IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 11 - 17 DECEMBER 1923
This week's many stories include the Mayor of St Helens' plans for a Christmas party for the children of the unemployed, the Lea Green Colliery pit accident caused by a lever being turned the wrong way, the Peasley Cross bridge shower bath, more on the housing crisis in St Helens, Phoenix Brewery's cheap bottled beer, the British Legion Club's lottery prosecution, more on the lad forced to sleep in a brick kiln and the annual New Year's Day breakfasts for poor kids.
We begin with two boys who appeared in St Helens Juvenile Court on the 11th after breaking into the Parish Church Recreation Club in Rainford Road. Such youngsters were no longer identified in the newspapers but one was 15 and the other 13. The two lads managed to extract two shillings in coppers from the club's gas meter after a window had been left unfastened. The pair initially denied the break-in but in court they pleaded guilty with their parents saying they'd yielded to sudden temptation after seeing the open window. Both lads were placed on probation.
On the 13th Dr Frank Hauxwell, the Medical Officer of St Helens, presented his annual report in which he stated that the housing shortage in the town was more acute than ever and that conditions of habitation were daily getting worse. Dr Hauxwell explained that the population of St Helens had increased by 5,625 since 1914 but only 385 new houses had been built leaving 3,700 people without a home of their own. And there were over 600 houses in the town that were in such a bad insanitary condition that they would normally be demolished if it was not for the lack of alternative accommodation.
Since 1877 the estate agent Sir Joseph B. Leach had organised free New Year's Day breakfasts for poor children in St Helens. In some years as many as 4,000 kids – some in bare feet – were treated to food and entertainment at a number of centres in the borough. Since the death of the treat's founder in 1917, his son Wilfred had taken over its organisation and in the St Helens Reporter on the 14th he was appealing for donations, writing:
"There is a real call for making these children who partake of the breakfasts happy. Become a subscriber and, if possible, come and see the children on January 1st, at any of the centres, and you will be amply repaid."
The Phoenix Brewery was situated in Peckers Hill Road in Sutton and dated back to around 1860. The brewery was advertising their "Christmas Ales & Stouts", with "families supplied direct from the brewery". The average price of their range of ales was four shillings. That was not per bottle – but for each dozen. I think you'd be hard pressed to buy a dozen bottles of beer for 20p today!
For the last fifty years what was described as the "annual Christmas fat cattle show and auction" had been held on the yard at the rear of the Fleece Hotel in Church Street in St Helens – but not this year. The Reporter described how recent outbreaks of foot and mouth disease in the district had led to its cancellation, the first in the show's long history.
The paper also wrote: "A long-felt want has at last been supplied. No longer has the pedestrian, Peasley Cross way bound, to walk warily over a two-foot width of slimy planks under the bridge every time there is a flood. Workmen have been busy at this point, and now the footpath has been raised between two and three feet and a strong iron railing erected. The new permanent footway under the bridge will be welcomed as a boon. A correspondent points out, however, that the pedestrian will drop in for it just the same, as regards a deluge of dirty water every time a motor driver attempts to take the splash at speed, because there is no protection against the inevitable shower bath."
Two years ago the high level of unemployment in St Helens had led to a Christmas party being organised for the benefit of the children of those on the dole. The party co-ordinated by the town's mayor had now become an annual event, although like the New Year's breakfasts, it was dependent on public support. That led to this appeal being published in the Reporter by Ald. Peter Phythian, the present Mayor of St Helens:
"Last Christmas an appeal was made to the townspeople on behalf of needy school children and unemployed. The appeal met with a magnificent response. Over £600 was received in cash, and many valuable gifts were made in kind, thus enabling the committee to entertain 2,000 children to a Christmas party, and to distribute 4,000 food parcels amongst the unemployed.
"The party gave great joy and delight to the little ones and the food parcels were highly appreciated by the unemployed. This year, unfortunately, the need is almost as great as ever, and at a meeting of ladies and gentlemen held in the Town Hall on Monday last, I was asked to appeal once again to the sympathy and generosity of my fellow citizens.
