A dedicated couple are celebrating two special fifties after topping £50,000 raised for East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH) in their golden wedding anniversary year.
Roger and Ann Kerrison, of Hargham Road, Attleborough, have spent most of their married life raising money for children in need of help and support.
The couple celebrated 50 years of married life with family, friends and representatives from EACH at Attleborough Town Hall by doing what they do best – raising £2,000 for the charity after taking donations in lieu of gifts to mark their special day.
This, added to the funds they have helped to raise over the past two decades, takes the total over the £50,000 mark – the equivalent of raising £1,000 for every year of their marriage.
The couple's journey began 54 years ago.
Mr Kerrison, 25 at the time, lived in Carleton Rode, while Mrs Kerrison, who was 24, lived nearby in New Buckenham.
They met after Mrs Kerrison, then a nurse, needed help at work and Mr Kerrison was sent to the rescue.
The couple, who have 14 god-children, started fund-raising 26 years ago.
Mr Kerrison, now 79, used skills learned through working in Jarrold's accounts department to do the charity's wages, while Mrs Kerrison put her natural ability as a nurse to good use.
Despite a four-year break after Mr Kerrison had an aortic heart valve replacement in 2001, the stalwart supporters were soon back to helping others by volunteering at the Quidenham hospice, where they contributed to fund-raisers and undertook duties such as changing the beds and cleaning.
Now the couple, who are also members of the Norwich and Norfolk Hospital Trust and the Norfolk Zipper Club, have been forced to take a backseat after a series of injuries left them both unable to drive.
'We are still involved – just not as much as we were before,' Mrs Kerrison said. They are determined to continue fund-raising and look back on their achievements so far with pride.
'It's lovely, it's wonderful to think about. It takes so much to care for people so it's just wonderful to think that it is considered important. Years ago people didn't have things like this,' Mrs Kerrison, 78, said.
She added that the years of working with children in need had been 'so rewarding'.
And when asked for tips on their happy marriage, Mr Kerrison said: 'Don't argue and always take her a cup of tea.'
'And don't ever let the sun go down on your arguments,' his wife added.
Do you have a fund-raising story? We'd like to hear from you. Contact local.life@archant.co.uk
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