FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 5 - 11 FEBRUARY 1974
This week's many stories include the dispute at St Helens Tech over a new code of discipline, local miners prepare to go on strike, the plans to build a new Windleshaw Infants School are shelved, the St Helens man that claimed to have invented the car without a gearbox and the council clerk that forgot to order silver souvenir shields.
We begin on the 5th when the St Helens Newspaper reported that the two-year-long dispute between Eccleston Parish Council and Lancashire County Council had finally been settled. Their wrangle had been over the building in Kiln Lane that had previously housed the local library and which the County Council owned. New, spacious premises on Broadway had been created for the library and the parish council wanted to use the old building as a village hall.
The County Council initially wanted to turn the building into a youth centre but dropped their plan after opposition from local residents. Then the County said they would sell it for £8,000 – but the parish council said that was too much. However, a compromise deal had now been worked out in which the County would sell the building to Eccleston Parish Council for £5,500 but they would still be able to use it on two or three nights a week. John Stead, the Clerk to Eccleston Council, said the building was not large enough for dances but it would make an ideal venue for meetings.
Miners at Bold Colliery (pictured above) were putting the finishing touches to their strike plans on the 7th. Union officials met in the afternoon to finalise their tactics during the national stoppage over pay, which would begin at the weekend. Jim Dowd, the NUM branch secretary, said that both the pit and Bold Power Station would be picketed, probably on a 24-hour rota. Pickets would also be on duty at Sutton Manor Colliery, which had 850 union men on its books. Some would be visiting the docks at Liverpool to canvas support.
The impending miners' strike was the trigger for Prime Minister Ted Heath to call a snap general election on the 7th, which would take place in just three weeks time. On the following day "Heath Answers Back…" was the title of a page in the Liverpool Echo in which the Prime Minister responded to questions from the paper's readers. These had been sent to Downing Street some days before the election was announced.
The query posed by Mrs F. Lawton of Rookery Drive in Rainford was: "The Common Market is crumbling. Will you give assurance that you will think only of England and withdraw from the E.E.C. now, before further damage is done? Let us be trading members only, and next year's £550 million payment to the Common Market can be usefully used for our own regional rehabilitation." Heath's lengthy reply concluded with: "Crumbling? No! The European Community is here to stay. It gives us the chance to increase our prosperity, it gives us the chance to increase again our own British contribution to European and to world affairs."
The lead story in the St Helens Reporter concerned anger by St Helens "Tech" students over new disciplinary measures at the college (pictured above) that its governors were currently considering. The proposed Code of Discipline contained clauses that would punish students for any act that was considered to have been "detrimental to the reputation of the college" or their refusal to follow any "lawful instruction" by a member of staff.
The Code also removed students' rights of appeal against sentences that the principal had imposed. In minor cases Dr T. Jackson could fine students up to £5 (about £75 in today’s money) or suspend students for four weeks for breaches of discipline. If the offence was considered more serious, the maximum fine rose to £20 and the suspension increased to 14 weeks.
The Students Union felt that if the new code was enacted its members would be gagged and lose much of their personal freedom. Its president John Potter said: "Some of these proposals are ridiculous. We believe that they're also contrary to the College Code of Government. Fourteen weeks is tantamount to expulsion."
The Reporter also described how plans to replace an inadequate school in St Helens had been shelved through government cut backs. Work to build a new Windleshaw Infants School was due to have begun at the end of March on a specially acquired site in Rainford Road. It would have replaced the present school in Hammill Street, which had been described as "inadequate for present day teaching ideas".
A replacement for the 70-year-old school had already been given Department of Education approval but a governmental decision made in December had put a block on any progress. Now only special schools and schools where there was a basic need for additional places would get the go-ahead. A spokesman for St Helens Schools Building Department said: "When the school will be built now is a matter for conjecture."
Automatic gearboxes in cars were pioneered back in the 1920s but Alf Arnold of Campbell Street in St Helens claimed in the Reporter to have invented a means of bypassing the gearbox. However, Alf’s idea that he'd patented had been rejected by the British motor industry.
That was despite his invention's claim to be a fuel saver, an important factor during the ongoing energy crisis. Alf said: "There's nothing like it in the world. My idea is to put the engine over the axle, with all the gearing done on the crown wheel. There's no wasted power, it's a petrol saver and the car would have a much faster take-off."
