A PENSIONER was honoured for her work at the Second World War code-breaking centre Bletchley Park as she celebrated her 65th wedding anniversary.

Jeanne Lindley, 87, was presented with the Freedom of Bletchley Park, a card from The Queen and a commemorative badge by Oxford East MP Andrew Smith for her wartime work.

And she also toasted her 65th year of marriage to Geoffrey Lindley, 88, on Monday.

Mrs Lindley was a log reader at Bletchley Park from 1943 to 1945. The top-secret centre was at the heart of efforts to crack the German Enigma code and decipher enemy military radio transmissions.

Mrs Lindley said: “We weren’t allowed to say what we did. We could say we worked at Bletchley Park, but no more than that. We were reminded all the time that lives, and our own liberty, depended on us sticking by the Official Secrets Act.”

The couple’s daughter Ruth Woolfson joined 60 guests for the double celebration.

She said: “It was a very special day, with family and friends from all the different places that mum and dad have worked and lived.”

The couple met when they were students at Oxford University, but their studies were interrupted by the outbreak of war. Mr Lindley joined the Army and saw action on the front line in Italy.

The couple married on September 27, 1945, after his return to Britain.

Mr Lindley became a vicar, serving in the Oxford diocese, including at St Margaret’s Church, in North Oxford.

Mrs Lindley taught English and also helped the All Saints Sisters of the Poor to found the homelessness charity The Porch, now Stepping Stones.

The couple have two children, Simon, 63, and Ruth, 59, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

They live at St John’s Care Home, in St Mary’s Road, East Oxford,where the party was held.

Mrs Woolfson said her parents were as happy now as they had ever been.

She said: “A nurse once asked my father what the secret was to such a long marriage.

“He answered, ‘We got together and married when we were young and still feel exactly the same way about each other as we did then’.”

Mr Smith said: “This is a great double celebration, of a happy marriage which has lasted a wonderful time, and of distinguished service to our country.

“Subsequent generations owe a huge debt of thanks to those like Jeanne who did remarkable work at Bletchley.”