TWO 24-year-olds who grew up in the same village have jointly celebrated their “sixth” birthdays with a leap-year party at a Glasgow shopping centre.

Lifelong pals Cara Fowles and Siobhan McMillan were both born on February 29, 1996 and grew up together in the Renfrewshire village of Kilbarchan – but this year will be only the sixth time they’ve celebrated on their actual birthday.

Cara, who has recently graduated in Design for Textiles from Heriot-Watt University and Siobhan, who is currently studying Data Analytics at the University of Strathclyde, visited Buchanan Galleries to celebrate.

READ MORE: Why do we have a leap year? The reason behind your 'extra' day

“Sharing such an unusual birthday with someone who lived just down the road didn’t seem so special when we were kids, but now we realise just how unusual, and special, it actually is,” said Cara.

Siobhan added: “We’ve both got siblings who celebrate their birthdays on the same day every year but we couldn’t, so each leap year is extra special for us.”

The two women were born at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, started at Kilbarchan Primary on the same day before moving up to Johnstone High in later years.