A Coventry couple invited their friends and family to a birthday party - for their 50-year-old fridge.

Paul and Val Howkins had banners, party poppers and even a cake to mark the milestone. They bought the Prestcold fridge for £65 on August Bank Holiday in 1959, four years after they got married, and insist it is almost good as new. Party guests enjoyed a buffet of cheese and wine, which had naturally been chilled in the fridge.

Mr Howkins, 75, a retired aeronautical engineer said: "Everyone tells us to get rid of it but we don't want to. Most people didn't have fridges 50 years ago but our kitchen faced south so it was warm. We had a piece of beef on a lump of concrete and it went rotten, so I said we had to buy a fridge. The thermostat went about 30 years ago and when I took it to Prestcold to get another one the man said where on earth did you get that? They didn't even make fridges any more by that point."

Mr Howkins managed to source a new part and the fridge has continued working ever since.

Good job too! Only twenty years is nothing!

Not all the party goers entered into the spirit of the occasion...

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