They don’t do things by halves in Leominster.

The primary school’s nursery roll presently includes four sets of twins, something of a headache for teachers it might be supposed.

The children are following in a double set of footprints harking back 37 years to a record-breaking time when Leominster schools were blessed with 28 sets of twins.

Back to the present, nursery staff could be forgiven for seeing double, though the manager Helen Lynch, who is the school’s deputy head, points out that Leominster’s latest record-breakers - two sets of girl twins, one set of boy twins and a twin brother and sister – pose no such difficulty.

“Some are identical,” said Mrs Lynch, the mother of twins herself.

“I know we haven’t had as many in the nursery before, and unusually they are in one year group.”

Back in 1982 the infant school fielded 10 sets of twins, nearly all of them identical, while the junior school had six. Leominster Minster came out on top with 12 sets.

Surprisingly, Leominster’s nursery teachers are less confused by their identical twin charges than might be supposed. Barbara Brown and Lisa Bufton have been teaching in the nursery for many years and have little trouble knowing just who is who.

Mrs Lynch, whose twin sons are now aged 15, has personal experience.

She believes that individual characteristics actually identify the children.

“They have different personalities, so I think when you work with identical twins, it is the personality which identifies them,” she said.

According to statistics, since 1980 the birth rate for twins has increased by more than 70 per cent. So for Leominster, town of twins, watch this space!