry and they have it on the internet
0:12:07 > 0:12:10that they are the oldest family in the world.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13We've absolutely beaten them hands down. And we're still going.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16Sorry, Mr Tweedy, but you're
0:12:16 > 0:12:18beaten by the Irish, once again.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20We'll have to watch very carefully.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22Stay on the white line.
0:12:22 > 0:12:23Don't cross it too quick!
0:12:29 > 0:12:31As far as we can see way down,
0:12:31 > 0:12:34if you could see a bank rising a wee bit,
0:12:34 > 0:12:36there's a field on the far side of it.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40The land there, there was over 100 acres of it
0:12:40 > 0:12:45and yet, they were hard times. Land was cheap, but money was scarce.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48Like most families in Collegelands,
0:12:48 > 0:12:50the Donnellys were of farming stock.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54If a tractor broke down, well, everything stopped.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57I remember the Fordson Major, the clutch went on it
0:12:57 > 0:12:59at four o'clock in the day.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03I had the clutch out of it and back in before I went to bed that night.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09One of the big reasons for the success of this family is the fact
0:13:09 > 0:13:11we played together, we worked together.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15We enjoyed the successes together and fixed the failures.
0:13:15 > 0:13:17It was a generation before my time,
0:13:17 > 0:13:20but the Donnellys were reputed to own the very first
0:13:20 > 0:13:22tractor in the county.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26When we got a tractor, nobody could drive them.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29We could all go front ways, same as driving the horse,
0:13:29 > 0:13:32- sitting on its back.- Our horse died.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35We went for a mechanical horse!
0:13:38 > 0:13:42I can remember the first day it came home
0:13:42 > 0:13:45and the neighbours was all gathered round.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48It might have been nine or ten of the neighbours
0:13:48 > 0:13:50come round to see this new tractor.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55And they said, that tractor will destroy your ground,
0:13:55 > 0:13:57the wheels will destroy your ground.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59- Why's that?- He says, you'll be going back to the horse.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01They would never return to the horse
0:14:01 > 0:14:05and, in late 1930s Armagh, it was a serious case
0:14:05 > 0:14:07of keeping up with the Donnellys.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11Well, if you were married to a good-looking girl
0:14:11 > 0:14:16and she buys a lovely dress and her neighbour has more money
0:14:16 > 0:14:19and she buys a better one, does she be happy?
0:14:21 > 0:14:23- You know what I'm saying? - I hear you.
0:14:23 > 0:14:24Aye. A wee bit jealous.
0:14:24 > 0:14:29As the oldest son, Sean was always destined to work the family land,
0:14:29 > 0:14:34but world events would see him and the new Ford Ferguson
0:14:34 > 0:14:36travel further afield.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41Northern Ireland is making a superb war effort.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45In 1940, she plans to place a quarter of a million more acres...
0:14:45 > 0:14:48And that's where Sean come in, a young fella of 17 or 18,
0:14:48 > 0:14:54he went off with our tractor in the month of August, September.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57From Ulster's fields
0:14:57 > 0:15:01is pulled much of the flax which is spun and woven in the country.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04Moygashel, across the Blackwater and Tyrone,
0:15:04 > 0:15:09was flax country, and Sean's services were in high demand.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13It didn't matter what time you start in the morning or quit at night,
0:15:13 > 0:15:14you were paid for the work you done.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20Today, the looms of Ulster are weaving wings for aeroplanes
0:15:20 > 0:15:21and pants for soldiers.
0:15:21 > 0:15:26Strong Ulster linen may have supported the war effort,
0:15:26 > 0:15:31but a young Sean Donnelly wasn't driven by a sense of national pride.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34So, that was your contributions to the war effort, then?
