FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 4 - 10 NOVEMBER 1974
This week's many stories include St Helens-born comedian Bernie Clifton's appearance on Opportunity Knocks, the plans to extend the golf course at Sherdley Park, the Eccleston ship in a bottle craftsman, a resolution of the St Helens College strike, the faith healer at the Town Hall and more on the ancient church clock that struck 17 times.
We begin on the 4th with the public inquiry that had been scheduled to take place into the council's plans to pedestrianise part of the town centre. Over the last few years there had been many such inquiries held in St Helens. That was after the council had issued compulsory purchase orders on properties or land as part of its improvement scheme. Some of their owners and residents would object and a government inspector would subsequently hold a hearing at the Town Hall.
But in almost all cases the inspector rejected the objections and supported the council. Five persons had objected to the orders that the council had issued last year against land at the rear of buildings in Barrow Street, Claughton Street, Hardshaw Street and Church Street and a hearing was due to be held. The land was needed so the Council could ensure a means of rear access to shops and offices once these streets were barred to traffic.
But such inquiries caused delays and cost the council money and so they had clearly gone to work on all five objectors and successfully persuaded them to withdraw their opposition. The landowners also owned some of the properties in the vicinity and had expressed a number of concerns. But last week the final objector had dropped out after the council had convinced them they could design a scheme to overcome their worries and so the scheduled inquiry was cancelled.
The Liverpool Echo reported on the 4th that 150 workers at the Rainhill factory of Stoves had been made redundant. The company made Newholme gas cookers and had previously employed about 1,150 people. The firm blamed the redundancies on the general economic woes, inflation and price controls.
On the 4th Eccleston Parish Council met for the first time in their new Village Hall in Kiln Lane. That had been the location of the old Eccleston Library, which in 1972 had re-located to new premises in Broadway. Lancashire County Council was the owner of the property and it took a couple of years of negotiations before the Parish Council were allowed to have the building.
The hall was capable of seating up to 100 people and £3,500 had been spent equipping it. Eccleston Parish Council were now appealing for community groups to come forward to discuss hiring the hall for meetings etc.
On the 6th Mary Newcombe became the first Pilkington pensioner to reach the grand old age of 100. On her special day Mrs Newcombe of Bank Street received 72 birthday cards, a telegram from Buckingham Palace, 14 bouquets and a huge bottle of champagne from her doctor. Her family also threw her a party at the United Services Club in St Helens.
I wonder if there are still craftsmen around today who manually create exquisite models of boats and then place them inside bottles? Brian Whitaker of The Avenue in Eccleston was such a talented individual and he was profiled in the St Helens Reporter on the 8th. The 70-year-old not only made miniature marine models that he managed to squeeze into glass bottles but he also used his talents to insert them into light bulbs.
Mr Whitaker had been a ship's carpenter in the Merchant Navy and to pass away the time when on board ship he would take out his penknife and carve a model. To enhance the atmosphere of his creations, Brian painted the inside of the bottles and bulbs with either menacing storm clouds or calm scenes of sky blue. And quite rightly Brian refused to tell the Reporter his secret of how he squeezed his ships into his bottles and bulbs.
The paper also described how at St Helens Town Hall, the Rev. Alexander Tee had cured Harriett Owen's severe arthritis, which the 57-year-old from Windleshaw Road had endured for five years:
"Nearly 300 people witnessed the drama when the Reverend Alexander Tee, a Faith Healer, laid his hands on her head and asked God to heal her. Minutes later, Mrs. Harriett Owen's permanent limp was gone, the right side of her body stopped aching, and she was able to jump, run and walk freely."
The Reporter also related how Eccleston Church's ancient clock that needed rewinding every 7 days was to have a much-needed overhaul. Eccleston Parish Council had agreed to contribute towards the cost of having Christ Church's near-300-year-old timepiece repaired, with the church's Parochial Council paying the rest.
The hand-wound clock had been built in 1795 but its weights were in such a dangerous condition it was said they could easily fall out of the works. It had also been behaving erratically – including striking 17 times. But the clock's days of having to be rewound every 7 days were numbered, as it was planned for it to go electric.
