About us

Audrey lived in the UK in the 1940s,

and was one of a small group of women in the Wrens brought in to design ‘war game’ exercises for the Navy’s servicemen.

“We were never exactly told that our work was a new concept in teaching naval strategy using scenarios and exercise. In a way we were guinea pigs,” she says.

Audrey’s job was to work on a Perspex screen, plotting the presence of make-believe enemy ships, torpedo and bomb attacks, submarines, and surface craft, all overlaid with fake weather conditions and time of day.

“Like a soap opera, events in an exercise came close upon each other to maintain interest and learning,” Audrey explains.

Technical information was passed over telephones (there were no computers back then) to the men on the course: ranges and bearings, visual sightings, reports from lookouts on the bridge or elsewhere.  Audrey and the team expertly provided the information for trainees to absorb and strategise, and ultimately find a way out.

Audrey knows exactly how long she spent in the Wrens: “Two years, eight months, and 18 days.  I know that because I used it to help make up the compulsory three years of service I needed to become a grade three teacher in New Zealand.”

She also vividly remembers her 21st birthday, as she recalls “It was the best 21st I could have had.  My birthday is August 13, and the war was declared over on August 15.”

Once discharged nearly a year later, Audrey studied at Bristol University before emigrating to New Zealand in 1953. Here, she enjoyed a long and happy teaching career, including being the senior mistress at Upper Hutt College.

A legacy of care

In Audrey’s words, Wellington Free “took me to hospital so long ago, I can’t even remember when! But I fully appreciated what they did”. Since this experience, every year on her birthday Audrey gives Wellington Free a dollar for every year of her life and asks her friends to make donations rather than buy presents.

She’s also the woman behind the perfectly costumed paramedic teddies which are sometimes auctioned at fundraisers, and occasionally make their way into the homes of new Wellington Free babies.

These days Audrey has needed the help of Wellington Free paramedics several times, following terrible pains in her chest, when she had pneumonia and when she had a fall resulting in a broken wrist. These experiences have led Audrey to leave a legacy a care: a gift for Wellington Free Ambulance in her will.

Audrey explains:

“It’s a wonderful service – it’s free, if you need it, it’s there, and you don’t need to worry. I am proud to have Wellington Free in my Will. I am a firm supporter, and that will never change.”

Leaving a gift in your will to Wellington Free Ambulance helps save and change lives for generations to come. These heartfelt gifts ensure that we can deliver on our commitment: to be there for the people of Greater Wellington and Wairarapa when they need us the most, for free. We’re so appreciative of our incredible supporters like Audrey. If you’d like to know more about leaving a gift in your will, please visit our dedicated page.