Dinner ladies you remember from school days in Warrington

How about eating a bowl of sponge cake with bright green custard?

Do you have fond memories of the dinner ladies who would serve you every day in the school canteen?

It's national school meals week – a whole week dedicated to the canteen food that keeps children well fed at lunchtime while they’re school.

Gone are the days of turkey twizzlers and chips every day followed by sponge pudding and custard.

They’re now tasty, nutritious and carefully planned each day by hardworking kitchen staff to appeal to young appetites and hungry tummies.

On the menu for children in Warrington is chicken korma with rice, naan bread and vegetables, a roast of the day served with roast and mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables and gravy, and spaghetti bolognaise with garlic bread.

They all sound delicious!

Roast beef with all the trimmings is a popular serving on school dinner menus (Image: Edsential)

These meals are lovingly prepared fresh each morning by a dedicated team of hard-working people in school canteens and kitchens across the town.

National school meals week, which runs between November 6 and November 11, is an opportunity for school caterers to shout about the fantastic work they do every day of the school year.

It celebrates the tireless efforts of school kitchen and canteen staff who continue to serve up great tasting, nutritious food to school children despite increasing pressures amid the cost-of-living crisis.

To mark national school meals week, we asked you to tell us who your favourite dinner lady was when you were at school.

We’ve featured a selection of the lovely ladies and some of your messages:

• Joanne Angela Lewis: Mrs Watts at St Margaret’s Primary School
• Louise Addley: Mrs Bunting at St Joseph’s in Penketh
• Leanne Nichol: Mrs Nichols from Great Sankey Primary School. She still says hello to me 25 years later! She is fabulous.
• Bex Shaw: Mrs Morrison from St Alban’s Primary School. She was so funny and a had a heart of gold.
• MaryJane Hobson: Joan at Bewsey Primary School. She was amazing.
• Lucy Victoria: Mrs MacDevet from the early 1990s at Penketh South Community Primary School.
• Samie Williams: Margaret Nicholls. I adored this woman and 25 years on I still do.
• Anne Power: Mrs Jackson at St Werburgh’s. She was lovely.
• Donna Spencer: Mrs Hamilton at Sycamore Lane Primary School.
• Joanne Prinsep: Mrs Malone at St Peter’s in the 1980s. She used to do double Dutch skipping with us in the playground.
• Catherine Lake: Mrs Phoenix at Oakwood Avenue Primary School.
• Izzie Preston-Hill: Mrs Jeziorski at Sacred Heart. She was a formidable lady but had a heart of gold. She was a gorgeous and kind lady and even now at 35 I love it when I bump into her.
• Nicola Boulton: Mrs Melbourne at Padgate CE Primary School.
• Joanne Chriscoli: Mrs Flannagan at St Werburgh’s was so lovely to everyone.
• Kerry Smith: All the dinner ladies at St Barnabas Primary School.
• Leanne Farrell: Mrs Nicholls at Great Sankey Primary School.
• Andrew Capper: Mrs Grounds at Dallam Primary School. I’m in my late 60s but I can still remember her.
• Andrea Sollory: Mrs McGuinty at Padgate Junior School.
• Martina Williamson: Iris from Beamont Primary School.
• John Coates: Mrs Kennedy at St Thomas’ CE in Stockton Heath. She later did the same job at Appleton Grammar School.
• Wendy Weedon: Mrs Crawley was our cook and Mrs Dumberland was our dinner lady at Bradshaw Lane School.
• Keith Taylor: Mrs Clarke at St Oswald’s was a beautiful lady.
• Amanda Lees: Mrs Grounds at Dallam Primary School.
• Steve Brown: Mrs Seed at St Augustine’s in the 1980s.
• Jaci Walker: Mrs Bradbury at Bruche Infants.
• Diane Dann: Mrs Timmins and Mrs Beddard at Brooke Acre.
• Sheila Barlow: Mrs Evans at Bolton County Council in Latchford.
• Vicky Gillooly: Mrs Taylor at Long Lane.
• Samantha Wilcock: Mrs Critchley at Bolton Council Primary School.
• Graham Monks: Mrs Chesters at Moore Primary School.
• James Wilson: Mrs Tighe at St Stephen’s.