IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 6 - 12 MAY 1924
This week's many stories include the laying of the foundation stone for the new Lowe House Church, the brave rescue of a toddler from a Sutton reservoir, the man reported as having escaped from Rainhill Lunatic Asylum, plans for the new parish church are announced and the innovative kiddies fancy dress event in Haydock.
Water polo used to be a very popular sport in St Helens and on the evening of the 6th a large attendance was reported at Boundary Road Baths when the new season opened. A measure of the sport's popularity at that time was that St Helens had three water polo teams and its first and third teams played sides from Everton.
Litter on the streets of St Helens is clearly nothing new, although 100 years ago there were apparently no litter bins in place, which cannot have helped matters. At the Town Council meeting held on the 7th, Cllr Richard Pilkington complained about the condition of the town centre on Sunday mornings. Shops then stayed open on Saturday nights until very late and Cllr Pilkington said people had got into the habit of throwing down bits of paper. Cllr. Pilkington wondered about the possibility of "receptacles" being installed on the streets for the depositing of rubbish, which the meeting decided to consider.
Throughout this week at the Theatre Royal the Edward Dunstan Company presented a series of plays on different nights, including 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'Hamlet'. There were five bands of admission starting at 4d through to 1/8, plus entertainment tax. Their advert in the Reporter said "no extra charge for booking", as most places of entertainment in St Helens used to make people pay something like threepence extra to book their seats in advance. To make the booking you could either telephone 114 or call into the booking office at the theatre between 10am and 3pm daily.
Meanwhile, at the Hippodrome, they had what they advertised as an "enormous attraction" in an act called 'The Magical Master '. Their advert said: "From the Ambassadors Theatre, London. The world's most famous illusinary [sic] phantasy introducing a series of illusions, hitherto considered unattainable." There was also "London's latest novelty – Gordon Wilde & Co. presenting 'Shadows that talk'". Also Teddie Hart and Zena Carol ("The laughter makers"); Beaucaire & Partner ("Juggling comedians") and Eleanor Kendall ("Vocalist").
The telephone number of the Hippodrome was 109, which was close to that of the Theatre Royal. All calls then had to go through the operator and so misdialling would not have been a problem. Both the Hippodrome and the Theatre Royal had twice nightly performances, with those of the latter taking place at 6:45pm and 8:45pm and the Hippodrome's shows starting five minutes later.
I wrote last month that the site for the new Cowley Boys secondary school had been selected. It was intended that the building costing £60,000 would front Hard Lane near to the borough cemetery, although I added that the full town council had yet to approve the plans. Doing so was clearly much more than rubberstamping as on the 7th St Helens Town Council spent the best part of two hours discussing the best location for the proposed new school. However, they could not come to a decision and so their Education Committee was asked to think again.
The 1920s was supposed to be a bit more enlightened. The workhouse had rebranded itself Whiston Institution and the Rainhill Lunatic Asylum was now the County Asylum Rainhill. However, old habits died hard as shown in this brief report from the Runcorn Weekly News of May 9th:
"On going to the barn to gather eggs on Friday morning Mr. Arthur Pilkington, son of Mr. John Pilkington, Rose Farm, Cronton, was horrified to discover a man in scanty attire, in fact wearing only one garment, eating portions of a pig which had been killed the previous day. He at once raised an alarm and ran for assistance. Neighbours quickly came and it was found that the man had escaped from Rainhill Lunatic Asylum. He was handed over to P.C. Parker, of Cronton, who took him back to Rainhill."
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 9th and described how at a recent church vestry meeting Canon Albert Baines had predicted that the new parish church would be completed in 1925, barring any "entirely unforeseen event". The Vicar of St Helens added: "The great shortage throughout the whole country of masons is detrimental to our progress, yet, during the year in which the super-structure of the new church has been in building, considerable progress has been made."
Canon Baines also said that they had reached a stage in which a critical decision would soon have to be made as to whether a tower should be built on the church or whether it should be left for a future generation to build. He said: "To leave it would be a great loss both to the beauty of the structure and to the dignity of the town. To build it would mean so large a sum that we could not raise it without very generous help beyond that which is being continuously given by our own congregation." The old church had been destroyed by fire in December 1916 and since then services had been held in the Town Hall.
