People in Devizes Market Place did a triple take when the Bewley sisters posed for a 50th birthday picture.

Joan Bewley, Jenny Webster and Jacky Dodds made national headlines as the heaviest triplets in Britain when they weighed in at more than 6lbs each in London in August 1959. Their arrival featured in the Daily Mirror.

Parents Harry and Bonnie Bewley came to Wiltshire when the girls were eight to take over the Prince of Wales pub in Wilcot, near Pewsey.

The couple, sadly no longer with us, had 11 children and there was a huge family get-together at the Wyvern Club in Church Walk, Devizes, on Saturday.

Joan Bewley, who reverted to her maiden name after her marriage ended, said: “It was an absolutely fabulous evening and our whole family and friends turned up.

“The town crier, Marcus Hopgood, introduced the live entertainment, which turned out to be my fiancé, George Casselton, Jenny’s husband Jake and Jacky’s partner, Andy North, dressed up as women with masks of our faces, singing Sisters by the Beverley Sisters. It was hilarious.”

The trio have long ago got used to people getting them mixed up. Ms Bewley said: “It happens all the time. People come up to us and start chatting away and it’s quite obvious they’ve made a mistake. When they see a blank look on our faces, they soon twig they’ve got the wrong sister.”

At school the three were never mistaken by their schoolmates.

“It was always the teachers who got confused. Sometimes we wised them up, but at others we had a good laugh at their expense,” said Ms Bewley, who lives in Eastleigh Close.

She is a marketing officer for Wiltshire Council and has two daughters. Mrs Dodds, who lives in Brickley Lane and also works for Wiltshire Council as a procurement officer, has three sons. Mrs Webster, of Naughton Avenue, works for Aster Property Services. She has no children.

Do they deliberately cultivate the same hairstyle to confuse people? “Absolutely not,” said Ms Bewley, “It’s just pure coincidence.”