I agree with the others, use your new mobility payments to fast track your lessons, £250 a month is a lot of lessons. Leaving a car sitting for up to a year – even if driven infrequently, really won’t do it any favours, they need to be used.
If the lessons + test take a year then you will have paid £3000 in Mobility Payments to have Motability give you £1100 odds worth of lessons.
I’d also say that if you have had issues learning previously then go with an auto only licence, its easier when you don’t need to concentrate on the gears/clutch as well as everything else. Besides, we will all be driving autos before too long.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.