Not just any old iron! Chris’s granny got his in the 1940s... and it still works
IT was bought for 41 shillings just after the start of the Second World War – and what could be Britain’s oldest working electric iron is still going strong 80 years on.
Chris West, 56, was given the iron when it was already more than 40 years old by his grandmother Ivy Sutton when he moved into his first flat in 1989.
She bought the Morphy Richards Senior appliance in the early 1940s for £2 and one shilling, about £35 in today’s money.
Morphy Richards ran an online competition looking for the country’s oldest working iron to mark its 85th anniversary this year.
Mr West, who works as a manager for a cleaning and hygiene supplier, entered and won. He said: ‘This is the first online competition I have ever entered, and I’m thrilled.
‘My grandmother gave the iron to me as a moving-in present. It’s great it’s still in the family after all these years. I didn’t have too much money so she gave me one she didn’t use any more.
‘She passed away in 2000 but she would be pleased I have looked after it and it has come to some attention.
‘My mum is still alive and she can remember her having it in the 1950s.’
Mr West, of Petts Wood, south-east London, added: ‘I was brought up that you just don’t waste things or throw them out if there is nothing wrong with them.’
The Senior iron was launched in 1938 and was the first to have a pilot light to indicate when the temperature was right for different fabrics.
Mr West said his iron, which still outperforms and ‘goes far hotter’ than its modern equivalents, has never needed any repairs.
He added: ‘It’s proved pretty good value over all these years. When I need to use it, it does the job brilliantly. Andreas Fredriksson, of Morphy Richards, said: ‘During our 85 years we’ve strived to create groundbreaking products that stand the test of time, and it’s been great to hear Chris’s story and to know his grandmother’s iron is still going strong after all these years.’