Past student pleasing palates

Some three decades ago, Dorset Stewart-Williams was a student at the Haddo Primary and Infant School in Haddo, Westmoreland. Today, she is back at her alma mater, serving the institution as a cook.

When the WESTERN STAR visited the 104-year-old school, which is located on the grounds of the Haddo Methodist Church, Stewart-Williams, who is now in her mid-30s, was busy preparing lunch to satisfy the nutritional needs of the current generation of students.

Taking a break from her cooking duties to speak with the WESTERN STAR, Stewart-Williams, who took on the job as the school's cook in March 2016, said she thoroughly enjoys the job, which is her main source of income.

"The work is wonderful, because it helps me with my family maintenance," said Stewart-Williams. "Although the money (pay) is not much, it is better than none, and the best thing about it is that I don't have to drive to work. I walk to work because I live in the community."

In reflecting on her time as a student, Stewart-Williams said the school did not have many of the modern-day facilities that exist there today.

"When I was a student here, it was not as convenient as now because we didn't have a football field at the back of the school and we didn't have a netball court at the front; and the bathroom for the facility was a pit toilet, not a flush toilet like now," said a reflective Stewart-Williams. " So the school is much more improved than when I was here as a student."