AN Addingham couple celebrated their 60th birthdays by raising more than £1,200 for Cancer Research UK.

Ruth and Stephen Hall held a party, but instead of gifts they invited guests to buy a raffle ticket, which raised a total of £1,220 for the cancer charity.

The cause is very close to their hearts as the charity helped Stephen, a builder and stonemason, deal with a malignant sarcoma – a form of skin cancer that affected his leg.

And Ruth was considered at high risk of ovarian cancer, which claimed the life of her mother, and had had an elective hysterectomy.

"Cancer Research has been really good to us," said Ruth, a former food technology teacher, who taught at Skipton's Aireville School for more than 30 years.