UK’s Oldest Christmas Tree Celebrates 95th Year With Same Family


The UK’s oldest Christmas tree survived Hitler’s bombs and vicious storms and has been decorated every year for 95 years, by two generations of the same family.

Back in 1920, a family bought an artificial spruce Christmas tree from a Woolworths department store and it is still going strong, brought out and decorated each year by generations of the same family in Sheffield, South Yorks.

Since it was bought, the tree has survived Hitler’s bombs, fierce storms in the area and years of handling and is now in the hands of Kaye Ashton, 61, who decorates the much-loved family heirloom every Christmas. According to the Express, Ashton said the tree is a great piece of history and the family is glad to have it.

While the branches are reportedly getting a little delicate, she says as long as you are careful with it, Britain’s oldest Christmas tree is still a wonderful decoration.

“To think, the tree has stayed the same for almost 100 years but everything around it has changed so much. The things it will have seen.”

Kaye says she has kept all the original decorations and the tree itself and the decorations are very robust. She is sure it will outlive her and go on for many more decades in the same family. She feels she has to take great care of the tree and that there is a tradition of passing it down through the generations of girls in their family.

“It’s outlived two generations and even the shop it was bought from, so it’s obviously made of strong stuff.”

The tree is fairly small and is now just over one foot tall, so Kaye admits that while it takes pride of place in their living room, she does have a main Christmas tree as well.

The UK’s oldest Christmas tree was originally bought by Kaye’s grandmother, Elizabeth Naylor from Woolworths back in 1920, and she reportedly named it William’s tree to mark the first Christmas of her newborn son.

Regrettably, William passed away suddenly in 1940 at the age of 19 years and the Christmas tree became a treasured family memorial to him.

When Elizabeth Naylor died in 1981 at the age of 80 years, the tree was passed on to her daughter, Joyce Ashton. When Joyce passed away in 2012, Kaye became the third generation in the family to own Britain’s oldest Christmas tree.

Referring to her grandmother, Kaye said she always had the tree in her kitchen and it was reportedly the only tree her grandmother ever had.

Kaye went on to speak of the history of the Christmas tree saying that during the Sheffield Blitz, which happened during Christmas of 1941, the family were warned to leave the house, but they reportedly went down into the cellar instead. She explained that her grandmother put a heavy wrought iron mangle against the back door to keep it closed.

“But when a bomb was dropped across the road, the force blew the back door open, and the mangle went flying across the room and into the tree.”

When they went back upstairs after the bombing, the living room was reportedly a mess, and the Christmas tree was lying in the middle of it all.

“The top of it had nearly come off and it’s been bent ever since, but it was fixed with Sellotape and wire. Some of the original bits of tape are still on the tree and I daren’t take them off.”

Kaye went on to say how in Christmas 1962, Sheffield was hit by fierce storms and gales. People were reportedly killed when buildings collapsed in the area. She recalls being at her grandmother’s house at the time, and her grandmother asked her mother to close the back door. However, before they knew it, the Christmas tree went flying across the room and almost into the fireplace. While it took another battering, the tree still did its job that Christmas.

Kaye now takes great care with both the tree and the original decorations and brings them out every year during the festive season.

She says they will definitely have a big party when the tree hits 100 years of age, adding, “It’s amazing to think it’s lived through so much. I can’t imagine it not being around.”

The Mirror Online reported this tree beats yet another Christmas tree bought years ago from Woolworths. While at first they thought that Derek Parker’s tree, bought 78 years ago and used with the original decorations, was the UK’s oldest Christmas tree, it turns out Kaye’s edition is just that much older.

[Photo via Flickr by Sergé/CC BY-NC 2.0]

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