IOO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (29th JUNE - 5th JULY 1920)
This week's stories include a warning from the St Helens Chief Constable against charabanc road hogs and litter bugs, the first female magistrates are appointed in the town, support for Sinn Fein in Ireland, the high infantile mortality rate and the annual Tradesmen's Holiday.
We begin on the evening of the 29th when the Sutton Oak Traffic Band played on Parr Recreation Ground. This was part of the regular music in the parks programme held mainly on Tuesday evenings.
Earlier in the year the first female Prescot Guardian had been appointed to join the men whose responsibilities included overseeing Whiston Workhouse and supporting the extreme poor. This week eight new magistrates for the St Helens Borough Bench were appointed, with three of them women.
Evelyn Pilkington, Caroline Masson and Mary Dodd were the first females to be appointed JPs for the town, although Hope Pilkington of St Helens had been made a County magistrate last March. Evelyn Pilkington was the youngest daughter of the late Colonel Richard Pilkington of Rainford Hall and later in the year would become the first female councillor in St Helens.
The first Thursday in July was always the 'Tradesmen's Holiday' (aka 'Traders Holiday') in St Helens. Virtually all the shops in the town closed for the whole day (instead of the usual half-day) and staff went on charabanc excursions. This year it fell on July 1st and exposed the main weakness of the open-top motor coach.
Charabancs must have been very pleasant on a sunny summer's day. However it rained all morning and there was probably a forest of umbrellas on each vehicle as the excursionists journeyed into the country. Some charabancs did have convertible tops but most didn't, such as James Bridge's of Parr, pictured above. The weather did improve in the afternoon – or as the Reporter put it, "it faired up" – but the sky remained leaden and there were further showers at times.
This week the Medical Officer of Heath for the Whiston Rural District published his annual report for 1919. This area included Rainhill, Eccleston, Windle, Knowsley, Bold and Cronton. Dr Thomas Mercer was very concerned by the high infantile mortality rate, which he blamed on overcrowded houses and the flu pandemic during the early part of the year.
The medical officer gave an example of one house that comprised a living room and one bedroom and which was occupied by a man, his wife and seven children. Eight people occupied a similar adjoining property. Dr Mercer said he had been trying for months to get these individuals out of their houses but it had been impossible for them to find anywhere else to live. He added that a considerable number of homes were in an unfit state for human habitation but he had not bothered informing the Council, as no other dwellings were available.
The Reporter on the 2nd stated that a flying week was to be held in St Helens during the summer. Exactly what that entailed was not described, although an aerodrome was to be built on a field in Bleak Hill Lane belonging to Arthur Pilkington.
The Chief Constable of St Helens, Arthur Ellerington, had a letter published in the paper complaining about the nuisance of charabancs. He wrote: "I should be glad if you will kindly issue a warning through your columns to the owners of chars-a-bancs and, other heavy vehicles, against monopolising the roads and preventing the free passage of other vehicles. It is becoming a common occurrence to see a heavy motor vehicle travelling along the centre of a thoroughfare with another vehicle, or even more than one, held up behind and making vain attempts to dodge past. Tramcars are frequently obstructed in the same way."
I had always presumed that litter louting from cars was a modern eyesore. Not so, as Mr Ellerington also explained: "It is also a source of great annoyance that the users of chars-a-bancs cast their refuse into the street as the vehicle travels along, without a care as to where the banana skin or other missile is going to “land,” and returning to the Borough in the early hours of the morning with the occupants singing songs and creating a great noise to the disturbance of the folk living along the route. Unless there is a drastic alteration of tactics, such practice will find a sequel in the Police Court."
The headline to the letter in the Reporter was "Chief Constable and Sharries", suggesting that was how charabancs were then known to the people of the town. William Owen's appearance in the Police Court on the same day underlined the Chief Constable's comments about anti-social behaviour from "sharries". The man from Rigby Street faced the unusual charge of "unlawfully throwing an egg".
While riding in a charabanc in Duke Street (pictured above), Owen had stood up and thrown an egg at an old man called Flood who was sweeping outside his home, striking him in the face. The prosecutor in the case asked the Bench to take a serious view of the matter, "in view of the serious nuisance which charabancs were causing daily in various places". Mr Flood said the egg spoiled his waistcoat and shirt and his eye was still sore. Owen was fined £1 and told to pay 10 shillings witness fee to Mr Flood.
