Marjorie learns to keep in touch online

Marjorie Hanson, 94, from Poulton, now regularly Skypes her grandson in America and her nephew in Canada, a skill she developed during a week’s stay at a special centre in Brighton run by the Blind Veterans UK.

Marjorie first took IT training with the charity last year, and has since benefited from regular IT support, respite stays at the charity’s centres in Llandudno and Brighton, and the companionship of fellow beneficiaries.

Her time in the services saw her joining the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) in 1941 when she was stationed in Didcot, where she worked as a filing clerk until 1945.

She said: “It was a period I look back on with very fond memories.

“I met my husband and some of my lifelong friends in the Armed Forces. One of the girls I worked with in the ATS moved out to America and I went out to visit her nearly 40 years after we first met. Despite the time that had passed, we laughed and joked as if we were 18 again!”

Marjorie has received help and support from Blind Veterans UK since 2014.

She has choroidal neovascular membrane and high myopia, and although she maintains a very can-do attitude to her sight loss, it has had an impact on her daily life.

Marjorie added: “Blind Veterans UK have really given me a new lease of life.”