GREAT grandfather Roy Coates has hung up his fundraising hat after spending more than four decades boosting the coffers of his favourite charity. The 84-year-old from Porlock has raised nearly £80,000 for the NSPCC over the past 40 years or so, but on bank holiday Monday he stepped down from his voluntary role. Roy set up an annual fun run in his home village in aid of the charity around 30 years ago - an event which is still going strong. In recent years he has manned the water and refreshment station at the end of the two-mile dash through the streets but that has now proved too much of a challenge. Roy's unstinting support of the NSPCC began ten years earlier when he used his green fingered talents as a keen amateur gardener to grow and sell plants from a table outside his home in aid of the charity. His late wife Betty, who died in 1996, was also a keen supporter and came up with many of the ideas for some of the early fundraising challenges. Graham Sizer, one of the current organisers of the fun run, said the health and safety elements of the events were questionable by modern-day standards. "Back in the 1960s they had a three-mile pram race to Porlock Weir along an open road where driver and passenger had to consume half a pint at each pub there and back," he said. "But each year many a purse was emptied for the NSPCC.  "Betty thought up these competitions, which have since been watered down a fair bit to comply with modern health and safety regulations, but still many families turn out for their annual exercise. "Roy is a remarkable man, having raised nearly £80,000 for the NSPCC over the years, but his fundraising legacy will live on in the Porlock fun run. "It is a hugely good-humoured event which everyone enjoys, even if they get caught up in the inevitable traffic jams, and we are grateful to Roy for making this possible." Roy said Betty had been a passionate supporter of the NSPCC.  "It was my wife really that started it all in 1955," he said. "I was married to her for 48 years and only had one holiday – every weekend she was doing some sort of fundraiser for the NSPCC whether it was a coffee morning or a village dance. "She felt very passionately about the charity, devoting her life to raising funds for children and before she died she asked that the fun run continue. "Calling it a day was a very difficult decision for me, but I'm so pleased to hear the run will live on, with the proceeds still going to the NSPCC." At the end of this year's event, Moira Smyth, chairman of the West Somerset branch of the NSPCC, presented Roy with a certificate of thanks. "Roy and his late wife Betty raised money that has changed the lives of hundreds of children and their dedication is an inspiration to all fundraisers," she said.  Sharon Copsey, NSPCC head of service for the South West, said the couple were rare and remarkable people who made the charity's vital work with local children possible. "They have raised a staggering amount of money during their lifetimes with passion and creativity and we only hope Roy knows just how valued this contribution is.  "We rely on kind-hearted people like this for more than 90 per cent of our income and without the generosity of fundraising volunteers like Roy and Betty, we couldn't survive."