"It's so threadbare, but it was my husband's pride and joy," Frances Fearn told The Sun.

Now that her husband has died, Fearn displays the tree, still bearing its original ornaments, as a memorial next to his photograph in her home in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

The tree, about 18 inches tall, was purchased at Woolworths in 1929. That makes it a year older than Fearn.

The English Woolworths chain, originally an arm of the U.S. company, faces liquidation because of its financial problems.

"It's something to think it could now last longer than Woolworths," Fearn said.