The Reporter also wrote: "Much dirty linen was washed at the St. Helens Police Court on Friday. Sordid matrimonial squabbles, neighbours quarrels, d. and d.'s [drunk and disorderlies], and a number of other sidelights on the seamy side of life unfit for publication were part of the business. Faith in the better side of human nature was, however, revived when Supt. Dunn, during a lull in the proceedings, asked the magistrates to make a presentation to a Sutton youth for pluckily saving a child from drowning."
Arthur Jones had been the young hero, who had been standing in Watery Lane when he heard a child screaming. He ran to the nearby reservoir and saw 18-month-old Annie Daniels struggling in the water before sinking below the surface. Despite being fully clothed, Arthur plunged into the water and rescued the toddler from drowning. In the courtroom he was presented with a bravery certificate on behalf of the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society, along with the sum of £2. The Bench told Arthur that he was a great credit to Sutton.
Also on the 9th the Lancashire Evening Post stated that that the Ministry of Agriculture had loosened some restrictions on cattle in the county that had been imposed because of outbreaks of foot and mouth disease. However, St Helens, Eccleston, Rainford and Bold were still in what was described as an infected area where full restrictions remained. And the Liverpool Echo reported on the 9th how the St Helens Tramways Manager, Leonard Bellamy, was leaving his post to take over the trams in Hong Kong.
On the 11th the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool, the Right Rev. Frederick Keating, laid the foundation stone for the new Lowe House Church. It was reported that there were many thousands of Catholics in attendance to witness the event, although it would take six years for the grand new church to be built. In his address Rev. Keating warned of the dangers of not following the true gospel of Christ, saying:
"Men under delusions, whilst seeking to reform the world, adopt all sorts of rubbishy, quack remedies. They want to reform the world by predatory legislation, by Godless education, by birth control, by divorce, by a hundred and one cheap-Jack remedies, that, in the long run, would prove the downfall of human society, and they cast aside the traditional Christian remedy which alone could save it."
And finally during the evening of the 12th, there was an event that the Reporter described as "an innovation, so far as Haydock is concerned". The "music and revelry" occurred in the Lyme Street School and included a fancy dress contest for children. The paper also wrote:
"The members of the Dorcas Society in connection with St. James' Church had evidently had a “brain wave,” as they had decided to give the kiddies a real treat this time and such it proved. In addition to a dance, there were games of almost every description and a competition for the best costumes displayed."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include Lady Baden Powell's visit to St Helens, Samson the strongest man in the world comes to town, the stone-throwing lads of Hard Lane and the two parishioners that came to blows outside Sacred Heart church.
Water polo used to be a very popular sport in St Helens and on the evening of the 6th a large attendance was reported at Boundary Road Baths when the new season opened. A measure of the sport's popularity at that time was that St Helens had three water polo teams and its first and third teams played sides from Everton.
Litter on the streets of St Helens is clearly nothing new, although 100 years ago there were apparently no litter bins in place, which cannot have helped matters. At the Town Council meeting held on the 7th, Cllr Richard Pilkington complained about the condition of the town centre on Sunday mornings. Shops then stayed open on Saturday nights until very late and Cllr Pilkington said people had got into the habit of throwing down bits of paper. Cllr. Pilkington wondered about the possibility of "receptacles" being installed on the streets for the depositing of rubbish, which the meeting decided to consider.
Throughout this week at the Theatre Royal the Edward Dunstan Company presented a series of plays on different nights, including 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'Hamlet'. There were five bands of admission starting at 4d through to 1/8, plus entertainment tax. Their advert in the Reporter said "no extra charge for booking", as most places of entertainment in St Helens used to make people pay something like threepence extra to book their seats in advance. To make the booking you could either telephone 114 or call into the booking office at the theatre between 10am and 3pm daily.
Meanwhile, at the Hippodrome, they had what they advertised as an "enormous attraction" in an act called 'The Magical Master '. Their advert said: "From the Ambassadors Theatre, London. The world's most famous illusinary [sic] phantasy introducing a series of illusions, hitherto considered unattainable." There was also "London's latest novelty – Gordon Wilde & Co. presenting 'Shadows that talk'". Also Teddie Hart and Zena Carol ("The laughter makers"); Beaucaire & Partner ("Juggling comedians") and Eleanor Kendall ("Vocalist").
The telephone number of the Hippodrome was 109, which was close to that of the Theatre Royal. All calls then had to go through the operator and so misdialling would not have been a problem. Both the Hippodrome and the Theatre Royal had twice nightly performances, with those of the latter taking place at 6:45pm and 8:45pm and the Hippodrome's shows starting five minutes later.
