FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 12 - 18 FEBRUARY 1974
This week's many stories include the town's champion female fork lift truck driver, the pack of dogs frightening the children at St Theresa's school in Sutton Manor, the lifesaving Clock Face milkman, the 14-week-long ambulance workers dispute is settled, the tough guy trees being planted to beat the vandals and the stormy Islands Brow cup game that had to be abandoned.
We begin with a meeting of the St Helens Leisure and Recreation Committee in which the subject of music in the parks came up for discussion. It was revealed that there were many differences in how parks within the wider St Helens area hired bands. Last year Whiston Rural District Council – whose division included Eccleston, Windle and Prescot – had failed to hire a single band to play in their parks. But at Haydock there had been 16 performances and Newton had held a similar number in Willow Park and Market Square.
Billinge only hosted a couple of concerts in Bankes Park and Rainford had just one performance that took place outside its council offices. But in St Helens there had been many band concerts held in Sherdley Park and Victoria Park. All these areas would now come under the new St Helens Metropolitan District Council and its Director of Leisure and Recreation, Ted Gallagher, was asked to work out a common policy for the playing of music and resolve discrepancies between them.
Milkman Ron Slater was praised in the Reporter on the 15th for his actions in raising the alarm when he found no empty bottles outside Isobel Shacklady's home and her curtains drawn. As a result police broke into the 93-year-old's flat in Pollitt Crescent in Clock Face and found Mrs Shacklady lying injured on the floor. Her pelvis had been fractured in a fall and she had lain there helpless for 36 hours but was now recovering in St Helens Hospital.
The Reporter also wrote: "On buses, trains and ferries the search goes on to find the prettiest public transport user on Merseyside." Jacqueline Henshall and Lynda Keegan, both from St Helens, were pictured in the paper as possible contestants to win the title of Miss Mersey Travel.
Jean McKeegan was profiled after beating 15 men in her class at the National British Truck Association Fork Lift Driver of the Year competition at Olympia. Jean, a mother of four of Stevenage Close in Sutton Heath, had taken to driving forklift trucks 14 years earlier when working for Stamina Foods in Sutton.
Now she was one of two women drivers at United Glass's Elton Head Road warehouse. "I like the job very much, although you need a lot of stamina," said Jean. And commenting on her male colleagues at UGB, she said: "They didn't like the idea of women joining them at first, although they have accepted it now."
One of the features of life in the 1960s and ‘70s that you don't see today is the sight of loose dogs on the street. Wandering canines used to cause a quarter of all traffic accidents in St Helens as well as presenting other dangers. But a combination of dog control orders banning animals from being allowed outside without a lead and the increasing road traffic making dog owners concerned about their pet's safety has changed attitudes.
A particular problem was those dogs that went about in packs. This week the Reporter described how the headmistress of St Theresa's Primary School in Sutton Manor was worried about her pupils suffering a dog attack. Every day as many as a dozen dogs, attracted by the sounds of children playing and the smell of food being cooked in the kitchens, converged on the school and roamed through its playground and gardens.
The animals ran loose in the school grounds and scattered pupils during their lunch break and at play times. Among them were children with cardiac conditions, including a girl with two holes in her heart and Sister Mary feared that a shock could prove fatal for one of these youngsters. Last year after a child had been bitten, the school called the police. But five minutes after they'd left, the animals had returned.
A school spokesman said: "Sister Mary is concerned about the children, especially the infants, who are terrified by the animals. There are several pupils suffering from various ailments, including heart conditions, and the effects of packs of dogs roaming loose could be fatal."
Over 600 children aged between five and 11 attended the school and Sister Mary feared it was only a matter of time before one of them was attacked. St Helens Police said they had not had any complaints from the school recently but they would send a policeman round to "have a word" with the headmistress.
In early 1973 the giant waste heaps at Islands Brow in Haresfinch began to be transformed into wooded hills. Eventually 9,000 four-foot high trees would be planted on five acres of banking. But out of the 1,000 saplings planted within the first few weeks of the scheme, 200 had been torn from their beds with some of them snapped in two. David Nicholl was the head gardener at Pilkington's Prescot Road head office and said:
"It was a sickening site. The uprooted trees, mostly pines, had been used as spears and were lying along the banking and in the road. We replanted as many as we could. It's sheer vandalism. Most of the trees that were damaged had been planted near the houses. These people don't seem to understand that this planting is for their benefit. Parents could do a lot by trying to get this across to their children. We can't keep going on like this. We're getting nowhere."
