A Scots gran believes she has the world’s oldest unopened Easter egg. Ann Gibb’s 90-year-old chocolate egg is still in its original packaging.
Despite thinking about “throwing it in the bin” when she moved house four years ago, Ann couldn’t go through with it because the egg belonged to the sister she never got to meet. Ann, 89, said: “The Easter egg was bought for my sister who had been in an accident.
“But she never got it because she died in hospital just a month before her fifth birthday. My auntie took the egg and hid it in a cupboard so my mum, who was obviously distraught, couldn’t see it.”
Ann, from Saltcoats, Ayrshire, was born a year after her sister died and, even though she never knew her, she still finds the story behind the Easter egg “heartbreaking”. She said: “Just before my auntie died about 50 years ago, she gave me the Easter egg.
“I didn’t know what to do with it, so I put it in a shoebox and out of sight. When I was moving house four years ago, I came across it and wondered what I should do with it. I thought about throwing it in the bin but I couldn’t do it. I just had to take it to my new house with me.”
During a visit to York a few years ago, Ann paid a visit to the headquarters of the chocolate company Rowntree’s, who had made the egg. She said: “I told them the story and somebody said they’d be in touch with me but they never did
“My granddaughter has looked into it and thinks this is definitely the oldest unopened Easter egg in the world. All of my family know the story behind it.
“It’s painful to talk about, even though I never met my sister and was born the year after she died. I still think about her every Easter.
“There’s no point in me throwing the egg out now but I’ve told my children to get rid of it when I go. It might be in its box but I don’t suppose any of them would fancy eating it.”
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