LONG-SERVING Liss volunteer worker Desiree Leila Margaret Roderick has been rewarded for her efforts, by being included in the Queen's MBE honours list. Mrs Roderick, 87, has been honorary secretary for the Army Commandos Benevolent Fund since 1985, and a spokesman for the group said: "The award is well deserved and long overdue." Her involvement with the fund goes back to when the fund began in the 1940s, following the Second World War, and her husband, John, served as a commando. He was taken as a prisoner of war following the St Nazaire Commando raid in 1942, but was released after the war ended in 1945. The couple moved to Liss in 1952 where John served as a GP in the village after training as a doctor in London. Following his death in 2006, Mrs Roderick continued to live on the Old London Road in Rake, near Petersfield. Cheshire-born Mrs Roderick described the award of her MBE as "a great surprise". She added: "It is very undeserved, I am sure. There are many other people who do greater things. It was very kind of everybody who has rung me up and written about it. I am very humbled really." Speaking of her work with the Commandos Benevolent Fund, Mrs Roderick added: "The Second World War veterans, all (aged) over 80, are getting old and many are disabled, and they need our help very badly. We are very privileged to help out." The fund was set up to help people who were Army commandos in the Second World War, a group which was disbanded at the end of the conflict. Commandos Benevolent Fund treasurer Michael Copland said Mrs Roderick was the "main person among the trustees" and her role involved putting through individual grants. He added: "Mrs Roderick is absolutely at the heart of what the fund is all about. She is an absolute tower of strength and still deals with all the requests and comes up to London for our meetings. She is an amazing lady and gives an amazing amount of time to the Fund. "These things tend not to get recognition they deserve, so it is wonderful that she has been rewarded in this way."
