IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 19 - 25 AUGUST 1924
This week's many stories include the workshop for the blind in St Helens, the double wedding that ended with an accident in North Road, a rare outbreak of typhus kills a child in St Helens, the inaugural annual meeting of Saints Supporters Club, the actress prosecuted for leaving her car engine running outside St Helens post office and advice on how wireless listeners in St Helens could avoid lightning strikes.
At the end of last year the Saints Supporters Club had been founded and on the evening of the 19th it held its inaugural annual meeting at the YMCA. The new club's secretary explained that they had formed their group during a Saints match when the "popular club was not popular". It was decided that an organisation to help support the side was needed and they now had over 700 members with a committee of 34.
Earlier in the year Councillor Frank McCormick had established the Saints "SOS Fund" to get the club out of financial difficulties. As well as adopting various means of fundraising, supporters had each been asked to lend Saints the sum of £1. The fund was separate to the supporters club but linked and Cllr McCormick had been invited to address the meeting. After being thanked for his work the councillor was taken aback by the praise, saying he had never before been thanked for anything that he had done. Modern-day councillors with all the social media abuse they encounter may recognise that feeling!
With there being many large families in St Helens, occasionally, double weddings would take place. Sisters appeared to like marrying alongside their sibling and their fathers liked the idea of getting two daughters married off for the price of one wedding! But the Wilson sisters of Park Road would have always associated their special day with an accident. Their dual marriage took place this week at Holy Cross Church and they left Corporation Street in two taxis.
But as they were being driven along North Road, an errand boy employed by a Duke Street greengrocer rode his bicycle out of Crab Street and collided with the leading cab. Thomas Casey's head came in contact with the side window of the car which was smashed by the impact. The lad sustained severe cuts to his face and shoulders and one of the taxis had to take him to Providence Hospital where many stitches needed to be inserted.
When motor cars were first introduced in St Helens the police applied the same parking restrictions to their drivers as they had done for many years to carters' horse-driven vehicles. The rule was that the parking of carts was only permissible for the purposes of loading or unloading of goods. That was because an obstruction might be caused in the often-narrow streets and the horse might wander off if left alone for too long.
As a result many carters and motorists that left their vehicles on the street for longer than a minute or two were prosecuted. But a key difference between carts and cars was that the horses used in the former could be much easier to get going than the engines used in the latter.
Hand-cranking an engine to start the car took some effort and so there was a temptation not to turn off the engine when stopping. Although electric self-starters became standard on new cars in the early 1920s, many older vehicles did not have them and, anyhow, self-starters could be unreliable. For that reason up until the 1960s crank handles came with cars as a back up.
This week Peggy Croft appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with leaving her motor car unattended with its engine running outside the Church Street post office (pictured above). Peggy was an actress appearing with a company in St Helens. She was using the driving licence belonging to a fellow cast member and so was also charged with driving without a valid licence.
She said her own was elsewhere along with her belongings and she thought it better to carry a borrowed licence than none at all. That was not quite how the police saw things! Peggy's reason for not switching off her engine was that the vehicle's self-starter was not working and she had a weak heart and might not have been able to "swing the car off again", i.e. use the hand crank. She was fined 10 shillings.
A licence in those days did not reflect competence to drive as no test was undertaken but simply indicated that the necessary fee had been paid. Although driving licences were easily obtained for those at least 17 by simply going to the Town Hall and filling in a short form and paying the required fee, there were downsides for the driver. They had to carry their licence with them at all times when in their car and the onus was on them to get it renewed each year.
When Allan Cowen appeared in St Helens Police Court this week charged with failing to produce a valid driving licence when stopped in Prescot Road he gave this excuse: "I had never been pulled up before and so had nothing to remind me that my licence was overdue." He was fined 10 shillings.
Blind persons prior to 1914 were not expected to lead useful lives and were often shut away from society. The large number of men that lost their sight in the war raised awareness of the visually impaired and as a result newspaper magnate Sir Arthur Pearson founded the Blinded Soldiers and Sailors Care Committee. This later became known as St Dunstan's in London and it provided health care and vocational training for hundreds of blind ex-servicemen.
Many towns were spurred into action to provide their own support and in 1918 the St Helens Society of the Welfare of the Blind was founded. At their first annual meeting in 1919 it was revealed that there were eighty blind people within the St Helens district. This week the Society released its annual report, which stated that the number of blind persons registered with them was now 113.
