I was looking for something In the Diss paper and found this 6 September 2009
MAXWELL MONICA, beloved wife of the late Neil Maxwell, died suddenly on September 6th. Formerly a member of the WTS/FANY serving with the S.O.E.. Headteacher and Lecturer
Monica was a speaker at our monthly meeting a few years back and explained how she was recruited to join the FANNYs. She became part of the SOE set up, and working at Bletchley Park. She was able to send and read morse at a staggering rate and was even able to identify senders just by their style. This often meant false messages were picked up when the real agent was arrested and a German would try and send something false.
When she was recruited she worked in the village post office and was ordered to report to a senior staff member in Colchester. There she was interviewed by 3 people who didn't say why. Having passed this she was told to report to I believe Woburn Abbey and was locked in the loft with 7 others girls for 7 days with no food. using their intuition they broke out and stole food etc. The ones that passed the test were then trained for SOE work.
Wonderful Lady. When she was given the microphone to talk she said " When I need one of these i will stop speaking"
