Millwood Primary Special School
What started off as a derp school that looked pretty boring from the outside quickly became one of my favourite explores to date, for a number of reasons...we'll get to that later though.
@Stitch2016 has had a hell of a lot of spare time on his hands recently, and spent most of it wandering round Bury following up on leads (we'll find those tunnels one day!) and trying to find new places for us to explore. One one of these wanders he came across Millwood Primary Special School, an ex-school for children with special needs and learning difficulties - the school itself has now relocated to a building in Radcliffe under the same name.
the only external I managed to get; more on the vans later
We made plans to meet one evening and hit the place up, and I decided to give the m8ty @Coolboyslim a ring to see if he wanted in on it. Fast forward 2 hours later and me and CBS are surveying the site, looking for the access Stitch had shown us over WhatsApp, when suddenly he announces that he's found the bloody thing! After a bit of a squeeze we were into the grounds and clambering about over the old playground..."this would make a good page 3 shot Bolts m8ty"
Stitch joined us soon after and we headed to his previous access point. After a comedy entry from Coolboyslim we were in, and as soon as I stepped into the first room a PIR lit up and we heard a little *beep beep beep* going off in the distance: "ah leave it, they didn't come last time". Famous last words gentlemen, famous last words.
The school seemed pretty bare at first, most of the rooms were empty and it wasn't until we reached the canteen area that things started to look promising. The floor was covered in mish-mash of miscellaneous objects ranging from washing machines to hospital beds, and it wasn't until Coolboyslim started making woofing noises (the building is now used for police dog training) that we remembered that security could turn up any minute.
m8ty himself
Heading through a fire door, I stepped into what looked like some sort of utility room closely followed by Stitch. He opened up a cupboard, flipped the light switch, and watched as the bulb above us flickered into life to reveal the electricity switchboard and a rather curious set of manhole keys.
We skipped past the next room with the intentions of coming back for it (we never did); it was packed full of computers, keyboards, wheelchairs, hoists, desks, chairs, medical equipment...you name it, it had it. I grabbed one quick picture and we headed through to the main reception where we found a huge file containing all the plans and blueprints for the building, along with the fire alarm control panel. Here's a tip for you all: never let Coolboyslim near one of those things.
There were a number of occasions when we thought we heard voices talking in some of the other rooms (no, not ghosties) but we quickly put it down to our nerves getting the better of us. It was then that we hit the proper win from this place and all thoughts of mysterious voices and security guards left our heads: a swimming pool kitted out with a changing room, hospital bed, disability hoist and one of those orange cord things that you're not supposed to pull. I flicked the lights on and we started to set up our shots.
As I went to continue with our explore, I turned the corner and instantly retreated back into the doorway of the pool room: a guy in a black secca uniform was stood outside having a smoke! I got a few quick videos and alerted the others that he was there, and we agreed to make our way back to the canteen and out through the fire door in the hope that he wasn't still covering our exit point. We beat a hasty retreat through the building and made a swift exit into the playground - just as we got to our exit we spotted 4 security guards inside the building, staring at us and taking pictures!
The next 15 minutes were madness: we lost Coolboyslim, got shouted at by a man who claimed that burglary wasn't stealing and told us off for "chasing the security guards", ran down a dead end and had to run back through the school to escape, and were then called "little girls" by an overly fat security guard who didn't seem to be able to muster up the energy to try and catch us.
Just your average day out really.
What started off as a derp school that looked pretty boring from the outside quickly became one of my favourite explores to date, for a number of reasons...we'll get to that later though.
@Stitch2016 has had a hell of a lot of spare time on his hands recently, and spent most of it wandering round Bury following up on leads (we'll find those tunnels one day!) and trying to find new places for us to explore. One one of these wanders he came across Millwood Primary Special School, an ex-school for children with special needs and learning difficulties - the school itself has now relocated to a building in Radcliffe under the same name.
the only external I managed to get; more on the vans later
We made plans to meet one evening and hit the place up, and I decided to give the m8ty @Coolboyslim a ring to see if he wanted in on it. Fast forward 2 hours later and me and CBS are surveying the site, looking for the access Stitch had shown us over WhatsApp, when suddenly he announces that he's found the bloody thing! After a bit of a squeeze we were into the grounds and clambering about over the old playground..."this would make a good page 3 shot Bolts m8ty"
Stitch joined us soon after and we headed to his previous access point. After a comedy entry from Coolboyslim we were in, and as soon as I stepped into the first room a PIR lit up and we heard a little *beep beep beep* going off in the distance: "ah leave it, they didn't come last time". Famous last words gentlemen, famous last words.
The school seemed pretty bare at first, most of the rooms were empty and it wasn't until we reached the canteen area that things started to look promising. The floor was covered in mish-mash of miscellaneous objects ranging from washing machines to hospital beds, and it wasn't until Coolboyslim started making woofing noises (the building is now used for police dog training) that we remembered that security could turn up any minute.
m8ty himself
Heading through a fire door, I stepped into what looked like some sort of utility room closely followed by Stitch. He opened up a cupboard, flipped the light switch, and watched as the bulb above us flickered into life to reveal the electricity switchboard and a rather curious set of manhole keys.
We skipped past the next room with the intentions of coming back for it (we never did); it was packed full of computers, keyboards, wheelchairs, hoists, desks, chairs, medical equipment...you name it, it had it. I grabbed one quick picture and we headed through to the main reception where we found a huge file containing all the plans and blueprints for the building, along with the fire alarm control panel. Here's a tip for you all: never let Coolboyslim near one of those things.
There were a number of occasions when we thought we heard voices talking in some of the other rooms (no, not ghosties) but we quickly put it down to our nerves getting the better of us. It was then that we hit the proper win from this place and all thoughts of mysterious voices and security guards left our heads: a swimming pool kitted out with a changing room, hospital bed, disability hoist and one of those orange cord things that you're not supposed to pull. I flicked the lights on and we started to set up our shots.
As I went to continue with our explore, I turned the corner and instantly retreated back into the doorway of the pool room: a guy in a black secca uniform was stood outside having a smoke! I got a few quick videos and alerted the others that he was there, and we agreed to make our way back to the canteen and out through the fire door in the hope that he wasn't still covering our exit point. We beat a hasty retreat through the building and made a swift exit into the playground - just as we got to our exit we spotted 4 security guards inside the building, staring at us and taking pictures!
The next 15 minutes were madness: we lost Coolboyslim, got shouted at by a man who claimed that burglary wasn't stealing and told us off for "chasing the security guards", ran down a dead end and had to run back through the school to escape, and were then called "little girls" by an overly fat security guard who didn't seem to be able to muster up the energy to try and catch us.
Just your average day out really.
