When Bruce Bartlett retired at the end of last term, he heard on the grapevine Guthrie St Primary School was going to honour his 47 years of service to the school.
As a bus driver, a friendly face, an odd-jobs man but best-known as the cleaner, everyone who had gone through Guthrie St knew his face and his smile.
When principal Brendan Bicknell stood up and read a poem in front of assembly last Friday, Mr Bartlett expected that to be the end of it.
Instead, Mr Bicknell walked to the back of the indoor basketball centre, pulled some well-hidden cloth off a new sign and welcomed the school’s former cleaner of nearly 50 years to stand in front of the new sign naming the stadium after him.
He said it was “emotional” walking in front of a few hundred students clapping and cheering, and wiped a tear from his eye as he addressed the crowd.
“I thought after 47 years they might have named the toilets after me,” he said, laughing.
Mr Bartlett said someone had half let “the cat out of the bag ... but I didn't know what”.
He said it wasn’t as emotional as it might have been had more adults been in the building, but that it was still a touching gesture from the school at which he worked from the age of 21 until his retirement.
All five of his children went to the school, where he worked as a salaried employee for 23 years before Kennett Government changes saw him sacked then brought back as a contractor working with his mother and sister.
“The staff have been amazing, over the last 20 years the staff have been a large part of how the school’s been kept and everyone else is on board,” he said.
“I miss the kids, I miss their politeness, them opening doors for me, doing all the things you need as you get older.”
In his speech to students and a small number of Mr Bartlett’s family members, Mr Bicknell said it was appropriate for one of the 11 life members of the school to be honoured this way.
“One thing was always sure as we walked through our school doors,” Mr Bicknell said in his poem he wrote about Mr Bartlett.
“We’re all very fond of Bruce, because our school’s never looked so spruce.”