While the country looks forward to the easing of restrictions in the coming weeks, Pamela and David Harrison have more reason to celebrate than most.
The Sidmouth couple, who live at Sanditon on Station Road, will be reminiscing on their 60 years of marriage as they celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary on Friday, March 25.
Pamela, 81, and David, 84, were married at St Ann’s Church in Tottenham in 1961, having met while working at Anglia TV. They had three children, Richard, Catherine and Rowan.
Catherine said: “The pair visited Sidmouth around 1987 for the first time and fell in love with the town straight away. I remember my mum came home with pictures of the flower baskets outside the hairdressers! They bought a holiday cottage literally that weekend and then started to make plans to return down there.
“They moved to their first house, Clifton House on The Esplanade, in 1998. They only moved to their flat in Sanditon a few years ago because the stairs were getting too much for them and dad had a stroke, which he has fully recovered from.
“They are both avid cricket fans (Somerset and England) and have watched games all over the country and the world.
“They love every single aspect of living in Sidmouth. Dad is very active in the snooker club and mum is a member of the art society and they both play croquet. They have tons of friends there. They have also both previously been active members of Sidmouth Amateur Dramatic Society.”
On the day of their anniversary, Pamela and David plan to enjoy ‘a posh takeaway dinner’ and see their family via a virtual video chat.
Their daughter, Rowan, is a front-line medic in a rural outpost hospital in South Africa - in the small village of Ubombo on the Lebombo Mountains. Pamela and David haven’t seen Rowan since October 2019, before the pandemic struck and have been hugely worried about her working in a hospital with only one ventilator.
Rowan and her husband will be looking to come home in April when the borders open again.
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