Ann liked her school so much she worked there

St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Lancaster is the subject of these special pictures.

The school, in Aldrens Lane, holds a special place in Ann’s heart.

Former pupil Ann, who lives in Fairhope Avenue, liked school so much she didn’t want to leave her “second home”.

She attended and worked at the school where her mother, auntie, uncle, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and grandchildren also attended.

The now 74-year-old had some great times and says: “We were all brought up as catholics.

“I loved school. I worked there as a teaching assistant for 26 years.

“I started as a welfare assistant.”

Ann, who is now a mum with seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, can remember processions held at the school in conjunction with the church for Holy Communions.

She said: “We used to go on nature walks in the summer, then they brought in a uniform, a brown blazer and beret and a cap for the boys.

“My mother, Margaret Bradley, made all our dresses for the processions.

“She used to put lots of white material in the dresses because my mother was nearly blind by then and could make out that colour clearly.”

Ann recalls being chosen as a cushion bearer for the May procession, something she described as an “honour.”

Later on in life Ann returned to the school to work.

She says: “I enjoyed working there so much.

“I have still got some of the things that the children gave to me when I left, letters, cards etc.”

She adds: “The children, even now, when they see me in the street they will come up and say hello Mrs Burgess do you remember me?”

The exterior of the school hasn’t changed too much since Ann’s early days there.

It was originally built in 1896 and then extended in 1939 and again 1971 to cater for the growing St. Joseph’s parish.

It is very muich a local school, with most of the pupils, as back in her schooldays, coming from the immedaite area around school.