A MUCH-loved netball teacher, with more than 30 years service, has decided to hang up her bib.

York born and bred, Trish Farrow retired from Joseph Rowntree school earlier in the year, but stayed on to coach various clubs.

Trish, whose successes have featured in The Press many times, developed a passion for the sport at seven, at Poppleton Road Primary, where she now also coaches.

Her talent was nurtured at Mill Mount Grammar by PE head Jean Gale, who Trish fondly remembers calling her “a rough diamond”.

In 1986, she got her first job at Joseph Rowntree School - and has remained there ever since.

She was determined to put the school on the sporting map and feels she has more than achieved her goal. Trish said: “Second place is not an option.”

After two years there, she had a team qualify for the National Netball finals in Bournemouth, and has since had more than 30 teams follow in their footsteps.

Other career highlights include winning Netball Teacher of the Year at England Netball’s Goalden Globes, receiving the Endeavour trophy at the national finals in 2005 - for being the only school in the country with a team in all three age groups - and former pupil, Gemma Gibson, gaining a place in England’s U16 squad.

Trish has had a couple of challenging years recently, losing her mum in 2016 and having to take a year out following a breast cancer diagnosis, as well as having a hip replacement in 2017 - all of which led to her decision to retire.

At the end of the summer term, Joseph Rowntree put up a plaque dedicated to her on the school’s netball courts, of which Trish said: “This is absolutely fantastic, nobody can forget me now!”