Britain's biggest family just got bigger: Mother gives birth to her 16th child and she already wants another
She’s the baker’s wife who has become renowned for always having a ‘bun in the oven’.
Now Sue Radford, 37, has welcomed a new addition to what is believed to be Britain’s biggest family with the birth of her 16th child.
Including new arrival Casper, who was born at a healthy 8lb 8oz, Mrs Radford and her husband Noel are now the proud parents of nine sons and seven daughters, they are enjoying having a large family so much that they have not ruled out yet more additions to the brood.
Incredibly, Mrs Radford, who was in labour for just 16 minutes with Casper last month, told her husband, ‘I want another’ as soon as she came home from hospital.
(1) Chris, 23 (2) Sophie, 18 (3) Chloe, 17 (4) Jack, 15 (5) Daniel, 13 (6) Luke, 11 (7) Millie, 10 (
Katie, 9 (9) James, 8 (10) Ellie, 7 (11) Aimee, 6 (12) Josh, 4 (13) Max, 3 (14) Tilly May, 2 (15) Oscar, 1 (16) Casper, 1 month
‘I just love being a mummy,’ she said yesterday. ‘We are so lucky. I get very emotional when I see the children all together.’ And the couple have another reason to celebrate after their eldest daughter, Sophie, 18, gave birth to their first grandchild, Daisy
Mrs Radford added: ‘I know people stare. Some think they won’t get the attention they need, but people don’t realise how dedicated we are... And maybe we’ll be lucky enough to have more.'
The Radfords run a successful local bakery in Morecambe, Lancashire, which has enabled the family to earn enough money to buy a nine-bedroom house to accommodate their clan – without the need to claim any state benefits.
It has an industrial-sized washing machine and a giant fridge to keep the mountains of food the family get through every day.
Mr Radford, who is two years older than his wife, sets out to work at 4am, heading back home in time to help with the school run – which demands the use of a minibus. Family suppers are like running a canteen.
A typical evening meal can include the peeling of seven kilos of potatoes, army-style. These are then cooked in industrial-sized pots with 30 carrots, three whole cabbages and 16 pork chops.
Food costs the couple £250 a week. Each day the family eats three loaves of bread, two boxes of cereal and 18 pints of milk
It’s a wonder the family gets through the average day without losing one of their lively troop – let alone when they break from their routine.
But in a move that most families would consider less a break and more a form of prolonged torture, the Radfords manage to take an annual holiday abroad as seen in a Channel 4 documentary, 15 Kids And Counting, aired earlier this year.
The couple started their family unexpectedly early when they were teenagers and Mrs Radford was still at school.
For other couples this might have spelled disaster, but not for the Radfords, whose eldest son Christopher has just turned 23. Mrs Radford finished school and they married when she was 18, planning to have ‘perhaps another one or two’ children.
Once Sophie, 18, and Chloe, 17, had arrived, however, the couple discovered they were enjoying parenthood so much that they just kept going.
It was after the arrival of Jack, 15, and while Mrs Radford was pregnant with Daniel, 13, that the couple found their current house – a nine-bedroom Victorian former old people’s home that was in need of work. And sure enough it wasn’t long before with each new room they decorated, there were children to share it.
In quick succession they had Luke, 11, Millie, ten, Katie, nine, James, eight, Ellie, seven, and Aimee, six.
Then, after a brief gap, came Josh, four, Max, three – whose arrival appropriately took their tally to a baker’s dozen – Tilly May, two, and Oscar, one.
Im posting this because on facebook some people are saying they are selfish and the "have to be claiming benefits" where as some others are urging them on, what do you ladies think
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