The Reporter described how next week the St Helens-born comedian Bernie Clifton would be appearing on TV's Opportunity Knocks after many years of working the clubs. Originally from Charles Street in St Helens, Clifton now lived in Chesterfield with his wife Madge and their four children.
But his appearance on Hughie Green's talent show would not be Bernie's television debut as he had previously been on The Golden Shot and The Good Old Days. The Reporter wrote that Bernie had appealed for all his friends in St Helens to vote for him and ensure that he made a return appearance on the show.
The sterling work of blind pensioner Edith Hopkins from Derby Drive in Rainford was also recognised by the Reporter. For twenty years Mrs Hopkins had organised bring and buy sales to raise cash so that the children of the St Helens and District Blind Society had Christmas parties. In total Mrs Hopkins had raised over £2,000 but was now stepping down because of ill-health with responsibility for the sales passed on to Joan Weldon of Parr.
Elsie Sutcliffe from St Nicholas Road in Whiston was also praised in the paper after shrugging off her arthritis to raise £33 for Whiston Hospital. That was after the 58-year-old had read that the hospital's intensive care unit was under threat of closure through lack of funds. Elsie said the hospital had saved her life on two occasions and so she went door-to-door in her neighbourhood collecting funds.
The Reporter also described how young members of Prescot Parish Church had taken part in a 23-hour table tennis tournament to raise money for their youth facilities. The 26 persons who took part were aged between 12 and 17 and went without sleep throughout the event and were kept going by light refreshments.
The annual winter fair at Sutton Parish Hall in New Street began on the evening of the 8th and continued on the 9th. The church hoped to raise £1,000 and they had many stalls on display.
The Helena House Christmas Grotto opened in Baldwin Street at 10am on the 9th. Their Reporter advert said: "Santa Claus will be waiting to talk to you after your exciting ride on his magical butterfly's chariot."
Also on the 9th Rainford's United Reformed Church opened their new hall in Higher Lane. The church had been in the village for 107 years and their old Sunday school premises had been constantly under attack from vandals.
In St Helens Town Hall during the evening of the 10th the Elim Church in Duke Street presented what was described as a special sermon on Bible prophecy called "How near are we to Armageddon – what part will Russia play? etc." That's a question that still seems relevant today.
A fortnight ago 120 female catering and cleaning staff at St Helens "Tech" went on strike. That was after it was alleged that a man employed at the Meads College of Management in Portico had struck a woman supervisor. The strike ended this week after a solution was found. No details concerning the Meads incident were made public and so we don't know if the male was disciplined or not. But the men and women working at St Helens College would now be put in jobs where they would not come into contact with each other.
On April 18th 1973 the then Mayor of St Helens, Allan Lycett, had opened the town's new 9-hole municipal golf course at Sherdley Park by teeing off. This week it was announced that the council had reached an agreement with the tenant of Sherdley Hall Farm. The unnamed individual would be paid a certain amount to end his agricultural holding of land which would be used to extend the golf course to 18 holes.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the drastic cuts in public services that were forecast for next year, the death of a Sutton boy while taking a lift on a lorry, the campaign to recruit more nurses and the storm over the council's housing death list.
We begin on the 4th with the public inquiry that had been scheduled to take place into the council's plans to pedestrianise part of the town centre. Over the last few years there had been many such inquiries held in St Helens. That was after the council had issued compulsory purchase orders on properties or land as part of its improvement scheme. Some of their owners and residents would object and a government inspector would subsequently hold a hearing at the Town Hall.
But in almost all cases the inspector rejected the objections and supported the council. Five persons had objected to the orders that the council had issued last year against land at the rear of buildings in Barrow Street, Claughton Street, Hardshaw Street and Church Street and a hearing was due to be held. The land was needed so the Council could ensure a means of rear access to shops and offices once these streets were barred to traffic.