The paper also reported that the last surviving founder member of the St Helens Amateur Operatic Society, Walter Howard, had died at his home in Knowsley Road at the age of 85. Considered the town's leading bass voice, Walter had sung in most of the society's major productions until 1954.
In April local government reorganisation was set to take place in which Rainford Urban District Council would be abolished. Many of its powers would be subsumed into the new St Helens Metropolitan District Council and its replacement body – Rainford Parish Council – would become little more than a talking shop. Last summer the fifteen councillors had decided to issue themselves with silver shields to commemorate their time on the old council and at a recent meeting had wondered why they had not arrived.
In this week's Reporter the answer was given. The Clerk to Rainford Council had forgotten to order them! Or more accurately Ken Isherwood had forgotten to ask the councillors to tell him to make a definite order after receiving a brochure from a memorabilia manufacturer. Mr Isherwood blamed the "worry of local government reorganisation" for his absent-mindedness and it seemed unlikely that the silver shields would now be received before the end of March.
That was mainly because lots of other doomed councils were in on the act and ordering souvenirs for themselves. The memorabilia firm involved told the Reporter: "We are swamped with orders from other councils who got their requests in on time. Now we have the three-day week and a possible miners' strike I couldn’t say when the councillors will get their shields."
The Reporter also stated that Sutton Manor Colliery was on a danger list of pits for which the strike could spell disaster. That was because the colliery had a history of overheating through spontaneous combustion below ground. Such an event had recently caused the loss of £250,000 worth of equipment.
Roy Jackson, NUM branch secretary, told the paper that he couldn't guarantee that his men would help to save the pit if an emergency arose during the strike. The safety of Sutton Manor would instead be in the hands of a small task force of management men who were covering the whole of the Lancashire area. At a press conference, Ray Hunter, North-West Area Director, said: "At some pits we could hold out for a long time, at other pits not so long. It all depends whether people are hell-bent on destruction."
Ted Doyle of Warrington Road in Rainhill was extensively featured in the Reporter after building a 24-foot catamaran in his garden. The craft was Ted's first attempt at building a boat after being bitten by the sailing bug while working in East Africa. Upon returning to Britain, he had looked into buying a catamaran but found it would cost the earth and so chose the DIY option instead.
After spending 15 to 20 hours each week over the last two years constructing his ply and glass fibre boat, it was now nearing completion and Ted would soon have to face up to the problem of moving it. "It's 12 feet wide, which is wider than the road traffic limit," said Ted. "So that means we shall have to have a police escort when it's moved."
In November 1972 Prime Minister Ted Heath had announced a wage and price freeze, which was followed by a mandatory prices and incomes policy. And so it was surprising that the Trustee Savings Bank was able to report this week that St Helens' savers had during 1973 increased their deposits by £1.67 million. In today's money that's about £25 million. The bank then had three branches in St Helens – in Hardshaw Street, Higher Parr Street and Ellamsbridge Road in Sutton.
And finally, an entertainment guide. On the 9th the Halle Orchestra performed at the Theatre Royal and then from the 10th 'Dr Zhivago', starring Julie Christie and Alec Guinness, began a week's screening at the ABC Savoy. Meanwhile, the Capitol Cinema was showing action film 'Trip To Kill' starring Telly Savalas and Robert Vaughn, along with Clint Eastwood's 'Hang ‘Em High'.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the town's champion female fork lift truck driver, the dogs frightening the children at St Theresa's school, the lifesaving Clock Face milkman and the stormy Islands Brow cup game that had to be abandoned.
We begin on the 5th when the St Helens Newspaper reported that the two-year-long dispute between Eccleston Parish Council and Lancashire County Council had finally been settled. Their wrangle had been over the building in Kiln Lane that had previously housed the local library and which the County Council owned. New, spacious premises on Broadway had been created for the library and the parish council wanted to use the old building as a village hall.
The County Council initially wanted to turn the building into a youth centre but dropped their plan after opposition from local residents. Then the County said they would sell it for £8,000 – but the parish council said that was too much. However, a compromise deal had now been worked out in which the County would sell the building to Eccleston Parish Council for £5,500 but they would still be able to use it on two or three nights a week. John Stead, the Clerk to Eccleston Council, said the building was not large enough for dances but it would make an ideal venue for meetings.
