CHILDREN and staff at Berry Hill Primary held a special assembly to celebrate a milestone for lollipop lady Sandra.

Sandra has been helping children cross Coverham Road near The Globe pub for 25 years.

On Friday (January 20) she was presented with a certificate and badge and a bouquet of flowers at the school in Nine Wells Road.

Headteacher Amy Pugh said: “As soon as we found out, everyone wanted to do a special assembly.’’

Mrs Powell was joined by daughter Sarah,who is a cleaner at the school, and son Kevin for the presentation.

She said she loved the job and would encourage anyone to do the same.

“I live in Berry Hill and so you get to know all the children and their parents.”

She said she had no idea how loved she was in the local area until people started commenting under a picture of her with children leaving for secondary school posted on the Berry Hill Live Facebook page.

“I thought this was just a job but reading what people said about me was quite overwhelming.”

She initially got into the job covering for the previous crossing patrol Pauline Davies.

When she left, Mrs Powell was offered the position.

As part of the presentation there was a slide show of what was happening in 1998.

It included Tony Blair as Prime Minister and the release of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.