ROGER and Pamela Sydenham (née Springate) celebrated their blue sapphire - 65th - wedding anniversary earlier this month and received a special message from the Queen.

The couple from Fernhurst were married in St Christopher’s Church, Haslemere in 1953, having met at the Haslemere Players, where Pam and all her family were involved for many years, especially in Gilbert and Sullivan productions.

Roger moved from his home town of Haywards Heath to Haslemere where he worked for the town council.

Shortly after their marriage, Roger and Pam went to live and work in Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) for three years, where Roger was a government officer and Pam chief passport officer.

They returned in 1957, after the birth of their son, Andrew and lived at Bramshott Chase. 

Their daughter, Penny, was born at St George’s Wood, in Haslemere, in 1959, and the family moved to Godalming in the 1970s. 

Pam taught in Surrey schools for more 40 years, including Beacon Hill, Rodborough, Chilworth, Tillingbourne and Shottermill. 

Roger worked for the Royal National Institute for the Deaf in London and became its director. 

They moved to Suffolk when Roger became the fundraiser for the St Elizabeth Hospice, in Ipswich.

They retired to Fernhurst and have lived in the village for more than 20 years.