A BLIND Second World War veteran attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace to mark the centenary of a vital charity for ex-servicemen and women.

Peter Nash, 92, of Alexandra House, in Dovercourt, was among thousands of veterans who have been helped by Blind Veterans UK when he attended the event earlier this month.

He enlisted with the Royal Navy in 1940 when he was just 18. During the Second World War, he trained as an electrical engineer on aircraft and served on the aircraft carriers HMS Argus, HMS Indomitable and HMS Khedive.

Mr Nash served during the Malta Convoys and in the allied invasion of Sicily, when HMS Indomitable was torpedoed by the Italian airforce.

In 1946, after the end of the war, he was released from the Royal Navy. He returned to London, where he was born and spent his early years, and trained as a accountant.

After Mr Nash retired, he moved to Dovercourt to be close to his daughter Ann Hebden. Mrs Hebden, who accompanied her father to the palace, said Blind Veterans UK was an invaluable charity that had supported her father over the years.

She said: “It was a really lovely day and a once-in a-lifetime experience.”