The impending miners' strike was the trigger for Prime Minister Ted Heath to call a snap general election on the 7th, which would take place in just three weeks time. On the following day "Heath Answers Back…" was the title of a page in the Liverpool Echo in which the Prime Minister responded to questions from the paper's readers. These had been sent to Downing Street some days before the election was announced.
The query posed by Mrs F. Lawton of Rookery Drive in Rainford was: "The Common Market is crumbling. Will you give assurance that you will think only of England and withdraw from the E.E.C. now, before further damage is done? Let us be trading members only, and next year's £550 million payment to the Common Market can be usefully used for our own regional rehabilitation." Heath's lengthy reply concluded with: "Crumbling? No! The European Community is here to stay. It gives us the chance to increase our prosperity, it gives us the chance to increase again our own British contribution to European and to world affairs."
The Code also removed students' rights of appeal against sentences that the principal had imposed. In minor cases Dr T. Jackson could fine students up to £5 (about £75 in today’s money) or suspend students for four weeks for breaches of discipline. If the offence was considered more serious, the maximum fine rose to £20 and the suspension increased to 14 weeks.
The Students Union felt that if the new code was enacted its members would be gagged and lose much of their personal freedom. Its president John Potter said: "Some of these proposals are ridiculous. We believe that they're also contrary to the College Code of Government. Fourteen weeks is tantamount to expulsion."
The Reporter also described how plans to replace an inadequate school in St Helens had been shelved through government cut backs. Work to build a new Windleshaw Infants School was due to have begun at the end of March on a specially acquired site in Rainford Road. It would have replaced the present school in Hammill Street, which had been described as "inadequate for present day teaching ideas".
A replacement for the 70-year-old school had already been given Department of Education approval but a governmental decision made in December had put a block on any progress. Now only special schools and schools where there was a basic need for additional places would get the go-ahead. A spokesman for St Helens Schools Building Department said: "When the school will be built now is a matter for conjecture."
Automatic gearboxes in cars were pioneered back in the 1920s but Alf Arnold of Campbell Street in St Helens claimed in the Reporter to have invented a means of bypassing the gearbox. However, Alf’s idea that he'd patented had been rejected by the British motor industry.
That was despite his invention's claim to be a fuel saver, an important factor during the ongoing energy crisis. Alf said: "There's nothing like it in the world. My idea is to put the engine over the axle, with all the gearing done on the crown wheel. There's no wasted power, it's a petrol saver and the car would have a much faster take-off."
The paper also reported that the last surviving founder member of the St Helens Amateur Operatic Society, Walter Howard, had died at his home in Knowsley Road at the age of 85. Considered the town's leading bass voice, Walter had sung in most of the society's major productions until 1954.
In April local government reorganisation was set to take place in which Rainford Urban District Council would be abolished. Many of its powers would be subsumed into the new St Helens Metropolitan District Council and its replacement body – Rainford Parish Council – would become little more than a talking shop. Last summer the fifteen councillors had decided to issue themselves with silver shields to commemorate their time on the old council and at a recent meeting had wondered why they had not arrived.
In this week's Reporter the answer was given. The Clerk to Rainford Council had forgotten to order them! Or more accurately Ken Isherwood had forgotten to ask the councillors to tell him to make a definite order after receiving a brochure from a memorabilia manufacturer. Mr Isherwood blamed the "worry of local government reorganisation" for his absent-mindedness and it seemed unlikely that the silver shields would now be received before the end of March.
That was mainly because lots of other doomed councils were in on the act and ordering souvenirs for themselves. The memorabilia firm involved told the Reporter: "We are swamped with orders from other councils who got their requests in on time. Now we have the three-day week and a possible miners' strike I couldn’t say when the councillors will get their shields."
The Reporter also stated that Sutton Manor Colliery was on a danger list of pits for which the strike could spell disaster. That was because the colliery had a history of overheating through spontaneous combustion below ground. Such an event had recently caused the loss of £250,000 worth of equipment.
Roy Jackson, NUM branch secretary, told the paper that he couldn't guarantee that his men would help to save the pit if an emergency arose during the strike. The safety of Sutton Manor would instead be in the hands of a small task force of management men who were covering the whole of the Lancashire area. At a press conference, Ray Hunter, North-West Area Director, said: "At some pits we could hold out for a long time, at other pits not so long. It all depends whether people are hell-bent on destruction."
