Keith and Sandra Brewer, from Coleford, who celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary surrounded by family and friends, donated the incredible sum of £1,000 to local charity, Time is Precious.

Instead of gifts to help celebrate their anniversary, the couple asked for donations from their family and friends to raise as much money as possible for the charity.

Neil Halford, founder of the charity, said: “Keith and Sandra said they wanted to have their party in aid of Time is Precious as it’s a fantastic local charity that help so many children.

“This is an amazing amount of money and a brilliant idea!”

Time is Precious is a voluntary run charity, running since 2011, thanks to founders Neil and Nicky Halford, who set up the charity in memory of their son Ben who sadly died from cancer in 2010. He was cared for at Bristol Children’s Hospital, Frenchay and RUH children’s ward for almost four years.

The couple’s charity sets out to create a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere for children and their families during their time in hospital or at home, working with specialists to purchase equipment and refurbish areas to support children whose illness or disability means long hospital stays for treatment.

Neil updated The Journal on the charity’s recent journey: “Recently, we have managed to complete many projects in our local hospitals, helping thousands of seriously ill children. At the Royal United Hospital Bath, we installed: A Live Picture, that moves in the aesthetic room attached to the MRI, so when children need to have this procedure, it will relax them and take their mind off what is happening to them.

• Funding a large mobile interactive games screen (like an I. Pad, but much bigger).

• The refurbishment of the Paediatric Recovery Area for when children wake up from an operation. We have made child friendly and much less clinical.

Bristol Children’s Hospital: x4 Mobile Games Consoles (and 1 for Yeovil) 
• X2 large Interactive games screens.

• Specialized DVD Player for their MRI Scanner, due to the success of the one in RUH.

• Mobile Sensory Unit

The charity have set their sights on upcoming projects:

To refurbish the children’s waiting area in RUH, by purchasing TVS and Xbox.

They will be having a new X-Ray Waiting Area, which will be referbished as at present this is just white and again, very clinical.

Neil added: “We are also adding more sensory equipment in Bristol Children’s Ward, costing over £12,000.

“The charity still needs your support, so if you would like to donate or join our amazing team TIP at Bath Half 2024, please visit www.timeisprecious.org”