A WOMAN who became a lollipop lady to make new friends has proved she is top of the pops.

Sharron O'Keeffe is the first school crossing person on her patch to be awarded a charter mark for service -- but the smiles and laughter of the children she looks after mean just as much to her.

Lollipop men and women across East Lancashire are the first in the country to be awarded the charter mark honour.

And Sharron is the first in Bacup to sport the badge proudly on her uniform.

Sharron, of Newchurch Road, Stacksteads, moved to the Valley from Essex four-and-a-half years ago.

She said: "I didn't know anybody in the area so I applied to become a lollipop lady because I thought it would be a good way of getting to know a lot of people and I am a social person and don't like my own company."

She guides the children at St Joseph's RC School, where her own son John, ten, is a pupil, and Holy Trinity School safely across the zebra crossing at Toll Bar.

Sharron, 34, said: "The children all call me Miss Lollipop sometimes when the weather is bad and you get soaked through day after day, you wonder why do you do the job.

"But it is the children who make it so rewarding. On Valentine's Day a little boy made me a Valentine Card and wrote 'to the best lollipop lady in the world'. Another gave me a cup cake he had made with a love heart on top.

"They also draw pictures of me and I have them pinned up at home."

Several hundred children use the crossing to get to both schools and so Sharron is always kept very busy.

She said: "I have my regulars and it is nice to have a laugh and a joke with them. There is one lad I call 'Smiler' because he always has a beaming smile every time you see him. I also get to chat to the mums as they watch their children walking up the hill towards St Joseph's. I just love my job."

Dave Williams, area organiser for school crossing patrols in Blackburn, Accrington and Rossendale, said: "Sharron is very popular and she gets on well with everyone which is all down to her personality."