"Will you, therefore, please send a subscription to the Town Hall so that 2,000 needy children will not be forgotten by Father Christmas? The children will be the first charge upon the funds, and any surplus will be utilised in providing a food parcel for each person who unfortunately is unemployed. The time is very short, but “He gives twice who gives quickly”."
The Reporter also described another "local wireless amateur's success." Last month Thomas Hamblett from Hard Lane had reported picking up radio stations from across the Atlantic, including the West Indies. This time Sydney Helsby from Robins Lane in Sutton had stayed up all night with his brother listening to a station in New York playing dance music live from a hotel. The signal, they said, had been very faint and had been picked up on their wireless set that had its components scattered about a table.
It was not uncommon for parents to kick their troubled children out of their home, as they felt they'd brought shame upon them. Unmarried pregnant girls often suffered such cruel treatment and teenage children repeatedly getting into trouble with the law could also receive their marching orders.
Last month I described how William Owen had been sent to prison for 8 days for sleeping in a brick kiln in Sutton Road. When interrupted from his slumbers by a policeman and asked for an explanation, he'd said: "Where else could I go?" I'm not sure of William's age, but he sounds to have been around 15 or 16 and had clearly been on a downward spiral for some time. This week he returned to court for the 12th time this year (and over 30 times in total) after being caught once again sleeping in the kiln.
Supt. Dunn told the magistrates that William's parents had refused to have their son in their house and he wanted the lad committing to the next assizes where he would be liable for up to 12 months imprisonment. However, the Chairman of the Bench said they had decided to give him another chance and William was only fined 2s 6d. But without parental support and assistance from the authorities, it seems unlikely that he would have been able to turn his life around.
The engine winder in a coalmine who took pit cages containing men or materials down the shafts and returned them to the surface had an important job. It wasn't the most labour intensive or complex task in the mines – but one loss of concentration could cause a disaster. On the 15th fourteen mineworkers, mainly boys, were taken to St Helens Hospital after a pit cage that was being lowered down the Queen pit in Lea Green Colliery overshot. The triple-deck cage held 30 miners and it was those on the bottom deck that suffered the impact most as the cage fell to the bottom of the shaft.
The engine winder had caused the accident by turning a lever the wrong way, which had had the effect of applying more steam. Many of the injured suffered fractures of thighs, legs or feet. On the same day Charles Wood from Gladstone Street was taken to St Helens Hospital after injuring his back while working at Pilkington's St Helens Colliery and 15-year-old Thomas Gittins of School Street crushed his foot and leg at Sutton Manor Colliery.
On the 17th seven officials of the British Legion Club in Brook Street were charged in St Helens Police Court with conducting a lottery. Superintendent Dunn informed the magistrates that on September 4th he had warned the officials against carrying on a lottery centred on the Manchester November Handicap horse race. But they had ignored his advice and gone ahead, although the lottery had been a failure. The number of tickets that were printed had been 100,000 but less than 5,000 were sold.
The superintendent said he thought it was a serious matter that these people should have persisted in carrying out the lottery after they had been warned. But their solicitor, a Mr Davies, explained to the Bench that they were simply following the example of many other ex-service organisations in running a lottery to raise money to pay off the mortgage on their club.
The actual horse race, he said, had never run and the club officials that had been charged were engaged in philanthropic work for the benefit of the Legion's members and they also looked after ex-servicemen who were ill or unable to find work. Mr Davies appealed for leniency and the magistrates after considering the matter in private, said they had been very impressed by the manner in which the solicitor had presented his case and they had decided to dismiss all the charges.
