A LOLLIPOP lady who has helped almost 1.5 million children safely across a busy Thame road is marking 20 years in the job.

Linda Chown has been stopping traffic in Kingsey Road, near to Lord Williams’s Lower School, since December 2, 1990, after spotting an advert in the Oxford Mail.

She celebrated the two decade milestone earlier this month by encouraging the children to guess how many pupils she has helped cross the road.

Mrs Chown, 50, revealed the figure was somewhere in the region of 1,497,200, or approximately 400 children a day.

Lord Williams’s School pupil Jack Biddle, 12, won vouchers and toiletries after he guessed 1.5m.

Mrs Chown, who also works as a cleaner, said: “I’m passionate about road safety. I love it, it’s a very important job to do in the community.

“I love the children and I like seeing them grow up. I still keep in contact with a lot of them. I’ve recently been crossing a little boy to nursery – I used to cross his mum and she’s now 31. It’s watching the generations grow.”

Mrs Chown added: “The weather can be the worst problem, but when I see their faces and talk to them it makes up for it.”

She said: “I always say, ‘thank you’ to the drivers when I cross the children. I’ve had one or two saying that the children are not walking fast enough, but on the whole I have been lucky.

A lot of the children crossing are 11, 12, 13 and some of them think they don’t need crossing, they are at that age when they think they are invincible.

“They think they can walk out into the road and still be safe.”

She added: “I can’t believe it’s been 20 years. I hope I can do another 20.”

Mrs Chown took up the role after she was made redundant from the McVities factory in Thame after 14 years.

She was recently commended by mayor Adam Buckland who said she was an “unsung hero”. He added: “She is totally reliable and it is a great relief to any parents and grandparents to know their children can cross the road safely.”

She also helps supply refreshments for the annual memorial service at St Mary the Virgin every winter for families who have lost loved ones in road traffic accidents.

She said: “Because I work with the roads, it’s an honour to do that.”

Karen Vear, deputy headteacher of Lord Williams’s Lower School, said: “It’s been lovely to have her work with us for so long.

“She has been really reliable and out there in all weathers, and she is so friendly to all the students and staff.”

eallen@oxfordmail.co.uk