Ted Doyle of Warrington Road in Rainhill was extensively featured in the Reporter after building a 24-foot catamaran in his garden. The craft was Ted's first attempt at building a boat after being bitten by the sailing bug while working in East Africa. Upon returning to Britain, he had looked into buying a catamaran but found it would cost the earth and so chose the DIY option instead.
After spending 15 to 20 hours each week over the last two years constructing his ply and glass fibre boat, it was now nearing completion and Ted would soon have to face up to the problem of moving it. "It's 12 feet wide, which is wider than the road traffic limit," said Ted. "So that means we shall have to have a police escort when it's moved."
In November 1972 Prime Minister Ted Heath had announced a wage and price freeze, which was followed by a mandatory prices and incomes policy. And so it was surprising that the Trustee Savings Bank was able to report this week that St Helens' savers had during 1973 increased their deposits by £1.67 million. In today's money that's about £25 million. The bank then had three branches in St Helens – in Hardshaw Street, Higher Parr Street and Ellamsbridge Road in Sutton.
And finally, an entertainment guide. On the 9th the Halle Orchestra performed at the Theatre Royal and then from the 10th 'Dr Zhivago', starring Julie Christie and Alec Guinness, began a week's screening at the ABC Savoy. Meanwhile, the Capitol Cinema was showing action film 'Trip To Kill' starring Telly Savalas and Robert Vaughn, along with Clint Eastwood's 'Hang ‘Em High'.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the town's champion female fork lift truck driver, the dogs frightening the children at St Theresa's school, the lifesaving Clock Face milkman and the stormy Islands Brow cup game that had to be abandoned.
This week's many stories include the dispute at St Helens Tech over a new code of discipline, local miners prepare to go on strike, the plans to build a new Windleshaw Infants School are shelved, the St Helens man that claimed to have invented the car without a gearbox and the council clerk that forgot to order silver souvenir shields.
We begin on the 5th when the St Helens Newspaper reported that the two-year-long dispute between Eccleston Parish Council and Lancashire County Council had finally been settled.
Their wrangle had been over the building in Kiln Lane that had previously housed the local library and which the County Council owned.
New, spacious premises on Broadway had been created for the library and the parish council wanted to use the old building as a village hall.
The County Council initially wanted to turn the building into a youth centre but dropped their plan after opposition from local residents.
Then the County said they would sell it for £8,000 – but the parish council said that was too much.
However, a compromise deal had now been worked out in which the County would sell the building to Eccleston Parish Council for £5,500 but they would still be able to use it on two or three nights a week.
John Stead, the Clerk to Eccleston Council, said the building was not large enough for dances but it would make an ideal venue for meetings.
Miners at Bold Colliery (pictured above) were putting the finishing touches to their strike plans on the 7th.
Union officials met in the afternoon to finalise their tactics during the national stoppage over pay, which would begin at the weekend.
Jim Dowd, the NUM branch secretary, said that both the pit and Bold Power Station would be picketed, probably on a 24-hour rota.
Pickets would also be on duty at Sutton Manor Colliery, which had 850 union men on its books. Some would be visiting the docks at Liverpool to canvas support.
The impending miners' strike was the trigger for Prime Minister Ted Heath to call a snap general election on the 7th, which would take place in just three weeks time.
On the following day "Heath Answers Back…" was the title of a page in the Liverpool Echo in which the Prime Minister responded to questions from the paper's readers. These had been sent to Downing Street some days before the election was announced.
The query posed by Mrs F. Lawton of Rookery Drive in Rainford was: "The Common Market is crumbling. Will you give assurance that you will think only of England and withdraw from the E.E.C. now, before further damage is done?
"Let us be trading members only, and next year's £550 million payment to the Common Market can be usefully used for our own regional rehabilitation."
Heath's lengthy reply concluded with: "Crumbling? No! The European Community is here to stay. It gives us the chance to increase our prosperity, it gives us the chance to increase again our own British contribution to European and to world affairs."
The lead story in the St Helens Reporter concerned anger by St Helens "Tech" students over new disciplinary measures at the college (pictured above) that its governors were currently considering.
