A hero to so many

IT would be regrettable if today’s mass strike by public workers overshadowed the good deeds of so many – unsung heroes like lollipop lady Linda Boxall who has been putting a smile on the faces of school children three times a day for an incredible 30 years.

Her longevity, and also physical endurance, is astonishing. She has walked nearly 3,000 miles, and crossed a busy junction 800,000 times, to help walk an estimated one million youngsters to and from a Huddersfield primary school.

Through three decades of far-reaching changes to society, Mrs Boxall is quick to point out that the local butcher’s has become an Indian restaurant and fewer people are now willing to become school crossing patrollers. That said, her good humour has been a constant. “It feels like I’m doing something worthwhile,” she says modestly.

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In an era when so-called personalities who have done little to warrant their elevated celebrity status are hero-worshipped, the likes of Linda Boxall will always be the true heroes of Britain and the people making the greatest contribution to the Big Society.

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