Dedicated Noreen a tough act to follow

TOP class — Noreen Falvey (centre right) with Oldham Hulme Grammar Schools staff

GREAT-GRANDMOTHER Noreen Falvey spent close to four decades cooking and serving lunches for pupils and staff at Oldham Hulme Grammar Schools.

Now one of the borough’s longest-serving dinner ladies — who hung up her apron for good in September — has been nominated for a Pride in Oldham award.

Noreen (65), of Elm Road, Limeside, worked for four headmasters, three headmistresses and a principal during 37 years,

She also saw the merger of the previously separate boys’ and girls’ canteens.

But the former head of kitchens is also the main carer for her sister Anne-Marie Riordan, who has Down’s Syndrome, and was finding it hard to do both. Noreen said that she was proud to be nominated for a Pride in Oldham award and added: “It is very nice. I enjoyed my time at the school and I do miss it, but the work was getting too hard for me. That’s the reason I had to retire.”

She was nominated by domestic bursar Ann Gorton, who said: “Noreen has been a real institution at Hulme. She has given an incredible 37 years of dedicated service and seen many transformational changes in her time here.

“Despite the fact that Noreen has also been a carer for her disabled sister, she has not faltered in her commitment to the school. We will miss her enormously.”