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| Sue and Noel Radford (pictured with their children after the birth of youngest daughter Hallie) have announced they are expecting their 19th child |
The parents of Britain's biggest family have announced they are expecting their 19th child, and they are still not claiming a penny in benefits.
Sue and Noel Radford celebrated the birth of daughter Hallie in June, but now Mrs Radford, 40, from Morcambe, Lancashire, is pregnant again, with the baby due in July.
The Radfords, who run a successful bakery business and do not claim any state benefits said the pregnancy had been a surprise, but they are excited to add to their huge brood.
Writing on their Facebook page, the family said: 'We are so thrilled to announce our precious new addition to the family who will be joining us in July.'
When Hallie, now eight months, was born last summer the Radfords said that they were not planning on having any more children, but would 'leave it up to nature'. 'It has come as a huge surprise,' Mrs Radford told The Sun. 'We were adamant that we wouldn’t have more. But it is a brilliant start to the New Year.'
The family, who rose to fame on Channel 4 documentary series 16 Kids And Counting, live in a ten-bedroom converted care home and believe that they spend around £30,000 a year of their own money bringing up their children.
They spend around £300 a week on groceries, and every day the family gets through two boxes of cereal and 18 pints of milk. When it comes to celebrating their children's birthdays they have a budget of £100 for presents, while at Christmas they set aside between £100 to £250.
The family also have a holiday abroad each year, but are fiercely proud of the fact that they do not claim state handouts and instead support themselves with the bakery business, run by Mr Radford, 45.
Writing on their website, the couple said their other children were thrilled with the prospect of a new baby brother or sister.
'We announced our news to the children last week after having a brilliant scan, we decided to put the scan photo on the fireplace and sit back and watch to see who noticed it first,' they said.
'Well it really didn’t take long. Tillie spotted it first and said "ohhhh who’s that?" with a big grin on her face.
'We said "who do you think it is?". She said "I need to go get Millie" so she ran to get her and came back in, closely followed by the rest of the children.
'The reaction was so funny they are so excited. We did want to keep it a secret for a little while longer but the children have been so excited and sharing the news so we decided it was time to share it with you all.' The announcement of the pregnancy comes just a few weeks after the couple's second eldest child, Sophie, 22, welcomed her third child, a boy called Leo on Christmas Eve.
Sophie, who married husband Joe last year also helps out with the family business.
Mr and Mrs Radford were childhood sweethearts and she fell pregnant with her first child, eldest son Chris, 27, when she was just 14. The couple were determined to keep the baby as they had both been adopted at birth.
They have never looked back and very few years have gone by when Mrs Radford hasn't been expecting.
Hallie's arrival was tinged with sadness for the couple however, as it came less than a year after they lost their 17th child, a boy named Alfie, 23 weeks into Mrs Radford's pregnancy.
Mrs Radford said that as a result of the loss her pregnancies with Hallie and the latest baby were being closely monitored. She added that they have had the 12-week scan, adding that the new arrival was 'doing brilliantly'.
They have never looked back and very few years have gone by when she hasn't been expecting.
The couple say they originally planned on having three children, but they loved the experience so much that they simply kept going.
But at the heart of this is a desire to bring up children in a family not bankrolled by the state.
Speaking last year, Mrs Radford said: 'It's important that our children see us working. When they're old enough, they go out to work themselves. 'Big families will always be tarred with the same brush. People will say "They must be on benefits", but there are lots of very hard-working large families who support themselves.'
After an early start in the bakery, Mr Radford returns home every day at 7.45am to sort out the children and get them to nursery at school.
All their uniforms are washed and laid out the night before, while breakfast is staggered into two shifts.
Six of the children are at the same primary school ten minutes away and five are at secondary school. Noel drives them in a minibus which, as it carries more than nine passengers, is entitled to use bus lanes.
Meanwhile, the three youngest, Oscar, Caspar and Hallie, remain at home with Sue, though Oscar goes to nursery in the afternoons.
The family do between six and 12 loads of washing a day, get through 30 bottles of washing liquid every month and use four toilet rolls a day.
Incredibly they manage to feed the family on £250 a week, feeding them all pasta or a large stew using deals with their local butcher and greengrocer.
Bathtime at home begins around 6pm and while the younger ones will be bathed and in bed by about 7pm, the older ones stay up until 9pm. Mr and Mrs Radford say they are in bed by 10pm.
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