A COOK has retired after working for no fewer than 39 years at a York primary school.

Anne Batchelor, 70, is estimated to have cooked almost half a million meals for pupils during her time at Huntington Primary School.

Head teacher Ann McKeown said she had started working there when her son Andrew started school as a five-year-old and never left, continuing well beyond the state pension age because she loved working there.

"She came here in all weathers to ensure the children got a hot meal and when we suffered a power cut she ensured they got sandwiches," she said.

"When she started the menu was very traditional, with family service, and now its a multinational menu, with self service."

She said Mrs Batchelor had also introduced a new system allowing pupils to order their food online in advance, so they just had to touch their name on to a screen each lunchtime to get the meal they had ordered.

She had also pioneered new healthy eating initiatives in the school.

Between 100 and 180 pupils ate the hot dinners she cooked each day, with numbers depending on what was on the menu and fish and chips on Fridays proving the most popular meal.

Over her years at the school, where she worked under four different head teachers, she had also taken on additional roles, including site manager and cleaner in charge.

Mfrs McKeown said children had been involved in a presentation to Mrs Batchelor during a special assembly, when she was presented with leaving cards from each of the school's 14 classes, and gifts including a gold pendant, a school sweatshirt to wear with pride and a bear wearing a school uniform and chef''s hat.

Staff and governors had also taken her to Middlethorpe Hall at Bishopthorpe for afternoon tea.