On the 16th the St Helens Glee Club presented a concert of Christmas music at the Theatre Royal. The proceeds of the concert went to the Clog and Stocking Fund for poor children that St Helens Police organised. I don't have any up-to-date stats but between its founding in 1912 and 1919, the "St Helens Police-Aided Scheme for Clothing Destitute Children" – to state the fund's official name – had helped around 6,000 youngsters through the issue of 5,000 pairs of clogs and 5,000 pairs of stockings.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Christmas Party for the poor children, the Clock Face tug-of-war that led to a court case, the Rigby Street garage fire and Zellini the human chimney with his smoking mechanical dog at the Hippodrome.
We begin with two boys who appeared in St Helens Juvenile Court on the 11th after breaking into the Parish Church Recreation Club in Rainford Road. Such youngsters were no longer identified in the newspapers but one was 15 and the other 13. The two lads managed to extract two shillings in coppers from the club's gas meter after a window had been left unfastened. The pair initially denied the break-in but in court they pleaded guilty with their parents saying they'd yielded to sudden temptation after seeing the open window. Both lads were placed on probation.
On the 13th Dr Frank Hauxwell, the Medical Officer of St Helens, presented his annual report in which he stated that the housing shortage in the town was more acute than ever and that conditions of habitation were daily getting worse. Dr Hauxwell explained that the population of St Helens had increased by 5,625 since 1914 but only 385 new houses had been built leaving 3,700 people without a home of their own. And there were over 600 houses in the town that were in such a bad insanitary condition that they would normally be demolished if it was not for the lack of alternative accommodation.
Since 1877 the estate agent Sir Joseph B. Leach had organised free New Year's Day breakfasts for poor children in St Helens. In some years as many as 4,000 kids – some in bare feet – were treated to food and entertainment at a number of centres in the borough. Since the death of the treat's founder in 1917, his son Wilfred had taken over its organisation and in the St Helens Reporter on the 14th he was appealing for donations, writing:
"There is a real call for making these children who partake of the breakfasts happy. Become a subscriber and, if possible, come and see the children on January 1st, at any of the centres, and you will be amply repaid."
The Phoenix Brewery was situated in Peckers Hill Road in Sutton and dated back to around 1860. The brewery was advertising their "Christmas Ales & Stouts", with "families supplied direct from the brewery". The average price of their range of ales was four shillings. That was not per bottle – but for each dozen. I think you'd be hard pressed to buy a dozen bottles of beer for 20p today!
For the last fifty years what was described as the "annual Christmas fat cattle show and auction" had been held on the yard at the rear of the Fleece Hotel in Church Street in St Helens – but not this year. The Reporter described how recent outbreaks of foot and mouth disease in the district had led to its cancellation, the first in the show's long history.
Two years ago the high level of unemployment in St Helens had led to a Christmas party being organised for the benefit of the children of those on the dole. The party co-ordinated by the town's mayor had now become an annual event, although like the New Year's breakfasts, it was dependent on public support. That led to this appeal being published in the Reporter by Ald. Peter Phythian, the present Mayor of St Helens:
"Last Christmas an appeal was made to the townspeople on behalf of needy school children and unemployed. The appeal met with a magnificent response. Over £600 was received in cash, and many valuable gifts were made in kind, thus enabling the committee to entertain 2,000 children to a Christmas party, and to distribute 4,000 food parcels amongst the unemployed.
"The party gave great joy and delight to the little ones and the food parcels were highly appreciated by the unemployed. This year, unfortunately, the need is almost as great as ever, and at a meeting of ladies and gentlemen held in the Town Hall on Monday last, I was asked to appeal once again to the sympathy and generosity of my fellow citizens.
"Will you, therefore, please send a subscription to the Town Hall so that 2,000 needy children will not be forgotten by Father Christmas? The children will be the first charge upon the funds, and any surplus will be utilised in providing a food parcel for each person who unfortunately is unemployed. The time is very short, but “He gives twice who gives quickly”."
The Reporter also described another "local wireless amateur's success." Last month Thomas Hamblett from Hard Lane had reported picking up radio stations from across the Atlantic, including the West Indies. This time Sydney Helsby from Robins Lane in Sutton had stayed up all night with his brother listening to a station in New York playing dance music live from a hotel. The signal, they said, had been very faint and had been picked up on their wireless set that had its components scattered about a table.
