A YORK couple celebrated 50 years of marriage by raising money for St Leonard's Hospice and the RSPCA.
Generous Jean and Ken Stockdale decided they did not need presents to mark their golden wedding, so they asked everyone to make a donation to two charities instead.
More than 100 people attended the celebrations at the Beechwood Close Hotel, in Shipton Road, York, in March, and all made generous donations.
Now the couple have presented cheques totalling more than £500 to St Leonard's Hospice and the RSPCA.
Jean said: "When you've been married for 50 years there's not really anything you need, so we
thought we'd try to help others.
"We know that St Leonard's does great work for local people, and we wanted to make a donation to such a good cause."
Jean, 69, and Ken, 73, who live in Glen Avenue, Heworth, were married at York Register Office in 1953.
After living in Bristol and in Cheshire they have now returned to their roots in York. They have three sons and six grandchildren.
Their golden wedding celebrations began at the end of last year when they went to Australia to watch cricket.
"Since then, we've never stopped celebrating," said Ken.
Janet Morley, fundraising manager at St Leonard's Hospice, said: "This was a really generous idea from Jean and Ken to help others.
"We send them our thanks and wish them well for the future."
Updated: 09:18 Thursday, May 15, 2003
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