IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 17 - 23 NOVEMBER 1925
This week's many stories include the Sutton boy who stole money to buy a birthday present for his dad, the death of the Queen Mother, the case of the drunk leading the blind, the Parr coal stealer who said she'd learnt her lesson, the Peasley Cross Bridge flooding is back on the agenda and the wireless set for listening to Children's Hour.
We begin on the 17th at St Helens Juvenile Police Court, when a 15-year-old boy was charged with stealing three shillings from a shop in Reginald Road in Sutton. Small shops often kept their front door open with the shop owner or their assistant waiting in the back for custom. Some opportunistic lads would creep in and steal goods or money without being seen.
Whether the unnamed 15-year-old had done that wasn’t made clear but the boy claimed he had entered the shop to buy sweets. Finding nobody there he had gone behind the counter and seen three shillings lying on a shelf and helped himself. The lad then used the cash to buy what was described as a tin of cigarettes as a birthday present for his father. The boy was put on probation for a year and told to pay the costs of the court case.
When the council's Highways Committee met on the 18th the problem of the flooding at Peasley Cross bridge was back on the agenda. Last week I mentioned how a letter writer in the Reporter had suggested that building a culvert would resolve matters. Councillor Thomas Boscow told the meeting that installing a system of pumps would be the solution. He said the flooding was causing considerable losses to the tramways company through the holding up of traffic in Peasley Cross Lane.
But the committee chairman, Councillor Ellison, said that their Borough Surveyor was best qualified to come up with a suitable scheme. The cause, he said, was the subsidence of the sewer but addressing it was proving difficult. The Surveyor was present at the meeting and stated that a remedial scheme could cost up to £10,000, as a complete reconstruction of the sewer was required. And pumping would be too expensive a solution.
The committee agreed that their engineer should produce a report that a joint committee could consider. And one hundred years later it still floods when it rains at the bridge – but at least we now have flashing warning lights!
I recently mentioned that the Chester Bakery had opened at 67 Duke Street and were describing themselves as a "high class confectioner". The bakery had an advert in the St Helens Reporter on the 20th offering "a white loaf with a nutty crust, at a reasonable price". And that price was fourpence for a 2lb loaf.
"Amazing Offer of 500 Overcoats" was the headline to an advert from Tyrer & Sons. Their Liverpool Road store was selling men's overcoats from 35 shillings and boys' coats from 12/11. "The value will astound you", said their ad.
There was an advert in the Reporter for a wireless made by GEC called the GECoPHONE. H. Bradbury of Bewsey Street in Thatto Heath; Cholertons of Bridge Street and T. Smith of Liverpool Road were all selling the radio set. The advert said: "Every evening, just before bedtime, comes that wonderful Children's Hour on the wireless.
"With a GECoPHONE set every item is perfectly reproduced – the jolly songs, the sparkling talks, everything that the kiddies enjoy so much – with never a doubt or falter. So superb in reproduction, so simple in control, so handsome in appearance, a GECoPHONE is beyond all doubt the best set for the home."
The Reporter also had a misty photograph of the consecration of the new Haydock cemetery. The Bishop of Warrington had undertaken the ceremony in what the caption described as the "fog-laden air".
Also on the 20th, St Helens was described as "deeply moved" when the news came through that the Queen Mother had died and a "week-end of mourning" took place. She was Alexandra, the wife of the late Edward VII, who she had married in 1863 after leaving her native Denmark.
Two years later the then Princess of Wales visited St Helens to inspect the Ravenhead Glassworks. A day's holiday was declared in the town and the Liverpool Mercury wrote: "Never in the history of St. Helen's has it been recorded that such a concourse of people were assembled together." It was estimated that the crowd that had gathered to see the 20-year-old in 1865 had numbered between 24,000 and 26,000.
Back to 1925 and last January Jimmy Jewel had been the star of the "grand spectacular and comic pantomime" Dick Whittington and his Cat, which was performed at the Theatre Royal in St Helens. Jimmy was the father of the man of the same name who became a very well-known comedian in the later years of the 20th century.
But rather like George Formby Senior, Jimmy Jewel Snr was a big star in his own right. The sons of Formby and Jewel are far better remembered than their dads, simply because they were able to embrace talking pictures and television to spread their fame.
