SHE played a vital role in cracking the Enigma code more than 70 years ago.

But now Winchester pensioner Diana Fawkes has been awarded for her services.

The 101-year-old was the subject of a special ceremony to honour her as a life member of Bletchley Park for her contributions to the war effort.

The resident of the Old Parsonage in Otterbourne was praised by family and friends at the small gathering on Thursday, when oral history officer for the trust, Jonathan Byrne, gave a short speech on her actions throughout the Second World War.

She was presented with the Bletchley Park Commemorative Badge, a certificate and the prestigious Freedom of Bletchley Park.

Mrs Fawkes, who up until last year was living in Twyford, is the eldest daughter of Wing Commander Graham Weir and his wife Mamie, who had a long association with the Brendoncare home, having donated a wing some years previously.

Her service began even before the start of WW2, when she was recruited as a secretary and assistant to Dilly Knox, head of cryptography at GC & CS – later named GCHQ – who was already working to crack the Enigma code in 1938.

She was one of the first to move from offices in London to the newly acquired Bletchley Park, where she remembers the beautiful lawns being dug up to build the now famous huts.

She worked as part of a secret team with Dilly Knox on schemes to decipher the Enigma Code using her fluent German to translate Nazi messages in a bid to help the war effort.

When presented with her award, Mrs Fawkes said: “There were 1,500 Wrens there at the same time as me – why am I so special?”

Mr Byrne said: “Diana’s story is so special because she is one of the few people we have met who was there before the war began, and was one of the first people to move into Bletchley.”

Mrs Fawkes had two children Caroline and Nigel, with her late husband George, who she married in 1942.

The first operational break into Enigma came around the January 23, 1940, when the team unravelled the German Army administrative key that became known at Bletchley Park as ‘The Green’. Encouraged by this success, the codebreakers managed to crack the ‘Red’ key used by the Luftwaffe liaison officers co-ordinating air support for army units.