Meet a Dinner Lady
Rhoda Wortley
Anyone who has ever eaten any food at Ackworth will know Rhoda!
Rhoda took some time away from Ackworth then in order to get married and have a family. She moved to the village in Ackworth and remembers the shop on the corner where she always used to get her cream buns.
Rhoda Wortley has worked at Ackworth for 31 years, and at 76 years old, is the oldest member of the School community. But not many people know that her relationship with Ackworth School started much earlier in her life
“I enjoy working here. I like mixing with the children, getting to know them and being able to have a laugh and a joke with them. We have heart to hearts sometimes. And you get to know a lot of the children as well as the staff.”
Rhoda joined the kitchen team when she was 45. Before this she had been a silver service waitress in Monk Fryston Hall, so food has been a fundamental part of her life for a very long time. Before that though, Rhoda spent time at Ackworth as a 15-year-old, living in as a maid to the housekeeper, Miss Williams and her understudy Miss Mackridge. “I took her her morning tea for 6am every day. I lived in the first bedroom on Middle Passage, which at that time was a dormitory room with four bedrooms. Because I was good I went over to the hostel and lived over there for two and a half years. I cleaned the Housekeeper’s Room, served staff breakfast - because at that time all staff had breakfast – and then went into the Dining Rooms and laid for lunch. There were four dining rooms then, so it took a little time.” Rhoda remembers one day when she got her alarm set incorrectly. “I got the time wrong and took the housekeeper her tea at 5am rather than 6am. It didn’t go down very well,” she says.
Rhoda says she has seen a lot of changes over the years. She remembers that when she first came to work in the kitchens the ladies used to have to serve everything. “We had half moon tables laid out with serving dishes on the tables and knives and forks out. We had the tureens and the head boy and girl served round the tables. Back then, it was more traditional and more formal.” In some ways life has got easier, Rhoda says, with changes like the counters and the salad bars, but like many other jobs, it is harder too and far more high pressure. Rhoda often takes on a ‘mother’ role, offering advice and support to other members of the kitchen team as well as to pupils. “I’ve seen a lot of people come and go and I pass on what I’ve learnt,” she says. Of course, it’s not just about meals during term times, the kitchen staff work tirelessly throughout the school holidays as well, serving food for various lettings, the Easter Gathering, other formal events and weddings. “It’s always nice to have a change with different events and I really like meeting different people,” says Rhoda. “It’s not just about the food any more: Ackworth has become a big part of my life.”
T hank you from all of us, Rhoda!