STUDENTS, staff and friends raised more than £1,700 for retiring Kingsbridge Community College caretaker Clive Hay.

Clive, who has worked at KCC for almost 30 years, was invited down to the Seven Stars in Kingsbridge on Thursday night for a retirement party, the day before his 65th birthday, not knowing what lay in store.

He had caught wind of something going on, and asked Wendy Ohlson, KCC’s deputy principle, and said ‘just promise me its nothing nasty’, and Wendy reassured him that ‘I can’t imagine anybody, anywhere, wanting to be unkind to someone as lovely as you’.

Wayne Grills, ex-Mayor of Kingsbridge and an ex-KCC student himself, set up the GoFundMe page online to raise some money to give Clive a little present for his retirement, maybe a few hundred pounds, he didn’t expect it to raise as much as it did.

Wayne handed Clive a card with the names and messages from all the people who donated to the fund, and an envelope containing £1,700. 143 people donated to the fund, with many leaving messages like Shana Bartram-Ellen who said: ‘Happy Retirement to a local hero! Enjoy the time off Clive!’

There was an audible gasp and a round of applause in the room as Wayne revealed the amount of money that was raised. Clive was also given a card made by art teacher Jan Clarke, whose cards are locally famous.

Clive said: ‘I’m surprised that this has happened! What can I say? It’s been a marvellous 28 years, ups and downs, some bad ones, some great ones, great memories, joy and that’s all I can say really. I can’t say any else or I’ll burst into tears. Thank you for turning up! Cheers.’

Clive said he plans to do a lot of relaxing in his retirement and he was given a new fishing rod and some kit, so he plans to do a lot of fishing.

If you would like to donate to Clive’s retirement, you still can, as it was only publicised online to try and keep the secret from him, if you visit: tinyurl.com/cliveretirement.