It was not uncommon for parents to kick their troubled children out of their home, as they felt they'd brought shame upon them. Unmarried pregnant girls often suffered such cruel treatment and teenage children repeatedly getting into trouble with the law could also receive their marching orders.
Last month I described how William Owen had been sent to prison for 8 days for sleeping in a brick kiln in Sutton Road. When interrupted from his slumbers by a policeman and asked for an explanation, he'd said: "Where else could I go?" I'm not sure of William's age, but he sounds to have been around 15 or 16 and had clearly been on a downward spiral for some time. This week he returned to court for the 12th time this year (and over 30 times in total) after being caught once again sleeping in the kiln.
Supt. Dunn told the magistrates that William's parents had refused to have their son in their house and he wanted the lad committing to the next assizes where he would be liable for up to 12 months imprisonment. However, the Chairman of the Bench said they had decided to give him another chance and William was only fined 2s 6d. But without parental support and assistance from the authorities, it seems unlikely that he would have been able to turn his life around.
The engine winder in a coalmine who took pit cages containing men or materials down the shafts and returned them to the surface had an important job. It wasn't the most labour intensive or complex task in the mines – but one loss of concentration could cause a disaster. On the 15th fourteen mineworkers, mainly boys, were taken to St Helens Hospital after a pit cage that was being lowered down the Queen pit in Lea Green Colliery overshot. The triple-deck cage held 30 miners and it was those on the bottom deck that suffered the impact most as the cage fell to the bottom of the shaft.
The engine winder had caused the accident by turning a lever the wrong way, which had had the effect of applying more steam. Many of the injured suffered fractures of thighs, legs or feet. On the same day Charles Wood from Gladstone Street was taken to St Helens Hospital after injuring his back while working at Pilkington's St Helens Colliery and 15-year-old Thomas Gittins of School Street crushed his foot and leg at Sutton Manor Colliery.
On the 17th seven officials of the British Legion Club in Brook Street were charged in St Helens Police Court with conducting a lottery. Superintendent Dunn informed the magistrates that on September 4th he had warned the officials against carrying on a lottery centred on the Manchester November Handicap horse race. But they had ignored his advice and gone ahead, although the lottery had been a failure. The number of tickets that were printed had been 100,000 but less than 5,000 were sold.
The superintendent said he thought it was a serious matter that these people should have persisted in carrying out the lottery after they had been warned. But their solicitor, a Mr Davies, explained to the Bench that they were simply following the example of many other ex-service organisations in running a lottery to raise money to pay off the mortgage on their club.
The actual horse race, he said, had never run and the club officials that had been charged were engaged in philanthropic work for the benefit of the Legion's members and they also looked after ex-servicemen who were ill or unable to find work. Mr Davies appealed for leniency and the magistrates after considering the matter in private, said they had been very impressed by the manner in which the solicitor had presented his case and they had decided to dismiss all the charges.
On the 16th the St Helens Glee Club presented a concert of Christmas music at the Theatre Royal. The proceeds of the concert went to the Clog and Stocking Fund for poor children that St Helens Police organised. I don't have any up-to-date stats but between its founding in 1912 and 1919, the "St Helens Police-Aided Scheme for Clothing Destitute Children" – to state the fund's official name – had helped around 6,000 youngsters through the issue of 5,000 pairs of clogs and 5,000 pairs of stockings.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Christmas Party for the poor children, the Clock Face tug-of-war that led to a court case, the Rigby Street garage fire and Zellini the human chimney with his smoking mechanical dog at the Hippodrome.
This week's many stories include the Mayor of St Helens' plans for a Christmas party for the children of the unemployed, the Lea Green Colliery pit accident caused by a lever being turned the wrong way, the Peasley Cross bridge shower bath, more on the housing crisis in St Helens, Phoenix Brewery's cheap bottled beer, the British Legion Club's lottery prosecution, more on the lad forced to sleep in a brick kiln and the annual New Year's Day breakfasts for poor kids.
