WHEN Mary Ellen Horan met Jim Proudfoot they could have had no idea it was to be the start of an amazing dynasty.

Now, three generations later, their remarkable extended family includes seven sets of twins.

Jim Proudfoot, born in Shildon, County Durham, in 1890, was a First World War veteran and worked all his life as a wagon repair man in Shildon shops.

His wife, Mary Ellen, was an Aycliffe Angel, helping the war effort by working in the munitions factory at Newton Aycliffe, near Darlington.

She was an only child, but went on to have eight children. That included two sets of twins, although one girl, Mary, died when only three hours old.

None of their offspring produced twins, but the next generation of the family more than made up for that with five sets. That includes sisters June, Carol and Ellen, who all gave birth to non-identical twins.

The only set of identical twins in the family are Andrew and Stephen Proudfoot, now aged 24. All live in County Durham, except for 14-year-olds John and Jodie Maddison, who live in Shropshire.

Sadly, two members of the extended family have suffered miscarriages while carrying twins.

Carol Chambers, mother of 19-year-old twins Gemma and Simone, said the family does not think of itself as in any way remarkable.

She said: "We don't think about it, we are just used to it. People who know us say it's very rare, but to us it's nothing unusual."

One of the twins in the family tree, 23-year-old Paula Douthwaite, is no stranger to the limelight.

She was in the news almost 20 years ago when, as a toddler, she underwent pioneering surgery at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital to cure a heart condition.

The balloon technique to clear a blocked valve was the first operation of its kind in the country, outside London.

Winnie Corbett, daughter of Mary Ellen and Jim, said her mother and father were extremely proud of their large family.

"Believe it or not, my mother was an only child and she used to say that if that's how brothers and sisters carry on, she was glad she didn't have any," she said.

"But she loved every one of us and she was a wonderful woman. And she was always delighted when one of the family had twins."

Jane Denton, of the Multiple Births Foundation, said it was unusual for a family to have so many sets of twins.

She said: "With non-identical twins, one of the factors is if there is a history of twins in the family on the female side, there's a greater chance that the women of that family will have twins. I think that is what's happened in this case."