But such inquiries caused delays and cost the council money and so they had clearly gone to work on all five objectors and successfully persuaded them to withdraw their opposition. The landowners also owned some of the properties in the vicinity and had expressed a number of concerns. But last week the final objector had dropped out after the council had convinced them they could design a scheme to overcome their worries and so the scheduled inquiry was cancelled.
The Liverpool Echo reported on the 4th that 150 workers at the Rainhill factory of Stoves had been made redundant. The company made Newholme gas cookers and had previously employed about 1,150 people. The firm blamed the redundancies on the general economic woes, inflation and price controls.
On the 4th Eccleston Parish Council met for the first time in their new Village Hall in Kiln Lane. That had been the location of the old Eccleston Library, which in 1972 had re-located to new premises in Broadway. Lancashire County Council was the owner of the property and it took a couple of years of negotiations before the Parish Council were allowed to have the building.
The hall was capable of seating up to 100 people and £3,500 had been spent equipping it. Eccleston Parish Council were now appealing for community groups to come forward to discuss hiring the hall for meetings etc.
On the 6th Mary Newcombe became the first Pilkington pensioner to reach the grand old age of 100. On her special day Mrs Newcombe of Bank Street received 72 birthday cards, a telegram from Buckingham Palace, 14 bouquets and a huge bottle of champagne from her doctor. Her family also threw her a party at the United Services Club in St Helens.
I wonder if there are still craftsmen around today who manually create exquisite models of boats and then place them inside bottles? Brian Whitaker of The Avenue in Eccleston was such a talented individual and he was profiled in the St Helens Reporter on the 8th. The 70-year-old not only made miniature marine models that he managed to squeeze into glass bottles but he also used his talents to insert them into light bulbs.
Mr Whitaker had been a ship's carpenter in the Merchant Navy and to pass away the time when on board ship he would take out his penknife and carve a model. To enhance the atmosphere of his creations, Brian painted the inside of the bottles and bulbs with either menacing storm clouds or calm scenes of sky blue. And quite rightly Brian refused to tell the Reporter his secret of how he squeezed his ships into his bottles and bulbs.
The paper also described how at St Helens Town Hall, the Rev. Alexander Tee had cured Harriett Owen's severe arthritis, which the 57-year-old from Windleshaw Road had endured for five years:
"Nearly 300 people witnessed the drama when the Reverend Alexander Tee, a Faith Healer, laid his hands on her head and asked God to heal her. Minutes later, Mrs. Harriett Owen's permanent limp was gone, the right side of her body stopped aching, and she was able to jump, run and walk freely."
The hand-wound clock had been built in 1795 but its weights were in such a dangerous condition it was said they could easily fall out of the works. It had also been behaving erratically – including striking 17 times. But the clock's days of having to be rewound every 7 days were numbered, as it was planned for it to go electric.
The Reporter described how next week the St Helens-born comedian Bernie Clifton would be appearing on TV's Opportunity Knocks after many years of working the clubs. Originally from Charles Street in St Helens, Clifton now lived in Chesterfield with his wife Madge and their four children.
But his appearance on Hughie Green's talent show would not be Bernie's television debut as he had previously been on The Golden Shot and The Good Old Days. The Reporter wrote that Bernie had appealed for all his friends in St Helens to vote for him and ensure that he made a return appearance on the show.
The sterling work of blind pensioner Edith Hopkins from Derby Drive in Rainford was also recognised by the Reporter. For twenty years Mrs Hopkins had organised bring and buy sales to raise cash so that the children of the St Helens and District Blind Society had Christmas parties. In total Mrs Hopkins had raised over £2,000 but was now stepping down because of ill-health with responsibility for the sales passed on to Joan Weldon of Parr.
Elsie Sutcliffe from St Nicholas Road in Whiston was also praised in the paper after shrugging off her arthritis to raise £33 for Whiston Hospital. That was after the 58-year-old had read that the hospital's intensive care unit was under threat of closure through lack of funds. Elsie said the hospital had saved her life on two occasions and so she went door-to-door in her neighbourhood collecting funds.
