I cook school dinners from Fifties...and kids love them

A DINNER lady who still uses her cookbooks from the Fifties says her old school recipes go down a storm with pupils.

Great-grandmother Rosemary Stokes, 69, who is celebrating 45 years in her job, has not changed her cooking style since she began her career in 1974.

Rosemary still uses two cookbooks from 1958 to serve up dishes including cottage pie, roast pork with Yorkshire puddings, cheese flan and chocolate crunch to thousands of hungry pupils.

She says she does not plan to stop dishing out the old-fashioned treats any time soon. From starting her career as a general kitchen assistant, her role is now called a catering supervisor at St Thomas More Catholic school in Sheldon, Birmingham, where she has worked since 1985.

Rosemary mixes her traditional recipes with more modern school dinners like pizzas.

She said: “My recipe book was given to me on my very first day of work. It contains recipes I still use today, such as cottage pie and roast pork.

“I find my cookbook is a condensed version of modern cookbooks but mine is easier to follow which is why I use it. Sometimes the kids compliment me on the old recipes and say ‘that was lovely’.

“A recipe that will never die down is the chocolate crunch. Parents still ask me ‘Do you still serve the chocolate crunch?.’

“It’s my favourite recipe from the book and has always been a hit with the children.

“I also like the Christmas pudding. I make one of these for my friends and family and for the pupils every year.” She added: “I love everything about my job from cooking to seeing the little children’s faces every day.”