A BLIND veteran from Farnham is set to march at the Cenotaph in London this Remembrance Sunday.

Wally Blowes, 83, will be marching alongside 100 other blind veterans, with support from Blind Veterans UK, the national charity for vision-impaired ex-service men and women.

Wally joined the Army in 1951 at 15 years old, training at the Army Apprentice School and serving with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) in 1954.

He served in Germany, in the Suez Crisis and Northern Ireland mainly as a gun fitter, later working to maintain teaching equipment at the REME training school, leaving the Army as a Sergeant in 1976.

Wally noticed problems with his sight “about 12 years ago” and was confirmed to have macular degeneration, one of the leading causes for sight loss in the UK.

“It was pretty gradual at first but then went downhill very quickly a few years ago,” said Wally.

“It was devastating to hear that there was nothing more that could be done. I remember the day when I was told I could no longer drive.”

Fortunately, Wally found Blind Veterans UK and started receiving support from the charity in 2016.

He said: “The impact was straight away. The first thing they did was install a stair lift as I was struggling getting around the house due to a spinal injury.”

Wally said the “biggest impact the charity has had on him has been changing the way he feels about his sight loss”. He said: “It got to the point where I’m pretty sure I’d have got divorced as I was taking the frustration out on my wife because I couldn’t see any way out.

“It was a change in mind set as much as anything and that’s had the biggest difference.”

Wally will be marching with 100 other blind veterans at the Cenotaph this Remembrance Sunday. He said: “This will be my first time marching, or rather being pushed in my wheelchair, at the Cenotaph and I’m not quite sure what to expect.

“I’ll be remembering a few friends that I lost in Suez and then later the Falklands.”