Of these eight were children under five years of age and the number of sightless persons receiving regular weekly payments from the Society was 18. However, the report stated that almost all of those registered blind in St Helens were in the poorest circumstances and the Society did not have the money to meet all their needs. And so "the generosity of the sighted public is sought to help to alleviate in greater measure the lot of these sufferers."
But the Society had been able to obtain work premises at the top of Liverpool Road in Crook Street and a number of blind workers were now engaged making mats, rugs, stockings, and rush seating chairs. They were appealing for orders for these products and it was hoped that up to 30 blind people could eventually work on the premises. The report also added that the committee were continuing their efforts to restrain the blind from begging on the streets.
There was concern that typhus – a disease with symptoms similar to typhoid – had been detected in St Helens, as the Reporter on the 22nd described: "Two cases of typhus, a type of fever which is of very rare occurrence in modern times, medical science having almost wiped it out, have occurred in St. Helens."
One of the victims was a 14-year-old girl living in what was described as a central part of the town and who had since died from the disease. Other members of her family had been taken to hospital for tests and it had since been confirmed that the father also had typhus. But so far the mother and two other children had not shown any signs of contracting the disease.
The Reporter printed a dictionary definition of typhus that suggested that it was connected with destitution and "overcrowded, ill-ventilated dwellings". However, the paper said they had been informed that the family's cottage was of a "cleanly character". There was, the paper commented, no need for public alarm but in case of illness people were advised to consult a doctor as soon as possible. This was an era when those that were not covered by insurance schemes had to pay for their medical treatment and so prompt medical attention was often not sought until it was too late.
The wireless boom in the early 1920s had opened up new horizons for many St Helens folk. But it was certainly not radio as we know it. For one thing the vast majority of "listeners in" – as radio owners were then known – required outside wire aerials in order to get decent reception. In this week's Reporter there was an article giving advice on how to minimise the effects of lighting strikes on an aerial.
Readers were given rather technical instructions describing how they should earth their aerials at night and at times when a storm was approaching. But not very reassuringly people were told: "If lightning is going to strike a house it will do it whether there is an aerial there or not."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include more on the Sutton woman accused of child murder, the Boundary Road brothers who fell out over a bike, the Napier Street husband who gave his wife two black eyes and the search for names of the St Helens' war dead.
At the end of last year the Saints Supporters Club had been founded and on the evening of the 19th it held its inaugural annual meeting at the YMCA. The new club's secretary explained that they had formed their group during a Saints match when the "popular club was not popular". It was decided that an organisation to help support the side was needed and they now had over 700 members with a committee of 34.
Earlier in the year Councillor Frank McCormick had established the Saints "SOS Fund" to get the club out of financial difficulties. As well as adopting various means of fundraising, supporters had each been asked to lend Saints the sum of £1. The fund was separate to the supporters club but linked and Cllr McCormick had been invited to address the meeting. After being thanked for his work the councillor was taken aback by the praise, saying he had never before been thanked for anything that he had done. Modern-day councillors with all the social media abuse they encounter may recognise that feeling!
With there being many large families in St Helens, occasionally, double weddings would take place. Sisters appeared to like marrying alongside their sibling and their fathers liked the idea of getting two daughters married off for the price of one wedding! But the Wilson sisters of Park Road would have always associated their special day with an accident. Their dual marriage took place this week at Holy Cross Church and they left Corporation Street in two taxis.
But as they were being driven along North Road, an errand boy employed by a Duke Street greengrocer rode his bicycle out of Crab Street and collided with the leading cab. Thomas Casey's head came in contact with the side window of the car which was smashed by the impact. The lad sustained severe cuts to his face and shoulders and one of the taxis had to take him to Providence Hospital where many stitches needed to be inserted.
When motor cars were first introduced in St Helens the police applied the same parking restrictions to their drivers as they had done for many years to carters' horse-driven vehicles. The rule was that the parking of carts was only permissible for the purposes of loading or unloading of goods. That was because an obstruction might be caused in the often-narrow streets and the horse might wander off if left alone for too long.
As a result many carters and motorists that left their vehicles on the street for longer than a minute or two were prosecuted. But a key difference between carts and cars was that the horses used in the former could be much easier to get going than the engines used in the latter.
