AYLMER - BLACK AND WHITE TWINS

When Lucy and Maria Aylmer walk down the street they are mistaken for being just friends. But amazingly they are twins - even though Lucy is white and Maria is black. They have even had to produce their birth certificates to friends in order to prove that they are in fact twins. The twins mother Donna Douglas is half Jamaican and their father Vince Aylmer is white - but together they have managed to produce one white twin and one black twin. The twins personalities are as different as their looks. Fair haired Lucy studies art and design at Gloucester College whilst Maria studies Law and Psychology at Cheltenham College. Lucy said: ‘No-one ever believes we are twins because I am white and Maria is black. Even when we dress alike, we still don’t even look like sisters, let alone twins. ‘When we’ve met friends for the first time they never believe we are twins and they have even made us produce our birth certificates to prove that we are actually twins.’ The twins were born in January 1997 after Miss Douglas gave birth naturally. She was shocked when she was handed the twins as nothing had shown up on the scans. Lucy said: ‘It was such a shock for her because obviously things like skin colour don’t show up on scans before birth. So she had no idea that we were so different. When the midwife handed us both to her she was just speechless.’