The Reporter also described how young members of Prescot Parish Church had taken part in a 23-hour table tennis tournament to raise money for their youth facilities. The 26 persons who took part were aged between 12 and 17 and went without sleep throughout the event and were kept going by light refreshments.
The annual winter fair at Sutton Parish Hall in New Street began on the evening of the 8th and continued on the 9th. The church hoped to raise £1,000 and they had many stalls on display.
The Helena House Christmas Grotto opened in Baldwin Street at 10am on the 9th. Their Reporter advert said: "Santa Claus will be waiting to talk to you after your exciting ride on his magical butterfly's chariot."
Also on the 9th Rainford's United Reformed Church opened their new hall in Higher Lane. The church had been in the village for 107 years and their old Sunday school premises had been constantly under attack from vandals.
In St Helens Town Hall during the evening of the 10th the Elim Church in Duke Street presented what was described as a special sermon on Bible prophecy called "How near are we to Armageddon – what part will Russia play? etc." That's a question that still seems relevant today.
A fortnight ago 120 female catering and cleaning staff at St Helens "Tech" went on strike. That was after it was alleged that a man employed at the Meads College of Management in Portico had struck a woman supervisor. The strike ended this week after a solution was found. No details concerning the Meads incident were made public and so we don't know if the male was disciplined or not. But the men and women working at St Helens College would now be put in jobs where they would not come into contact with each other.
On April 18th 1973 the then Mayor of St Helens, Allan Lycett, had opened the town's new 9-hole municipal golf course at Sherdley Park by teeing off. This week it was announced that the council had reached an agreement with the tenant of Sherdley Hall Farm. The unnamed individual would be paid a certain amount to end his agricultural holding of land which would be used to extend the golf course to 18 holes.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the drastic cuts in public services that were forecast for next year, the death of a Sutton boy while taking a lift on a lorry, the campaign to recruit more nurses and the storm over the council's housing death list.
This week's many stories include St Helens-born comedian Bernie Clifton's appearance on Opportunity Knocks, the plans to extend the golf course at Sherdley Park, the Eccleston ship in a bottle craftsman, a resolution of the St Helens College strike, the faith healer at the Town Hall and more on the ancient church clock that struck 17 times.
We begin on the 4th with the public inquiry that had been scheduled to take place into the council's plans to pedestrianise part of the town centre.
Over the last few years there had been many such inquiries held in St Helens.
That was after the council had issued compulsory purchase orders on properties or land as part of its improvement scheme.
Some of their owners and residents would object and a government inspector would subsequently hold a hearing at the Town Hall.
But in almost all cases the inspector rejected the objections and supported the council.
Five persons had objected to the orders that the council had issued last year against land at the rear of buildings in Barrow Street, Claughton Street, Hardshaw Street and Church Street and a hearing was due to be held.
The land was needed so the Council could ensure a means of rear access to shops and offices once these streets were barred to traffic.
But such inquiries caused delays and cost the council money and so they had clearly gone to work on all five objectors and successfully persuaded them to withdraw their opposition.
The landowners also owned some of the properties in the vicinity and had expressed a number of concerns.
But last week the final objector had dropped out after the council had convinced them they could design a scheme to overcome their worries and so the scheduled inquiry was cancelled.
The Liverpool Echo reported on the 4th that 150 workers at the Rainhill factory of Stoves had been made redundant.
The company made Newholme gas cookers and had previously employed about 1,150 people.
The firm blamed the redundancies on the general economic woes, inflation and price controls.
On the 4th Eccleston Parish Council met for the first time in their new Village Hall in Kiln Lane.
That had been the location of the old Eccleston Library, which in 1972 had re-located to new premises in Broadway.
Lancashire County Council was the owner of the property and it took a couple of years of negotiations before the Parish Council were allowed to have the building.
The hall was capable of seating up to 100 people and £3,500 had been spent equipping it.
Eccleston Parish Council were now appealing for community groups to come forward to discuss hiring the hall for meetings etc.
On the 6th Mary Newcombe became the first Pilkington pensioner to reach the grand old age of 100.
