Ref. 30924-17CHELSEA Mifsud's mother Andrea was overjoyed when she gave birth to her baby daughter 13 days ago.

So too were her grandmother Deborah Mifsud, her great grandmother Brenda Hillier, and her great great grandmother Catherine Freegard.

Chelsea's birth marks the fifth generation of women in her family tree, and while she may be too young to appreciate it, everyone else has been celebrating the milestone.

Deborah Mifsud, 42, of Park South, said: "It works out as roughly 20 years between each of us.

"It's a bit unusual there are so many of us, but we all love children."

Mrs Mifsud said the whole family met up regularly.

"We're a very close family and we always see each other about twice a week.

"We meet up in town or we visit my grandfather.

"It's a huge family when we all get together and at Christmas there are often 20 of us."

Andrea, 19, who lives with her daughter in her mum's house, said she had been aware during pregnancy that giving birth to a daughter would notch up a fifth generation of women in the family.

"But I didn't go out to get pregnant for that reason," she joked.

"I wasn't bothered whether I had a girl or a boy.

"I've had great support from everyone and I certainly won't have much trouble finding a babysitter."

Catherine, 81, from Moredon, the oldest of the five women, said much had changed from when she was a young girl.

"Young people have different ideas than what we had," she said. And Swindon had also changed, she added.

"It's got bigger," said the great great grandmother, who added that she hoped to live to see Chelsea have a baby of her own.

Brenda, 60, from Park North, said: "We are just proud of all of them.

"I hope the family keeps getting bigger and bigger.

"Having a big family keeps you young and active, and it was extra special that Andrea had a baby girl.

"Maybe next time she'll have a boy."

Andy Tate