As the Crow Flies — Stop 1
Mr Pickles Goes To School
Mr Pickles the Crow was perched under the airy arches at Milton St. John’s School, sheltering from the rain. A herd of children came running into the arch for an outdoor lesson. One of them was swinging his gas mask case and nearly knocked Mr Pickles flying.
Illustration by children of Milton St John’s School
“I hate these pesky children,” squawked the crow, “they were much better behaved at Pickles School.”
He flew up to the entrance arch into the kitchen where he was sure he’d be able to find something to eat. Milton St. John’s kitchen cooked for all the schools in Mossley so there were always delivery vans coming in and out. Sure enough, he found a rissole that had dropped out of one of the aluminium containers. He couldn’t quite decide what was in the rissole (it had a distinctly sawdusty taste) but it was very filling so he ate it anyway.
As he pecked away at the rissole he idly listened to the dinner ladies talking. “Why is this school called Milton?” one of them was asking.
Another replied, “It’s named after the famous writer and poet John Milton.”
“Well I never, that must be why the pupils here are so good at writing stories!”
Milton was the first council school to be built in Mossley.
In 1978 it merged with St. John’s and became Milton St. John’s.
In 1942 Milton’s kitchen started providing meals for all Mossley schools.