A Peterborough couple who have given a home to more than 200 children have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.

And as Bill and Eva Clitheroe celebrated their big day they said they were pleased they had been able to help so many children by providing them with a foster home.

In the last 45 years Bill and Eva, of Aldermans Drive, Peterborough have taken in young children and teenagers of all different nationalities and backgrounds.

Their amazing generosity began after their own lives were touched by tragedy.

Bill (82) said: "Our second son, Jeffrey, died of pneumonia when he was just a child.
"When we tried for another child Eva had three miscarriages - and the third time we were going to have triplets.
"In the end we decided we would rather foster than keep putting ourselves through all the trauma of losing a baby."

As well as their own son John, Bill and Eva have also adopted two girls - Ann, now 45, and Maureen McShane, who is in her 30s.

Maureen, who lives in Langtoft, near Bourne, was fostered by the couple when she was just a few months old and suffering from lead poisoning.

She said: "My earliest memories are of being in hospital and my dad walking in and out of the ward.
"Over the years I saw all these children come and go. They dedicated their lives to children.
"Bill and Eva are very tolerant people. They never judge. They are always ready to sit down and listen to you.
"I would like to think that is something I have learned from them."

Anna Lim, a nurse at Peterborough District Hospital, also moved into the house with her two-month-old son following the breakdown of her marriage. Anna (52), of Mayors Walk, West Town, said: "Because I was 24 at the time I wasn't officially fostered.

"But they always introduced me as their daughter, and my son Raymond thinks of them as his grandparents.

"They took us in for two years when we had nowhere else to go."

Eva (81) added: "We were talking to Raymond only the other day.
"He is studying maths at Liverpool University, and doing very well.
"We try to keep in touch with them all. Last year we were invited to the wedding of a Jamaican woman we fostered 30 years ago!"

Ann and Maureen joined Bill and Eva to celebrate their big day, and the couple were blessed with the heartfelt thanks of hundreds of people who owe them a great deal.

Vietnamese children cared for by couple
Bill and Eva were among the first to welcome Vietnamese War refugees to the country.

Bill said: "One of our foster children was on the ship which brought them across and he introduced them to us."

In the following years they would care for a number of East Asians, including Vietnamese and Chinese, as well as Malaysian nurse Anna Lim.

Bill said: "Even now there are Chinese families in Peterborough who call me dad."

Used courtesy of the Peterborough Evening Telegraph