AFTER nearly four decades of work, a primary school will be saying goodbye to its most loyal staff member.

Christine Gibson has worked at St Patrick’s CE Primary in Endmoor as a dinner lady for 38 years - and is now retiring from the school.

She was herself a student at the school, who then returned to become a dinner lady when she turned 20 in 1982.

Headmaster Suzanna Edmondson said: “It’s such a long time to be associated with the school and we are very proud of her.

“The community is so proud of her. We will miss her so much as will our pupils.

“She was always very well-liked by the children and many people have some lovely memories of her. They think of her as a very kind sweet lady.

“She is a true product of the community as many people stay with their local community throughout their lives or always end up moving back here.

“We have children whose parents were pupils here once, so it’s nice to have such a close-knit community here.”

She added: “After the period of lockdown, we were very sad to hear that she decided to hang up her tabard and retire after being at our school for thirty eight years.

“Mrs Gibson has a long history with the St Patrick’s CE Primary, attending the old school in the village as a child herself before becoming a dinner lady later on.

“There are memories of Mrs Gibson and a dinner lady called Mrs Bonson who were down at the old school that was an old tin shack painted a lovely shade of caramel.

“In my time at the school Mrs Gibson has always been well liked by the children for her kindness and her patience so they were delighted to see her when she came to visit them one lunch time a couple of weeks ago and we even had a few tears when they realised she would not be coming back.

“The children made her cards.

“She was presented with gifts from the Governing Body as well as from all the staff members at the school that she served for so long.”