A card from The Queen and a crowd of more than 50 wellwishers were among the many blessings Pat and George Heath of Urchfont could count on their 65th wedding anniversary last Wednesday.

The couple have known each other since their schooldays and have three children, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

They celebrated at their pretty cottage in Urchfont, where they have lived for more than 55 of their 65 years together.

Mrs Heath, 84, said: “It was a lovely day. At least 50 people dropped in during the afternoon and we had more than 60 cards – the most important, of course, was the one from The Queen.”

They both left school at 14 to work on the local farm. Mrs Heath worked in the poultry unit, which meant a day starting at 8am and going through to 5pm. Mr Heath, because the dairy unit was among his areas of responsibility, had to be in work for 6am to do the milking.

Mr Heath said: “Of course, there were no holidays before the war. That only came in in 1946, I think. Then I had to work four hours on Saturday and two hours on Sunday to do the milking.”

The couple were married at St Michael’s Church on October 30, 1948, and in 2008, on the occasion of their diamond wedding anniversary, they renewed their vows in the same church.

They decided against a similar event this year.

Mrs Heath said: “Instead the vicar came round, and that was lovely.”

Both Mr and Mrs Heath served on Urchfont Parish Council and were caretakers at the village hall for many years. If anything needed doing around the village, they were often called on.

Mrs Heath helped with the Urchfont Brownies for 34 years and was the village correspondent for the Gazette & Herald for 26 years, one of the paper’s longest-serving correspondents.

When the school was desperate for a cleaner, she stepped into the breach and worked with children with special educational needs.

Mr Heath was a bell ringer at St Michael’s Church for most of his life and took over the handbell ringing group. He even started up a handbell group at West Lavington.

Mrs Heath has also been a bell ringer and was the first woman at the church to ring a quarter peal.