Worried Volunteers Take On Lollypop Duty For Local School

A community have taken to the roads wearing hivis clothing after their local lollypop lady retired after 20 years.

A group of women consisting of mothers and grandmothers in a village near Bridgend have taken matters into their own hands, after their children were left without a lollypop lady. The previous crossing patroller hung up her hivis jacket and stick to retire after 20 years of service to the roads outside the school in Gilfach Goch.

Although the local council have planned to replace the crossing patrol officer, the locals have been carrying out the role for the last seven months, and are unhappy about the length of time it has taken to appoint a new person to the role who is due to start next month reported ITV News.

The locals who take it in turns to man the roads outside the school made themselves a DIY lollypop stick and purchased themselves safety clothing. It seems it’s now a difficult task for councils to find new crossing patrol officers as the hours to work are limited and can usually run on a shift pattern.

Grandmother Beverly Richards spoke to ITV news and said “We've been doing it for the last seven months. There's a busy four-way crossing. We decided to take it into our own hands, and we made our own lollipop lady sticks and bought hi-vis vests.”

The proactive guardians start at 8.15am for an hour until all children are at school and then go back in the afternoon. There’ always a team of two on patrol at any one time.   

The group of volunteers say that parents have been very grateful to them for their services.