AFTER reading Gayna Forest’s letter on Monday, May 11, I get the feeling Hailey village no longer has a bus to the secondary school.

That is such a pity as my mum, Iris Sewell, used to collect the money for Dore’s Coaches so we children could get to Wood Green School.

My mum and some other parents got together in the 1960s and approached Dore’s so the children could get to school as there was no bus at the time.

This was done as I had older brothers who were going to that particular school.

My mum had always said she would stop once I had finished school, which I did in 1981.

Mum was never paid for collecting the money, something that many people would never accept these days. All she got was a tin of chocolates and a diary at Christmas.

I can’t remember now if Mr Dore actually gave her anything for her birthday.

I’m sure it came as a shock for people to find out it wasn’t a paid job, she did it for the good and safety of the children.

As we lived opposite the village school my mum would also see the primary school children across the road before there was a lollipop lady.

I wonder, do they still have a lollipop lady?

Many of the children would give mum cards and presents for being so kind.

We moved from Hailey in 1986 and to Carterton where mum passed away in 1987.

I hope some of the children she was kind to think of her fondly occasionally.

JANICE CROTHERS
Coromandel
Abingdon