Heartwarming send-off for 'lovely' lollipop lady from Inverness
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A LOLLIPOP lady has been showered with cards and gifts for helping schoolchildren to cross the road for more than a decade.
Helen MacFarlane was delighted with her fond farewell from pupils at Merkinch Primary School.
The retiring 65-year-old grandmother-of-two thought she was going to “just slip away quietly” on her last day at school.
But her young subjects had other ideas and made a fuss of her and even presented her a bunch of flowers.
“I couldn’t believe it when the photographer turned up from the Courier,” said Mrs MacFarlane, of Limetree Avenue, Dalneigh.
“I’ve got a brown envelope here and it’s just stuffed with cards – there must be 30 or 40 in there. It’s so lovely, It’s far more than I expected. I’m absolutely delighted.”
Mrs MacFarlane, who was a cleaner at the school for five years before moving onto road crossing patrol, said she would miss seeing her little friends trotting back and fore to school every morning.
But she plans to go back to the crossing to say hello to them from time-to-time.
She said: “I’ve said to them that I’m going to come back every now and then because I have a few favourites that I would like to keep an eye on and make sure that they’re OK.
“I’ve seen some of them start in Primary 1 and go right through to Primary 7 – it’s been an absolutely brilliant job.”
Asked if she had met the school crossing patrol who would take her place she replied: “I haven’t heard yet but I’m assuming I’m going to be replaced. That’s a very busy road.”
Merkinch Primary School teacher Katie Garroway paid tribute to Mrs MacFarlane.
“I’m sad to see her go,” she said. “She had such a lovely demeanour with the children and staff.”
