HARD-working charity fund-raising organiser Eva Howard and husband Frank have celebrated 50 golden years together.

Eva was the chairman of the Culcheth group of the Pat Seed Cancer Fund which raised £1million for a CAT scanner for the Christie Hospital in the 1970s.

She now keeps up her charity work in Formby where she helps the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the local hospice, and the mental health organisation Making Space.

Eva, 73, was brought up on farms in Kenyon and now lives with Frank, a Culcheth man, in Dobson Drive, Formby.

The couple were married at Hob Hey Lane Independent Methodist Chapel, Culcheth, and two of their bridesmaids, Maureen Gould, of Culcheth, and Mary Wilcox, a former workmate at BICC, Leigh, were at the celebration at the Haydock Thistle Hotel.

Eva worked for 20 years as a nursing assistant at Newchurch Hospital while Frank, 76, was a fitter and later vehicle inspector.

The couple who have a son, Paul, daughter, Carol, and three grandsons lived on the Isle of Man before moving to Formby 13 years ago.

In her busy fund raising days for journalist Pat, who battled cancer to raise the cash for the areas first CAT scanner, Eva lived in Warrington Road, Culcheth.

She said: "They were wonderful days. The people of Culcheth were very supportive and the money just rolled in."

The couple left their celebration party for a five day break in Llandudno.