Former Gazette correspondent and poet Pam Carder, who became known as the Pam Ayres of Pewsey, has died suddenly at the age of 81.

Mrs Carder, whose husband Alex was chairman of Pewsey Parish Council for eight years, died on May 24, a week after celebrating her 81st birthday.

The couple celebrated their diamond wedding just two months earlier and Mrs Carder, said her husband, was delighted with the card they had received from the Queen.

Mrs Carder was born in Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire and was working as a librarian when she met Alex Carder who, at the time, was working in the county council’s treasurer’s department and her father was his boss.

“We were about 16 or 17 when we met and the rest is history,” Mr Carder said at their home in Pewsey.

He later entered the Royal Air Force as a pilot cadet and was commissioned, starting a new career that took him and his wife and their three children as they came along all over the world.

For a while Mrs Carder was a teacher in Brunei which was one of their air force postings.

Mr Carder did two tours of duty at RAF Upavon and the couple came to love the Pewsey Vale and the village of Pewsey in particular, choosing to retire there when his RAF career came to an end about 30 years ago.

The couple threw themselves into the life of the community with Mr Carder joining the parish council while his wife joined in a myriad of activities.

Mrs Carder joined the History Society, the Women’s Institute and Mothers Union, and became an active member of Pewsey Gardening Club and Theatre Club.

She was one of founders of the village’s Craft and Tea Rooms which has been run successfully by villagers in the Market Place for some years.

She was also a leading member of the Theatre Club and Mr and Mrs Carder were a popular entertainment duo for many years performing in Pewsey and the villages around.

The grandmother and great grandmother developed a vast knowledge of local affairs and for many years she wrote the Pewsey in Print column in the Gazette and Herald.

She spent a long time researching the history of Pewsey Vale Wine produced in the Barossa Valley in Australia and established that the Gilbert family, who still run the winery, had originally come from Pewsey.

Most of all Pam Carder was known for her witty poetry which covered a vast range of subjects and she had four anthologies of her verse published. She was delighted when one of her poems was chosen to go in a national anthology published for the Queen’s 80th birthday.

One of her poems was read by granddaughter Emma Page at her funeral on June 11 in a packed St John’s Church.

Mrs Carder, who had contended with Parkinson’s Disease in her latter years, is survived by her husband, son Grahame, daughters Angela and Melanie, seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren. One brother also survives her.

Donations can be made in her memory for Parkinson’s UK (Swindon) care of funeral director Diane Mackinder, Wagon Yard, London Road, Marlborough SN8 1LH.