A dinner lady who has served lunch to thousands of children has hung up her apron for the last time after 25 years.

Pauline Sharp, 63, cooked her last meal in the kitchen at Walderslade Girls’ School, Chatham, and is now enjoying putting her feet up.

Mum-of-two Mrs Sharp, who is married to Barry, is planning to spend more time with her family, especially her two grandsons, who are both under two.

Mrs Sharp started working at the Bradfields Avenue school in the early 1990s and over the years, according to colleagues, her battered fish on fish and chip Fridays, became legendary.

During her early days in the kitchen the routine and food were a lot different to how they are in 2016.

She said: “Things really changed a lot over the years. It used to be very old fashioned in the kitchen, but things have been modernised, been brought up to the 21st century.

“We used to have chips every single day and I remember serving up pink custard and chocolate sponge and chocolate custard and the like.

“We got a lot healthier over the years and introduced a salad bar and I was cooking Italian dishes and various pastas with a lot of flavour and puddings changed from gypsy tarts and spotted dicks, to roulades and soufflés.”

During her last year at the school, Mrs Sharp was head cook and said she really enjoyed being at the helm of the kitchen.

She added: “I even worked with a former pupil who I used to serve when she was at school. She returned to the school and came to work in the kitchen as a dinner lady and said she remembered me serving her as a child.”

School staff, led by acting head teacher Dr Fraser Campbell, gathered together on Mrs Sharp’s final day to give her with flowers and presents.

“It was very emotional saying goodbye to everyone and it was hard for me to hold it together but I’ve been chilling out with my grandchildren since then,” she said.

Julie Hopkins, who was Mrs Sharp’s manager, said: “She was good at her job and an outstanding cook.

“She put 100% into everything she did and it was very emotional when she left, the place has not been the same without her.”