A VALE couple who found love thanks to Blind Veterans UK are championing the good work of the military charity as they prepare to celebrate Valentine’s Day together.

Tina Morgan, 90, of Dinas Powys and Bob Hicks, 88, of Barry are celebrating their seventh year as a couple.

Mr Hicks said: “When I met Tina at the Blind Veterans UK lunch we really hit it off. Within a month of meeting I invited her to come on holiday with me because I was nervous about going on my own and she ended up saying yes. Since then we’ve travelled all over the world together. It’s amazing that we get on so well.”

Mr Hicks served in the Royal Air Force for his National Service from 1947.

He trained at RAF Bawdsey in Suffolk and served in the Air Traffic Control unit in Gloucester. He was discharged two years later in 1949 as an aircraftman.

Mr Hicks’ sight started to deteriorate due to a genetic disease called macular dystrophy and he was registered sight-impaired in 2011.

“My sight loss was gradual and I didn’t notice it at first,” he said. “It seemed to go through cycles of degenerating, stabilising for a while and then degenerating again. It was very disruptive and eventually I had to give up my job.”

He began receiving specialist free specialist support in 2015.

Mr Hicks said: “Blind Veterans UK has been very good to me. They’ve given me some brilliant equipment to help me with my sight loss. It’s given me a bit of independence again because now I can read my own letters.”

Mrs Morgan and her veteran husband John also received the charity’s support, which continued after his death in 2003.

Mrs Morgan said: “Before Blind Veterans UK came into our lives John used to be too nervous to leave the house. But through the charity John met other blind veterans who were in the same boat as him and he came out of his shell. The help for John was simply wonderful.”

Mr Hicks and Mrs Morgan met at the lunch club in 2010.

Mr Hicks said: “I was a bit uncertain about going to the lunch club but I had lots of fun chatting to Tina. We have been inseparable and gone on one holiday after another. We’ve been all over Europe and even to Thailand and Singapore. It’s been quite the adventure.”

Mrs Morgan added: “People don’t know how marvellous Blind Veterans UK is. Everyone should know.”

For details, call Blind Veterans UK on 0800 389 7979 or visit noonealone.org.uk