The Dublin newspaper the Weekly Freeman's Journal wrote on the 3rd about a meeting of the Ashton-in-Makerfield branch of the Irish Self Determination League. This had been held at Earlestown and presided over by Father O’Meara. A resolution was passed that said:
"That we, the Irishmen and Irishwomen of Ashton-in-Makerfield, in public meeting assembled, solemnly declare our support to Ireland's demand for self-determination:- namely an Irish Republic, and pledge ourselves to work by every means in our power to bring about the same. That we call for the withdrawal of the English troops from Ireland; condemn the savage attacks of the Unionists in Derry, backed up by the policemen, on the peaceful citizens of that town, and congratulate the Sinn Fein Volunteers on their noble and successful defence of the Convents and Catholic institutions in Derry."
The fitters at Pilkingtons went on their annual trip to Blackpool on the 3rd, departing from the Fleece Hotel in Church Street in two large charabancs at 8am. During that evening the St Helens Recs Northern Union rugby league team held their annual dinner at the Royal Raven Hotel. Their captain Johnny Greenall told the players and committee members that they were keen to get the new season underway and see what the fates had in store for them.
Last season the Recs had finished 11th in the championship table but in the new season they would slip down to 15th out of 25 clubs – although they would rank two positions higher than their rivals Saints, which I expect they'd have been happy about! Curiously the teams continued to play a different number of league games during the season. I had assumed that was a temporary arrangement during the war, when only friendly matches were played. However during the 1920 - 21 season, the St Helens Recs and Saints' teams played 30 games each, compared to Halifax who played 38. Nine other teams in the table played 34 matches.
The inquest on William Hughes from Carnarvon Street took place on the 5th in the Court Room at the Town Hall. The 7-year-old had died in St Helens Hospital two days earlier, after falling thirty feet from a railway bridge at Thatto Heath while playing with his mates.
Thomas Norris of no fixed abode appeared in the Police Court on the 5th charged with begging. The man had stopped Thomas Devaney in Bridge Street and asked him for threepence, claiming he was that much short of the cost of his night's lodgings. Devaney gave Norris the money but was somewhat suspicious of him and so decided to keep tabs on the beggar. He watched him walk into the Nelson Hotel and then order and sup a pint of beer! Norris was sentenced to 14 days in prison.
A collapse of the pit roof was probably the most common cause of mining accidents underground. At the Southport Colliery in Parr (situated between Newton Road and the canal end of Southport Street) on the morning of the 5th, two men were knocked down by a roof fall. One was injured but 19-year-old George Potter from Ashcroft Street was completely buried and killed.
The acts appearing at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 5th included: Les Bastiens ("Comedy acrobats – the most marvellous and famous comedy entertainers in the world"); Cullen and Carthy ("The celebrated comedians and dancers and their wee assistant"); Frank Clark ("Principal baritone with the Carl Rosa Opera Co"); Cornetti ("The celebrated lady cornettist"); Colbert ("Club juggler and hoop manipulator"); Emilie Tait ("The charming vocalist") and The Nondescripts & a Piano ("Comedy vocalists in a great vocal pot-pourri act").
Next week's stories will include the Mount Street boy who stole his father's boots, the Ormskirk Street busker who was busted by the police, the loss to the town's child life of Carr Mill Dam and the woman who claimed she suffered from fits and was not a drunkard collapses in court.
We begin on the evening of the 29th when the Sutton Oak Traffic Band played on Parr Recreation Ground. This was part of the regular music in the parks programme held mainly on Tuesday evenings.
Earlier in the year the first female Prescot Guardian had been appointed to join the men whose responsibilities included overseeing Whiston Workhouse and supporting the extreme poor. This week eight new magistrates for the St Helens Borough Bench were appointed, with three of them women.
Evelyn Pilkington, Caroline Masson and Mary Dodd were the first females to be appointed JPs for the town, although Hope Pilkington of St Helens had been made a County magistrate last March. Evelyn Pilkington was the youngest daughter of the late Colonel Richard Pilkington of Rainford Hall and later in the year would become the first female councillor in St Helens.