On her special day Mrs Newcombe of Bank Street received 72 birthday cards, a telegram from Buckingham Palace, 14 bouquets and a huge bottle of champagne from her doctor.
Her family also threw her a party at the United Services Club in St Helens.
I wonder if there are still craftsmen around today who manually create exquisite models of boats and then place them inside bottles?
Brian Whitaker of The Avenue in Eccleston was such a talented individual and he was profiled in the St Helens Reporter on the 8th.
The 70-year-old not only made miniature marine models that he managed to squeeze into glass bottles but he also used his talents to insert them into light bulbs.
Mr Whitaker had been a ship's carpenter in the Merchant Navy and to pass away the time when on board ship he would take out his penknife and carve a model.
To enhance the atmosphere of his creations, Brian painted the inside of the bottles and bulbs with either menacing storm clouds or calm scenes of sky blue.
And quite rightly Brian refused to tell the Reporter his secret of how he squeezed his ships into his bottles and bulbs.
The paper also described how at St Helens Town Hall, the Rev. Alexander Tee had cured Harriett Owen's severe arthritis, which the 57-year-old from Windleshaw Road had endured for five years:
"Nearly 300 people witnessed the drama when the Reverend Alexander Tee, a Faith Healer, laid his hands on her head and asked God to heal her.
"Minutes later, Mrs. Harriett Owen's permanent limp was gone, the right side of her body stopped aching, and she was able to jump, run and walk freely."
The Reporter also related how Eccleston Church's ancient clock that needed rewinding every 7 days was to have a much-needed overhaul.
Eccleston Parish Council had agreed to contribute towards the cost of having Christ Church's near-300-year-old timepiece repaired, with the church's Parochial Council paying the rest.
The hand-wound clock had been built in 1795 but its weights were in such a dangerous condition it was said they could easily fall out of the works.
It had also been behaving erratically – including striking 17 times. But the clock's days of having to be rewound every 7 days were numbered, as it was planned for it to go electric.
The Reporter described how next week the St Helens-born comedian Bernie Clifton would be appearing on TV's Opportunity Knocks after many years of working the clubs.
Originally from Charles Street in St Helens, Clifton now lived in Chesterfield with his wife Madge and their four children.
But his appearance on Hughie Green's talent show would not be Bernie's television debut as he had previously been on The Golden Shot and The Good Old Days.
The Reporter wrote that Bernie had appealed for all his friends in St Helens to vote for him and ensure that he made a return appearance on the show.
The sterling work of blind pensioner Edith Hopkins from Derby Drive in Rainford was also recognised by the Reporter.
For twenty years Mrs Hopkins had organised bring and buy sales to raise cash so that the children of the St Helens and District Blind Society had Christmas parties.
In total Mrs Hopkins had raised over £2,000 but was now stepping down because of ill-health with responsibility for the sales passed on to Joan Weldon of Parr.
Elsie Sutcliffe from St Nicholas Road in Whiston was also praised in the paper after shrugging off her arthritis to raise £33 for Whiston Hospital.
That was after the 58-year-old had read that the hospital's intensive care unit was under threat of closure through lack of funds.
Elsie said the hospital had saved her life on two occasions and so she went door-to-door in her neighbourhood collecting funds.
The Reporter also described how young members of Prescot Parish Church had taken part in a 23-hour table tennis tournament to raise money for their youth facilities.
The 26 persons who took part were aged between 12 and 17 and went without sleep throughout the event and were kept going by light refreshments.
The annual winter fair at Sutton Parish Hall in New Street began on the evening of the 8th and continued on the 9th. The church hoped to raise £1,000 and they had many stalls on display.
The Helena House Christmas Grotto opened in Baldwin Street at 10am on the 9th. Their Reporter advert said:
"Santa Claus will be waiting to talk to you after your exciting ride on his magical butterfly's chariot."
Also on the 9th Rainford's United Reformed Church opened their new hall in Higher Lane.
The church had been in the village for 107 years and their old Sunday school premises had been constantly under attack from vandals.
