“THE geese that laid the golden eggs but never cackled” – that is how Winston Churchill described the secret workers at Bletchley Park and sister station Bletchley Hanslope.

And 65 years on, those like Mary Walton, from Witney, have finally been recognised for the work they did to crack German codes during the Second World War.

Yesterday Mrs Walton, of Pensclose, spoke about her wartime work after receiving a certificate and a commemorative badge for her work tracking German spies.

The great-grandmother said: “For me, it was a really enjoyable time as we knew we were doing something useful and the secrets were wonderful.

“Churchill said that people who worked in this trade were his geese that never cackled as we never spoke to anybody about it.”

She added: “I was thrilled to bits when I received the medal and was surprised at how quickly it came as it was 10 days after I wrote (to GCHQ in Cheltenham).

“It says on the back of the medal ‘You also served’, so it’s nice to be recognised.”

Mrs Walton, 85, was one of 25 special enlistments who joined Bletchley Hanslope – 10 miles from Bletchley Park – in 1944.

Her mother had seen an advert in a local paper and the 19-year-old Mary Bell joined the service.

She lived in a hut on the site in the rural estate in what is now Milton Keynes, where she worked eight-hour shifts as a plotter.

Her job was to receive the locations of German messages from sister stations and to plot on a map where they came from.

Every morning a motorbike would courier the information to Bletchley Park.

Mrs Walton, who met her husband John in 1945 when he was demobbed at Bletchley Hanslope after working as a signaller in the desert, recalled the moment they discovered a German spy was working in Kidlington.

She said: “It was really interesting. There was one time when we plotted an English crossing and everybody was going around screaming about it.”

The park used German messages intercepted by a decoder to gather information, helping to win the war.

When she left Bletchley Hanslope in 1945, Mrs Walton had to sign the Official Secrets Act and has not even spoken to her children about her work there until now.

Mrs Walton, who had three children, said: “We just had to do what we were doing and shut our mouths.”

Her youngest son Keith, 57, of Witney, said: “It’s been 65 years to get recognition. I think it’s a shame that they have not been recognised before.

“It’s a shame that a lot of people who passed away won’t be able to enjoy the moment that my mum has.”