I wrote last month that the site for the new Cowley Boys secondary school had been selected. It was intended that the building costing £60,000 would front Hard Lane near to the borough cemetery, although I added that the full town council had yet to approve the plans. Doing so was clearly much more than rubberstamping as on the 7th St Helens Town Council spent the best part of two hours discussing the best location for the proposed new school. However, they could not come to a decision and so their Education Committee was asked to think again.
The 1920s was supposed to be a bit more enlightened. The workhouse had rebranded itself Whiston Institution and the Rainhill Lunatic Asylum was now the County Asylum Rainhill. However, old habits died hard as shown in this brief report from the Runcorn Weekly News of May 9th:
"On going to the barn to gather eggs on Friday morning Mr. Arthur Pilkington, son of Mr. John Pilkington, Rose Farm, Cronton, was horrified to discover a man in scanty attire, in fact wearing only one garment, eating portions of a pig which had been killed the previous day. He at once raised an alarm and ran for assistance. Neighbours quickly came and it was found that the man had escaped from Rainhill Lunatic Asylum. He was handed over to P.C. Parker, of Cronton, who took him back to Rainhill."
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 9th and described how at a recent church vestry meeting Canon Albert Baines had predicted that the new parish church would be completed in 1925, barring any "entirely unforeseen event". The Vicar of St Helens added: "The great shortage throughout the whole country of masons is detrimental to our progress, yet, during the year in which the super-structure of the new church has been in building, considerable progress has been made."
Canon Baines also said that they had reached a stage in which a critical decision would soon have to be made as to whether a tower should be built on the church or whether it should be left for a future generation to build. He said: "To leave it would be a great loss both to the beauty of the structure and to the dignity of the town. To build it would mean so large a sum that we could not raise it without very generous help beyond that which is being continuously given by our own congregation." The old church had been destroyed by fire in December 1916 and since then services had been held in the Town Hall.
The Reporter also wrote: "Much dirty linen was washed at the St. Helens Police Court on Friday. Sordid matrimonial squabbles, neighbours quarrels, d. and d.'s [drunk and disorderlies], and a number of other sidelights on the seamy side of life unfit for publication were part of the business. Faith in the better side of human nature was, however, revived when Supt. Dunn, during a lull in the proceedings, asked the magistrates to make a presentation to a Sutton youth for pluckily saving a child from drowning."
Arthur Jones had been the young hero, who had been standing in Watery Lane when he heard a child screaming. He ran to the nearby reservoir and saw 18-month-old Annie Daniels struggling in the water before sinking below the surface. Despite being fully clothed, Arthur plunged into the water and rescued the toddler from drowning. In the courtroom he was presented with a bravery certificate on behalf of the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society, along with the sum of £2. The Bench told Arthur that he was a great credit to Sutton.
Also on the 9th the Lancashire Evening Post stated that that the Ministry of Agriculture had loosened some restrictions on cattle in the county that had been imposed because of outbreaks of foot and mouth disease. However, St Helens, Eccleston, Rainford and Bold were still in what was described as an infected area where full restrictions remained. And the Liverpool Echo reported on the 9th how the St Helens Tramways Manager, Leonard Bellamy, was leaving his post to take over the trams in Hong Kong.
"Men under delusions, whilst seeking to reform the world, adopt all sorts of rubbishy, quack remedies. They want to reform the world by predatory legislation, by Godless education, by birth control, by divorce, by a hundred and one cheap-Jack remedies, that, in the long run, would prove the downfall of human society, and they cast aside the traditional Christian remedy which alone could save it."
And finally during the evening of the 12th, there was an event that the Reporter described as "an innovation, so far as Haydock is concerned". The "music and revelry" occurred in the Lyme Street School and included a fancy dress contest for children. The paper also wrote:
"The members of the Dorcas Society in connection with St. James' Church had evidently had a “brain wave,” as they had decided to give the kiddies a real treat this time and such it proved. In addition to a dance, there were games of almost every description and a competition for the best costumes displayed."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include Lady Baden Powell's visit to St Helens, Samson the strongest man in the world comes to town, the stone-throwing lads of Hard Lane and the two parishioners that came to blows outside Sacred Heart church.
This week's many stories include the laying of the foundation stone for the new Lowe House Church, the brave rescue of a toddler from a Sutton reservoir, the man reported as having escaped from Rainhill Lunatic Asylum, plans for the new parish church are announced and the innovative kiddies fancy dress event in Haydock.
