A family has put up the UK’s oldest fake Christmas tree for the 101st time.
Kay Ashton, 67, decorated the 2ft tall tree which has seen three monarchs, a World War and now two global pandemics.
The tree, thought to be the oldest in the UK, was bought from Woolworths for just 6p by Kay’s grandma Elizabeth Naylor in 1920.
It survived Hitler’s bombs during World War 2 as it has remained in the family for three generations and eight house moves.
Now the tree sits in Kay’s kitchen in Sheffield, South Yorks.
Speaking about the family tradition, she said: “Year after year it gets more fragile, it’s been bashed in over the years.”
Kay added: “I try not to handle it too much.
“I put it in the kitchen because it if was in the living room and the door opens, the slightest gust of wind will blow it off.
“People ask me why I don’t ever fix it, but I wouldn’t want to get it repaired, it would take away from its story and history.
“It’s become a joke really, every year it comes out and it looks a bit more dodgy, but it makes people smile and even laugh out loud.”
Kay, a grandmother-of-three, says her own gran would be “absolutely flabbergasted” to hear it was still going strong.
Elizabeth called it “William’s Tree” to mark her new-born son’s first Christmas that year.
Sadly he died prematurely in 1940 aged just 19 and the tree became a treasured family memorial to him.
Elizabeth – known as Nanan – died in 1981 at the age of 80 and the tree was inherited by her daughter, Joyce Ashton.
When Joyce passed away in 2021, Kay became the third generation to own it.
She added: “It’s not a cherished tree. People laugh because I say it’s ugly. But I’m fond of it because it’s so bloody ugly.
“It has seen generations of my family and the history of working class people and how they have changed over the years from 1920.
“The most recent of the decorations on it are from the 1960s, I wouldn’t want to spoil it with anything more modern than that.”
The tree survived a blitz Sheffield’s steelworks in December 1940 when the city was bombarded by the Luftwaffe for three nights.
Elizabeth kept the tree in the kitchen, but the impact of a bomb blast was so much that it blew it into the living room.
It was hit by shrapnel and sticky tape was used to repair it, which is still holding it together.
Now keeping with tradition, Kay has retrieved the festive favourite from the attic and been put up to accompany her other decor.
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Kay continued: “My sister says to me every year ‘have you got that twig out yet?’ and I say ‘yep’.
“She says ‘does it look any better’ and I go ‘nope’.
“I couldn’t imagine not putting it up, it just brings back memories of Christmas and loved ones that we’ve lost.
“For me it’s not about the tree itself, but about the history and its story.”