We begin with two boys who appeared in St Helens Juvenile Court on the 11th after breaking into the Parish Church Recreation Club in Rainford Road.
Such youngsters were no longer identified in the newspapers but one was 15 and the other 13.
The two lads managed to extract two shillings in coppers from the club's gas meter after a window had been left unfastened.
The pair initially denied the break-in but in court they pleaded guilty with their parents saying they'd yielded to sudden temptation after seeing the open window. Both lads were placed on probation.
On the 13th Dr Frank Hauxwell, the Medical Officer of St Helens, presented his annual report in which he stated that the housing shortage in the town was more acute than ever and that conditions of habitation were daily getting worse.
Dr Hauxwell explained that the population of St Helens had increased by 5,625 since 1914 but only 385 new houses had been built leaving 3,700 people without a home of their own.
And there were over 600 houses in the town that were in such a bad insanitary condition that they would normally be demolished if it was not for the lack of alternative accommodation.
Since 1877 the estate agent Sir Joseph B. Leach had organised free New Year's Day breakfasts for poor children in St Helens.
In some years as many as 4,000 kids – some in bare feet – were treated to food and entertainment at a number of centres in the borough.
Since the death of the treat's founder in 1917, his son Wilfred had taken over its organisation and in the St Helens Reporter on the 14th he was appealing for donations, writing:
"There is a real call for making these children who partake of the breakfasts happy. Become a subscriber and, if possible, come and see the children on January 1st, at any of the centres, and you will be amply repaid."
The Phoenix Brewery was situated in Peckers Hill Road in Sutton and dated back to around 1860.
The brewery was advertising their "Christmas Ales & Stouts", with "families supplied direct from the brewery".
The average price of their range of ales was four shillings. That was not per bottle – but for each dozen. I think you'd be hard pressed to buy a dozen bottles of beer for 20p today!
For the last fifty years what was described as the "annual Christmas fat cattle show and auction" had been held on the yard at the rear of the Fleece Hotel in Church Street in St Helens – but not this year.
The Reporter described how recent outbreaks of foot and mouth disease in the district had led to its cancellation, the first in the show's long history.
The paper also wrote: "A long-felt want has at last been supplied. No longer has the pedestrian, Peasley Cross way bound, to walk warily over a two-foot width of slimy planks under the bridge every time there is a flood.
"Workmen have been busy at this point, and now the footpath has been raised between two and three feet and a strong iron railing erected. The new permanent footway under the bridge will be welcomed as a boon.
"A correspondent points out, however, that the pedestrian will drop in for it just the same, as regards a deluge of dirty water every time a motor driver attempts to take the splash at speed, because there is no protection against the inevitable shower bath."
Two years ago the high level of unemployment in St Helens had led to a Christmas party being organised for the benefit of the children of those on the dole.
The party co-ordinated by the town's mayor had now become an annual event, although like the New Year's breakfasts, it was dependent on public support.
That led to this appeal being published in the Reporter by Ald. Peter Phythian, the present Mayor of St Helens:
"Last Christmas an appeal was made to the townspeople on behalf of needy school children and unemployed. The appeal met with a magnificent response.
"Over £600 was received in cash, and many valuable gifts were made in kind, thus enabling the committee to entertain 2,000 children to a Christmas party, and to distribute 4,000 food parcels amongst the unemployed.
"The party gave great joy and delight to the little ones and the food parcels were highly appreciated by the unemployed.
"This year, unfortunately, the need is almost as great as ever, and at a meeting of ladies and gentlemen held in the Town Hall on Monday last, I was asked to appeal once again to the sympathy and generosity of my fellow citizens.
"Will you, therefore, please send a subscription to the Town Hall so that 2,000 needy children will not be forgotten by Father Christmas?