The first Thursday in July was always the 'Tradesmen's Holiday' (aka 'Traders Holiday') in St Helens. Virtually all the shops in the town closed for the whole day (instead of the usual half-day) and staff went on charabanc excursions. This year it fell on July 1st and exposed the main weakness of the open-top motor coach.
This week the Medical Officer of Heath for the Whiston Rural District published his annual report for 1919. This area included Rainhill, Eccleston, Windle, Knowsley, Bold and Cronton. Dr Thomas Mercer was very concerned by the high infantile mortality rate, which he blamed on overcrowded houses and the flu pandemic during the early part of the year.
The medical officer gave an example of one house that comprised a living room and one bedroom and which was occupied by a man, his wife and seven children. Eight people occupied a similar adjoining property. Dr Mercer said he had been trying for months to get these individuals out of their houses but it had been impossible for them to find anywhere else to live. He added that a considerable number of homes were in an unfit state for human habitation but he had not bothered informing the Council, as no other dwellings were available.
The Reporter on the 2nd stated that a flying week was to be held in St Helens during the summer. Exactly what that entailed was not described, although an aerodrome was to be built on a field in Bleak Hill Lane belonging to Arthur Pilkington.
The Chief Constable of St Helens, Arthur Ellerington, had a letter published in the paper complaining about the nuisance of charabancs. He wrote: "I should be glad if you will kindly issue a warning through your columns to the owners of chars-a-bancs and, other heavy vehicles, against monopolising the roads and preventing the free passage of other vehicles. It is becoming a common occurrence to see a heavy motor vehicle travelling along the centre of a thoroughfare with another vehicle, or even more than one, held up behind and making vain attempts to dodge past. Tramcars are frequently obstructed in the same way."
I had always presumed that litter louting from cars was a modern eyesore. Not so, as Mr Ellerington also explained: "It is also a source of great annoyance that the users of chars-a-bancs cast their refuse into the street as the vehicle travels along, without a care as to where the banana skin or other missile is going to “land,” and returning to the Borough in the early hours of the morning with the occupants singing songs and creating a great noise to the disturbance of the folk living along the route. Unless there is a drastic alteration of tactics, such practice will find a sequel in the Police Court."
The headline to the letter in the Reporter was "Chief Constable and Sharries", suggesting that was how charabancs were then known to the people of the town. William Owen's appearance in the Police Court on the same day underlined the Chief Constable's comments about anti-social behaviour from "sharries". The man from Rigby Street faced the unusual charge of "unlawfully throwing an egg".
The Dublin newspaper the Weekly Freeman's Journal wrote on the 3rd about a meeting of the Ashton-in-Makerfield branch of the Irish Self Determination League. This had been held at Earlestown and presided over by Father O’Meara. A resolution was passed that said:
"That we, the Irishmen and Irishwomen of Ashton-in-Makerfield, in public meeting assembled, solemnly declare our support to Ireland's demand for self-determination:- namely an Irish Republic, and pledge ourselves to work by every means in our power to bring about the same. That we call for the withdrawal of the English troops from Ireland; condemn the savage attacks of the Unionists in Derry, backed up by the policemen, on the peaceful citizens of that town, and congratulate the Sinn Fein Volunteers on their noble and successful defence of the Convents and Catholic institutions in Derry."
The fitters at Pilkingtons went on their annual trip to Blackpool on the 3rd, departing from the Fleece Hotel in Church Street in two large charabancs at 8am. During that evening the St Helens Recs Northern Union rugby league team held their annual dinner at the Royal Raven Hotel. Their captain Johnny Greenall told the players and committee members that they were keen to get the new season underway and see what the fates had in store for them.
Last season the Recs had finished 11th in the championship table but in the new season they would slip down to 15th out of 25 clubs – although they would rank two positions higher than their rivals Saints, which I expect they'd have been happy about! Curiously the teams continued to play a different number of league games during the season. I had assumed that was a temporary arrangement during the war, when only friendly matches were played. However during the 1920 - 21 season, the St Helens Recs and Saints' teams played 30 games each, compared to Halifax who played 38. Nine other teams in the table played 34 matches.
