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.