Surprise party celebrates Pagham Playgroup manager's fifty years of service

Mrs Powell, who retired at the end of the summer term, taught children at Pagham Playgroup on Nyetimber Lane for 52 years, which meant Saturday’s party was also a kind of reunion.

Three generations of former students gathered at the Pagham Church Centre at 1pm for the party and Mrs Powell recognised nearly all of them. “It’s nice to see so many people who used to come to me as children all grown up,” she said.

For Mrs Powell, the party was a total surprise – she thought was going to a fashion show. “I had no idea until I saw everyone, I was just speechless, really. I still am.”

Alongside tea, coffee, cake and squash, the party featured scrapbooks overflowing with photos of former students and proud parents.

"We’ve all been looking through the scrapbooks and finding ourselves,” said former student Mia Siddique. “My cousins are in some of them, my brother is in another, I’m seeing old friends. I just think it’s lovely they’ve put these together because there are loads of photos for every year."

For Mrs Saddique, that personal touch is part of what made Mrs Powell's teaching so special: “I went to the playgroup, my brother went, my cousins went, my mum went, my aunties went. Everyone went there. It was really nice to come back and see her. I haven’t seen her for over 20 years and she recognised us all straight away.

“Even outside of Pagham, people talk about Mrs Powell, so it’s really nice they threw this party for her – she just means so much to everyone.”

Party organiser Natalie Lambert said much the same thing, adding “Mrs Powell is such a lovely person who’s worked so hard for so long, I just wanted a way to say thank you really. She’s had such a big impact that even people who couldn’t be there on the day went out of their way to message me and say ‘I’m so sorry, I’d love to be there, make sure to wish her well on her retirement.”

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Beloved Pagham playgroup manager retires after more than fifty years of teaching