Hand-cranking an engine to start the car took some effort and so there was a temptation not to turn off the engine when stopping. Although electric self-starters became standard on new cars in the early 1920s, many older vehicles did not have them and, anyhow, self-starters could be unreliable. For that reason up until the 1960s crank handles came with cars as a back up.
She said her own was elsewhere along with her belongings and she thought it better to carry a borrowed licence than none at all. That was not quite how the police saw things! Peggy's reason for not switching off her engine was that the vehicle's self-starter was not working and she had a weak heart and might not have been able to "swing the car off again", i.e. use the hand crank. She was fined 10 shillings.
A licence in those days did not reflect competence to drive as no test was undertaken but simply indicated that the necessary fee had been paid. Although driving licences were easily obtained for those at least 17 by simply going to the Town Hall and filling in a short form and paying the required fee, there were downsides for the driver. They had to carry their licence with them at all times when in their car and the onus was on them to get it renewed each year.
When Allan Cowen appeared in St Helens Police Court this week charged with failing to produce a valid driving licence when stopped in Prescot Road he gave this excuse: "I had never been pulled up before and so had nothing to remind me that my licence was overdue." He was fined 10 shillings.
Blind persons prior to 1914 were not expected to lead useful lives and were often shut away from society. The large number of men that lost their sight in the war raised awareness of the visually impaired and as a result newspaper magnate Sir Arthur Pearson founded the Blinded Soldiers and Sailors Care Committee. This later became known as St Dunstan's in London and it provided health care and vocational training for hundreds of blind ex-servicemen.
Many towns were spurred into action to provide their own support and in 1918 the St Helens Society of the Welfare of the Blind was founded. At their first annual meeting in 1919 it was revealed that there were eighty blind people within the St Helens district. This week the Society released its annual report, which stated that the number of blind persons registered with them was now 113.
Of these eight were children under five years of age and the number of sightless persons receiving regular weekly payments from the Society was 18. However, the report stated that almost all of those registered blind in St Helens were in the poorest circumstances and the Society did not have the money to meet all their needs. And so "the generosity of the sighted public is sought to help to alleviate in greater measure the lot of these sufferers."
But the Society had been able to obtain work premises at the top of Liverpool Road in Crook Street and a number of blind workers were now engaged making mats, rugs, stockings, and rush seating chairs. They were appealing for orders for these products and it was hoped that up to 30 blind people could eventually work on the premises. The report also added that the committee were continuing their efforts to restrain the blind from begging on the streets.
There was concern that typhus – a disease with symptoms similar to typhoid – had been detected in St Helens, as the Reporter on the 22nd described: "Two cases of typhus, a type of fever which is of very rare occurrence in modern times, medical science having almost wiped it out, have occurred in St. Helens."
One of the victims was a 14-year-old girl living in what was described as a central part of the town and who had since died from the disease. Other members of her family had been taken to hospital for tests and it had since been confirmed that the father also had typhus. But so far the mother and two other children had not shown any signs of contracting the disease.
The Reporter printed a dictionary definition of typhus that suggested that it was connected with destitution and "overcrowded, ill-ventilated dwellings". However, the paper said they had been informed that the family's cottage was of a "cleanly character". There was, the paper commented, no need for public alarm but in case of illness people were advised to consult a doctor as soon as possible. This was an era when those that were not covered by insurance schemes had to pay for their medical treatment and so prompt medical attention was often not sought until it was too late.
The wireless boom in the early 1920s had opened up new horizons for many St Helens folk. But it was certainly not radio as we know it. For one thing the vast majority of "listeners in" – as radio owners were then known – required outside wire aerials in order to get decent reception. In this week's Reporter there was an article giving advice on how to minimise the effects of lighting strikes on an aerial.
Readers were given rather technical instructions describing how they should earth their aerials at night and at times when a storm was approaching. But not very reassuringly people were told: "If lightning is going to strike a house it will do it whether there is an aerial there or not."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include more on the Sutton woman accused of child murder, the Boundary Road brothers who fell out over a bike, the Napier Street husband who gave his wife two black eyes and the search for names of the St Helens' war dead.