The proposed Code of Discipline contained clauses that would punish students for any act that was considered to have been "detrimental to the reputation of the college" or their refusal to follow any "lawful instruction" by a member of staff.
The Code also removed students' rights of appeal against sentences that the principal had imposed.
In minor cases Dr T. Jackson could fine students up to £5 (about £75 in today’s money) or suspend students for four weeks for breaches of discipline.
If the offence was considered more serious, the maximum fine rose to £20 and the suspension increased to 14 weeks.
The Students Union felt that if the new code was enacted its members would be gagged and lose much of their personal freedom.
Its president John Potter said: "Some of these proposals are ridiculous. We believe that they're also contrary to the College Code of Government. Fourteen weeks is tantamount to expulsion."
The Reporter also described how plans to replace an inadequate school in St Helens had been shelved through government cut backs.
Work to build a new Windleshaw Infants School was due to have begun at the end of March on a specially acquired site in Rainford Road.
It would have replaced the present school in Hammill Street, which had been described as "inadequate for present day teaching ideas".
A replacement for the 70-year-old school had already been given Department of Education approval but a governmental decision made in December had put a block on any progress.
Now only special schools and schools where there was a basic need for additional places would get the go-ahead.
A spokesman for St Helens Schools Building Department said: "When the school will be built now is a matter for conjecture."
Automatic gearboxes in cars were pioneered back in the 1920s but Alf Arnold of Campbell Street in St Helens claimed in the Reporter to have invented a means of bypassing the gearbox.
However, Alf’s idea that he'd patented had been rejected by the British motor industry. That was despite his invention's claim to be a fuel saver, an important factor during the ongoing energy crisis. Alf said:
"There's nothing like it in the world. My idea is to put the engine over the axle, with all the gearing done on the crown wheel. There's no wasted power, it's a petrol saver and the car would have a much faster take-off."
The paper also reported that the last surviving founder member of the St Helens Amateur Operatic Society, Walter Howard, had died at his home in Knowsley Road at the age of 85.
Considered the town's leading bass voice, Walter had sung in most of the society's major productions until 1954.
In April local government reorganisation was set to take place in which Rainford Urban District Council would be abolished.
Many of its powers would be subsumed into the new St Helens Metropolitan District Council and its replacement body – Rainford Parish Council – would become little more than a talking shop.
Last summer the fifteen councillors had decided to issue themselves with silver shields to commemorate their time on the old council and at a recent meeting had wondered why they had not arrived.
In this week's Reporter the answer was given. The Clerk to Rainford Council had forgotten to order them!
Or more accurately Ken Isherwood had forgotten to ask the councillors to tell him to make a definite order after receiving a brochure from a memorabilia manufacturer.
Mr Isherwood blamed the "worry of local government reorganisation" for his absent-mindedness and it seemed unlikely that the silver shields would now be received before the end of March.
That was mainly because lots of other doomed councils were in on the act and ordering souvenirs for themselves.
The memorabilia firm involved told the Reporter: "We are swamped with orders from other councils who got their requests in on time. Now we have the three-day week and a possible miners' strike I couldn’t say when the councillors will get their shields."
The Reporter also stated that Sutton Manor Colliery was on a danger list of pits for which the strike could spell disaster.
That was because the colliery had a history of overheating through spontaneous combustion below ground. Such an event had recently caused the loss of £250,000 worth of equipment.
Roy Jackson, NUM branch secretary, told the paper that he couldn't guarantee that his men would help to save the pit if an emergency arose during the strike.
The safety of Sutton Manor would instead be in the hands of a small task force of management men who were covering the whole of the Lancashire area.
At a press conference, Ray Hunter, North-West Area Director, said: "At some pits we could hold out for a long time, at other pits not so long. It all depends whether people are hell-bent on destruction."
Ted Doyle of Warrington Road in Rainhill was extensively featured in the Reporter after building a 24-foot catamaran in his garden.
The craft was Ted's first attempt at building a boat after being bitten by the sailing bug while working in East Africa.
Upon returning to Britain, he had looked into buying a catamaran but found it would cost the earth and so chose the DIY option instead.
After spending 15 to 20 hours each week over the last two years constructing his ply and glass fibre boat, it was now nearing completion and Ted would soon have to face up to the problem of moving it.
