A JOB which started as a way of saving up for a caravan has kept a woman at work for 33 years.
Elaine Clarkson started work as a school dinner lady to pay for a mobile home for her family.
Now, more than three decades on, she is retiring from Rowley Lane Junior Infant and Nursery School in Lepton.
She said: "We wanted a caravan and my husband Alan said if I got the job it would help us save up.
"We got the caravan soon after - but I stayed on."
Elaine, who lives in Lepton started work at the school when it was Lepton Middle School and stayed on when it became Rowley Lane.
"The children have changed a lot over the years. They're much more confident and mature now," she said.
Elaine, a keen line and sequence dancer and seamstress, plans to spend more time holidaying with Alan.
The couple have two daughters, two grand-daughters and three grandsons.
Elaine received farewell presents of champagne, chocolates and flowers. She celebrated her retirement with a lunchtime party at the school.