IT’S not just the Queen who is celebrating a diamond anniversary this year.

Gladys Trickle, 86, was last week treated to a surprise party after 60 years of volunteering at All Saints Church in Bramdean, near Alresford.

Gladys, of nearby Hinton Ampner, is the sacristan at the church, helping to make sure the building is ready for services and events, while she was also church warden for 17 years.

She said: “I’m very surprised at this, my friends are very naughty. This church has been my life, before and after my husband died, and this is a lovely surprise.”

Gladys added some of her favourite memories had come from her involvement with the church and she was pleased to see it was still popular with the community.

She said: “I always enjoyed the weddings and christenings they had here. But I think one of the things I have always wanted was to see the church full and in the last few years it has been.”

The surprise was sprung at the Bramdean and Hinton Ampner Village Hall towards the end of the regular tea club’s meeting.

It was organised by current church warden Richard Horder and his wife Wendy, of Wood Lane, Bramdean.

Mrs Horder said: “It’s nice for Gladys because she has given so much to the church and we just wanted to recognise that really.”