Dinner gong

I'm up at 5.45am. I'll have two cups of tea and two cigarettes while I listen to the weather forecast, because the weather affects the number of children you get in for dinner. If it's bad rain, we get more in than usual; if it's snowing, we get a queue.

I leave the house at about 7pm. I walk in summer, but take a taxi in the winter - it's so dark and cold. That makes me sound rich, but it only costs £2.

I went to Brierton Comprehensive School as a girl, just after it was opened in 1959, and now I work there. I've worked in school kitchens since school. I went to Kirby College in Middlesbrough, got my own kitchen to run and came here 19 years ago.

I'm always the first person in, so the first thing to do is set up the morning shop. We sell sausage rolls, burgers, chips, flapjacks, cookies and cakes. We don't do breakfast food. Children are funny; they will only pay a certain amount of money for food, so if you make bacon sarnies, they'll only go to waste.

At 8am I put the dough on to beat. I use 26lb of dough a day, for garlic breads, buns, cakes and pizzas. Then I make the cakes. Today it's rainbow sponge, festival shortcake, doughnuts, cream fingers and iced buns.

New equipment

If I won the lottery I would spend it on new equipment. The mixer is older than I am and the ovens are on their way out. Our boss is trying to get everything upgraded, but it's the same with all schools - we just haven't got the money.

I'm alone until about 9am when my assistant arrives. She takes over while I have a cup of tea and maybe a sausage roll. I don't eat much. After the morning shop closes, I have another tea break and a natter. It's a cosy atmosphere. I have a really good crowd of girls. Everyone is equal and will do whatever job is needed.

I've always loved my job - I think it's because every day is different. In the factories you feel like a cog in a wheel, but not here. I've almost never had any time off. I overslept once, after my husband had died, and they nearly called the police. If the Queen does invite me to tea, it'll have to be in the school holidays.

The MBE was a total shock. When I got the letter, I thought someone was winding me up and threw the envelope at my daughter. I thought about it afterwards. You get an MBE for doing your job. Paul McCartney got one for doing music and that's his job. I got mine for doing my job, so someone must have thought I was doing it right.

Dinner is from 12.20 to 12.55 and is really hectic. We serve between 230 and 270 children a day. Today we had fish bite sandwiches, turkey fingers in buns, vegetable lasagne and pizza. We also do mushy peas, carrots and cabbage, but only in very small amounts - I would like to say the children eat vegetables but they don't.

After 1.30pm, I'm usually left on my own. It's my quiet time, when I get ready for the next day and do the books. If any food is left over, I nibble at it for lunch.

I go home at 3pm, sometimes 4.30pm. I live with my daughter and granddaughter. In the evenings I usually watch TV. I love Ainsley Harriott, although it's funny when they try to make a dish for under £5. We get 70p per child in my school.

I go to bed at 10.30pm, with some cocoa and Take a Break. It's a good magazine to read in bed, because when your eyes go, you can just drop it to the floor.

Interview by Helen Adkins