Blind 100-year-old Bletchley Park veteran's war memoirs released

Margaret Wilson served in the WAAF before transferring to Bletchley Park

A 100-year-old veteran who intercepted German secret messages at Bletchley Park is to release her war memoirs.

Margaret Wilson, from Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, served in the Woman's Auxillary Airforce (WAAF) in World War Two before transferring to the famous code-breaking complex.

She lost her sight in later life and the book, A WAAF at War, was written by fellow blind veteran Simon Mahoney.

Ms Wilson said she was honoured to have been written about.

Former Royal Marine Mr Mahoney, from Ashbourne in Derbyshire, lost his sight to glaucoma and met Ms Wilson when he became a telephone befriender for the Blind Veterans UK charity.

She has been helped by the charity and the pair struck up a friendship after he was assigned to her.

Simon wrote the book using specially adapted software to help blind writers

Mr Mahoney, 76, said: "Having listened to and been in awe of Margaret's amazing stories for over four years I jokingly suggested that she should write a book.

"She said 'I leave that sort of thing to you' - and in that moment a mad idea was born."

Ms Wilson, joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force in 1941.

Later in the war she trained in communications and went on to work as a Morse slip reader at Bletchley Park.

Ms Wilson, who took park in a Remembrance parade in London in November, lost her sight much later in life due to age-related macular degeneration and started receiving support from the charity in 2016.

"You try and get by as long as you can when you're told you're losing your sight but when it started to get very bad I did feel really miserable. I can't see to read or write now," she said.

Mr Mahoney interviewed Mrs Wilson over several months and typed up the book using an adapted PC and word-processing software supplied by the military charity that supports blind and partially-sighted veterans

He said: "If it wasn't for the adaptive kit that Blind Veterans UK gave me and trained me up on, there's no way that Margaret's amazing life story would have been able to have been told in this book."

Ms Wilson said Mr Mahoney had become a dear friend

Ms Wilson said: "I'm very excited to see the book when it's finished. I feel honoured.

"I can't believe that I've had a book written about me and it makes me happy to know that my stories can be shared with my family and friends.

"During the Covid lockdowns I was lucky enough to be connected with Simon via telephone to support me through that challenging time.

"I've loved our regular calls and the conversations have always been fun and interesting. We've spent many an hour putting the world to right and sharing our life stories.

"He once said that he wanted to write a book about me and I never thought it would actually happen, but Simon is truly amazing at making things like this come to life.

"I cannot thank him enough for his kind words and support, he's become such a dear friend and I still look forward to our calls."

The book will be launched at an event at Shirebrook Ex-Servicemens' Club in Derbyshire on 15 April.

Profits from sales of the book will go to Blind Veterans UK.