"The children will be the first charge upon the funds, and any surplus will be utilised in providing a food parcel for each person who unfortunately is unemployed. The time is very short, but “He gives twice who gives quickly”."
The Reporter also described another "local wireless amateur's success." Last month Thomas Hamblett from Hard Lane had reported picking up radio stations from across the Atlantic, including the West Indies.
This time Sydney Helsby from Robins Lane in Sutton had stayed up all night with his brother listening to a station in New York playing dance music live from a hotel.
The signal, they said, had been very faint and had been picked up on their wireless set that had its components scattered about a table.
It was not uncommon for parents to kick their troubled children out of their home, as they felt they'd brought shame upon them.
Unmarried pregnant girls often suffered such cruel treatment and teenage children repeatedly getting into trouble with the law could also receive their marching orders.
Last month I described how William Owen had been sent to prison for 8 days for sleeping in a brick kiln in Sutton Road.
When interrupted from his slumbers by a policeman and asked for an explanation, he'd said: "Where else could I go?"
I'm not sure of William's age, but he sounds to have been around 15 or 16 and had clearly been on a downward spiral for some time.
This week he returned to court for the 12th time this year (and over 30 times in total) after being caught once again sleeping in the kiln.
Supt. Dunn told the magistrates that William's parents had refused to have their son in their house and he wanted the lad committing to the next assizes where he would be liable for up to 12 months imprisonment.
However, the Chairman of the Bench said they had decided to give him another chance and William was only fined 2s 6d.
But without parental support and assistance from the authorities, it seems unlikely that he would have been able to turn his life around.
The engine winder in a coalmine who took pit cages containing men or materials down the shafts and returned them to the surface had an important job.
It wasn't the most labour intensive or complex task in the mines – but one loss of concentration could cause a disaster.
On the 15th fourteen mineworkers, mainly boys, were taken to St Helens Hospital after a pit cage that was being lowered down the Queen pit in Lea Green Colliery overshot.
The triple-deck cage held 30 miners and it was those on the bottom deck that suffered the impact most as the cage fell to the bottom of the shaft.
The engine winder had caused the accident by turning a lever the wrong way, which had had the effect of applying more steam. Many of the injured suffered fractures of thighs, legs or feet.
On the same day Charles Wood from Gladstone Street was taken to St Helens Hospital after injuring his back while working at Pilkington's St Helens Colliery and 15-year-old Thomas Gittins of School Street crushed his foot and leg at Sutton Manor Colliery.
On the 17th seven officials of the British Legion Club in Brook Street were charged in St Helens Police Court with conducting a lottery.
Superintendent Dunn informed the magistrates that on September 4th he had warned the officials against carrying on a lottery centred on the Manchester November Handicap horse race.
But they had ignored his advice and gone ahead, although the lottery had been a failure.
The number of tickets that were printed had been 100,000 but less than 5,000 were sold.
The superintendent said he thought it was a serious matter that these people should have persisted in carrying out the lottery after they had been warned.
But their solicitor, a Mr Davies, explained to the Bench that they were simply following the example of many other ex-service organisations in running a lottery to raise money to pay off the mortgage on their club.
The actual horse race, he said, had never run and the club officials that had been charged were engaged in philanthropic work for the benefit of the Legion's members and they also looked after ex-servicemen who were ill or unable to find work.
Mr Davies appealed for leniency and the magistrates after considering the matter in private, said they had been very impressed by the manner in which the solicitor had presented his case and they had decided to dismiss all the charges.
On the 16th the St Helens Glee Club presented a concert of Christmas music at the Theatre Royal.
The proceeds of the concert went to the Clog and Stocking Fund for poor children that St Helens Police organised.
I don't have any up-to-date stats but between its founding in 1912 and 1919, the "St Helens Police-Aided Scheme for Clothing Destitute Children" – to state the fund's official name – had helped around 6,000 youngsters through the issue of 5,000 pairs of clogs and 5,000 pairs of stockings.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Christmas Party for the poor children, the Clock Face tug-of-war that led to a court case, the Rigby Street garage fire and Zellini the human chimney with his smoking mechanical dog at the Hippodrome.
