OCTOGENARIAN Mary Irwin is hanging up her feather dusters after working for more than a quarter of a century as a cleaner at a Mickleover school.
Mary, who is 81 years old, has finally decided to retire from her role at Murray Park Community School after an impressive 26 years of dedicated service.
She initially started working at the school in 1998 when the Cedar Park building first opened as a music room and Mary has faithfully maintained the facility, which has more recently been used as a specialist area for the school’s special educational needs pupils, ever since.
Her son and four grandchildren all attended Murray Park and one of her fondest memories is her grandchildren coming to find her at the end of the day to say ‘goodbye’.
With mixed emotions about retiring, Mary said: “I was all set to retire last year, then when it came to it, I thought, ‘what’s one more year?’.
“I am looking forward to having some time to myself, but I am going to miss the people here so much. The staff have become like family; they always take the time to have a chat with me.
“I am also going to miss the children; they always say the funniest things. It has been wonderful to see the pupils start here and progress into young adults by the time they leave. They change so much in their time here.”
Before joining Murray Park, Mary worked at the Co-op but left that role to care for her grandson.
She found the cleaning position at Murray Park appealing as it allowed her to work from 9.30pm to midnight, enabling her to balance her job with her caregiving duties.
Initially, she shared the cleaning responsibilities at Cedar Park with another cleaner, but when her colleague left, Mary extended her hours to cover the full five hours necessary to restore the building to its pristine state each evening.
She added: “Back when I started cleaning, when this building was for music only, I used to use a mop and bucket to clean this entire hall and then polish it after.
“With the school expanding and the building’s purpose changing, now dinners are served in this hall at lunch, I am glad I have my scrubber, which does a fantastic job.”
Next year, Cedar Park will return to its former use as a music-focused building. However, Mary will not be there to keep it in check.
But she intends to stay in touch with the staff and visit as often as she can. She looks forward to having more time for her hobbies such as knitting and gardening, spending time with her family in Ireland, and hopefully flying to Texas for the fourth time to visit her son and grandchildren.
When asked about her top cleaning tips, she said: “You’ve just got to put your back into it. There’s no easy way to get the job done.”
Alison Baker, facilities manager at Murray Park said: “Murray Park won’t be quite the same without Mary – she’s been here longer than most and is a much-loved member of our team.
“We wish her a very happy retirement and hope that she doesn’t have to spend too much of it cleaning.”
-ENDS-
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