This week's many stories include the workshop for the blind in St Helens, the double wedding that ended with an accident in North Road, a rare outbreak of typhus kills a child in St Helens, the inaugural annual meeting of Saints Supporters Club, the actress prosecuted for leaving her car engine running outside St Helens post office and advice on how wireless listeners in St Helens could avoid lightning strikes.
At the end of last year the Saints Supporters Club had been founded and on the evening of the 19th it held its inaugural annual meeting at the YMCA.
The new club's secretary explained that they had formed their group during a Saints match when the "popular club was not popular".
It was decided that an organisation to help support the side was needed and they now had over 700 members with a committee of 34.
Earlier in the year Councillor Frank McCormick had established the Saints "SOS Fund" to get the club out of financial difficulties.
As well as adopting various means of fundraising, supporters had each been asked to lend Saints the sum of £1.
The fund was separate to the supporters club but linked and Cllr McCormick had been invited to address the meeting.
After being thanked for his work the councillor was taken aback by the praise, saying he had never before been thanked for anything that he had done.
Modern-day councillors with all the social media abuse they encounter may recognise that feeling!
With there being many large families in St Helens, occasionally, double weddings would take place.
Sisters appeared to like marrying alongside their sibling and their fathers liked the idea of getting two daughters married off for the price of one wedding!
But the Wilson sisters of Park Road would have always associated their special day with an accident.
Their dual marriage took place this week at Holy Cross Church and they left Corporation Street in two taxis.
But as they were being driven along North Road, an errand boy employed by a Duke Street greengrocer rode his bicycle out of Crab Street and collided with the leading cab.
Thomas Casey's head came in contact with the side window of the car which was smashed by the impact.
The lad sustained severe cuts to his face and shoulders and one of the taxis had to take him to Providence Hospital where many stitches needed to be inserted.
When motor cars were first introduced in St Helens the police applied the same parking restrictions to their drivers as they had done for many years to carters' horse-driven vehicles.
The rule was that the parking of carts was only permissible for the purposes of loading or unloading of goods.
That was because an obstruction might be caused in the often-narrow streets and the horse might wander off if left alone for too long.
As a result many carters and motorists that left their vehicles on the street for longer than a minute or two were prosecuted.
But a key difference between carts and cars was that the horses used in the former could be much easier to get going than the engines used in the latter.
Hand-cranking an engine to start the car took some effort and so there was a temptation not to turn off the engine when stopping.
Although electric self-starters became standard on new cars in the early 1920s, many older vehicles did not have them and, anyhow, self-starters could be unreliable. For that reason up until the 1960s crank handles came with cars as a back up.
This week Peggy Croft appeared in St Helens Police Court charged with leaving her motor car unattended with its engine running outside the Church Street post office (pictured above).
Peggy was an actress appearing with a company in St Helens. She was using the driving licence belonging to a fellow cast member and so was also charged with driving without a valid licence.
She said her own was elsewhere along with her belongings and she thought it better to carry a borrowed licence than none at all. That was not quite how the police saw things!
Peggy's reason for not switching off her engine was that the vehicle's self-starter was not working and she had a weak heart and might not have been able to "swing the car off again", i.e. use the hand crank. She was fined 10 shillings.
A licence in those days did not reflect competence to drive as no test was undertaken but simply indicated that the necessary fee had been paid.
Although driving licences were easily obtained for those at least 17 by simply going to the Town Hall and filling in a short form and paying the required fee, there were downsides for the driver.
They had to carry their licence with them at all times when in their car and the onus was on them to get it renewed each year.
When Allan Cowen appeared in St Helens Police Court this week charged with failing to produce a valid driving licence when stopped in Prescot Road he gave this excuse:
"I had never been pulled up before and so had nothing to remind me that my licence was overdue." He was fined 10 shillings.
Blind persons prior to 1914 were not expected to lead useful lives and were often shut away from society.
The large number of men that lost their sight in the war raised awareness of the visually impaired and as a result newspaper magnate Sir Arthur Pearson founded the Blinded Soldiers and Sailors Care Committee.
This later became known as St Dunstan's in London and it provided health care and vocational training for hundreds of blind ex-servicemen.
Many towns were spurred into action to provide their own support and in 1918 the St Helens Society of the Welfare of the Blind was founded.
At their first annual meeting in 1919 it was revealed that there were eighty blind people within the St Helens district.
This week the Society released its annual report, which stated that the number of blind persons registered with them was now 113.