The inquest on William Hughes from Carnarvon Street took place on the 5th in the Court Room at the Town Hall. The 7-year-old had died in St Helens Hospital two days earlier, after falling thirty feet from a railway bridge at Thatto Heath while playing with his mates.
Thomas Norris of no fixed abode appeared in the Police Court on the 5th charged with begging. The man had stopped Thomas Devaney in Bridge Street and asked him for threepence, claiming he was that much short of the cost of his night's lodgings. Devaney gave Norris the money but was somewhat suspicious of him and so decided to keep tabs on the beggar. He watched him walk into the Nelson Hotel and then order and sup a pint of beer! Norris was sentenced to 14 days in prison.
A collapse of the pit roof was probably the most common cause of mining accidents underground. At the Southport Colliery in Parr (situated between Newton Road and the canal end of Southport Street) on the morning of the 5th, two men were knocked down by a roof fall. One was injured but 19-year-old George Potter from Ashcroft Street was completely buried and killed.
The acts appearing at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 5th included: Les Bastiens ("Comedy acrobats – the most marvellous and famous comedy entertainers in the world"); Cullen and Carthy ("The celebrated comedians and dancers and their wee assistant"); Frank Clark ("Principal baritone with the Carl Rosa Opera Co"); Cornetti ("The celebrated lady cornettist"); Colbert ("Club juggler and hoop manipulator"); Emilie Tait ("The charming vocalist") and The Nondescripts & a Piano ("Comedy vocalists in a great vocal pot-pourri act").
Next week's stories will include the Mount Street boy who stole his father's boots, the Ormskirk Street busker who was busted by the police, the loss to the town's child life of Carr Mill Dam and the woman who claimed she suffered from fits and was not a drunkard collapses in court.
This week's stories include a warning from the St Helens Chief Constable against charabanc road hogs and litter bugs, the first female magistrates are appointed in the town, support for Sinn Fein in Ireland, the high infantile mortality rate and the annual Tradesmen's Holiday.
We begin on the evening of the 29th when the Sutton Oak Traffic Band played on Parr Recreation Ground.
This was part of the regular music in the parks programme held mainly on Tuesday evenings.
Earlier in the year the first female Prescot Guardian had been appointed to join the men whose responsibilities included overseeing Whiston Workhouse and supporting the extreme poor.
This week eight new magistrates for the St Helens Borough Bench were appointed, with three of them women.
Evelyn Pilkington, Caroline Masson and Mary Dodd were the first females to be appointed JPs for the town, although Hope Pilkington of St Helens had been made a County magistrate last March.
Evelyn Pilkington was the youngest daughter of the late Colonel Richard Pilkington of Rainford Hall and later in the year would become the first female councillor in St Helens.
The first Thursday in July was always the 'Tradesmen's Holiday' (aka 'Traders Holiday') in St Helens.
Virtually all the shops in the town closed for the whole day (instead of the usual half-day) and staff went on charabanc excursions.
This year it fell on July 1st and exposed the main weakness of the open-top motor coach.
Charabancs must have been very pleasant on a sunny summer's day.
However it rained all morning and there was probably a forest of umbrellas on each vehicle as the excursionists journeyed into the country.
Some charabancs did have convertible tops but most didn't, such as James Bridge's of Parr, pictured above.
The weather did improve in the afternoon – or as the Reporter put it, "it faired up" – but the sky remained leaden and there were further showers at times.
This week the Medical Officer of Heath for the Whiston Rural District published his annual report for 1919.
This area included Rainhill, Eccleston, Windle, Knowsley, Bold and Cronton.
Dr Thomas Mercer was very concerned by the high infantile mortality rate, which he blamed on overcrowded houses and the flu pandemic during the early part of the year.
The medical officer gave an example of one house that comprised a living room and one bedroom and which was occupied by a man, his wife and seven children.
Eight people occupied a similar adjoining property.
Dr Mercer said he had been trying for months to get these individuals out of their houses but it had been impossible for them to find anywhere else to live.
He added that a considerable number of homes were in an unfit state for human habitation but he had not bothered informing the Council, as no other dwellings were available.
The Reporter on the 2nd stated that a flying week was to be held in St Helens during the summer.
