MUCH-LOVED caretaker John Paine is retiring after more than 30 years at Stile Common Infant School in Newsome.
John, who is 60 on Christmas Day, is pictured with some of the youngsters.
He started working as a caretaker in 1968 at Mount Pleasant Junior, Infant and Nursery School, Lockwood.
Now John, who is married to former teacher Joan, is hanging up his broom.
He said: "I will be very sad to leave.
"The children and staff at this school have made the past 30 years brilliant. I think the reason the children relate to me is that I can remember when I was their age."
Staff past and present attended a special This Is Your Life style evening to say goodbye and thank you to him.
"It was lovely to see some of my friends from down the years," he said. "It brought back a lot of good memories."
Head teacher Dawn Horton described him as a kind, gentle and hard-working man.
"He really is a star," she said.
"Whenever he is needed, John is there and getting on with the job.
"You do not even have to ask him to do things he just does them.
"And he is so great with the kids - they will really miss him."
John and his wife are moving from their home in the grounds of Stile Common Junior School, to Appleby, in Cumbria, where he hopes to spend more time fly-fishing and dry-stone walling.