In St Helens Town Hall during the evening of the 10th the Elim Church in Duke Street presented what was described as a special sermon on Bible prophecy called "How near are we to Armageddon – what part will Russia play? etc."
That's a question that still seems relevant today.
A fortnight ago 120 female catering and cleaning staff at St Helens "Tech" went on strike.
That was after it was alleged that a man employed at the Meads College of Management in Portico had struck a woman supervisor. The strike ended this week after a solution was found.
No details concerning the Meads incident were made public and so we don't know if the male was disciplined or not.
But the men and women working at St Helens College would now be put in jobs where they would not come into contact with each other.
On April 18th 1973 the then Mayor of St Helens, Allan Lycett, had opened the town's new 9-hole municipal golf course at Sherdley Park by teeing off.
This week it was announced that the council had reached an agreement with the tenant of Sherdley Hall Farm.
The unnamed individual would be paid a certain amount to end his agricultural holding of land which would be used to extend the golf course to 18 holes.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the drastic cuts in public services that were forecast for next year, the death of a Sutton boy while taking a lift on a lorry, the campaign to recruit more nurses and the storm over the council's housing death list.
We begin on the 4th with the public inquiry that had been scheduled to take place into the council's plans to pedestrianise part of the town centre.
Over the last few years there had been many such inquiries held in St Helens.
That was after the council had issued compulsory purchase orders on properties or land as part of its improvement scheme.
Some of their owners and residents would object and a government inspector would subsequently hold a hearing at the Town Hall.
But in almost all cases the inspector rejected the objections and supported the council.
Five persons had objected to the orders that the council had issued last year against land at the rear of buildings in Barrow Street, Claughton Street, Hardshaw Street and Church Street and a hearing was due to be held.
The land was needed so the Council could ensure a means of rear access to shops and offices once these streets were barred to traffic.
But such inquiries caused delays and cost the council money and so they had clearly gone to work on all five objectors and successfully persuaded them to withdraw their opposition.
The landowners also owned some of the properties in the vicinity and had expressed a number of concerns.
But last week the final objector had dropped out after the council had convinced them they could design a scheme to overcome their worries and so the scheduled inquiry was cancelled.
The Liverpool Echo reported on the 4th that 150 workers at the Rainhill factory of Stoves had been made redundant.
The company made Newholme gas cookers and had previously employed about 1,150 people.
The firm blamed the redundancies on the general economic woes, inflation and price controls.
On the 4th Eccleston Parish Council met for the first time in their new Village Hall in Kiln Lane.
That had been the location of the old Eccleston Library, which in 1972 had re-located to new premises in Broadway.
Lancashire County Council was the owner of the property and it took a couple of years of negotiations before the Parish Council were allowed to have the building.
The hall was capable of seating up to 100 people and £3,500 had been spent equipping it.
Eccleston Parish Council were now appealing for community groups to come forward to discuss hiring the hall for meetings etc.
On the 6th Mary Newcombe became the first Pilkington pensioner to reach the grand old age of 100.
On her special day Mrs Newcombe of Bank Street received 72 birthday cards, a telegram from Buckingham Palace, 14 bouquets and a huge bottle of champagne from her doctor.
Her family also threw her a party at the United Services Club in St Helens.
I wonder if there are still craftsmen around today who manually create exquisite models of boats and then place them inside bottles?
Brian Whitaker of The Avenue in Eccleston was such a talented individual and he was profiled in the St Helens Reporter on the 8th.
The 70-year-old not only made miniature marine models that he managed to squeeze into glass bottles but he also used his talents to insert them into light bulbs.
Mr Whitaker had been a ship's carpenter in the Merchant Navy and to pass away the time when on board ship he would take out his penknife and carve a model.
To enhance the atmosphere of his creations, Brian painted the inside of the bottles and bulbs with either menacing storm clouds or calm scenes of sky blue.
And quite rightly Brian refused to tell the Reporter his secret of how he squeezed his ships into his bottles and bulbs.