Exactly what that entailed was not described, although an aerodrome was to be built on a field in Bleak Hill Lane belonging to Arthur Pilkington.
The Chief Constable of St Helens, Arthur Ellerington, had a letter published in the paper complaining about the nuisance of charabancs. He wrote:
"I should be glad if you will kindly issue a warning through your columns to the owners of chars-a-bancs and, other heavy vehicles, against monopolising the roads and preventing the free passage of other vehicles.
"It is becoming a common occurrence to see a heavy motor vehicle travelling along the centre of a thoroughfare with another vehicle, or even more than one, held up behind and making vain attempts to dodge past. Tramcars are frequently obstructed in the same way."
I had always presumed that litter louting from cars was a modern eyesore. Not so, as Mr Ellerington also explained:
"It is also a source of great annoyance that the users of chars-a-bancs cast their refuse into the street as the vehicle travels along, without a care as to where the banana skin or other missile is going to “land,” and returning to the Borough in the early hours of the morning with the occupants singing songs and creating a great noise to the disturbance of the folk living along the route.
"Unless there is a drastic alteration of tactics, such practice will find a sequel in the Police Court."
The headline to the letter in the Reporter was "Chief Constable and Sharries", suggesting that was how charabancs were then known to the people of the town.
William Owen's appearance in the Police Court on the same day underlined the Chief Constable's comments about anti-social behaviour from "sharries".
The man from Rigby Street faced the unusual charge of "unlawfully throwing an egg".
While riding in a charabanc in Duke Street (pictured above), Owen had stood up and thrown an egg at an old man called Flood who was sweeping outside his home, striking him in the face.
The prosecutor in the case asked the Bench to take a serious view of the matter, "in view of the serious nuisance which charabancs were causing daily in various places".
Mr Flood said the egg spoiled his waistcoat and shirt and his eye was still sore. Owen was fined £1 and told to pay 10 shillings witness fee to Mr Flood.
The Dublin newspaper the Weekly Freeman's Journal wrote on the 3rd about a meeting of the Ashton-in-Makerfield branch of the Irish Self Determination League.
This had been held at Earlestown and presided over by Father O’Meara. A resolution was passed that said:
"That we, the Irishmen and Irishwomen of Ashton-in-Makerfield, in public meeting assembled, solemnly declare our support to Ireland's demand for self-determination:- namely an Irish Republic, and pledge ourselves to work by every means in our power to bring about the same.
"That we call for the withdrawal of the English troops from Ireland; condemn the savage attacks of the Unionists in Derry, backed up by the policemen, on the peaceful citizens of that town, and congratulate the Sinn Fein Volunteers on their noble and successful defence of the Convents and Catholic institutions in Derry."
The fitters at Pilkingtons went on their annual trip to Blackpool on the 3rd, departing from the Fleece Hotel in Church Street in two large charabancs at 8am.
During that evening the St Helens Recs Northern Union rugby league team held their annual dinner at the Royal Raven Hotel.
Their captain Johnny Greenall told the players and committee members that they were keen to get the new season underway and see what the fates had in store for them.
Last season the Recs had finished 11th in the championship table but in the new season they would slip down to 15th out of 25 clubs – although they would rank two positions higher than their rivals Saints, which I expect they'd have been happy about!
Curiously the teams continued to play a different number of league games during the season.
I had assumed that was a temporary arrangement during the war, when only friendly matches were played.
However during the 1920 - 21 season, the St Helens Recs and Saints' teams played 30 games each, compared to Halifax who played 38. Nine other teams in the table played 34 matches.
The inquest on William Hughes from Carnarvon Street took place on the 5th in the Court Room at the Town Hall.
The 7-year-old boy had died in St Helens Hospital two days earlier, after falling thirty feet from a railway bridge at Thatto Heath while playing with his mates.
Thomas Norris of no fixed abode appeared in the Police Court on the 5th charged with begging.
The man had stopped Thomas Devaney in Bridge Street and asked him for threepence, claiming he was that much short of the cost of his night's lodgings.
Devaney gave Norris the money but was somewhat suspicious of him and so decided to keep tabs on the beggar.
He watched him walk into the Nelson Hotel and then order and sup a pint of beer! Norris was sentenced to 14 days in prison.
