News / Popular school kitchen assistant retires
PUPILS, parents and staff at Sandness primary school are today (Friday) bidding a fond farewell to Lavinia Moncrieff who has been serving dinners at the tiny school for 41 years.
A very popular member of staff, she has seen two generations of Sandness pupils growing up.
Head teacher Ian Perry said Lavinia originally came to the school to fill in for a couple of weeks and never left.
“It’s not every day that we celebrate the contribution that one person has made to a school and its community for such a long period of time.
“Lavinia has become such a big a part of the school that we will really miss her when she takes her very well earned retirement.
“She is such a modest person and would probably opt to head out of the door without any fuss being made.
“But so many people have such happy memories of her that we can’t let that happen. We just hope that she isn’t too embarrassed by all the fuss,” he said.
She started her career at the school at a time when the classroom was still heated by a coal-fired, pot-bellied stove.
Since then the school has seen many alterations such as an extension and, 20 years ago, internal improvements including the dining room where Lavinia served her school dinners.
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