WHAT do you remember about school dinners from your childhood?
Chips every day or lumpy mashed potato?
Turkey twizzlers or dinosaurs served with smiley faces and spaghetti hoops?
Followed by sponge cake covered in pink and green custard or semolina with a dollop of jam in the middle?
Do you have fond memories of the dinner ladies who would serve you every day in the school canteen?
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St Helens children get ready to celebrate National School Meals week
It's national school meals week – a whole week dedicated to the canteen food that keeps children well fed at lunchtime while they’re school.
Children at schools across St Helens enjoy school dinners that are tasty, nutritious and carefully planned each day, appealing to young appetites and hungry tummies.
On the menu for children in St Helens is chicken korma with rice, naan bread and vegetables, a roast of the day served with roast and mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables and gravy, and spaghetti bolognaise with garlic bread.
They all sound delicious!
These meals are lovingly prepared fresh each morning by a dedicated team of hard-working people in school canteens and kitchens across the town.
National school meals, which runs this week, is an opportunity for school caterers to shout about the fantastic work they do every day of the school year.
It celebrates the tireless efforts of school kitchen and canteen staff who continue to serve up great tasting, nutritious food to school children despite increasing pressures amid the cost-of-living crisis.
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Your memories of school dinners in St Helens in the 1980s and 1990s
To mark national school meals week, we asked you to tell us who your favourite dinner lady was when you were at school.
We’ve featured a selection of the lovely ladies and some of your messages:
Andrea Atherton Mrs Davies at Thatto Heath Primary School
Lisa Bate My Mum Beryl Bate made the best cheese and onion pie in the north.
Lauren Ashleigh Gibbins Miss Martin and Miss Gabbitas at Little Rivi
Gill McIntyre Mrs Jones Parish Church Primary School
Liam Pimblett A lady called Carol who worked in St Matthew’s in the early 2000s and then she worked at Nutgrove Primary School. She was the best
Rachael Jones Mrs Bailey at Willow Tree. She used to tell all the kids to run inside when it started raining and tell the girls to take their earrings out if it thundered
Ian Arnold Pretty sure her name was Dorothy at St Mark’s Primary School during the 1980s
Therese Mae I loved them all. I wish I could have custard from jug again. Everyone complained but I thought it was like dream topping
Rachel Pope Nutgrove Primary School had lovely dinners. Fresh made in school you could smell them cooking. Always fish on Fridays. We need to go back to doing it this way
Dawn Holden I know a lot of people at Willow Tree loved my mum and her friends Mrs Andrews and Mrs Pennington
Tracy Kelly A lady at Little Rivi who we called Auntie Dot
Fiona Haselden Anne McGowan I loved her, she was the best at Newton Primary School
Sue Crocky Mrs Jenkinson and Mrs Costello were great dinner ladies at Crank Hill School
Heather Doward Mrs MacFarlane, who was a dinner lady in the late 1970s at St Aidan’s in Clock Face.
Amy-Louise O’Mahoney Always be Bev Parry. I think everybody loved her
Amanda Pruden Mrs Bradshaw at St Peter and Paul’s in Haresfinch
Jenifer Laura Merton Bank in the 1990s. Mrs Corness, Mrs Evans and Mrs Chuard to name a few
Georgio MK Lisa Ann was the best sandwich maker on the planet
Julie Mccluskey My mum Mrs Norah Davies was a dinner lady at Thatto Heath School in the mid 1960s and 70s and then retiring in the early 80s
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