A collapse of the pit roof was probably the most common cause of mining accidents underground.
At the Southport Colliery in Parr (situated between Newton Road and the canal end of Southport Street) on the morning of the 5th, two men were knocked down by a roof fall.
One was injured but 19-year-old George Potter from Ashcroft Street was completely buried and killed.
The acts appearing at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 5th included:
Les Bastiens ("Comedy acrobats – the most marvellous and famous comedy entertainers in the world"); Cullen and Carthy ("The celebrated comedians and dancers and their wee assistant"); Frank Clark ("Principal baritone with the Carl Rosa Opera Co"); Cornetti ("The celebrated lady cornettist"); Colbert ("Club juggler and hoop manipulator"); Emilie Tait ("The charming vocalist") and The Nondescripts & a Piano ("Comedy vocalists in a great vocal pot-pourri act").
Next week's stories will include the Mount Street boy who stole his father's boots, the Ormskirk Street busker who was busted by the police, the loss to the town's child life of Carr Mill Dam and the woman who claimed she suffered from fits and was not a drunkard collapses in court.
We begin on the evening of the 29th when the Sutton Oak Traffic Band played on Parr Recreation Ground.
This was part of the regular music in the parks programme held mainly on Tuesday evenings.
Earlier in the year the first female Prescot Guardian had been appointed to join the men whose responsibilities included overseeing Whiston Workhouse and supporting the extreme poor.
This week eight new magistrates for the St Helens Borough Bench were appointed, with three of them women.
Evelyn Pilkington, Caroline Masson and Mary Dodd were the first females to be appointed JPs for the town, although Hope Pilkington of St Helens had been made a County magistrate last March.
Evelyn Pilkington was the youngest daughter of the late Colonel Richard Pilkington of Rainford Hall and later in the year would become the first female councillor in St Helens.
The first Thursday in July was always the 'Tradesmen's Holiday' (aka 'Traders Holiday') in St Helens.
Virtually all the shops in the town closed for the whole day (instead of the usual half-day) and staff went on charabanc excursions.
This year it fell on July 1st and exposed the main weakness of the open-top motor coach.
Charabancs must have been very pleasant on a sunny summer's day.
However it rained all morning and there was probably a forest of umbrellas on each vehicle as the excursionists journeyed into the country.
The weather did improve in the afternoon – or as the Reporter put it, "it faired up" – but the sky remained leaden and there were further showers at times.
This week the Medical Officer of Heath for the Whiston Rural District published his annual report for 1919.
This area included Rainhill, Eccleston, Windle, Knowsley, Bold and Cronton.
Dr Thomas Mercer was very concerned by the high infantile mortality rate, which he blamed on overcrowded houses and the flu pandemic during the early part of the year.
The medical officer gave an example of one house that comprised a living room and one bedroom and which was occupied by a man, his wife and seven children.
Eight people occupied a similar adjoining property.
Dr Mercer said he had been trying for months to get these individuals out of their houses but it had been impossible for them to find anywhere else to live.
He added that a considerable number of homes were in an unfit state for human habitation but he had not bothered informing the Council, as no other dwellings were available.
The Reporter on the 2nd stated that a flying week was to be held in St Helens during the summer.
Exactly what that entailed was not described, although an aerodrome was to be built on a field in Bleak Hill Lane belonging to Arthur Pilkington.
The Chief Constable of St Helens, Arthur Ellerington, had a letter published in the paper complaining about the nuisance of charabancs. He wrote:
"I should be glad if you will kindly issue a warning through your columns to the owners of chars-a-bancs and, other heavy vehicles, against monopolising the roads and preventing the free passage of other vehicles.
"It is becoming a common occurrence to see a heavy motor vehicle travelling along the centre of a thoroughfare with another vehicle, or even more than one, held up behind and making vain attempts to dodge past. Tramcars are frequently obstructed in the same way."
I had always presumed that litter louting from cars was a modern eyesore. Not so, as Mr Ellerington also explained:
"It is also a source of great annoyance that the users of chars-a-bancs cast their refuse into the street as the vehicle travels along, without a care as to where the banana skin or other missile is going to “land,” and returning to the Borough in the early hours of the morning with the occupants singing songs and creating a great noise to the disturbance of the folk living along the route.
