A grandmother’s gift is considered something to treasure. One grandmother’s gift has been treasured for 98 years.

A christening gown made of cotton and cotton lace was given to Jane Morton by her grandmother. Mrs Morton’s two elder brothers previously wore the gown made in 1910, before Mrs Morton wore it on her christening day in 1915. Every member of the family has since worn the gown on their christening day.

“It was never intended for everybody to wear but everybody has just ended up wearing it,” Mrs Morton’s granddaughter Rosalie Whan said. “I’ve worn it, my brother has worn it and our kids wore it.”

On Sunday April 27 Ellie Clair Hayden was baptised at St Patrick’s Church Glen Innes by Father John Carey in the 98-year-old gown, the fifth generation to do so.

“I was so glad when (Ellie’s mother) Clair said that Ellie was going to wear the dress; I thought she might have thought it to be too old fashioned,” Mrs Whan said.

The five generations who have worn the gown include Ellie’s great great grandmother Jane Morton, her great grand mother Betty Stibbard, her grandfather Gary Stibbard and mother Clair Hayden.

“Troy and I had been thinking about a christening gown for Ellie, then we received a phone call from my great grandmother offering us the gown.” Mrs Hayden said.

“I wore it however I didn’t know that the three generations prior to myself also wore it. When Troy and I realised this it was a very obvious decision to keep the family tradition going.”

Ellie is the first child of Troy and Clair Hayden formerly of Glen Innes. The family now reside at Oxenford on the Gold Coast. In attendance at the christening were grand parents Greg and Carol Hayden of Glen Innes, Wendy and Gary Stibbard of Pacific Pines on the Gold Coast and greatgrand parents Laurie and Enid Ramage of Glen Innes, Malcolm and Betty Stibbard of Glen Innes and Maureen Chappell of Toowoomba.

Her godparents are Brett Hayden of Glen Innes and Erica Stibbard of Coomera on the Gold Coast.

“We were very grateful when Fr Carey accepted our wish to have Ellie christened in Glen Innes as it made it easier for all he generations in both of our families to attend,” Mr and Mrs Hayden said.