Dressed in a royal blue frock and matching hat at Buckingham Palace, this is a woman who has lived a life in the service of others.
Back in Crewe, Cheshire, 87-year-old Shirley Irlam is known as “Queen of the School”, where she’s been a dinner lady for more than half a century.
On a normal Wednesday afternoon, Shirley is to be found in her tabard at the plate-scraping station at Wistaston Academy Primary School.
