As the Crow Flies — Stop 5
Mr Pickles at Drill Hall
There was a big hubbub at the Drill Hall and Mr Pickles flew down to see what on earth was happening.
Illustration by children of Milton St John’s School
There was great excitement as an order had arrived the day before that all members of F and H companies must parade to the Drill Hall at 6am for signing up orders and extra postmen had been called on to deliver the messages throughout the night.
204 men had turned up ready to go to war. A large crowd had gathered to give them a good send off and at 9.30am the men marched to the station with a bugle band leading them.
Mr Pickles followed the marching men and was amazed by the crowds at the train station. The walls on Manchester Road and Stamford Road were lined with people, and small children were sitting atop the walls waving Union flags and shouting out names.
The men crowded onto the platform and sang ‘It’s a Long Way To Tipperary’ and ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ at the tops of their voices. Just before the train left, lots of important looking men in suits came to join in the send off and 12 fog signals were sounded - the loud bangs really ruffled Mr Pickles’ feathers. The crowd kept cheering as the train pulled away and Mr Pickles wished with all his heart that all 204 men would return safely from wherever they were sent.
The crowds waved the soldiers off cheerfully but 290 Mossley men died in World War I.
The sloping of the roofs of the houses on New Earth Street is only seen in the Pennines.
It was cheap and quick to build like this but, with no partition walls in the roof space, fire was a big problem, it would spread quickly through the terraces.
After the Great Fire of London this method of building was banned in most places.