Of these eight were children under five years of age and the number of sightless persons receiving regular weekly payments from the Society was 18.
However, the report stated that almost all of those registered blind in St Helens were in the poorest circumstances and the Society did not have the money to meet all their needs.
And so "the generosity of the sighted public is sought to help to alleviate in greater measure the lot of these sufferers."
But the Society had been able to obtain work premises at the top of Liverpool Road in Crook Street and a number of blind workers were now engaged making mats, rugs, stockings, and rush seating chairs.
They were appealing for orders for these products and it was hoped that up to 30 blind people could eventually work on the premises.
The report also added that the committee were continuing their efforts to restrain the blind from begging on the streets.
There was concern that typhus – a disease with symptoms similar to typhoid – had been detected in St Helens, as the Reporter on the 22nd described:
"Two cases of typhus, a type of fever which is of very rare occurrence in modern times, medical science having almost wiped it out, have occurred in St. Helens."
One of the victims was a 14-year-old girl living in what was described as a central part of the town and who had since died from the disease.
Other members of her family had been taken to hospital for tests and it had since been confirmed that the father also had typhus.
But so far the mother and two other children had not shown any signs of contracting the disease.
The Reporter printed a dictionary definition of typhus that suggested that it was connected with destitution and "overcrowded, ill-ventilated dwellings".
However, the paper said they had been informed that the family's cottage was of a "cleanly character".
There was, the paper commented, no need for public alarm but in case of illness people were advised to consult a doctor as soon as possible.
This was an era when those that were not covered by insurance schemes had to pay for their medical treatment and so prompt medical attention was often not sought until it was too late.
The wireless boom in the early 1920s had opened up new horizons for many St Helens folk. But it was certainly not radio as we know it.
For one thing the vast majority of "listeners in" – as radio owners were then known – required outside wire aerials in order to get decent reception.
In this week's Reporter there was an article giving advice on how to minimise the effects of lighting strikes on an aerial.
Readers were given rather technical instructions describing how they should earth their aerials at night and at times when a storm was approaching.
But not very reassuringly people were told: "If lightning is going to strike a house it will do it whether there is an aerial there or not."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include more on the Sutton woman accused of child murder, the Boundary Road brothers who fell out over a bike, the Napier Street husband who gave his wife two black eyes and the search for names of the St Helens' war dead.
At the end of last year the Saints Supporters Club had been founded and on the evening of the 19th it held its inaugural annual meeting at the YMCA.
The new club's secretary explained that they had formed their group during a Saints match when the "popular club was not popular".
It was decided that an organisation to help support the side was needed and they now had over 700 members with a committee of 34.
Earlier in the year Councillor Frank McCormick had established the Saints "SOS Fund" to get the club out of financial difficulties.
As well as adopting various means of fundraising, supporters had each been asked to lend Saints the sum of £1.
The fund was separate to the supporters club but linked and Cllr McCormick had been invited to address the meeting.
After being thanked for his work the councillor was taken aback by the praise, saying he had never before been thanked for anything that he had done.
Modern-day councillors with all the social media abuse they encounter may recognise that feeling!
With there being many large families in St Helens, occasionally, double weddings would take place.
Sisters appeared to like marrying alongside their sibling and their fathers liked the idea of getting two daughters married off for the price of one wedding!
But the Wilson sisters of Park Road would have always associated their special day with an accident.
Their dual marriage took place this week at Holy Cross Church and they left Corporation Street in two taxis.
But as they were being driven along North Road, an errand boy employed by a Duke Street greengrocer rode his bicycle out of Crab Street and collided with the leading cab.
Thomas Casey's head came in contact with the side window of the car which was smashed by the impact.
The lad sustained severe cuts to his face and shoulders and one of the taxis had to take him to Providence Hospital where many stitches needed to be inserted.
When motor cars were first introduced in St Helens the police applied the same parking restrictions to their drivers as they had done for many years to carters' horse-driven vehicles.
The rule was that the parking of carts was only permissible for the purposes of loading or unloading of goods.
That was because an obstruction might be caused in the often-narrow streets and the horse might wander off if left alone for too long.
As a result many carters and motorists that left their vehicles on the street for longer than a minute or two were prosecuted.
But a key difference between carts and cars was that the horses used in the former could be much easier to get going than the engines used in the latter.