0:15:34 > 0:15:37It was the other way about. It was a war effort contribution to me.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44As war took a grip of continental Europe,
0:15:44 > 0:15:48the population of Collegelands and surrounding areas doubled,
0:15:48 > 0:15:51with foreign soldiers.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55Stationed close to College Hall was a troop of Belgians.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57There was always four or five of them come to our house
0:15:57 > 0:16:00and come in and had a cup of tea.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03But it wasn't just tea and conversation
0:16:03 > 0:16:05the Belgians were interested in.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07I would say now they had their eyes on
0:16:07 > 0:16:11some of the female members of the family, all right.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15Maureen Donnelly, the eldest Donnelly girl,
0:16:15 > 0:16:20caught the roving eye of one young Belgian soldier.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24One came to our camogie field and a friend of mine hit the ball,
0:16:24 > 0:16:27the camogie ball, right down near him.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30I did call to him "Je vous en" and he turned back and looked,
0:16:30 > 0:16:33then he just went his way and I went home.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37Despite not replying to Maureen's pidgin French,
0:16:37 > 0:16:41Jean, the shy young Belgian, was keen to correspond.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46He wrote me a letter and I answered it and then,
0:16:46 > 0:16:50from that on, we seemed to just...pass letters.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54His initial reticence notwithstanding,
0:16:54 > 0:16:58the Belgian wasn't backward in coming forward.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Working in the middle of October and I was coming up the road
0:17:01 > 0:17:07and there he was. And he asked me to marry him and I was really...
0:17:07 > 0:17:09I couldn't understand, but I just said to him
0:17:09 > 0:17:11I didn't understand
0:17:11 > 0:17:14and off he went and I went down home and that was it.
0:17:16 > 0:17:17Despite an initial rejection,
0:17:17 > 0:17:21the lovestruck young soldier endured.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24A few days later,
0:17:24 > 0:17:28I got a letter from him, with the proposal written in the letter,
0:17:28 > 0:17:32so that was... I thought, "Well, my goodness!"
0:17:32 > 0:17:35So, I did correspond and I did tell him that
0:17:35 > 0:17:40I couldn't marry him, because I had plans to be a nun.
0:17:40 > 0:17:45World War III could have started if my parents had got over
0:17:45 > 0:17:46to that barracks.
0:17:46 > 0:17:51The Belgians left Collegelands in the winter of 1945
0:17:51 > 0:17:55and Maureen would never hear from Jean again.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57But it wasn't for his lack of trying.
0:17:57 > 0:18:02The world record bid has unearthed more than just birth certificates.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06The Donnellys' neglected cupboards and drawers
0:18:06 > 0:18:09have betrayed some family secrets.
0:18:09 > 0:18:15Maureen happened to be staying over in my house and I said,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18"I have some things that you might be interested in.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22"I think I saw a photograph of a young Belgian soldier
0:18:22 > 0:18:25"and letters that came into my possession."
0:18:25 > 0:18:31After all these years, to get a photograph that I never had.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36That's just as he was those days - handsome-looking young fella!
0:18:38 > 0:18:39Unbeknownst to Maureen,
0:18:39 > 0:18:45Jean never gave up on his unrequited love and continued
0:18:45 > 0:18:47to write letters for decades.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49Letters that would never arrive.
0:18:49 > 0:18:55These are the letters that I should have got 70 years ago
0:18:55 > 0:19:00and I'm getting now, getting them in 2016, 70 years later.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06The 28th of the 10th, 19 and 45.
0:19:06 > 0:19:12"I write you for to say you goodbye, because I am leaving your country,
0:19:12 > 0:19:15"maybe for always. I shall never forget you."
0:19:15 > 0:19:16Oh, he's very thoughtful.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20"In Belgium, I shall write to you always.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22"I shall see you in my dreams."
0:19:23 > 0:19:24I believe him.
0:19:24 > 0:19:29"I must close and I send you the best regards of little friend
0:19:29 > 0:19:31"of Belgium."
0:19:32 > 0:19:34Well, now, that is...
0:19:34 > 0:19:39If I had got that that time, so many years ago, well,
0:19:39 > 0:19:43at least, acknowledged that he had known me.
0:19:43 > 0:19:49Maureen has her suspicions about who kept the letters from her.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53Well, now, who... Daddy would be out working, so my mother must have been
0:19:53 > 0:19:56the only one that would be in the house, to get them.