"It's 12 feet wide, which is wider than the road traffic limit," said Ted. "So that means we shall have to have a police escort when it's moved."
In November 1972 Prime Minister Ted Heath had announced a wage and price freeze, which was followed by a mandatory prices and incomes policy.
And so it was surprising that the Trustee Savings Bank was able to report this week that St Helens' savers had during 1973 increased their deposits by £1.67 million. In today's money that's about £25 million.
The bank then had three branches in St Helens – in Hardshaw Street, Higher Parr Street and Ellamsbridge Road in Sutton.
And finally, an entertainment guide. On the 9th the Halle Orchestra performed at the Theatre Royal and then from the 10th 'Dr Zhivago', starring Julie Christie and Alec Guinness, began a week's screening at the ABC Savoy.
Meanwhile, the Capitol Cinema was showing action film 'Trip To Kill' starring Telly Savalas and Robert Vaughn, along with Clint Eastwood's 'Hang ‘Em High'.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the town's champion female fork lift truck driver, the dogs frightening the children at St Theresa's school, the lifesaving Clock Face milkman and the stormy Islands Brow cup game that had to be abandoned.
We begin on the 5th when the St Helens Newspaper reported that the two-year-long dispute between Eccleston Parish Council and Lancashire County Council had finally been settled.
Their wrangle had been over the building in Kiln Lane that had previously housed the local library and which the County Council owned.
New, spacious premises on Broadway had been created for the library and the parish council wanted to use the old building as a village hall.
The County Council initially wanted to turn the building into a youth centre but dropped their plan after opposition from local residents.
Then the County said they would sell it for £8,000 – but the parish council said that was too much.
However, a compromise deal had now been worked out in which the County would sell the building to Eccleston Parish Council for £5,500 but they would still be able to use it on two or three nights a week.
John Stead, the Clerk to Eccleston Council, said the building was not large enough for dances but it would make an ideal venue for meetings.
Union officials met in the afternoon to finalise their tactics during the national stoppage over pay, which would begin at the weekend.
Jim Dowd, the NUM branch secretary, said that both the pit and Bold Power Station would be picketed, probably on a 24-hour rota.
Pickets would also be on duty at Sutton Manor Colliery, which had 850 union men on its books. Some would be visiting the docks at Liverpool to canvas support.
The impending miners' strike was the trigger for Prime Minister Ted Heath to call a snap general election on the 7th, which would take place in just three weeks time.
On the following day "Heath Answers Back…" was the title of a page in the Liverpool Echo in which the Prime Minister responded to questions from the paper's readers. These had been sent to Downing Street some days before the election was announced.
The query posed by Mrs F. Lawton of Rookery Drive in Rainford was: "The Common Market is crumbling. Will you give assurance that you will think only of England and withdraw from the E.E.C. now, before further damage is done?
"Let us be trading members only, and next year's £550 million payment to the Common Market can be usefully used for our own regional rehabilitation."
Heath's lengthy reply concluded with: "Crumbling? No! The European Community is here to stay. It gives us the chance to increase our prosperity, it gives us the chance to increase again our own British contribution to European and to world affairs."
The proposed Code of Discipline contained clauses that would punish students for any act that was considered to have been "detrimental to the reputation of the college" or their refusal to follow any "lawful instruction" by a member of staff.
The Code also removed students' rights of appeal against sentences that the principal had imposed.
In minor cases Dr T. Jackson could fine students up to £5 (about £75 in today’s money) or suspend students for four weeks for breaches of discipline.
If the offence was considered more serious, the maximum fine rose to £20 and the suspension increased to 14 weeks.
The Students Union felt that if the new code was enacted its members would be gagged and lose much of their personal freedom.
Its president John Potter said: "Some of these proposals are ridiculous. We believe that they're also contrary to the College Code of Government. Fourteen weeks is tantamount to expulsion."
The Reporter also described how plans to replace an inadequate school in St Helens had been shelved through government cut backs.
Work to build a new Windleshaw Infants School was due to have begun at the end of March on a specially acquired site in Rainford Road.
It would have replaced the present school in Hammill Street, which had been described as "inadequate for present day teaching ideas".
A replacement for the 70-year-old school had already been given Department of Education approval but a governmental decision made in December had put a block on any progress.