We begin with two boys who appeared in St Helens Juvenile Court on the 11th after breaking into the Parish Church Recreation Club in Rainford Road.
Such youngsters were no longer identified in the newspapers but one was 15 and the other 13.
The two lads managed to extract two shillings in coppers from the club's gas meter after a window had been left unfastened.
The pair initially denied the break-in but in court they pleaded guilty with their parents saying they'd yielded to sudden temptation after seeing the open window. Both lads were placed on probation.
On the 13th Dr Frank Hauxwell, the Medical Officer of St Helens, presented his annual report in which he stated that the housing shortage in the town was more acute than ever and that conditions of habitation were daily getting worse.
Dr Hauxwell explained that the population of St Helens had increased by 5,625 since 1914 but only 385 new houses had been built leaving 3,700 people without a home of their own.
And there were over 600 houses in the town that were in such a bad insanitary condition that they would normally be demolished if it was not for the lack of alternative accommodation.
Since 1877 the estate agent Sir Joseph B. Leach had organised free New Year's Day breakfasts for poor children in St Helens.
In some years as many as 4,000 kids – some in bare feet – were treated to food and entertainment at a number of centres in the borough.
Since the death of the treat's founder in 1917, his son Wilfred had taken over its organisation and in the St Helens Reporter on the 14th he was appealing for donations, writing:
"There is a real call for making these children who partake of the breakfasts happy. Become a subscriber and, if possible, come and see the children on January 1st, at any of the centres, and you will be amply repaid."
The Phoenix Brewery was situated in Peckers Hill Road in Sutton and dated back to around 1860.
The brewery was advertising their "Christmas Ales & Stouts", with "families supplied direct from the brewery".
The average price of their range of ales was four shillings. That was not per bottle – but for each dozen. I think you'd be hard pressed to buy a dozen bottles of beer for 20p today!
For the last fifty years what was described as the "annual Christmas fat cattle show and auction" had been held on the yard at the rear of the Fleece Hotel in Church Street in St Helens – but not this year.
The Reporter described how recent outbreaks of foot and mouth disease in the district had led to its cancellation, the first in the show's long history.
"Workmen have been busy at this point, and now the footpath has been raised between two and three feet and a strong iron railing erected. The new permanent footway under the bridge will be welcomed as a boon.
"A correspondent points out, however, that the pedestrian will drop in for it just the same, as regards a deluge of dirty water every time a motor driver attempts to take the splash at speed, because there is no protection against the inevitable shower bath."
Two years ago the high level of unemployment in St Helens had led to a Christmas party being organised for the benefit of the children of those on the dole.
The party co-ordinated by the town's mayor had now become an annual event, although like the New Year's breakfasts, it was dependent on public support.
That led to this appeal being published in the Reporter by Ald. Peter Phythian, the present Mayor of St Helens:
"Last Christmas an appeal was made to the townspeople on behalf of needy school children and unemployed. The appeal met with a magnificent response.
"Over £600 was received in cash, and many valuable gifts were made in kind, thus enabling the committee to entertain 2,000 children to a Christmas party, and to distribute 4,000 food parcels amongst the unemployed.
"The party gave great joy and delight to the little ones and the food parcels were highly appreciated by the unemployed.
"This year, unfortunately, the need is almost as great as ever, and at a meeting of ladies and gentlemen held in the Town Hall on Monday last, I was asked to appeal once again to the sympathy and generosity of my fellow citizens.
"Will you, therefore, please send a subscription to the Town Hall so that 2,000 needy children will not be forgotten by Father Christmas?
"The children will be the first charge upon the funds, and any surplus will be utilised in providing a food parcel for each person who unfortunately is unemployed. The time is very short, but “He gives twice who gives quickly”."
