‘Joined at the hip’: Peterborough sisters who have gone through life side-by-side retire on same day

Siblings with ‘very close bond’ have lived, studied, worked – and retired – together.
By Darren Calpin
Published 9th Nov 2022, 13:09 BST
Updated 9th Nov 2022, 17:38 BST
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Sisters Heena and Jem Talati first arrived in Peterborough with their mother and father in 1975.

Their father had decided to move them to the UK from Kenya as he didn’t want his young family to live in a “politically unstable” country.

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Heena and Jem - who were aged 11 and 9 respectively at the time - dealt with this huge change in their lives in the way they would go on through life - together. “We’ve always been joined at the hip,” remarks Heena, now 58, “we have a very close bond.”

Heena Talati, of Werrington, and sister Jem Kose, of Orton Longueville, both retired on he same day from the same pharmacists (image: David Lowndes)Heena Talati, of Werrington, and sister Jem Kose, of Orton Longueville, both retired on he same day from the same pharmacists (image: David Lowndes)
Heena Talati, of Werrington, and sister Jem Kose, of Orton Longueville, both retired on he same day from the same pharmacists (image: David Lowndes)

The girls liked their new home straight away: “We thought it was a great city to be in,” Heena remembers. “We went to County Grammar School - it was a very good school.”

After going through school together and sharing the same friends, Heena and Jem – despite the 18 month gap in their ages – ended up doing their A-Levels together at college, as well.

Heena explains: “I didn’t get the right A-levels. But then I spent another two years at A-level, chose my career, and Jem followed and we were together.”

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Somewhat reluctantly, the girls decided to leave the family home in Westwood and pursue their joint ambition of studying pharmacy at the University of Sunderland.

Heena Talati and sister Jem Kose have experienced all their major milestones together.Heena Talati and sister Jem Kose have experienced all their major milestones together.
Heena Talati and sister Jem Kose have experienced all their major milestones together.

Heena remembers. “We’d never left home and it was far away from Peterborough. But, because Jem and I were together, it gave us comfort.”

Upon qualifying as pharmacists, the two young women returned to Peterborough where they immediately started building their careers, and lives, as young single women.

“We lived together at mum and dad’s when we both qualified and then this house [Heena’s Werrington home] we both bought together - we were single then and both shared a house.

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“We only separated our accommodation when we met our partners.”

Although they were no longer living together, the sisters still saw each other everyday as, almost inevitably, they both started work at the Graham Young Pharmacy on Lincoln Road - on the same day.

The two women loved working at the “beautiful pharmacy” describing it as “one of the best in Peterborough.”

After 16 years of devoted service, the two finally retired last week. On the same day. Together.

Related topics:PeterboroughKenya