SAILOR siblings Jim and Geoff Perkins hope to make waves with their challenge for a place in the record books.

The pair believe that they and their brothers hold a record for the highest number of brothers serving simultaneously in the Royal Navy during peacetime.

Four of them, Geoff, Jim, Rod and Keith, all served in the Navy between 1965 and 1968.

Former pupils of St John's School, Hornby Street, the brothers lived in Arley Avenue, Limefield, before going off to sea.

They have now fired a shot across the bows of other seafaring families by asking if they can beat or equal the record in a letter to the service newspaper Navy News. Rod and Keith have both died, but the surviving brothers feel that a place in the record books would be a fitting tribute them.

Geoff (59), of Burrswood Close, Bury, said: "Jim spoke to someone about us who said he thought it could be a record.

"If it is not bettered then we are going to speak to the Guinness Book of Records."

Geoff, pictured (left), with brother Jim, continued: "Although it was the life we chose, it would be nice to be recognised as a family, and Rod and Keith would have been quite proud to be part of it." Between 1959 and 1969, Geoff served on aircraft carriers HMS Hermes and HMS Albion as well as on-shore establishments.

With Jim living in Middleton, Geoff is the only brother who remains in Bury. Two others, Stuart and Steve, opted for careers on dry land.

The family affair with the sea began when eldest brother Keith joined the Navy in spring 1959.

Geoff said: "He came back with such fantastic stories about where he had been. I joined in the September and it all stemmed from there.

"We had never been further than Blackpool or Southport on holiday and could see the excitement of travelling around the world."