Childhood sweethearts Sidney and Rose Kember have celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary.

The couple, both 93, who live in Hawthorn Grove, Trow-bridge, enjoyed a family meal out on the anniversary itself, last Thursday, and also held a family party at Spencer Sports and Social Club, in Melksham, on Sunday.

Their home is filled with gifts and cards, including one from the Queen.

Mrs Kember said: “We have been spoilt, we’ve had so many cards and messages. The one from the Queen is lovely, we got one from her on our 50th, but I think this one is nicer.”

The Kembers grew up together in London, meeting at Sunday school and going on their first date when they were 18. Mrs Kember said: “One day Sid said ‘Do you want to go to the cinema’, and I was in heaven.”

Mr Kember served in the Royal Air Force as a radar operator between 1940 and 1946, and was posted to Iceland, India and Burma. He proposed when he was on leave from a year’s deployment in Iceland and the couple were married at St Andrew’s Church, Islington, on October 10, 1943, honeymooning in Inverness the following year.

After the Second World War, Mr Kember worked as an office manager. They moved to Wiltshire because of Mr Kember’s job with Unigate, in Bradford on Avon.

The couple have three children, Colin, 66, Janet, 62, and Paul, 47, five grandchildren, Michael, 34, Catherine, 32, Angela, 16, Kristian, 12, and seven-year-old Olivia and a great-granddaughter, seven-year-old Danni.

Mrs Kember also worked at Unigate, and the pair both retired around 30 years ago.

Mr Kember said: “We have never had a disagreement during all our years together, we have never gone to bed on a sour note.”