I mention this because Jimmy Jewel Snr returned to St Helens this week to play the lead in a comedy revue called "Explosions", which ran for six nights at the Hippodrome from the 23rd. In the show's advert in the Reporter, Jewel was dubbed "The original funster" and, at the end of a lengthy list of talent, it said, "And 10 Explosive Girls" – whatever that means! Meanwhile, at The Theatre Royal, "The Merry Widow" was being performed for six days.
The all-male Rotary Club of St Helens had been founded in 1923 and soon afterwards a ladies section, consisting of the wives of Rotary members and called Inner Wheel, was formed. That, according to the Reporter, had the object of "assisting Rotarians in their social and philanthropic activities".
The first major fundraising project of the Rotary Club was to provide wireless sets for patients in Providence and St Helens hospitals. On the 23rd members of the Inner Wheel held their first social evening at the Edinburgh Cafe in Church Street and raised over £20 towards Rotary's appeal.
And finally, a couple of court cases that were heard on the 23rd. "Drunk Leading Blind" was the Reporter’s headline to an article on the activities of Len Thomas and William Marsh. The latter from Edward Street described himself as practically blind and late on the previous Saturday night, Len Thomas had been leading him along the street.
Thomas from Glover Street was very drunk and he slipped and fell against a shop window, which smashed through the impact. The men then went and lent against a wall and a constable seeing their helpless condition took them to the police station. In court Len Thomas told the Bench that they had made arrangements to pay for the broken window and they were both fined 10 shillings.
"I will make my dying oath, I will not be here anymore; I have had my lesson." Those were the words of Margaret Gregory from Fleet Lane who in court pleaded guilty to stealing 127 pounds of coal from Ashtons Green Colliery (pictured above). And this was the reply from the Chairman of the Bench: "You could have learned your lesson before this because you have been here eight times for a similar thing."
PC Drysdale had seen Mrs Gregory walking along the road carrying a bag which contained the nicked coal. When she saw the constable, she dropped the bag and made off. But PC Drysdale did not feel the need to chase after the woman, as so often was the case with community policing in the past, the policeman knew most of the people that were on his beat. And so he simply summoned her to court where it was stated that the woman was in the habit of selling the coal that she stole. Margaret Gregory was told to pay a fine of £2 plus court costs.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Thatto Heath boys that smashed up a derelict house, the Windle farmer fined for not marking a cow, the sale of work in aid of St Helens Hospital's new maternity block and the gambling house in Parr.
We begin on the 17th at St Helens Juvenile Police Court, when a 15-year-old boy was charged with stealing three shillings from a shop in Reginald Road in Sutton. Small shops often kept their front door open with the shop owner or their assistant waiting in the back for custom. Some opportunistic lads would creep in and steal goods or money without being seen.
Whether the unnamed 15-year-old had done that wasn’t made clear but the boy claimed he had entered the shop to buy sweets. Finding nobody there he had gone behind the counter and seen three shillings lying on a shelf and helped himself. The lad then used the cash to buy what was described as a tin of cigarettes as a birthday present for his father. The boy was put on probation for a year and told to pay the costs of the court case.
But the committee chairman, Councillor Ellison, said that their Borough Surveyor was best qualified to come up with a suitable scheme. The cause, he said, was the subsidence of the sewer but addressing it was proving difficult. The Surveyor was present at the meeting and stated that a remedial scheme could cost up to £10,000, as a complete reconstruction of the sewer was required. And pumping would be too expensive a solution.
The committee agreed that their engineer should produce a report that a joint committee could consider. And one hundred years later it still floods when it rains at the bridge – but at least we now have flashing warning lights!
I recently mentioned that the Chester Bakery had opened at 67 Duke Street and were describing themselves as a "high class confectioner". The bakery had an advert in the St Helens Reporter on the 20th offering "a white loaf with a nutty crust, at a reasonable price". And that price was fourpence for a 2lb loaf.
"Amazing Offer of 500 Overcoats" was the headline to an advert from Tyrer & Sons. Their Liverpool Road store was selling men's overcoats from 35 shillings and boys' coats from 12/11. "The value will astound you", said their ad.
