Veterans' Stories: maria
Maria Pikulski had a short career in the Women’s Royal Army Corps, followed by 11 years in the Territorial Army, before being discharged in 2003. She now works for the Royal National Institute of Blind People as an Eye Clinic Liaison Officer at her local hospital. Maria deals with vision loss in her personal life in addition to her work, as she suffers from an almost complete loss of sight due to a genetic eye disease. When she first learnt about Waterloo Uncovered through the charity Blind Veterans UK, Maria saw it as the perfect opportunity to finally give archaeology a try, something she had always been interested in but had never been able to participate in.
Unfortunately, due to coronavirus, Waterloo Uncovered’s 2020 excavations in Belgium had to be cancelled, and a Virtual Programme was delivered in their place. For Maria, this provided a welcome distraction during lockdown. Like many, she struggled with maintaining a clear work-life balance when she began working from home due to Coronavirus, and the virtual programme helped her break her day up and gave her something new to look forward to each day.



