A school’s longest-serving member of staff took centre stage in a ceremony to mark the launch of a £2.2 million project to build a new refectory.

Cambs Times: How the refectory will look.How the refectory will look. (Image: Archant)

Pam Putterill, who has worked at Wisbech Grammar School for 41 years, first as a kitchen assistant and then as a cook, cut the turf on the first day of the building project, which is being carried out by R.G. Carter and is scheduled to be finished by January 2015.

Headmaster Nicholas Hammond said: “This is an exciting new development for the school.

“Mrs Putterill was asked to do the honours as the longest-serving member of the catering staff.”