Tears, laughter and 'three days of mayhem' as janitor retires from Falkirk area primary school

When Iain Aitchison, 64, retired from Carronshore Primary School last week it was not just one big leaving ceremony as is normally the case with these kind of things.

Iain said: "It was three days of mayhem.”

The crafty school staff and pupils conspired with Iain’s wife Alison to give their beloved janitor a send off for the ages, which included a car full of balloons and a musical interlude from female Freddie Mercurys, complete with his trademark moustache.

Things started off calmly enough on Wednesday with a fire drill.

"I usually do the alarms and go and check all the doors,” said Iain. “Then I saw all the pupils not in their normal groups, all out in the playground together. They know I like Freddie Mercury and Queen and they had a boom box and started playing ‘I Want to Break Free’.

"All the female staff had on Freddie moustaches. It was so funny and so nice.”

And the fun was not over yet.

“I went out to go to lunch,” said Iain. “My car had been moved. I’m going ‘where’s my car?’ and they are going ‘where’s your car Iain’.”

Unknown to the normally alert and eagle eyed janitor, his wife had been called to the school and arrived with his spare set of car keys, before moving the vehicle down to the nursery, where staff had made some modifications.

“It was stuffed full of balloons,” laughed Iain. “I actually couldn’t get in the car it was so full.”

When the dust settled on the “mayhem” of his final days at the school Iain was left with a ton of cards and presents, and a lot of happy memories.

"It was a brilliant send off. You couldn’t have asked for anything better. It was funny and there was some tears as well.”

Before he was the janitor at Carronshore, Iain worked as a moulder in a number of local foundries, but that was not really a long term career prospect at the time.

"They just kept shutting them down,” he laughed.

However, it did allow him to eventually find his true calling in life and become the janitor at the Kincardine Road school and he has never looked back.

Iain said he was going to really miss the staff, pupils and the school, which had been a huge part of his life for over two decades.

"You would get kids you knew from the primary school coming back to pick up their own kids, saying ‘are you still here Mr Aitchison’.”

Iain and Alison, who worked for Falkirk Council as a family social worker, plan to hit the green this summer.

"My wife and I are retiring together,” said Iain. “We are members of Carron and Carronshore Bowling Club and as luck would have it the green just opened on the Friday there.

"That will keep us busy for the next couple of months.”