Water polo used to be a very popular sport in St Helens and on the evening of the 6th a large attendance was reported at Boundary Road Baths when the new season opened.
A measure of the sport's popularity at that time was that St Helens had three water polo teams and its first and third teams played sides from Everton.
Litter on the streets of St Helens is clearly nothing new, although 100 years ago there were apparently no litter bins in place, which cannot have helped matters.
At the Town Council meeting held on the 7th, Cllr Richard Pilkington complained about the condition of the town centre on Sunday mornings.
Shops then stayed open on Saturday nights until very late and Cllr Pilkington said people had got into the habit of throwing down bits of paper.
Cllr. Pilkington wondered about the possibility of "receptacles" being installed on the streets for the depositing of rubbish, which the meeting decided to consider.
Throughout this week at the Theatre Royal the Edward Dunstan Company presented a series of plays on different nights, including 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'Hamlet'.
There were five bands of admission starting at 4d through to 1/8, plus entertainment tax.
Their advert in the Reporter said "no extra charge for booking", as most places of entertainment in St Helens used to make people pay something like threepence extra to book their seats in advance.
To make the booking you could either telephone 114 or call into the booking office at the theatre between 10am and 3pm daily.
Meanwhile, at the Hippodrome, they had what they advertised as an "enormous attraction" in an act called 'The Magical Master '.
Their advert said: "From the Ambassadors Theatre, London. The world's most famous illusinary [sic] phantasy introducing a series of illusions, hitherto considered unattainable."
There was also "London's latest novelty – Gordon Wilde & Co. presenting 'Shadows that talk'". Also Teddie Hart and Zena Carol ("The laughter makers"); Beaucaire & Partner ("Juggling comedians") and Eleanor Kendall ("Vocalist").
The telephone number of the Hippodrome was 109, which was close to that of the Theatre Royal. All calls then had to go through the operator and so misdialling would not have been a problem.
Both the Hippodrome and the Theatre Royal had twice nightly performances, with those of the latter taking place at 6:45pm and 8:45pm and the Hippodrome's shows starting five minutes later.
I wrote last month that the site for the new Cowley Boys secondary school had been selected.
It was intended that the building costing £60,000 would front Hard Lane near to the borough cemetery, although I added that the full town council had yet to approve the plans.
Doing so was clearly much more than rubberstamping as on the 7th St Helens Town Council spent the best part of two hours discussing the best location for the proposed new school.
However, they could not come to a decision and so their Education Committee was asked to think again.
The 1920s was supposed to be a bit more enlightened. The workhouse had rebranded itself Whiston Institution and the Rainhill Lunatic Asylum was now the County Asylum Rainhill.
However, old habits died hard as shown in this brief report from the Runcorn Weekly News of May 9th:
"On going to the barn to gather eggs on Friday morning Mr. Arthur Pilkington, son of Mr. John Pilkington, Rose Farm, Cronton, was horrified to discover a man in scanty attire, in fact wearing only one garment, eating portions of a pig which had been killed the previous day.
"He at once raised an alarm and ran for assistance. Neighbours quickly came and it was found that the man had escaped from Rainhill Lunatic Asylum. He was handed over to P.C. Parker, of Cronton, who took him back to Rainhill."
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 9th and described how at a recent church vestry meeting Canon Albert Baines had predicted that the new parish church would be completed in 1925, barring any "entirely unforeseen event".
The Vicar of St Helens added: "The great shortage throughout the whole country of masons is detrimental to our progress, yet, during the year in which the super-structure of the new church has been in building, considerable progress has been made."
Canon Baines also said that they had reached a stage in which a critical decision would soon have to be made as to whether a tower should be built on the church or whether it should be left for a future generation to build. He said:
"To leave it would be a great loss both to the beauty of the structure and to the dignity of the town.
"To build it would mean so large a sum that we could not raise it without very generous help beyond that which is being continuously given by our own congregation."
The old church had been destroyed by fire in December 1916 and since then services had been held in the Town Hall.
The Reporter also wrote: "Much dirty linen was washed at the St. Helens Police Court on Friday. Sordid matrimonial squabbles, neighbours quarrels, d. and d.'s [drunk and disorderlies], and a number of other sidelights on the seamy side of life unfit for publication were part of the business.
