School cares for retiring Rod
POPULAR caretaker Rod Pegg has mixed feelings about retiring from the job he started 15 years ago at Fakenham Junior School.
Although he is looking forward to spending more time in his garden, and at the bowls clubs, he knows it will be a considerable wrench.
"I shall be very sad to leave as it's been such a big part of my life," he said.
"The atmosphere here is brilliant and everyone is so friendly. I've really enjoyed what I do and I've always had the support of the head, the teachers and the governors. The kids are ever so good and they always greet me when I'm outside school,"
Mr Pegg (65), formerly worked as an assistant hatchery manager with Joice and Hill. The decision to join the junior school under former headteacher David Stapleford was, he reckoned, the right thing to do at the time.
"Back then it was a very simple and straightforward undertaking," he said.
"I was a sort of odd-job man about the place and it suited me down to the ground."
He quickly became a permanent fixture at the school and served under three different heads. His caretaker's role, however, began to change along with so many aspects of education.
"The job is very much more complex now than it used to be," he said. There are more responsibilities and much more paperwork and an average day for me is ten or 11 hours. I have to be on site for out-of-school activities and we've had lots of new building going on, which all has to be supervised."
But throughout it all Mr Pegg has retained his cheerful approach to everything he does. Even the tiresome task of putting out chairs and stacking them away again has been made easier by the students.
"The kids are only too keen to help me whenever they can," he said.
Headteacher Lesley Cook said he would be much missed as a father figure around the school.
"I regard him as a care taker," she said. "He not only takes care of the place but also all the people in it. He has a real feeling for the kids and what he does is more than just a job to him."
She added that the Friends of the School were also appreciative of the terrific support he had given to all its activities.
Mr Pegg is an enthusiastic gardener and has ambitious plans for his home patch, which he admitted had been rather neglected. He also plays bowls at both the Gallows and Hempton clubs and expects to spend much more time on both the outdoor and indoor greens.
A farewell buffet held at the Gallows Sports Centre was attended by present and former staff and friends, including previous headteachers David Stapleford and Jane Petzing. The Friends of the school presented a garden centre voucher for 50. There were also cards and gifts from the pupils, teachers and governors.
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Weather for King's Lynn
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 9 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
