THERE can be few people in this country able to match the achievement of a Worcester brother and three sisters who are now all in their 90s - the entire tally of children of a once well-known city couple.

This remarkable quartet of nonagenarians were the offspring of Edith Harriet (Hetty) Wilkes and Worcester pub landlord and builder Alfred Robinson Wilkes, who himself lived to celebrate his 100th birthday.

The long-living foursome, who alas have all lost their spouses, are Frank Wilkes, aged 98, of Timberdine Avenue, Mrs May Wilks (97) of Northwick (yes, she married someone with the same surname though differently spelt), Mrs Winfred Attwell (95) of Bevere, and Mrs Elsie Daniels (90) of Cornmeadow.

Their last significant reunion was on the 90th birthday of Elsie, the "baby" of the siblings, at the Star Hotel, Worcester - a joyful nonagenarians' get-together arranged last year, by Elsie's daughter Joan and celebrated by about 30 relatives and friends.

The two sets of grandparents of Frank, May, Win and Elsie were Richard and Matilda Wilkes of Barbourne and Timothy and Emma Trahearn, who were married at Hereford Cathedral but came to live and work in Worcester.

Richard Wilkes was a building contractor with an extensive builder's yard behind his Barbourne home, while Timothy Trahearn began as a printer in the city but then turned to the licensed trade and was landlord of several pubs, notably The Feathers in the Upper Tything - now the Cap and Gown opposite the Royal Grammar School.

Master builder Richard Wilkes was eventually joined in his business by son Alfred, who built a house in Lyttelton Street for himself and wife Hetty, who was Timothy and Emma Trahearn's daughter. It was there that their first three children - Frank, May and Win - were born.

In about 1907, however, Alfred Wilkes took over the licence of The Feathers from his father-in-law, and the family went to live at the Upper Tything pub for six years.

Then, in 1912, they transferred to the Lansdowne Inn in Lansdowne Street, a home brew pub which Alfred bought. The premises also incorporated a small shop where his wife Hetty set up in trade, selling groceries and sweets.

It was at the Lansdowne Inn that the couple's fourth child Elsie was born in 1912. She and her two sisters later went to the St Mary's Infants and Holy Trinity Girls schools, while brother Frank attended St Barnabas School.

Their father Alfred continued to combine the roles of publican, home brewer and builder for several years but in 1929, he built a substantial detached property at the corner of Ombersley Road and Cornmeadow Lane for his retirement years from the licensed trade.

All four of the Wilkes children were married from that house and later Alfred also built a pair of semi-detached houses in Cornmeadow Lane. Daughter Elsie still lives in one of them today and was able to help care for her father in his final years. He long outlived wife Hetty, who died at the age of 82, though they had been able to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary together.

"Father was a remarkable man and was still mentally alert and in his Ombersley Road house when he died in 1976 at the age of 100 years and four months," recalls Elsie.

"He was born in 1875 and had survived a serious road accident at 60, when he suffered a fracture to the base of the skull."

Now, for thumbnail biographies of the four nonagenarian offspring of Alfred and Hetty Wilkes:

- In his youth, FRANK helped run the Barbourne Athletic football team based at the Lansdowne Inn and was also an oarsman with Worcester Rowing Club. His distinguished working career, spanning about half-a-century, was in highways administration, finally as chief administrative and financial officer with the Worcestershire County Highways and Bridges Department, a role which earned him the MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1970. He and his wife Dollie (maiden name, Darke) had two sons and were able to celebrate both their golden and diamond wedding anniversaries before her death.

- MAY helped her mother in the family sweet and grocery shop after leaving school but became housewife on marrying Frank Wilks, who held a senior post with Metal Castings in Droitwich Road, Worcester, for many years. Mrs Wilks has a son.

- WINIFRED was employed in the General Post Office in Foregate Street, until she married schoolteacher Thomas Attwell, who became the first headmaster of Worcester's "new" Nunnery Wood Secondary School. He died suddenly at a comparatively young age, leaving a widow, son and daughter.

- ELSIE was a civil servant with the Unemployment Assistance Board at St George's Square until marrying schoolteacher Eric Daniels, who became headmaster of Bransford School. For 26 years, from 1950, Elsie was school secretary at Claines Primary and, throughout life, has been a keen artist, occasionally exhibiting and selling her oil and watercolour paintings of landscapes and flowers.

She was a long time member of the Worcester Society of Artists. Despite major surgery, two replacement hips and the onset of emphysema in the past 10 years, Elsie still drives her car and is full of life and zest.

"After having my hips replaced, I had hoped to take up line dancing, but it was not to be," she quipped.

Elsie proudly showed me the letter of congratulations she received on her 90th birthday from the Queen Mother. It was sent from Clarence House on March 25, 2002 - a very short time before the Queen Mother's death.

Elsie's daughter Joan attended the Worcester Grammar School for Girls and became a dentist in Wales. Elsie has three grandchildren and a great grandson.

One thing that has to be said of the nonagenarian foursome is that none of them looks their age!