86-year-old lunchtime supervisor with no plans to retire from Sheffield school clocks up 49 years' service

Angie Rushforth, who has been working as a lunchtime supervisor at Hunter’s Bar Infant School, on Sharrow Vale Road, Sheffield, for nearly fifty years was also a pupil at the school during the Second World War.

Headteacher Mike Barnes said: “Angie has been supporting and helping to look after children during school lunchtimes here for nearly half a century. She is a staunch member of our community and she was at the school as a pupil during World War Two.

“She has shared so many stories with the children about having to go to the cellars during air raid sirens and she tells them all about rations and about how life in the school was then and how it has changed over the decades.”

Mr Barnes added that he had a chat with Angie on Monday, October 31, and she spoke so passionately about the school that he decided her remarkable contribution should be recorded in The Star especially because it is her birthday later this month.

The dedicated 86-year-old, who also enjoys spending time in the Peak District, insisted on working through the Covid-19 pandemic to support the school and the community despite the school’s efforts to dissuade her from doing so for her own safety.

Mr Barnes said: “Angie is always reliable, has patience in abundance, and she has been a supportive member of staff. She even supports the school curriculum sharing her stories about the area’s history and local geography. The children just hang on her every word.

“She says she loves it and it’s what motivates her to keep carrying on and she is as fit as a fiddle and we are surrounded by hills here and she keeps coming into work in all weathers. We have even offered her a role inside the school but she wants to be outside engaging with the children because she is full of energy. She would be insulted if we mentioned retirement and I am sure she will work here for years to come.”