A Dog's Life — Stop 2
Shirley Meets George Lawton
There was an enormous crowd in Top Mossley stretching right from the market ground down to Albion Mill. Shirley the Sheepdog squeezed through a sea of legs to get to the front and see what on earth was going on.
Illustration by children of St. Joseph’s School
She saw a modest looking man in a soldier’s uniform with a shiny new medal pinned to his chest - his name was Ernest Sykes and he had been awarded the Victoria Cross by King George V at Buckingham Palace the week before!
Today, the people of Mossley were saying thank you for his bravery and presenting gifts including a gold watch. Shirley heard a family talking about how Ernest had rescued four wounded soldiers in Arras in France whilst under heavy fire and then attended to others who were too injured to be moved. All this despite the incessant machine gun and rifle fire.
Shirley was amazed at how brave he had been - she was quite scared of being trampled by the crowd here!
She dodged through the crowd and came out of at the butcher’s. The butcher was a good friend of hers and he gave her a juicy bone to chew on.
She found a quiet spot next to the mill pond at Albion Mill and a man sat on the wall next to her.
A couple of people greeted him, “Hello Mr Lawton!” and, “Afternoon George!”
Absentmindedly he started stroking Shirley’s ears and talking to himself, “Instead of this mill wouldn’t it be great to have a hall here where people could meet, go to concerts, put on concerts and have dances.”
Shirley thought it sounded like a nice plan but mainly she just enjoyed chewing her bone and having her ears tickled!
The Mill Girl statue is on the site of Albion Mill, the last cotton mill in Top Mossley.
The library moved here in 2016 and the hall is used for all kinds of entertainment including by MAODS. The Time Line on the library wall was organised by Mossley Civic Society.