There was an advert in the Reporter for a wireless made by GEC called the GECoPHONE. H. Bradbury of Bewsey Street in Thatto Heath; Cholertons of Bridge Street and T. Smith of Liverpool Road were all selling the radio set. The advert said: "Every evening, just before bedtime, comes that wonderful Children's Hour on the wireless.
"With a GECoPHONE set every item is perfectly reproduced – the jolly songs, the sparkling talks, everything that the kiddies enjoy so much – with never a doubt or falter. So superb in reproduction, so simple in control, so handsome in appearance, a GECoPHONE is beyond all doubt the best set for the home."
The Reporter also had a misty photograph of the consecration of the new Haydock cemetery. The Bishop of Warrington had undertaken the ceremony in what the caption described as the "fog-laden air".
Also on the 20th, St Helens was described as "deeply moved" when the news came through that the Queen Mother had died and a "week-end of mourning" took place. She was Alexandra, the wife of the late Edward VII, who she had married in 1863 after leaving her native Denmark.
Two years later the then Princess of Wales visited St Helens to inspect the Ravenhead Glassworks. A day's holiday was declared in the town and the Liverpool Mercury wrote: "Never in the history of St. Helen's has it been recorded that such a concourse of people were assembled together." It was estimated that the crowd that had gathered to see the 20-year-old in 1865 had numbered between 24,000 and 26,000.
Back to 1925 and last January Jimmy Jewel had been the star of the "grand spectacular and comic pantomime" Dick Whittington and his Cat, which was performed at the Theatre Royal in St Helens. Jimmy was the father of the man of the same name who became a very well-known comedian in the later years of the 20th century.
But rather like George Formby Senior, Jimmy Jewel Snr was a big star in his own right. The sons of Formby and Jewel are far better remembered than their dads, simply because they were able to embrace talking pictures and television to spread their fame.
I mention this because Jimmy Jewel Snr returned to St Helens this week to play the lead in a comedy revue called "Explosions", which ran for six nights at the Hippodrome from the 23rd. In the show's advert in the Reporter, Jewel was dubbed "The original funster" and, at the end of a lengthy list of talent, it said, "And 10 Explosive Girls" – whatever that means! Meanwhile, at The Theatre Royal, "The Merry Widow" was being performed for six days.
The all-male Rotary Club of St Helens had been founded in 1923 and soon afterwards a ladies section, consisting of the wives of Rotary members and called Inner Wheel, was formed. That, according to the Reporter, had the object of "assisting Rotarians in their social and philanthropic activities".
The first major fundraising project of the Rotary Club was to provide wireless sets for patients in Providence and St Helens hospitals. On the 23rd members of the Inner Wheel held their first social evening at the Edinburgh Cafe in Church Street and raised over £20 towards Rotary's appeal.
And finally, a couple of court cases that were heard on the 23rd. "Drunk Leading Blind" was the Reporter’s headline to an article on the activities of Len Thomas and William Marsh. The latter from Edward Street described himself as practically blind and late on the previous Saturday night, Len Thomas had been leading him along the street.
Thomas from Glover Street was very drunk and he slipped and fell against a shop window, which smashed through the impact. The men then went and lent against a wall and a constable seeing their helpless condition took them to the police station. In court Len Thomas told the Bench that they had made arrangements to pay for the broken window and they were both fined 10 shillings.
PC Drysdale had seen Mrs Gregory walking along the road carrying a bag which contained the nicked coal. When she saw the constable, she dropped the bag and made off. But PC Drysdale did not feel the need to chase after the woman, as so often was the case with community policing in the past, the policeman knew most of the people that were on his beat. And so he simply summoned her to court where it was stated that the woman was in the habit of selling the coal that she stole. Margaret Gregory was told to pay a fine of £2 plus court costs.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Thatto Heath boys that smashed up a derelict house, the Windle farmer fined for not marking a cow, the sale of work in aid of St Helens Hospital's new maternity block and the gambling house in Parr.
This week's many stories include the Sutton boy who stole money to buy a birthday present for his dad, the death of the Queen Mother, the case of the drunk leading the blind, the Parr coal stealer who said she'd learnt her lesson, the Peasley Cross Bridge flooding is back on the agenda and the wireless set for listening to Children's Hour.