"Faith in the better side of human nature was, however, revived when Supt. Dunn, during a lull in the proceedings, asked the magistrates to make a presentation to a Sutton youth for pluckily saving a child from drowning."
Arthur Jones had been the young hero, who had been standing in Watery Lane when he heard a child screaming.
He ran to the nearby reservoir and saw 18-month-old Annie Daniels struggling in the water before sinking below the surface.
Despite being fully clothed, Arthur plunged into the water and rescued the toddler from drowning.
In the courtroom he was presented with a bravery certificate on behalf of the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society, along with the sum of £2. The Bench told Arthur that he was a great credit to Sutton.
Also on the 9th the Lancashire Evening Post stated that that the Ministry of Agriculture had loosened some restrictions on cattle in the county that had been imposed because of outbreaks of foot and mouth disease.
However, St Helens, Eccleston, Rainford and Bold were still in what was described as an infected area where full restrictions remained.
And the Liverpool Echo reported on the 9th how the St Helens Tramways Manager, Leonard Bellamy, was leaving his post to take over the trams in Hong Kong.
On the 11th the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool, the Right Rev. Frederick Keating, laid the foundation stone for the new Lowe House Church.
It was reported that there were many thousands of Catholics in attendance to witness the event, although it would take six years for the grand new church to be built.
In his address Rev. Keating warned of the dangers of not following the true gospel of Christ, saying:
"Men under delusions, whilst seeking to reform the world, adopt all sorts of rubbishy, quack remedies. They want to reform the world by predatory legislation, by Godless education, by birth control, by divorce, by a hundred and one cheap-Jack remedies, that, in the long run, would prove the downfall of human society, and they cast aside the traditional Christian remedy which alone could save it."
And finally during the evening of the 12th, there was an event that the Reporter described as "an innovation, so far as Haydock is concerned".
The "music and revelry" occurred in the Lyme Street School and included a fancy dress contest for children. The paper also wrote:
"The members of the Dorcas Society in connection with St. James' Church had evidently had a “brain wave,” as they had decided to give the kiddies a real treat this time and such it proved.
"In addition to a dance, there were games of almost every description and a competition for the best costumes displayed."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include Lady Baden Powell's visit to St Helens, Samson the strongest man in the world comes to town, the stone-throwing lads of Hard Lane and the two parishioners that came to blows outside Sacred Heart church.
Water polo used to be a very popular sport in St Helens and on the evening of the 6th a large attendance was reported at Boundary Road Baths when the new season opened.
A measure of the sport's popularity at that time was that St Helens had three water polo teams and its first and third teams played sides from Everton.
Litter on the streets of St Helens is clearly nothing new, although 100 years ago there were apparently no litter bins in place, which cannot have helped matters.
At the Town Council meeting held on the 7th, Cllr Richard Pilkington complained about the condition of the town centre on Sunday mornings.
Shops then stayed open on Saturday nights until very late and Cllr Pilkington said people had got into the habit of throwing down bits of paper.
Cllr. Pilkington wondered about the possibility of "receptacles" being installed on the streets for the depositing of rubbish, which the meeting decided to consider.
Throughout this week at the Theatre Royal the Edward Dunstan Company presented a series of plays on different nights, including 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'Hamlet'.
There were five bands of admission starting at 4d through to 1/8, plus entertainment tax.
Their advert in the Reporter said "no extra charge for booking", as most places of entertainment in St Helens used to make people pay something like threepence extra to book their seats in advance.
To make the booking you could either telephone 114 or call into the booking office at the theatre between 10am and 3pm daily.
Meanwhile, at the Hippodrome, they had what they advertised as an "enormous attraction" in an act called 'The Magical Master '.
Their advert said: "From the Ambassadors Theatre, London. The world's most famous illusinary [sic] phantasy introducing a series of illusions, hitherto considered unattainable."
There was also "London's latest novelty – Gordon Wilde & Co. presenting 'Shadows that talk'". Also Teddie Hart and Zena Carol ("The laughter makers"); Beaucaire & Partner ("Juggling comedians") and Eleanor Kendall ("Vocalist").
The telephone number of the Hippodrome was 109, which was close to that of the Theatre Royal. All calls then had to go through the operator and so misdialling would not have been a problem.
Both the Hippodrome and the Theatre Royal had twice nightly performances, with those of the latter taking place at 6:45pm and 8:45pm and the Hippodrome's shows starting five minutes later.
