“The service has allowed me to read books whenever and wherever I choose.” 

Legacy pledger Peter Wilkins has been a Calibre member for an incredible 43 years. 

Born in 1951 as a quadruplet, Peter was the only one of the siblings who had to be placed in an incubator. Peter received too much oxygen, which caused damage and has meant he has been blind ever since. 

In school, he was trained to be an accurate typist and has enjoyed a very full typing and secretarial career. Here in the UK, this included many departments within BT, but he also had many interesting years working for what was then the EU Commission on Blindness and Mobility, which took him travelling all over Europe minuting meetings. This was a busy time in his life, and he thoroughly enjoyed meeting new people - and sampling a variety of local cuisines! 

Peter first heard about Calibre in 1981 through an advert in a talking newspaper, and he joined up. 

At that time Calibre’s audiobooks were on cassette tape, and he listened through a Walkman. The great joy then, which continues to this day, is that he could listen whenever and wherever he chose. 

Peter has been with Calibre through the era of CDs, and now USBs – and happily has found no trouble with the transitions. With several listening devices around the house, he likes to have his Calibre book with him whilst doing the household chores. Listening is also important to him in his spare time. 

His favourite reads are novels, particularly crime novels, and biographies. 

Nowadays, although retired, Peter remains extremely busy. 

He is secretary of his local Stockport branch of the National Federation of the Blind of the UK, sits on the local Police advisory group on vision impairment, and is Chair of the local disability transport and access forum and Disability Stockport. 

He produces not one but two monthly magazines, one on living with blindness and the other on technology developments to help people living with vision impairment. Happily, there are always plenty of new innovations to keep him busy! 

Peter has embraced Calibre’s digital service and listens through his phone app, but mostly he prefers the USB sticks which arrive in the post. 

So, why has Peter generously chosen to leave a legacy to Calibre in his Will? 

“For a lot of my life,” says Peter, “I have been provided with a free service. It has allowed me to read books whenever and wherever I choose.” 

He has also found our friendly Membership Services team helpful, and quick to answer the phone if he has needed to call up about anything. 

Peter also loves that the Calibre service is so portable: 

“I can just carry it around in my pocket.” 

Leaving a gift in your will helps Calibre to continue providing audiobooks to people like Peter into the future.

Find out how you can leave a gift by visiting our legacy web page here.