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.
This Wednesday, she attended a royal garden party with King Charles at Buckingham Palace, after proudly receiving her British Empire Medal.
On January 1, the long-serving lunch supervisor was nominated in the first King’s New Year’s honours in seven decades.
“I’ve always been the kind of person who just rolls their sleeves up and gets stuck in,” Shirley says. “I suppose that’s what I’ve been rewarded for.
“I did feel nervous. I’m sure it’s the same for King Charles with the Coronation. The kids at school have been wanting to see the medal. Now I can say I’ve met the King and shaken hands with Camilla.”
Shirley was in her 20s the last time a king was on the throne – Charles III’s grandfather, George VI.
“It felt very special,” she says. “We are the first to do this with the new King, and it’s the week of the Coronation.”
Her big day out began when a man was arrested after throwing what is suspected to be shotgun cartridges into palace grounds.
“It’s certainly been a strange day,” she laughs. “The food was a bit different than we get at school. We had coronation chicken, some unusual sandwiches – one was pea and mint!”
The first published honours to be signed off by King Charles included four heroes of the England women’s football team, Queen guitarist Brian May, actor Stephen Graham and comedian Frank Skinner. And among those names, Shirley’s – honoured for her services to education.
“At first, I thought it was a scam,” she laughs.
Her long years of service have included serving up and clearing away millions of meals, hearing generations of families read, and holding the sticky hands of thousands of little children.
That’s as well as raising tens of thousands of pounds via the PTA, school fairs and bingo nights.
“I would never have expected anything,” she says. “I’ve just done what anyone would do – you help where you can, don’t you? Community is really important to me.”
When we visited Shirley at school, she was greeted by cheers as she took her place during the lunchtime rush. She’s worked for seven headteachers, and no less than three heads asked for her to be honoured. One former headmaster wrote a letter before passing away last year.
“The kids can’t quite believe I’ve been at their school more than 50 years,” Shirley says. “Some of them have grandmas who aren’t that old.”
Her career as a dinner lady began on September 28, 1970, after one of her children started at the school.
“I got paid one pound, 12 and 6,” she says. “I’ve got to know a few generations. People tell their children, ‘Look out for Mrs Irlam’, if they are a bit nervous.
“Covid was awful. They kept sending me home. I was ringing up saying, ‘When can I come back?’”
Shirley has no plans to retire.
“I’m not ready to sit and watch TV yet.”
Her only concession to older age is allowing her son to drive her in every day.
“I did retire once. I had to retire when I was 60 because it was just the rules then, women had to. Before the week was up, I was back at the school.”
Shirley and her late husband Laurence, an engine driver, raised five children and she now has 13 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, the youngest aged just four.
“I like seeing the kids – the things they do, the things they say. I still say, ‘Oh look, a clean plate’, and you see their face and that’s what I really like. Not everyone has a grandma or older people in their lives.
“Children come in very shy and weepy, they want their hand held. Of course, you always have the odd one who causes a riot.”
In the dining hall, Year 6 pupils tell us what they love about Shirley.
“She’s our Queen,” says Sophie, 10. “We say she’s the queen of the school.”
Her classmate, Samuel, also 10, says: “She’s always happy so she makes us happy. She does her job with pride.”
The school dedicated their Jubilee tree to Shirley, adding a plaque.
Deputy headteacher, Sam Joy, 49, says she is “too precious, too special”.
Shirley’s only complaint is the modern school dinner menu – she isn’t keen on “foreign food” like rice and pasta. “I’m older, I like my sausage and mash,” she says.
Tomorrow, she will watch the Coronation on TV on a well-deserved day off, back home in Crewe.
“I remember the last one – I watched it on the television with my parents,” Shirley says. “I never imagined I’d be meeting the next king.”
