A KIND-HEARTED Bromsgrove pensioner made the unusual gesture of giving a gift instead of receiving one at her birthday party.

Eighty-five-year-old Marjorie Foster, of Sidemoor, generously donated £400 to Crown Eye Care Centre opticians, in Crown Close, at her birthday party held at Bromsgrove Labour Club in Worcester Road last Saturday. She raised the money through a series of fundraising events and distributed the remaining £800 to Leukaemia research and the town's St John Ambulance branch.

Centre manager Ian Robinson said: "We were obviously delighted and amazed at how much trouble she had gone to in order to raise the cash."