В Кингсвуде оплакивают легенду: 74-летний «конфетный человечек» 21 год защищал детей от машин

‘A legend of a man’: Kingswood community mourns beloved lollipop man who kept generations safe He helped children cross the road in Kingswood for over twenty years Tributes have been paid to a ‘legend’ of a lollypop man after he died of cancer last month, aged 74. Cyril Rice spent 21 years helping children cross the road outside Courtney Primary School in Kingswood. Cyril’s daughter Jacquelyn told Bristol Live a job which had started out as simply something for her dad to do when he retired became a source of great joy. “When he got early retirement, he started doing the lollipop man job almost just as something to do, and then he ended up doing it for 21 years,” she said. "He loved children, as a dad and then as a grandad, he loved kids and play and imagination and being silly and having fun. “So I suppose getting to see those children every day was important to him. Obviously, having been there for 21 years as well, he saw generations passing through. "So I know there were children of children who he used to cross the road for, who became the parents at the same school. I know he enjoyed that, he used to love seeing the kids grow up over the years. “After he stopped working when he got ill, he said himself that it was like the best job he'd ever had, the most rewarding (job).” As well as his work as a crossing guard, Cyril moonlighted as Santa Claus during the festive season; he was occasionally rumbled when more astute children noticed Father Christmas had the same shoes as their lollipop man. He was well known at the school for high-fiving children on their way into and out of the building, remembering everyone’s name and noticing little details such as changes in hairstyles. In a prior life, Cyril enjoyed a career as a civil servant. In a letter to parents following Cyril's death, headteacher Georgina Smith paid tribute to a man who left an incredible legacy behind. “It is hard to put into words the impact this wonderful man has had,” she wrote. “I don’t quite know if he knew just how special he really was. A legend of a man, whose legacy will live on in our Courtney community for many years to come.” The reaction to Cyril’s passing from his school’s head shows the impact lollipop people can have in their communities, despite the fact their numbers have dwindled in recent years. The profession started life in the South West, with Bath’s Mary Hunt thought to be the UK’s first lollipop person when she started guiding children across the road in 1937. The Transport Act 2000, passed under the first Blair government, removed the obligation for local councils to employ lollipop people. Some authorities have scrapped them entirely as a cost-saving measure, and last year the Mirror reported councils employed just 1,253 school crossing patrol officers in the previous financial year compared to 2,574 in 2014 - a 51% reduction.