The paper also described how at St Helens Town Hall, the Rev. Alexander Tee had cured Harriett Owen's severe arthritis, which the 57-year-old from Windleshaw Road had endured for five years:
"Nearly 300 people witnessed the drama when the Reverend Alexander Tee, a Faith Healer, laid his hands on her head and asked God to heal her.
"Minutes later, Mrs. Harriett Owen's permanent limp was gone, the right side of her body stopped aching, and she was able to jump, run and walk freely."
Eccleston Parish Council had agreed to contribute towards the cost of having Christ Church's near-300-year-old timepiece repaired, with the church's Parochial Council paying the rest.
The hand-wound clock had been built in 1795 but its weights were in such a dangerous condition it was said they could easily fall out of the works.
It had also been behaving erratically – including striking 17 times. But the clock's days of having to be rewound every 7 days were numbered, as it was planned for it to go electric.
The Reporter described how next week the St Helens-born comedian Bernie Clifton would be appearing on TV's Opportunity Knocks after many years of working the clubs.
Originally from Charles Street in St Helens, Clifton now lived in Chesterfield with his wife Madge and their four children.
But his appearance on Hughie Green's talent show would not be Bernie's television debut as he had previously been on The Golden Shot and The Good Old Days.
The Reporter wrote that Bernie had appealed for all his friends in St Helens to vote for him and ensure that he made a return appearance on the show.
The sterling work of blind pensioner Edith Hopkins from Derby Drive in Rainford was also recognised by the Reporter.
For twenty years Mrs Hopkins had organised bring and buy sales to raise cash so that the children of the St Helens and District Blind Society had Christmas parties.
In total Mrs Hopkins had raised over £2,000 but was now stepping down because of ill-health with responsibility for the sales passed on to Joan Weldon of Parr.
Elsie Sutcliffe from St Nicholas Road in Whiston was also praised in the paper after shrugging off her arthritis to raise £33 for Whiston Hospital.
That was after the 58-year-old had read that the hospital's intensive care unit was under threat of closure through lack of funds.
Elsie said the hospital had saved her life on two occasions and so she went door-to-door in her neighbourhood collecting funds.
The Reporter also described how young members of Prescot Parish Church had taken part in a 23-hour table tennis tournament to raise money for their youth facilities.
The 26 persons who took part were aged between 12 and 17 and went without sleep throughout the event and were kept going by light refreshments.
The annual winter fair at Sutton Parish Hall in New Street began on the evening of the 8th and continued on the 9th. The church hoped to raise £1,000 and they had many stalls on display.
The Helena House Christmas Grotto opened in Baldwin Street at 10am on the 9th. Their Reporter advert said:
"Santa Claus will be waiting to talk to you after your exciting ride on his magical butterfly's chariot."
Also on the 9th Rainford's United Reformed Church opened their new hall in Higher Lane.
The church had been in the village for 107 years and their old Sunday school premises had been constantly under attack from vandals.
In St Helens Town Hall during the evening of the 10th the Elim Church in Duke Street presented what was described as a special sermon on Bible prophecy called "How near are we to Armageddon – what part will Russia play? etc."
That's a question that still seems relevant today.
A fortnight ago 120 female catering and cleaning staff at St Helens "Tech" went on strike.
That was after it was alleged that a man employed at the Meads College of Management in Portico had struck a woman supervisor. The strike ended this week after a solution was found.
No details concerning the Meads incident were made public and so we don't know if the male was disciplined or not.
But the men and women working at St Helens College would now be put in jobs where they would not come into contact with each other.
On April 18th 1973 the then Mayor of St Helens, Allan Lycett, had opened the town's new 9-hole municipal golf course at Sherdley Park by teeing off.
This week it was announced that the council had reached an agreement with the tenant of Sherdley Hall Farm.
The unnamed individual would be paid a certain amount to end his agricultural holding of land which would be used to extend the golf course to 18 holes.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the drastic cuts in public services that were forecast for next year, the death of a Sutton boy while taking a lift on a lorry, the campaign to recruit more nurses and the storm over the council's housing death list.