0:19:56 > 0:20:01She must have opened that letter addressed to me and read it and,
0:20:01 > 0:20:06I suppose, the lovey-dovey stuff in it maybe scared them!
0:20:06 > 0:20:08The thought they were going to lose me. I don't know.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19Terry and myself have gathered up all the ages
0:20:19 > 0:20:23and we have got to 1,064 years.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27So, that is definitely a world record, in my books.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31We just need Guinness to confirm this
0:20:31 > 0:20:32and that's what we're doing now.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39With all the billions of people on the planet,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42there's a family from the Collegelands
0:20:42 > 0:20:46is the oldest family in the whole world.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48Now, what does that mean?
0:20:48 > 0:20:52You could have Brad Pitt coming over and he might say,
0:20:52 > 0:20:56"Leo, I want to live another 40 years, for I have too much money
0:20:56 > 0:20:59"and I can't spend it all. I want to know your secrets.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01"How much do you need?" And I'll say,
0:21:01 > 0:21:04"Brad, come on in and we'll talk about it over a cup of tea.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06"And bring Angelina with you."
0:21:09 > 0:21:12"He followed the exit sign for Loughgall
0:21:12 > 0:21:16"and heard among the top-heavy apple orchards
0:21:16 > 0:21:20"this stretch of the Armagh-Tyrone border
0:21:20 > 0:21:22"was planted by Warwickshire men,
0:21:22 > 0:21:28"who planted, in turn, their familiar quick-set damson hedges."
0:21:32 > 0:21:35Apples has been running through our veins since before we were born.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41That's the start of an apple that will grow three or four inches
0:21:41 > 0:21:44diameter. A lot of people have this apple because they grow
0:21:44 > 0:21:49a beautiful big apple and they go to Mr Kipling's pies.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57My daddy got into apples in the 1930s.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01So, there's apples that Daddy put in in 1939 and 1940.
0:22:01 > 0:22:06They're still growing. They'll last for, as I say, 100 years.
0:22:06 > 0:22:11The apple trees are as old as the Donnellys themselves,
0:22:11 > 0:22:15but the family whose name was synonymous with the fruit they grew
0:22:15 > 0:22:19were also lauded for their athletic prowess
0:22:19 > 0:22:21and many of their physical feats
0:22:21 > 0:22:25took place where the orchard now stands.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29Where these apples are planted here was known as the old sports field.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38And for sports day, the grass was all mowed and cleaned up,
0:22:38 > 0:22:42ready for the whole community.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51Naturally, it being our field,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54we put in extra effort to get most of the prizes.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56As the vernacular would put it,
0:22:56 > 0:23:00the apple never falls far from the tree.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04The Donnellys got their love of sport from their father, Peter.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06Daddy was a fantastic sportsman
0:23:06 > 0:23:12and I remember the first time ever I beat Daddy at handball.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14He never played much after it.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18And up to that time, nobody could beat Daddy at anything.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21Probably his way of saying, "Time for you to take over, Leo,
0:23:21 > 0:23:22"you and Austin."
0:23:24 > 0:23:27Whilst all the Donnellys were athletic,
0:23:27 > 0:23:29one son was exceedingly good.
0:23:29 > 0:23:35There's five Ulster medals and there's a few county medals.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40Peter Donnelly was dubbed "the strongman of Collegelands"
0:23:40 > 0:23:44for his athletic feats throughout Ulster,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47where he took on all-comers - and won.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49We were lined up for the 440.
0:23:49 > 0:23:54I was put at the back marker, along with the Ulster champion,
0:23:54 > 0:23:58Joe Sherry. I put on the speed at the start and passed
0:23:58 > 0:24:02all these young athletes and got out in front.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07I just kept going on and I could hardly lift my legs!
0:24:07 > 0:24:10I won the race easy. I never saw where he was.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13Beating Ulster champions was all in a day's work
0:24:13 > 0:24:18for the legendary Peter Donnelly and there was plenty of work.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21He started at 7.30 in the morning,
0:24:21 > 0:24:25milking 20 cows and, then, for an hour or two in the evening time,
0:24:25 > 0:24:29Peter went out for a cross-country run round this land,
0:24:29 > 0:24:31right down to the Callan river
0:24:31 > 0:24:34and down to Jimmy Mackle's cannon factory.
