Milk snatcher Thatcher

[PerfectYear321]

I'm on a bit of a high with the change of government and am looking back at my childhood to see what Labour governments did for my childhood as a poor, free school meals child.

I googled when the Tories got rid of milk for infant school kids and was shocked to find out it was 1971, seeing as I was born in 1977 🤔

I swear I had milk at school in the 80s: little glass bottles with a slim straw. Never drank milk at home but happily drank the milk the school gave me to enjoy with my friends. Am I tripping?!

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/margaret-thatcher-regretted-snatching-milk-from-school-children-for-two-decades-a7500171.html

1977 sounds right to me. I got free school milk until I went to secondary school in 1976. As others have described, little glass bottles (one-third of a pint) of unhomogenised whole milk with icky little globs of cream sticking to the underside of the foil lid. I generally didn't mind drinking milk as a child and in winter it wasn't too bad (ice crystals were a bonus) but in summer when the milk had been sitting outside in the sun it was like a form of institutional torture.

In those days Drinka Pinta Milka Day was a big public health thing, and when free school milk became limited to younger children the newspapers carried a full page advert, presumably from the Milk Marketing Board, showing three children - the nine year old who was too old for school milk, the three year old who wasn't at school yet, and the six year old - "She's lucky, she gets a third of a pint of milk at school." Emphasising that parents must make sure their children, even the one who has milk at school, get their Daily Pinta.

I had milk in glass bottles in infants so this was 82-85 ish. Everyone had it for morning break with a biscuit we could bring in from home.

My DD's primary offers it now to the infants (I think for those under age 5). They just get big 4 pint bottles and pour it into plastic cups. I think the majority of it ends up in the staff room!

I started infants in 1969, and remember the milk then. Didn't have it for the rest of primary, though, so maybe some education authorities continued to fund and others didn't?

Neither of my kids had free milk either, though they did get FSM. They also never had health visitors, or development checks like I often hear about on MN.

Up until I left my job in a school in 2019, milk was provided free for every child until their 5th birthday. After that they could still have milk if they wanted it, but it had to be paid for.

Yes I remember it disappearing in 1979, which coincided with the Tories winning the election. Way after Thatcher was Education Secretary - maybe it disappeared region by region and the election was a red herring.

I was disgruntled when it stopped. In 1997 when people were whining about the Winter of Discontent and saying don't vote Labour, I rolled my eyes and mentioned the milk!

Giving small children a full pint of full-fat milk every day is ridiculous IMO.

It was 1/3 of a pint IIRC.

It isn't and never was a full point of milk.
It's about a third of a pint.
It's also semi skimmed milk these days iirr.

So "drink a pinta milk a day" was a third of a pint? It sounds like "Drink a Pint of milk a day".

I'm not saying you are wrong as I can't imagine children drinking a full pint but the slogan is confusing.

We had it in little glass bottles but I remember my mum giving me my 'milk money' in a little brown envelope to give to the teacher each week so it wasn't free!

The "Drinka Pinta Milka Day" slogan came from the Milk Marketing Board as a general advertising campaign to increase milk consumption across the board. It wasn't linked to free school milk.

The only good thing she ever did. Yuk!

I had milk in my first year of primary (1986). It was in little glass bottles, it was always nice and cold, and you only had it if you wanted it so I must have been lucky there!

The school dinners were a different story unfortunately....🤢

I had school milk in the 70s. The crates of little bottles used to be left outside until they were needed. That was fine in the winter but in the summer it meant lukewarm milk that even now, 40-odd years later, turns my stomach at just the thought.

This. There was a period of several years in what is now history when the Milk Marketing Board would have had us believe that it was nutritionally necessary for everyone to drink a full pint of milk every day. The school milk was one-third of a pint, a little under 200ml, so not an unreasonable volume for a child to drink at one sitting.

Stuff takes time to factor in and some stuff remains despite policies - grammar schools being the ultimate example. Gone in early 70s where I live, still all over the place in 2024 🤷‍♀️

Another one here who was put off milk for life by those warm third-pint bottles. They were gross.

As has already been said the 'pinta' was the milk marketing board. The school milk was 1/3 of a pint, ie 1/3 of what was recommended.

Add to that milk on cereal, milky hot drinks and the odd glass of milk from the fridge and it all adds up. In the 1970s children did drink tea and coffee, we were even given milky coffee at one primary I attended.

Don't forget the birds pecking through the tin foil to drink the milk, and possibly passing on Campylobacter!

Yes, my daughter's birthday is mid Sept so she had free milk for about 2 weeks, ridiculous system.

Definitely had it in junior school in the 70's. I hated it, mostly warm with bird crap on top of it.

Also we could bring in 1p to have a biscuit with it or 2p for two biscuits!

Exactly. At school it was 1/3 pint.

Fay Weldon wrote one of the famous slogans but I can't remember if it was 'Drinka pinta milka day' or 'Go to work on an egg'.