We begin on the 17th at St Helens Juvenile Police Court, when a 15-year-old boy was charged with stealing three shillings from a shop in Reginald Road in Sutton.
Small shops often kept their front door open with the shop owner or their assistant waiting in the back for custom.
Some opportunistic lads would creep in and steal goods or money without being seen.
Whether the unnamed 15-year-old had done that wasn’t made clear but the boy claimed he had entered the shop to buy sweets.
Finding nobody there he had gone behind the counter and seen three shillings lying on a shelf and helped himself.
The lad then used the cash to buy what was described as a tin of cigarettes as a birthday present for his father.
The boy was put on probation for a year and told to pay the costs of the court case.
When the council's Highways Committee met on the 18th the problem of the flooding at Peasley Cross bridge was back on the agenda.
Last week I mentioned how a letter writer in the Reporter had suggested that building a culvert would resolve matters.
Councillor Thomas Boscow told the meeting that installing a system of pumps would be the solution.
He said the flooding was causing considerable losses to the tramways company through the holding up of traffic in Peasley Cross Lane.
But the committee chairman, Councillor Ellison, said that their Borough Surveyor was best qualified to come up with a suitable scheme.
The cause, he said, was the subsidence of the sewer but addressing it was proving difficult.
The Surveyor was present at the meeting and stated that a remedial scheme could cost up to £10,000, as a complete reconstruction of the sewer was required. And pumping would be too expensive a solution.
The committee agreed that their engineer should produce a report that a joint committee could consider.
And one hundred years later it still floods when it rains at the bridge – but at least we now have flashing warning lights!
I recently mentioned that the Chester Bakery had opened at 67 Duke Street and were describing themselves as a "high class confectioner".
The bakery had an advert in the St Helens Reporter on the 20th offering "a white loaf with a nutty crust, at a reasonable price". And that price was fourpence for a 2lb loaf.
"Amazing Offer of 500 Overcoats" was the headline to an advert from Tyrer & Sons.
Their Liverpool Road store was selling men's overcoats from 35 shillings and boys' coats from 12/11. "The value will astound you", said their ad.
There was an advert in the Reporter for a wireless made by GEC called the GECoPHONE.
H. Bradbury of Bewsey Street in Thatto Heath; Cholertons of Bridge Street and T. Smith of Liverpool Road were all selling the radio set.
The advert said: "Every evening, just before bedtime, comes that wonderful Children's Hour on the wireless.
"With a GECoPHONE set every item is perfectly reproduced – the jolly songs, the sparkling talks, everything that the kiddies enjoy so much – with never a doubt or falter.
"So superb in reproduction, so simple in control, so handsome in appearance, a GECoPHONE is beyond all doubt the best set for the home."
The Reporter also had a misty photograph of the consecration of the new Haydock cemetery. The Bishop of Warrington had undertaken the ceremony in what the caption described as the "fog-laden air".
Also on the 20th, St Helens was described as "deeply moved" when the news came through that the Queen Mother had died and a "week-end of mourning" took place.
She was Alexandra, the wife of the late Edward VII, who she had married in 1863 after leaving her native Denmark.
Two years later the then Princess of Wales visited St Helens to inspect the Ravenhead Glassworks.
A day's holiday was declared in the town and the Liverpool Mercury wrote: "Never in the history of St. Helen's has it been recorded that such a concourse of people were assembled together."
It was estimated that the crowd that had gathered to see the 20-year-old in 1865 had numbered between 24,000 and 26,000.
Back to 1925 and last January Jimmy Jewel had been the star of the "grand spectacular and comic pantomime" Dick Whittington and his Cat, which was performed at the Theatre Royal in St Helens.
Jimmy was the father of the man of the same name who became a very well-known comedian in the later years of the 20th century.
But rather like George Formby Senior, Jimmy Jewel Snr was a big star in his own right.
The sons of Formby and Jewel are far better remembered than their dads, simply because they were able to embrace talking pictures and television to spread their fame.
I mention this because Jimmy Jewel Snr returned to St Helens this week to play the lead in a comedy revue called "Explosions", which ran for six nights at the Hippodrome from the 23rd.
In the show's advert in the Reporter, Jewel was dubbed "The original funster" and, at the end of a lengthy list of talent, it said, "And 10 Explosive Girls" – whatever that means!