0:24:34 > 0:24:39But success in mid-century athletic meets wasn't lucrative.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42There was never any money or the like of that.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45I've seen me getting pictures, fireside mats,
0:24:45 > 0:24:49maybe a tea set, or something like this.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52The sports committee that were running the event
0:24:52 > 0:24:57would have these presented and have them all sitting on display.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01So, you could see what you were going to run for!
0:25:03 > 0:25:08Peter may not have profited financially from his success,
0:25:08 > 0:25:13but a strict fitness regime may have bought something money can't.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16I'm certainly glad we had that healthy lifestyle,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20because it's given us a good chance to get this world record.
0:25:20 > 0:25:26It's absolutely amazing that the simplest things of life
0:25:26 > 0:25:30can have you stay on this planet for longer than any family
0:25:30 > 0:25:31in the whole, wide world.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47This is a big day for the Donnelly family today.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51Apparently, there's a very special package coming this morning.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53Postie, postie, don't be slow.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Well, this is what we've been waiting on.
0:25:58 > 0:25:59This is the famous letter.
0:26:08 > 0:26:09Now, I want to get Terry round here.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13I just don't want to open this on my own. Terry deserves to be here.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17"Guinness World Records - Officially Amazing."
0:26:17 > 0:26:23- I say!- That's amazing. This is it.
0:26:28 > 0:26:29This looks good.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33"Dear Leo, Guinness World Records
0:26:33 > 0:26:35"application for the highest combined age..."
0:26:35 > 0:26:38'I can tell you, when I opened the letter with Terry,'
0:26:38 > 0:26:40the excitement was just building up and building up.
0:26:40 > 0:26:46"The current record for the highest combined age is 1,042 years."
0:26:46 > 0:26:48'And then, when I read the letter,'
0:26:48 > 0:26:52to tell you the truth, I was hit with a sledgehammer.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55"With your combined age of 1,064 years,
0:26:55 > 0:27:01"you exceed this by 21 years."
0:27:01 > 0:27:05We had beat them by 22 years almost,
0:27:05 > 0:27:08so we had proof, in black-and-white,
0:27:08 > 0:27:09we were the oldest family in the world.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11The next paragraph said,
0:27:11 > 0:27:14"Regretfully, that's not a big enough margin"!
0:27:14 > 0:27:19"It is not significant enough for us to be able to acknowledge it
0:27:19 > 0:27:23"as a Guinness World Record title."
0:27:23 > 0:27:25Now, that says that Guinness have acknowledged that we are
0:27:25 > 0:27:28- the oldest family in the world... - Exactly!- ..by 22 years.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31We are the record holders and there is no doubt about that.
0:27:31 > 0:27:36It seems actually being the world's oldest surviving siblings
0:27:36 > 0:27:39isn't enough to claim an official Guinness World Record.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45But the Donnellys haven't lived this long to give up now.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49Six multiplied by 365...
0:27:49 > 0:27:52They needed another six years added on to that,
0:27:52 > 0:27:57to give us the record and six divided by 13 siblings works out...
0:27:57 > 0:28:02184, basically. 184 days and then we will have
0:28:02 > 0:28:04fulfilled their requirement.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08We can reapply for that record in about five months' time,
0:28:08 > 0:28:12then we will get it in their big fat book!
0:28:12 > 0:28:14THEY LAUGH
0:28:14 > 0:28:16You'll get a certificate, to prove it.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18Terry, don't you die and I'll not die.
0:28:18 > 0:28:19No, I'll not die till then!
0:28:30 > 0:28:32We've lived this long,
0:28:32 > 0:28:34five more months is no bother to the Donnellys.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39"And the full moon swaying over Keenaghan,
0:28:39 > 0:28:43"the orchards and the cannery,
0:28:43 > 0:28:47"thins to a last yellow hammer and goes.
0:28:47 > 0:28:52"The neighbours gather - all Keenaghan and Collegelands.
0:28:52 > 0:28:53"There is storytelling."