Now only special schools and schools where there was a basic need for additional places would get the go-ahead.
A spokesman for St Helens Schools Building Department said: "When the school will be built now is a matter for conjecture."
Automatic gearboxes in cars were pioneered back in the 1920s but Alf Arnold of Campbell Street in St Helens claimed in the Reporter to have invented a means of bypassing the gearbox.
However, Alf’s idea that he'd patented had been rejected by the British motor industry. That was despite his invention's claim to be a fuel saver, an important factor during the ongoing energy crisis. Alf said:
"There's nothing like it in the world. My idea is to put the engine over the axle, with all the gearing done on the crown wheel. There's no wasted power, it's a petrol saver and the car would have a much faster take-off."
The paper also reported that the last surviving founder member of the St Helens Amateur Operatic Society, Walter Howard, had died at his home in Knowsley Road at the age of 85.
Considered the town's leading bass voice, Walter had sung in most of the society's major productions until 1954.
In April local government reorganisation was set to take place in which Rainford Urban District Council would be abolished.
Many of its powers would be subsumed into the new St Helens Metropolitan District Council and its replacement body – Rainford Parish Council – would become little more than a talking shop.
Last summer the fifteen councillors had decided to issue themselves with silver shields to commemorate their time on the old council and at a recent meeting had wondered why they had not arrived.
In this week's Reporter the answer was given. The Clerk to Rainford Council had forgotten to order them!
Or more accurately Ken Isherwood had forgotten to ask the councillors to tell him to make a definite order after receiving a brochure from a memorabilia manufacturer.
Mr Isherwood blamed the "worry of local government reorganisation" for his absent-mindedness and it seemed unlikely that the silver shields would now be received before the end of March.
That was mainly because lots of other doomed councils were in on the act and ordering souvenirs for themselves.
The memorabilia firm involved told the Reporter: "We are swamped with orders from other councils who got their requests in on time. Now we have the three-day week and a possible miners' strike I couldn’t say when the councillors will get their shields."
The Reporter also stated that Sutton Manor Colliery was on a danger list of pits for which the strike could spell disaster.
That was because the colliery had a history of overheating through spontaneous combustion below ground. Such an event had recently caused the loss of £250,000 worth of equipment.
Roy Jackson, NUM branch secretary, told the paper that he couldn't guarantee that his men would help to save the pit if an emergency arose during the strike.
The safety of Sutton Manor would instead be in the hands of a small task force of management men who were covering the whole of the Lancashire area.
At a press conference, Ray Hunter, North-West Area Director, said: "At some pits we could hold out for a long time, at other pits not so long. It all depends whether people are hell-bent on destruction."
Ted Doyle of Warrington Road in Rainhill was extensively featured in the Reporter after building a 24-foot catamaran in his garden.
The craft was Ted's first attempt at building a boat after being bitten by the sailing bug while working in East Africa.
Upon returning to Britain, he had looked into buying a catamaran but found it would cost the earth and so chose the DIY option instead.
After spending 15 to 20 hours each week over the last two years constructing his ply and glass fibre boat, it was now nearing completion and Ted would soon have to face up to the problem of moving it.
"It's 12 feet wide, which is wider than the road traffic limit," said Ted. "So that means we shall have to have a police escort when it's moved."
In November 1972 Prime Minister Ted Heath had announced a wage and price freeze, which was followed by a mandatory prices and incomes policy.
And so it was surprising that the Trustee Savings Bank was able to report this week that St Helens' savers had during 1973 increased their deposits by £1.67 million. In today's money that's about £25 million.
The bank then had three branches in St Helens – in Hardshaw Street, Higher Parr Street and Ellamsbridge Road in Sutton.
And finally, an entertainment guide. On the 9th the Halle Orchestra performed at the Theatre Royal and then from the 10th 'Dr Zhivago', starring Julie Christie and Alec Guinness, began a week's screening at the ABC Savoy.
Meanwhile, the Capitol Cinema was showing action film 'Trip To Kill' starring Telly Savalas and Robert Vaughn, along with Clint Eastwood's 'Hang ‘Em High'.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the town's champion female fork lift truck driver, the dogs frightening the children at St Theresa's school, the lifesaving Clock Face milkman and the stormy Islands Brow cup game that had to be abandoned.