A COUPLE used their ruby wedding anniversary celebration to help a hospital provide a new play area for sick children.
When Celia and Edward McKinley celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary, they decided to ask their family and friends to give money towards the new children's play area at Bishop Auckland General Hospital.
The ward should be moving with the rest of the hospital into a £67m new building next summer.
About £10,000 needs to be raised to provide children with a soft play area and ball pit.
Debbie Nicholson, a nurse on the children's ward, said: "When we move into the new hospital building we are not going to be on the ground floor any more, so we need a safe play area where they can let off steam. Play is a very important part of recovery for children. It will also be somewhere where they can go that is not a hospital environment."
Mr and Mrs McKinley, from Mayfield, raised the money by charging guests £5 to attend their wedding anniversary party and dance in Barnard Castle. They raised similar amounts for the Teesdale Talking Newspaper and Foundation into Sudden Infant Death.
Mrs McKinley, 62, said: "We thought we would give the money to the foundation because our grandson died when he was two years old. I donated the money to the hospital because I felt as though I wanted to do something for children."
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