A ROTARY Club official has raised £600 for charity with a sponsored kissathon.

Marilyn Potts came up with the fundraising idea after becoming the North-East district governor for Rotary last year - the first woman to hold the title.

Many of her male colleagues said they had never kissed a Rotary district governor before, and so Ms Potts began her challenge to kiss as many people as possible in her term of office.

By the end of her year, Ms Potts, based in Newcastle, had kissed 600 North-East Rotary members, charging £1 each for the privilege.

Ms Potts estimates there are 1,200 members of the Rotary Club based in the North-East, and she says she has now been in close contact with half of them.

She said: "It's all very lighthearted, and it's been a very enjoyable way of raising money. Not everybody's donated though, so I've actually kissed quite a few more - it's been quite a year.

"Although the Rotary Club has mostly male members, there have been a few women in there."

The £600 has gone towards the Rotary Club's charities.