Hand-cranking an engine to start the car took some effort and so there was a temptation not to turn off the engine when stopping.
Although electric self-starters became standard on new cars in the early 1920s, many older vehicles did not have them and, anyhow, self-starters could be unreliable. For that reason up until the 1960s crank handles came with cars as a back up.
Peggy was an actress appearing with a company in St Helens. She was using the driving licence belonging to a fellow cast member and so was also charged with driving without a valid licence.
She said her own was elsewhere along with her belongings and she thought it better to carry a borrowed licence than none at all. That was not quite how the police saw things!
Peggy's reason for not switching off her engine was that the vehicle's self-starter was not working and she had a weak heart and might not have been able to "swing the car off again", i.e. use the hand crank. She was fined 10 shillings.
A licence in those days did not reflect competence to drive as no test was undertaken but simply indicated that the necessary fee had been paid.
Although driving licences were easily obtained for those at least 17 by simply going to the Town Hall and filling in a short form and paying the required fee, there were downsides for the driver.
They had to carry their licence with them at all times when in their car and the onus was on them to get it renewed each year.
When Allan Cowen appeared in St Helens Police Court this week charged with failing to produce a valid driving licence when stopped in Prescot Road he gave this excuse:
"I had never been pulled up before and so had nothing to remind me that my licence was overdue." He was fined 10 shillings.
Blind persons prior to 1914 were not expected to lead useful lives and were often shut away from society.
The large number of men that lost their sight in the war raised awareness of the visually impaired and as a result newspaper magnate Sir Arthur Pearson founded the Blinded Soldiers and Sailors Care Committee.
This later became known as St Dunstan's in London and it provided health care and vocational training for hundreds of blind ex-servicemen.
Many towns were spurred into action to provide their own support and in 1918 the St Helens Society of the Welfare of the Blind was founded.
At their first annual meeting in 1919 it was revealed that there were eighty blind people within the St Helens district.
This week the Society released its annual report, which stated that the number of blind persons registered with them was now 113.
Of these eight were children under five years of age and the number of sightless persons receiving regular weekly payments from the Society was 18.
However, the report stated that almost all of those registered blind in St Helens were in the poorest circumstances and the Society did not have the money to meet all their needs.
And so "the generosity of the sighted public is sought to help to alleviate in greater measure the lot of these sufferers."
But the Society had been able to obtain work premises at the top of Liverpool Road in Crook Street and a number of blind workers were now engaged making mats, rugs, stockings, and rush seating chairs.
They were appealing for orders for these products and it was hoped that up to 30 blind people could eventually work on the premises.
The report also added that the committee were continuing their efforts to restrain the blind from begging on the streets.
There was concern that typhus – a disease with symptoms similar to typhoid – had been detected in St Helens, as the Reporter on the 22nd described:
"Two cases of typhus, a type of fever which is of very rare occurrence in modern times, medical science having almost wiped it out, have occurred in St. Helens."
One of the victims was a 14-year-old girl living in what was described as a central part of the town and who had since died from the disease.
Other members of her family had been taken to hospital for tests and it had since been confirmed that the father also had typhus.
But so far the mother and two other children had not shown any signs of contracting the disease.
The Reporter printed a dictionary definition of typhus that suggested that it was connected with destitution and "overcrowded, ill-ventilated dwellings".
However, the paper said they had been informed that the family's cottage was of a "cleanly character".
There was, the paper commented, no need for public alarm but in case of illness people were advised to consult a doctor as soon as possible.
This was an era when those that were not covered by insurance schemes had to pay for their medical treatment and so prompt medical attention was often not sought until it was too late.
The wireless boom in the early 1920s had opened up new horizons for many St Helens folk. But it was certainly not radio as we know it.
For one thing the vast majority of "listeners in" – as radio owners were then known – required outside wire aerials in order to get decent reception.
In this week's Reporter there was an article giving advice on how to minimise the effects of lighting strikes on an aerial.
Readers were given rather technical instructions describing how they should earth their aerials at night and at times when a storm was approaching.
But not very reassuringly people were told: "If lightning is going to strike a house it will do it whether there is an aerial there or not."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include more on the Sutton woman accused of child murder, the Boundary Road brothers who fell out over a bike, the Napier Street husband who gave his wife two black eyes and the search for names of the St Helens' war dead.