A SWALEDALE couple became grandparents twice in just over an hour on Mothering Sunday.

Godfrey and Pat Wilson had just begun to celebrate the birth of Guy Clark Stones, born at 7.37am, when news came of another new arrival - Charlotte Louise Wilson, born at 8.51.

Guy, who weighed in at 9lb 3oz at Darlington Memorial Hospital, is the son of Mrs Wilson's daughter, Alison Stones, and her husband, Philip, of Brompton-on-Swale, near Richmond. He had been due on March 4.

Charlotte, who was 6lb 13oz, was born a week early to Mr Wilson's son, Douglas, and his wife, Christine, who live near Oxford.

"We got the news of Guy's birth and I started excitedly ringing round various people," said Mrs Wilson, of Low Row. "I rang Douglas but didn't get a reply. Suddenly, in a gap between my phone calls, the phone rang and it was Douglas.

"He listened patiently while I blurted out my news, then he just said 'he'll be able to share a birthday with my little girl.'"

Mr Wilson, who is headteacher at Reeth school, is travelling to Oxfordshire at Easter to meet the youngest member of the family and Mrs Wilson hopes to visit soon afterwards.

"When Christine and Alison first told us they were pregnant and gave their due dates, we joked about the babies meeting in the middle, which is just what happened," said Mrs Wilson, who said Guy's other grandparents, Clark and Greta Stones, of Arkengarthdale, were equally delighted.