Articles

Once a Mole, always a Mole

29/04/2025

Retiring from many years of Service at Molescroft School, the Parish Council bestows the Freedom of the Parish on Mr Michael Loncaster

At the April 2025 Parish Council meeting, Molescroft Parish Councillors awarded the first ever ‘Freedom of the Parish’ to Mr Michael Loncaster in recognition of his long years of dedicated service to the Molescroft community via his work at Molescroft School.

The awarding of ‘Freedom of the Parish’ is the highest honour a Parish Council can bestow on one of its residents and Mr Loncaster is the first ever ‘Freeman’ of Molescroft Parish.  It is an ancient honour and still entitles the recipient to ‘graze their cattle on the village green’ and to ‘drive sheep unmolested through the village high street’.  Time will tell if Mr Loncaster resists the temptation to take up this entitlement, but his name will now be entered onto a ‘Log of Freemen and Freewoman’ which will be kept forever in the records of the Parish Council

At the presentation of the ‘Freedom Scroll’, attended by colleagues and pupils of Mr Loncaster, both past and present, Parish Chairman Michael Hildyard spoke warmly of the legacy Mr Loncaster had created, with generations of children going through the school under his stewardship - Cllr Hildyard summarised by saying he could not think of a more deserving recipient of this, the first Freedom of the Parish Award to be given by the Parish Council

In accepting the Freedom Scroll, Mr Loncaster told Cllrs and those present that he fully realised the honour which was being bestowed upon him and how being part of the Molescroft Community meant so much to him and his family… “my life has been enriched by being an adopted son of the village and I will treasure this award for life”. 

Mr Loncaster went on to note that the Parish Council has supported the school since its inception in 1975, always recognising that the children of Molescroft are equally important citizens of the parish.  “We are all part of the same jigsaw puzzle and collectively we have tried to support each other to fill the gaps when they appeared, or seize opportunities when they presented themselves”.

In finishing Mr Loncaster told those present that his service to the school community would never have been possible without the “astonishing dedication, creativity, and talent of the 90 or so staff, not forgetting the most amazing children and their parents who would subscribe to the vision and become "Moles".

The Chair and Councillors of the Parish Council and indeed the whole community of Molescroft wish Michael a long and happy retirement and sincerely thank him for his guidance, care and tutelage shown to the many generations of the children of Molescroft