Britain’s oldest fairy lights are lighting up another Christmas tree - for the 53rd consecutive year.
Vina Shaddick paid just £3 for the lights during a shopping trip to Woolworths in 1969.
When she died in 2019 they were inherited by her son Ross Farr-Semmens, 42.
Ross hopes to pass the lights onto his daughter Ronnie, currently eight months old.
He said: “It is literally magic that they can still be part of all the Christmas festivities. It’s an important new year for the lights and my family.
“There’s been lots of additions this year. I got married to my amazing wife Ruth, and we’ve also had a newborn baby who’s now eight months old.
“With mum buying them in 1969 it really is just amazing to be part of their continuing success and special place in the household helping us all to celebrate Christmas in style.”
The lights, which are attached to a 1970s plastic Christmas tree, were turned on today.
Last year there was a brief moment of concern when the bulbs took several seconds to light up.
But music teacher Ross, of Plymouth, Devon, has consulted an electrician to check they are still safe.
He said: “We’ve never needed to change a bulb, which is good because I’ve lost track of where the spares were.”
Ross even considered paying to have all the wiring updated.
He added: “But at the same time if you change [the bulbs] and the wires - they’re not really the same lights anymore are they and I’d feel like I’m cheating the 100-year dream.”
Across the UK, in a bid to banish Covid blues, a family has sent out a huge Merry Christmas to their neighbours with a 30ft snowman outside their house.
Every evening, the colossal inflatable - which is joined by an equally impressive Santa - have led to crowds of people stopping for selfies.
The pair are so big, reaching up to the eaves and roof, they actually mask half the property from their street in Letchworth, Herts.
George White, 27, who persuaded his parents to put up the mammoth decorations at their 100-year-old home, said he thought everyone “could do with cheering up”.
