A COUPLE marked 50 years of marriage by collecting charity donations instead of presents.

Pauline and Arthur Hustwick told friends they did not want anniversary gifts, but would accept cash to be shared between the Great North Air Ambulance and the Fire Services Benevolent Fund.

The couple, from Scorton, near Richmond, presented £200 to each charity.

"We have done charity work all our married lives and have raised money for hospices, mountain rescue, cancer charities, the Alzheimer's Society, the St John of God hospital and the Friarage hospital, among others," said Mrs Hustwick.

Her husband said: "When you have been married for 50 years, there is not a lot that you need, so we wanted to help the charities instead."

The couple's eldest son, Bill, a firefighter at Colburn, accepted a cheque on behalf of the service's benevolent fund.

Ken Weilding, receiving the donation for the air ambulance, presented the couple with a print of its helicopter in action in Durham City.