​When Hayley and Matthew Wright each won a goldfish at the funfair they could never have guessed that the new pets would still be swimming around in their tank 33 years later!

Hayley was nine and Matthew just six when the pair were taken by their parents Richard and Ann Wright to the fair at Cox's Meadow, Cheltenham, at the end of 1977.

Both children returned home excitedly with their prize goldfish in plastic bags and a makeshift home was provided for the new arrivals in a pyrex bowl.

The fish, christened Splish and Splash, soon got a second-hand plastic tank to call home...and the years then started to roll by.

Hayley, now 41, and Matthew, 38, both grew up, left home, got married and started their own families - but Splish and Splash have remained a constant in Richard and Ann's lives at their home in Wye road, Brockworth, Gloucester, ever since.

Common goldfish normally last for between 5 and 15 years depending on their living conditions. Those kept in small tanks like Splish and Splash are not generally expected to live longer than 10.

But Splish and Splash - who started off as one and a half inch long minnows - are now five inches long and show no sign yet of departing to the great goldfish bowl in the sky.

"It's amazing how long they've survived," said retired human resources consultant Richard, 66.

"We have not given them any kind of special treatment - they just seem to have gone on and on.

"We just feed them normal goldfish food, nothing special, but they seem to have thrived on it because over the years they've grown to five inches long. In the last 3-4 years they have lost their gold colour and are now silvery but otherwise they look fine."

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