Meanwhile, at The Theatre Royal, "The Merry Widow" was being performed for six days.
The all-male Rotary Club of St Helens had been founded in 1923 and soon afterwards a ladies section, consisting of the wives of Rotary members and called Inner Wheel, was formed.
That, according to the Reporter, had the object of "assisting Rotarians in their social and philanthropic activities".
The first major fundraising project of the Rotary Club was to provide wireless sets for patients in Providence and St Helens hospitals.
On the 23rd members of the Inner Wheel held their first social evening at the Edinburgh Cafe in Church Street and raised over £20 towards Rotary's appeal.
And finally, a couple of court cases that were heard on the 23rd.
"Drunk Leading Blind" was the Reporter’s headline to an article on the activities of Len Thomas and William Marsh.
The latter from Edward Street described himself as practically blind and late on the previous Saturday night, Len Thomas had been leading him along the street.
Thomas from Glover Street was very drunk and he slipped and fell against a shop window, which smashed through the impact.
The men then went and lent against a wall and a constable seeing their helpless condition took them to the police station.
In court Len Thomas told the Bench that they had made arrangements to pay for the broken window and they were both fined 10 shillings.
"I will make my dying oath, I will not be here anymore; I have had my lesson."
Those were the words of Margaret Gregory from Fleet Lane who in court pleaded guilty to stealing 127 pounds of coal from Ashtons Green Colliery (pictured above). And this was the reply from the Chairman of the Bench:
"You could have learned your lesson before this because you have been here eight times for a similar thing."
PC Drysdale had seen Mrs Gregory walking along the road carrying a bag which contained the nicked coal. When she saw the constable, she dropped the bag and made off.
But PC Drysdale did not feel the need to chase after the woman, as so often was the case with community policing in the past, the policeman knew most of the people that were on his beat.
And so he simply summoned her to court where it was stated that the woman was in the habit of selling the coal that she stole.
Margaret Gregory was told to pay a fine of £2 plus court costs.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Thatto Heath boys that smashed up a derelict house, the Windle farmer fined for not marking a cow, the sale of work in aid of St Helens Hospital's new maternity block and the gambling house in Parr.
We begin on the 17th at St Helens Juvenile Police Court, when a 15-year-old boy was charged with stealing three shillings from a shop in Reginald Road in Sutton.
Small shops often kept their front door open with the shop owner or their assistant waiting in the back for custom.
Some opportunistic lads would creep in and steal goods or money without being seen.
Whether the unnamed 15-year-old had done that wasn’t made clear but the boy claimed he had entered the shop to buy sweets.
Finding nobody there he had gone behind the counter and seen three shillings lying on a shelf and helped himself.
The lad then used the cash to buy what was described as a tin of cigarettes as a birthday present for his father.
The boy was put on probation for a year and told to pay the costs of the court case.
Last week I mentioned how a letter writer in the Reporter had suggested that building a culvert would resolve matters.
Councillor Thomas Boscow told the meeting that installing a system of pumps would be the solution.
He said the flooding was causing considerable losses to the tramways company through the holding up of traffic in Peasley Cross Lane.
But the committee chairman, Councillor Ellison, said that their Borough Surveyor was best qualified to come up with a suitable scheme.
The cause, he said, was the subsidence of the sewer but addressing it was proving difficult.
The Surveyor was present at the meeting and stated that a remedial scheme could cost up to £10,000, as a complete reconstruction of the sewer was required. And pumping would be too expensive a solution.
The committee agreed that their engineer should produce a report that a joint committee could consider.
And one hundred years later it still floods when it rains at the bridge – but at least we now have flashing warning lights!
I recently mentioned that the Chester Bakery had opened at 67 Duke Street and were describing themselves as a "high class confectioner".
The bakery had an advert in the St Helens Reporter on the 20th offering "a white loaf with a nutty crust, at a reasonable price". And that price was fourpence for a 2lb loaf.
"Amazing Offer of 500 Overcoats" was the headline to an advert from Tyrer & Sons.
Their Liverpool Road store was selling men's overcoats from 35 shillings and boys' coats from 12/11. "The value will astound you", said their ad.
There was an advert in the Reporter for a wireless made by GEC called the GECoPHONE.
