One of the features of Berrow's Worcester Journal was the comments on local affairs by 'Crowquill'. The nom-de-plume comes from the fact that in medival times reed pens and quills were chiefly used, and artists to this day found a turkey quill, well baked and hardened, an excellent instrument, but there were scribes, very fastidious in their selection, who liked a crow quill. It was a brittle thing, however, and not for every hand. Nethertheless, it remained the distinguishing mark of Berrow's for 70 years, for it was in 1885 that an outside correspondent, whose name cannot be traced, but who signed his himself in the paper as 'Crowquill', wrote was intended as a casual contribution. But such jottings became the responsibility of a member of the staff, and were contributed for many years by Mr. Bert Noake, and later by Mr. F.G. Davies.
