In 1899 Britain went to war in South Africa and called for volunteers. In Manchester, over 11,000 men came forward. The army doctors rejected more than 8,000 of them, as too short, too thin, or with bad chests, rotten teeth and legs bent by rickets.
The government set up a Committee on Physical Deterioration, which reported in 1904.
It concluded that the young men had been damaged as children, by hunger. It proposed that the state schools should give hungry children a hot meal each day.
The Committee’s proposals became Law in 1906.
School meals became part of British culture, and in turn, created the “dinner ladies”.
South End Infants School has had a dinner lady, Mrs Marlene Becks, who has just celebrated her 80th birthday and has been working as a dinner lady there for 48 years.
She started working at the school as a lollipop lady on the A6, but then got her dinner lady role a year later.
She has kept in touch with former pupils over the years and they all remember her kindness She gets to know every child and loves playing with the children. She has no plans to slow down as she loves her job so much.