A COUPLE celebrated their golden wedding by proving they had hearts of gold and raising £500 for a cancer charity. Brenda and Bill Cooper held a party for 60 people in Forty Foot Village Hall and asked their guests to make a donation to cancer research in

A COUPLE celebrated their golden wedding by proving they had hearts of gold and raising £500 for a cancer charity.

Brenda and Bill Cooper held a party for 60 people in Forty Foot Village Hall and asked their guests to make a donation to cancer research instead of bringing them presents. They wanted to help fight cancer, especially because Mr Cooper has had treatment for prostate and bowel cancer.

The couple, both from Ramsey, met when they were 17. They married at King's Lynn Register Officer on August 15, 1956, the day before Mr Cooper's 22nd birthday. By then, he had completed his National Service and joined the regular army.

On the day of the wedding, he had to leave the celebrations in the evening and return to his regiment. It was three years before he came home again. He fought in Korea and served in Egypt during the Suez Crisis.

After 50 years of marriage, the couple have three sons and three granddaughters who surprised them with a giant cut-out of their wedding picture to greet them at their party.

Mrs Cooper, said: "We have had our ups and downs but we have always got on well together and worked together."

Her husband said: "I am over the moon we collected so much money. I never expected people would be so generous." He said the secret of a long and happy marriage was "because we got stuck into it. You have got to muck in together and pull together. I think the world of her.