A brother and sister in their 80s have 'gone full circle' and now live in neighbouring rooms in a care home.

Ruby Brown, 88, and Max Parfitt, 86, grew up side-by-side and in their later years find themselves living together at Catherine House Care Home in Frome.

And now the loving siblings find themselves reunited at the care home in rooms right next to each other.

Ruby was already living there and last month her little brother moved in.

Sherin Anup, home manager, said: "The bond between Ruby and Max is a testament to the strength of family ties.”

Ruby was born on January 17, 1936, in a cottage on Milton Lane, Wookey Hole, to her parents Hector and Doris Parfitt.

Two years later on May 14, 1938, Ruby was joined by her younger brother, Max.

Ruby started at an all-girls school, but around the age of eight, the family moved to Leighton, and both Ruby and Max attended Nunney Primary School.

From there, they moved to Oakfield Road School, where Max proudly played in the school cricket team.

Hector worked as a farm hand at Downhead, near East Cranmore, while Doris ran the staff canteen at Foster Yeomans’ Tor Works.

After school, Ruby was busy - she spent her time helping out at one of the two local shops in Nunney - riding her bike back and forth from Leighton.

Max’s path took a different turn when he was called up for National Service where he got a role as a personal assistant for an officer.

When he finished his two-year service, he worked in a shop in Frome but always dreamt of becoming a postman - which he succeeded in doing for over 25 years in the town and the nearby Somerset villages.

Max found his match at 40, and Ruby jokingly told his wife Carol: "Thank goodness you found him — I thought I’d be looking after him forever."

Meanwhile, Ruby married Tony Brown and embraced the role of a farmer’s wife, taking great pride in knowing every cow in the field by name and breed.

Together, they raised two daughters, Linda and Jackie, while Ruby also found time to lead at the Girls’ Friendly Society (GFS), guiding young girls as they earned their homemaker badges.

In 2023, Tony had needs than meant he had to move into a care home, so after 68 years of marriage, needing residential care, staying true to her vows of being together in sickness and in health, Ruby chose to join him not wanting to be separated from her husband.

Tony passed away just a month after moving in and Ruby found comfort and support in the wonderful community at Catherine House.

Caring for Max day and night with devotion was instinctual for Carol, but with the decline in Max’s mobility led both Carol and Max to acknowledge that his care requirements surpassed what could be provided at home

Ruby’s excitement when Max her brother not only moving into Catherine House to live with her but having the room next to her was extra special.