BETWEEN them Mac Brackstone and Heather Linley have notched up nearly 70 years service at Ryedale School.

Last week the teachers said goodbye to the close-knit secondary school which has seen them educate thousands of local youngsters over the past three decades.

Their long service has only been surpassed by former PE teacher Brian Dowson, who will stay on at the school in Nawton, near Helmsley, after 37 years in post.

When head of the upper school, Miss Linley, arrived in 1971 both the students and education was a world apart from the school she left at the end of the term.

She said: “Back then children were not as worldly wise as they are now. I’m a Yorkshire lass and have lived here all my life. In the 1970s it wasn’t uncommon for the youngsters from Farndale to speak in dialect and the teachers from down south couldn’t understand them, so being from around here I was at an advantage.

“Of course it’s very different now and when I look back it doesn’t feel like I have been here for 37 years. I suppose because every day is so varied and you never stop from the minute you get into school.”

She said back when she was a young teacher everything from discipline to expectations of the youngsters was miles apart from today’s world of technology and fashion.

“I can remember kicking a boy all the way down the corridor to the head master’s office for chewing in my class,” she said the former head girl at Lady Lumley’s in Pickering. “Of course that would be unthinkable now but that’s the way it was.

“One of the best aspects of my job is talking young people round and listening to them, instead of the old ways, which we left behind long ago.

“I will take with me some wonderful memories and I have loved every minute of my job. However it is very demanding and I’m not getting any younger. It’s time to go but I it will take some time to adjust to life outside school.” Also bowing out of education is history teacher Mr Brackstone, who has stood firm in the face of changing times and teaching methods.

But despite the advance in technology the school archivist still held on to his blackboard and chalk – much the amusement of his computer-savvy students.

He said: “Times have changed but Ryedale School is still a community school and is steeped in tradition. A lot of people have come into the area in recent years but is the school it has always been in many ways.

“It has been a pleasure to work here for the past 30 years and all the staff are extremely diligent. Retirement will give me the chance to indulge in my love of local history, walking and of course record collecting.”

Also leaving last week was special needs teacher Margaret Smith who has been encouraging youngsters at the school for the past 15 years.