Cumbria woman preserves Easter eggs passed through generations

Two boiled eggs decorated for Easter have survived in the same family for 104 years.

Angie Fox of Bootle, in Cumbria, found the eggs in her uncle's garage in 2011, smelling "stinky" but well preserved.

They were decorated in 1920 by her great-great-grandmother Sarah Thackston, who boiled them with onions to deepen their colour.

Now the 58-year-old hopes that one of her five grandchildren will eventually become their "custodians."

Ms Fox said her relative decorated the eggs for her grandsons Robert and Edward, using melted wax, with "Happy Easter" messages and painted flowers.

She believes the eggs have "lived" all over the North East with family members, including in Byker, in Newcastle, and Wallsend, before she found them wrapped in a duster in the garage and brought them to Cumbria.

Ms Fox keeps the eggs in a tin, wrapped in bubble wrap, and brings them out every Easter.

"I'm terrified of losing them or breaking them, as I feel like their custodian," she said.

"I get them out at Easter to look at them. It's amazing they had survived so long, little, fragile eggs that have turned out to be so resilient.

"I would say to anyone who has anything small and precious, keep hold of it.

"These eggs are part of our family tradition and when we get them out to look at, we remember the people they were for."

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