"Unless there is a drastic alteration of tactics, such practice will find a sequel in the Police Court."
The headline to the letter in the Reporter was "Chief Constable and Sharries", suggesting that was how charabancs were then known to the people of the town.
William Owen's appearance in the Police Court on the same day underlined the Chief Constable's comments about anti-social behaviour from "sharries".
The man from Rigby Street faced the unusual charge of "unlawfully throwing an egg".
The prosecutor in the case asked the Bench to take a serious view of the matter, "in view of the serious nuisance which charabancs were causing daily in various places".
Mr Flood said the egg spoiled his waistcoat and shirt and his eye was still sore. Owen was fined £1 and told to pay 10 shillings witness fee to Mr Flood.
The Dublin newspaper the Weekly Freeman's Journal wrote on the 3rd about a meeting of the Ashton-in-Makerfield branch of the Irish Self Determination League.
This had been held at Earlestown and presided over by Father O’Meara. A resolution was passed that said:
"That we, the Irishmen and Irishwomen of Ashton-in-Makerfield, in public meeting assembled, solemnly declare our support to Ireland's demand for self-determination:- namely an Irish Republic, and pledge ourselves to work by every means in our power to bring about the same.
"That we call for the withdrawal of the English troops from Ireland; condemn the savage attacks of the Unionists in Derry, backed up by the policemen, on the peaceful citizens of that town, and congratulate the Sinn Fein Volunteers on their noble and successful defence of the Convents and Catholic institutions in Derry."
The fitters at Pilkingtons went on their annual trip to Blackpool on the 3rd, departing from the Fleece Hotel in Church Street in two large charabancs at 8am.
During that evening the St Helens Recs Northern Union rugby league team held their annual dinner at the Royal Raven Hotel.
Their captain Johnny Greenall told the players and committee members that they were keen to get the new season underway and see what the fates had in store for them.
Last season the Recs had finished 11th in the championship table but in the new season they would slip down to 15th out of 25 clubs – although they would rank two positions higher than their rivals Saints, which I expect they'd have been happy about!
Curiously the teams continued to play a different number of league games during the season.
I had assumed that was a temporary arrangement during the war, when only friendly matches were played.
However during the 1920 - 21 season, the St Helens Recs and Saints' teams played 30 games each, compared to Halifax who played 38. Nine other teams in the table played 34 matches.
The inquest on William Hughes from Carnarvon Street took place on the 5th in the Court Room at the Town Hall.
The 7-year-old boy had died in St Helens Hospital two days earlier, after falling thirty feet from a railway bridge at Thatto Heath while playing with his mates.
Thomas Norris of no fixed abode appeared in the Police Court on the 5th charged with begging.
The man had stopped Thomas Devaney in Bridge Street and asked him for threepence, claiming he was that much short of the cost of his night's lodgings.
Devaney gave Norris the money but was somewhat suspicious of him and so decided to keep tabs on the beggar.
He watched him walk into the Nelson Hotel and then order and sup a pint of beer! Norris was sentenced to 14 days in prison.
A collapse of the pit roof was probably the most common cause of mining accidents underground.
At the Southport Colliery in Parr (situated between Newton Road and the canal end of Southport Street) on the morning of the 5th, two men were knocked down by a roof fall.
One was injured but 19-year-old George Potter from Ashcroft Street was completely buried and killed.
The acts appearing at the Hippodrome Theatre from the 5th included:
Les Bastiens ("Comedy acrobats – the most marvellous and famous comedy entertainers in the world"); Cullen and Carthy ("The celebrated comedians and dancers and their wee assistant"); Frank Clark ("Principal baritone with the Carl Rosa Opera Co"); Cornetti ("The celebrated lady cornettist"); Colbert ("Club juggler and hoop manipulator"); Emilie Tait ("The charming vocalist") and The Nondescripts & a Piano ("Comedy vocalists in a great vocal pot-pourri act").
Next week's stories will include the Mount Street boy who stole his father's boots, the Ormskirk Street busker who was busted by the police, the loss to the town's child life of Carr Mill Dam and the woman who claimed she suffered from fits and was not a drunkard collapses in court.