I wrote last month that the site for the new Cowley Boys secondary school had been selected.
It was intended that the building costing £60,000 would front Hard Lane near to the borough cemetery, although I added that the full town council had yet to approve the plans.
Doing so was clearly much more than rubberstamping as on the 7th St Helens Town Council spent the best part of two hours discussing the best location for the proposed new school.
However, they could not come to a decision and so their Education Committee was asked to think again.
The 1920s was supposed to be a bit more enlightened. The workhouse had rebranded itself Whiston Institution and the Rainhill Lunatic Asylum was now the County Asylum Rainhill.
However, old habits died hard as shown in this brief report from the Runcorn Weekly News of May 9th:
"On going to the barn to gather eggs on Friday morning Mr. Arthur Pilkington, son of Mr. John Pilkington, Rose Farm, Cronton, was horrified to discover a man in scanty attire, in fact wearing only one garment, eating portions of a pig which had been killed the previous day.
"He at once raised an alarm and ran for assistance. Neighbours quickly came and it was found that the man had escaped from Rainhill Lunatic Asylum. He was handed over to P.C. Parker, of Cronton, who took him back to Rainhill."
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 9th and described how at a recent church vestry meeting Canon Albert Baines had predicted that the new parish church would be completed in 1925, barring any "entirely unforeseen event".
The Vicar of St Helens added: "The great shortage throughout the whole country of masons is detrimental to our progress, yet, during the year in which the super-structure of the new church has been in building, considerable progress has been made."
Canon Baines also said that they had reached a stage in which a critical decision would soon have to be made as to whether a tower should be built on the church or whether it should be left for a future generation to build. He said:
"To leave it would be a great loss both to the beauty of the structure and to the dignity of the town.
"To build it would mean so large a sum that we could not raise it without very generous help beyond that which is being continuously given by our own congregation."
The old church had been destroyed by fire in December 1916 and since then services had been held in the Town Hall.
The Reporter also wrote: "Much dirty linen was washed at the St. Helens Police Court on Friday. Sordid matrimonial squabbles, neighbours quarrels, d. and d.'s [drunk and disorderlies], and a number of other sidelights on the seamy side of life unfit for publication were part of the business.
"Faith in the better side of human nature was, however, revived when Supt. Dunn, during a lull in the proceedings, asked the magistrates to make a presentation to a Sutton youth for pluckily saving a child from drowning."
Arthur Jones had been the young hero, who had been standing in Watery Lane when he heard a child screaming.
He ran to the nearby reservoir and saw 18-month-old Annie Daniels struggling in the water before sinking below the surface.
Despite being fully clothed, Arthur plunged into the water and rescued the toddler from drowning.
In the courtroom he was presented with a bravery certificate on behalf of the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society, along with the sum of £2. The Bench told Arthur that he was a great credit to Sutton.
Also on the 9th the Lancashire Evening Post stated that that the Ministry of Agriculture had loosened some restrictions on cattle in the county that had been imposed because of outbreaks of foot and mouth disease.
However, St Helens, Eccleston, Rainford and Bold were still in what was described as an infected area where full restrictions remained.
And the Liverpool Echo reported on the 9th how the St Helens Tramways Manager, Leonard Bellamy, was leaving his post to take over the trams in Hong Kong.
It was reported that there were many thousands of Catholics in attendance to witness the event, although it would take six years for the grand new church to be built.
In his address Rev. Keating warned of the dangers of not following the true gospel of Christ, saying:
"Men under delusions, whilst seeking to reform the world, adopt all sorts of rubbishy, quack remedies. They want to reform the world by predatory legislation, by Godless education, by birth control, by divorce, by a hundred and one cheap-Jack remedies, that, in the long run, would prove the downfall of human society, and they cast aside the traditional Christian remedy which alone could save it."
And finally during the evening of the 12th, there was an event that the Reporter described as "an innovation, so far as Haydock is concerned".
The "music and revelry" occurred in the Lyme Street School and included a fancy dress contest for children. The paper also wrote:
"The members of the Dorcas Society in connection with St. James' Church had evidently had a “brain wave,” as they had decided to give the kiddies a real treat this time and such it proved.
"In addition to a dance, there were games of almost every description and a competition for the best costumes displayed."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include Lady Baden Powell's visit to St Helens, Samson the strongest man in the world comes to town, the stone-throwing lads of Hard Lane and the two parishioners that came to blows outside Sacred Heart church.