Gilda Constance Victoria Winkle – Died 14th July 2026 Aged 97

Gilda was born on 17th February 1929 in St Thomas Hospital, London.

She passed away on the 14th July 2026 at Durnhythe Care Home, Portsoy in Aberdeenshire.

After training in the Wrens, she was posted as a Signals Wren to Kiel, Germany just after the war. She started work onboard a German cruiser which had its bridge converted to offices.

The next posting was Manchester for training in cryptology to learn about the new ‘Typex’ and other coding practices that came about from the captured German ‘Enigma’ system.

After training She was posted to the Admiralty beneath Horse Guard’s Parade situated alongside the ‘war rooms’ where Churchill conducted his war strategies.

It was here that she met my father Joe who was also a ‘sparker’ (communication personnel).

After another posting to Arbroath in Scotland, she left the Wrens after 3 years service.

As told by her son David Winkle