When the Topp Twins, Dames Lynda and Jools, greet their mother Jean, there are no separate hugs or taking turns. Instead, the three of them merge into one group hug, which goes on and on and on. Jean, 92, has joined her daughters for our cosy Christmas photoshoot in Hamilton, but it’s also a much-needed chance for the three to catch up with a cup of tea and a neenish tart.
“We bought Mum’s favourite one from a bakery in Taupiri,” says Lynda as Jean bites into her piece and sighs with contentment. “She loves a good neenish.”
As the family heads into the festive season, there is a sense of relief that the three of them are all still standing and looking great. Jools and Lynda, both 65, received cancer treatment this year, while Jean has recovered from COVID, which she caught last Christmas.
“We were invited to the New Zealander of the Year Awards,” says Jools. “So we took Mum with us and, two days later, she had COVID. We didn’t get the award and for a moment there, we were thinking, ‘Bloody hell, we killed Mum!’”
Jean was staying with Lynda at her home in Methven when she came down with the virus and it was serious. “She was hospitalised for two weeks in isolation in Ashburton and it wasn’t looking good,” says Lynda.
Jean adds that she caught it despite wearing two masks on the plane up to Auckland and that she didn’t enjoy it at all. “Every time I went to stay with the girls, I was getting sick,” she says. “I started thinking, ‘What the hell are they doing
