Still going strong at 60, is this Britain’s oldest oven?
it was the year the first Mini went on sale and Juke Box Jury started on telly.
1959 was also the year Grace Marks splashed out £38 (£840 in today’s money) on a fancy cream- coloured new World gas cooker.
And remarkably – unlike thousands of Minis which have since hit the scrap heap and the David Jacobs pop show which ended in 1967 – it ’s still going strong.
Grace cooked tens of thousands of meals on her ‘pride and joy’ before passing away in 1999, aged 79.
however, the cooker was inherited by her daughter V al who is still using it today and refuses to upgrade because it’s the last surviving memento of her mother.
it’s understood the appliance is one of the oldest working cookers in Britain, according to experts at new World.
in all the years Mrs Marks, 62, from rotherham and her mother had owned the cooker – a new World forty two – the only part which has been replaced is its thermostat, more than 20 years ago.
Mrs Marks said: ‘it’s the only thing i’ve got left of my mum’s belongings. People say i should get a new one but i say “no, it’s my memories of my mum’. that’s why i look after it – it was my mum’s pride and joy and she was always cleaning it.
‘her favourite thing to cook on it was beans on toast with a fried egg on top.
‘over the years it ’s moved from house-to-house and from flat-to - flat all over rotherham.’ She added: ‘ You just can ’ t get a cooker as sturdy as this any more. i think if you look after stuff it lasts a lot longer than stuff you can buy today. it’s immaculate.
‘i’m hoping it outlives me. if it does then i’ll donate it to Clifton P ark Museum in rotherham.’