Our £3 Woolies Christmas tree lights still work after 48 years ...and not one bulb has blown
MUSIC teacher Ross Shaddick proudly displays his Christmas tree lights... a decade older than him.
The set are still going strong after 48 years without a single bulb having ever needed to be replaced.
They were bought from Woolworths for £3 by his mother Vina when she was a teenager in 1969.
Ross, 38, shows them off in the front window of his home in Plymouth, wrapped around an artificial Christmas tree which has also stood the test of time.
He said: “The old lights are much better quality than the ones you get these days.
“They seem to be made of strong stuff.
“I'll carry on until the lights fizzle out. They are older than me and have been here all my life. It's been a constant and I hope they keep on working.“
“The lights came with a spare set of bulbs but the originals have never needed replacing.
“Not a single bulb has been changed.”
Vina, 68, lives in a nursing home and Ross cannot take the lights to her because of health and safety regulations.
He said: “I'm not sure the care home would want the tree there.
“I doubt the lights will pass an electrical test.”
But he will show her a picture of them when he visits on Christmas Day. He also worries about their safety.
“I will only have them on if I'm in the room with them to keep an eye on them,” he said.
“I don't know if there will come a time when they stop working.”
Vina said: “I still remember buying them. It was the second year I was married and I went in my lunchtime.
“Word had got round that Woolies had a special delivery of lights from Germany.
“I guess you could say I've had my money's worth from them. “They've never let me down.” Ross also has an LED set of Christmas lights he bought two years ago for £20.
But he said they are already on the blink.
He hopes the old set will carry on at least until “they mark 50 years”.