And it seems Margaret Jones and former C130 Hercules navigator Tom Rounds are not alone, with one in ten Britons claiming to have seen or heard an angel.
Ms Jones, 78, from Fleetwood in Lancashire, said she felt an angel by her side 20 years ago when she was singing in the choir at her church with her eyes closed.
Angel experiences: Retiree Margaret Jones (left) felt someone touch her arm while former squadron leader Tom Rounds (right) has told how he heard a call to take action while flying
As she sang, she said she felt someone touch her arm and hold her hand, adding: ‘I felt the pressure of what seemed like a human hand touching my own.
‘As I was standing on the edge of the choir I assumed that Deborah, who had been playing the organ, had come over to join us; so thought nothing of it.
'The hand then left mine and a few moments later I opened my eyes and was surprised to see Deborah was still sitting at the organ – she wasn’t there beside me.’
After the service, a member of the congregation told her: ‘An angel was here and he was stood next to you Margaret and touched you on your hand.’
A few years ago, Ms Jones then also saw two angels standing over her husband Vernie, as he lay asleep in bed - and is adamant she was not dreaming.
She said: ‘I was awake and just lying there then they appeared: two beautiful beings with wings dressed in white. What struck me most was that their hair was golden.
'It shone – they were just beautiful. Then they disappeared through the headboard. This always makes me laugh as it sounds silly, but they really did.’
Ms Jones then woke up her husband and told him. He said: ‘You daft woman, you were dreaming’. Ms Jones replied: ‘I know what I saw and I know I wasn’t dreaming.’
As a C130 Hercules navigator in the 1980s, Squadron Leader Tom Rounds (pictured) had been taking part in a routine low level flying exercise - 250ft above ground level
The figure of one in ten Britons claiming to have seen or heard an angel is double that of six years ago, according to the Bible Society poll revealed by MailOnline.
The survey found that a third of people believe in angels and the same proportion feel they have a guardian angel watching over them.
Meanwhile Mr Rounds has told of his experiences of an angel while taking part in a routine low level flying exercise - 250ft above ground level.
As a C130 Hercules navigator in the 1980s, he and the highly experienced crew from RAF Lyneham went through Wales and the West Country.
Their flight was plagued with low cloud and rain and it suddenly became impossible for them to see, so at 280mph and 250ft, they were flying blind.
Mr Rounds said: ‘At some point I felt an overwhelming urge to climb the aircraft away from our then height of 250ft.
'The hairs on my neck stood up. It was almost as though something was screaming in my head to take action immediately.
‘I duly screamed at the pilot to initiate a hard climb and rapid turn left, as I believed our safety was to be had out over the low lying land to our north over the valley’.
Watching over you: One in ten Britons claim to have seen or heard an angel – double those who said the same six years ago, it was revealed today
Just as he yelled at the crew, the radar altimeter - a device which tells the crew the actual height of the aircraft directly above the ground - began shrieking.
Mr Rounds added: ‘We knew at that point that we were now less than 250ft from the ground despite the aircraft attitude being at over 50 degrees, banked to the left, and climbing. We were now flying parallel to the northern slope of the mountain.
‘We then watched mesmerised as the indicated height on the radar altimeter continued to fall and reached at just 50ft - where it stayed.
‘I absolutely believed the plane was about to crash straight into the mountainside and that I had now consigned us, as a crew, to the statistics book of another RAF aircraft lost on a training sortie.’
He added: 'Was that my guardian angel who spoke to me urging I take immediate action? I don't suppose I shall really know for certain but during a quiet moment, I like to believe it was.'
Some 39 per cent of women are likely to believe in angels compared to 26 per cent of men - but roughly the same proportion say they have seen or heard one.
The Bible Society figures, revealed by MailOnline today, also show that the one in three people who believe in angels has stayed consistent over the past six years.
But you are far less likely to have seen or heard an angel if you are aged over 75, despite that group being more likely to believe in angels than at any other age.
Looking into the light: A third of people believe in angels and the same proportion feel they have a guardian angel watching over them, according to the Bible Society poll
Meanwhile angels are not limited by geography, with a similar proportion of people experiencing angels across Britain.
A Bible Society spokesman said: ‘Of course, there will be many who say it is people’s “imagination or wishful thinking”.
‘But Bible Society believe it’s hard to argue that one in ten people, in this country, claim to have experienced an angel.
‘The Bible makes it very clear angels exist and so, it seems, do people in 21st century Britain.
‘Bible Society believes it is very difficult to argue with those who claim to have experienced an angel and say what they have seen, heard or felt is wrong or a product of their own imagination.’
This research forms part of the Pass it On campaign, which encourages parents and young children to engage or re-engage with Bible stories.
The poll was conducted for the Bible Society by ICM, which interviewed an online sample of more than 2,000 adults across Britain in August.