The Reporter also described another "local wireless amateur's success." Last month Thomas Hamblett from Hard Lane had reported picking up radio stations from across the Atlantic, including the West Indies.
This time Sydney Helsby from Robins Lane in Sutton had stayed up all night with his brother listening to a station in New York playing dance music live from a hotel.
The signal, they said, had been very faint and had been picked up on their wireless set that had its components scattered about a table.
It was not uncommon for parents to kick their troubled children out of their home, as they felt they'd brought shame upon them.
Unmarried pregnant girls often suffered such cruel treatment and teenage children repeatedly getting into trouble with the law could also receive their marching orders.
Last month I described how William Owen had been sent to prison for 8 days for sleeping in a brick kiln in Sutton Road.
When interrupted from his slumbers by a policeman and asked for an explanation, he'd said: "Where else could I go?"
I'm not sure of William's age, but he sounds to have been around 15 or 16 and had clearly been on a downward spiral for some time.
This week he returned to court for the 12th time this year (and over 30 times in total) after being caught once again sleeping in the kiln.
Supt. Dunn told the magistrates that William's parents had refused to have their son in their house and he wanted the lad committing to the next assizes where he would be liable for up to 12 months imprisonment.
However, the Chairman of the Bench said they had decided to give him another chance and William was only fined 2s 6d.
But without parental support and assistance from the authorities, it seems unlikely that he would have been able to turn his life around.
The engine winder in a coalmine who took pit cages containing men or materials down the shafts and returned them to the surface had an important job.
It wasn't the most labour intensive or complex task in the mines – but one loss of concentration could cause a disaster.
On the 15th fourteen mineworkers, mainly boys, were taken to St Helens Hospital after a pit cage that was being lowered down the Queen pit in Lea Green Colliery overshot.
The triple-deck cage held 30 miners and it was those on the bottom deck that suffered the impact most as the cage fell to the bottom of the shaft.
The engine winder had caused the accident by turning a lever the wrong way, which had had the effect of applying more steam. Many of the injured suffered fractures of thighs, legs or feet.
On the same day Charles Wood from Gladstone Street was taken to St Helens Hospital after injuring his back while working at Pilkington's St Helens Colliery and 15-year-old Thomas Gittins of School Street crushed his foot and leg at Sutton Manor Colliery.
On the 17th seven officials of the British Legion Club in Brook Street were charged in St Helens Police Court with conducting a lottery.
Superintendent Dunn informed the magistrates that on September 4th he had warned the officials against carrying on a lottery centred on the Manchester November Handicap horse race.
But they had ignored his advice and gone ahead, although the lottery had been a failure.
The number of tickets that were printed had been 100,000 but less than 5,000 were sold.
The superintendent said he thought it was a serious matter that these people should have persisted in carrying out the lottery after they had been warned.
But their solicitor, a Mr Davies, explained to the Bench that they were simply following the example of many other ex-service organisations in running a lottery to raise money to pay off the mortgage on their club.
The actual horse race, he said, had never run and the club officials that had been charged were engaged in philanthropic work for the benefit of the Legion's members and they also looked after ex-servicemen who were ill or unable to find work.
Mr Davies appealed for leniency and the magistrates after considering the matter in private, said they had been very impressed by the manner in which the solicitor had presented his case and they had decided to dismiss all the charges.
On the 16th the St Helens Glee Club presented a concert of Christmas music at the Theatre Royal.
The proceeds of the concert went to the Clog and Stocking Fund for poor children that St Helens Police organised.
I don't have any up-to-date stats but between its founding in 1912 and 1919, the "St Helens Police-Aided Scheme for Clothing Destitute Children" – to state the fund's official name – had helped around 6,000 youngsters through the issue of 5,000 pairs of clogs and 5,000 pairs of stockings.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the Christmas Party for the poor children, the Clock Face tug-of-war that led to a court case, the Rigby Street garage fire and Zellini the human chimney with his smoking mechanical dog at the Hippodrome.