H. Bradbury of Bewsey Street in Thatto Heath; Cholertons of Bridge Street and T. Smith of Liverpool Road were all selling the radio set.
The advert said: "Every evening, just before bedtime, comes that wonderful Children's Hour on the wireless.
"With a GECoPHONE set every item is perfectly reproduced – the jolly songs, the sparkling talks, everything that the kiddies enjoy so much – with never a doubt or falter.
"So superb in reproduction, so simple in control, so handsome in appearance, a GECoPHONE is beyond all doubt the best set for the home."
The Reporter also had a misty photograph of the consecration of the new Haydock cemetery. The Bishop of Warrington had undertaken the ceremony in what the caption described as the "fog-laden air".
Also on the 20th, St Helens was described as "deeply moved" when the news came through that the Queen Mother had died and a "week-end of mourning" took place.
She was Alexandra, the wife of the late Edward VII, who she had married in 1863 after leaving her native Denmark.
Two years later the then Princess of Wales visited St Helens to inspect the Ravenhead Glassworks.
A day's holiday was declared in the town and the Liverpool Mercury wrote: "Never in the history of St. Helen's has it been recorded that such a concourse of people were assembled together."
It was estimated that the crowd that had gathered to see the 20-year-old in 1865 had numbered between 24,000 and 26,000.
Back to 1925 and last January Jimmy Jewel had been the star of the "grand spectacular and comic pantomime" Dick Whittington and his Cat, which was performed at the Theatre Royal in St Helens.
Jimmy was the father of the man of the same name who became a very well-known comedian in the later years of the 20th century.
But rather like George Formby Senior, Jimmy Jewel Snr was a big star in his own right.
The sons of Formby and Jewel are far better remembered than their dads, simply because they were able to embrace talking pictures and television to spread their fame.
I mention this because Jimmy Jewel Snr returned to St Helens this week to play the lead in a comedy revue called "Explosions", which ran for six nights at the Hippodrome from the 23rd.
In the show's advert in the Reporter, Jewel was dubbed "The original funster" and, at the end of a lengthy list of talent, it said, "And 10 Explosive Girls" – whatever that means!
Meanwhile, at The Theatre Royal, "The Merry Widow" was being performed for six days.
The all-male Rotary Club of St Helens had been founded in 1923 and soon afterwards a ladies section, consisting of the wives of Rotary members and called Inner Wheel, was formed.
That, according to the Reporter, had the object of "assisting Rotarians in their social and philanthropic activities".
The first major fundraising project of the Rotary Club was to provide wireless sets for patients in Providence and St Helens hospitals.
On the 23rd members of the Inner Wheel held their first social evening at the Edinburgh Cafe in Church Street and raised over £20 towards Rotary's appeal.
And finally, a couple of court cases that were heard on the 23rd.
"Drunk Leading Blind" was the Reporter’s headline to an article on the activities of Len Thomas and William Marsh.
The latter from Edward Street described himself as practically blind and late on the previous Saturday night, Len Thomas had been leading him along the street.
Thomas from Glover Street was very drunk and he slipped and fell against a shop window, which smashed through the impact.
The men then went and lent against a wall and a constable seeing their helpless condition took them to the police station.
In court Len Thomas told the Bench that they had made arrangements to pay for the broken window and they were both fined 10 shillings.
Those were the words of Margaret Gregory from Fleet Lane who in court pleaded guilty to stealing 127 pounds of coal from Ashtons Green Colliery (pictured above). And this was the reply from the Chairman of the Bench:
"You could have learned your lesson before this because you have been here eight times for a similar thing."
PC Drysdale had seen Mrs Gregory walking along the road carrying a bag which contained the nicked coal. When she saw the constable, she dropped the bag and made off.
But PC Drysdale did not feel the need to chase after the woman, as so often was the case with community policing in the past, the policeman knew most of the people that were on his beat.
And so he simply summoned her to court where it was stated that the woman was in the habit of selling the coal that she stole.
Margaret Gregory was told to pay a fine of £2 plus court costs.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Thatto Heath boys that smashed up a derelict house, the Windle farmer fined for not marking a cow, the sale of work in aid of St Helens Hospital's new maternity block and the gambling house in Parr.