At this week's meeting of the St Helens Leisure and Recreation Committee, Councillor Eric Kerr said he had personally stopped a gang of 13-year-olds from destroying saplings at Islands Brow, adding: "The trees are being continually broken by vandals. It's happening everywhere. I had to stop my car and get out to prevent children from doing this." Their Director of Leisure, Ted Gallagher, revealed that the cost of tree damage had run into hundreds of pounds, adding: "Out of 600 planted at Parr, we now have 50 intact."
But he said that in order to beat the vandals "tough guy" trees were now being planted. The so-called "feathered trees" were normally younger than saplings but were more resilient, with their branches harder to break. They also had an added advantage in that the trees could grow again if they were broken and also could be purchased at a low initial cost.
Talking of Islands Brow, on the 17th its “A” football team played The Owls from Skelmersdale in a stormy cup game. It became so wild that referee Richard Tarry walked off the pitch 10 minutes into the second half with the score 2-2, saying he was abandoning the match. That was when eight players began fighting and another chased their opponent across the field brandishing a corner flag.
In an earlier punch-up during the game, one of the Islands Brow players had a tooth knocked out. The referee told the Reporter: "The game was getting unmanageable. If it had gone on I would have had to send eight people off, and that wouldn't have left many on the pitch."
Commenting on the abandonment the Islands Brow manager, Dave Holmes of Bosworth Road in St Helens, said: "We were a bit upset because we thought we would have won. I don't think it had been really dirty – but we'll be on our best behaviour on Sunday." That was when the match was going to be replayed.
'Take Me High' starring Cliff Richard began a week's screening at the ABC Savoy on the 17th. And the Capitol began showing two Clint Eastwood films, 'The Beguiled' and 'Play Misty For Me'.
And finally, at midnight on the 17th the St Helens ambulance workers at their Jackson Street station (pictured above) lifted their 14-week-long ban on all but emergency and admission calls. That was after a deal was reached with St Helens Corporation on overtime rates and payments for working unsocial hours. Shop steward Ray Pownall said: "Other ambulance men settled with their local authorities six or eight weeks ago. St. Helens has been one of the lowest paid groups in the past, but through this agreement we're catching up."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the St Helens grandmother fighting the general election, the award-winning nuclear detectives in their Eccleston bunker, the bitter row over a slum housing survey and a call to end half-day closing in St Helens.
We begin with a meeting of the St Helens Leisure and Recreation Committee in which the subject of music in the parks came up for discussion. It was revealed that there were many differences in how parks within the wider St Helens area hired bands. Last year Whiston Rural District Council – whose division included Eccleston, Windle and Prescot – had failed to hire a single band to play in their parks. But at Haydock there had been 16 performances and Newton had held a similar number in Willow Park and Market Square.
Billinge only hosted a couple of concerts in Bankes Park and Rainford had just one performance that took place outside its council offices. But in St Helens there had been many band concerts held in Sherdley Park and Victoria Park. All these areas would now come under the new St Helens Metropolitan District Council and its Director of Leisure and Recreation, Ted Gallagher, was asked to work out a common policy for the playing of music and resolve discrepancies between them.
Milkman Ron Slater was praised in the Reporter on the 15th for his actions in raising the alarm when he found no empty bottles outside Isobel Shacklady's home and her curtains drawn. As a result police broke into the 93-year-old's flat in Pollitt Crescent in Clock Face and found Mrs Shacklady lying injured on the floor. Her pelvis had been fractured in a fall and she had lain there helpless for 36 hours but was now recovering in St Helens Hospital.
The Reporter also wrote: "On buses, trains and ferries the search goes on to find the prettiest public transport user on Merseyside." Jacqueline Henshall and Lynda Keegan, both from St Helens, were pictured in the paper as possible contestants to win the title of Miss Mersey Travel.
Jean McKeegan was profiled after beating 15 men in her class at the National British Truck Association Fork Lift Driver of the Year competition at Olympia. Jean, a mother of four of Stevenage Close in Sutton Heath, had taken to driving forklift trucks 14 years earlier when working for Stamina Foods in Sutton.
Now she was one of two women drivers at United Glass's Elton Head Road warehouse. "I like the job very much, although you need a lot of stamina," said Jean. And commenting on her male colleagues at UGB, she said: "They didn't like the idea of women joining them at first, although they have accepted it now."
One of the features of life in the 1960s and ‘70s that you don't see today is the sight of loose dogs on the street. Wandering canines used to cause a quarter of all traffic accidents in St Helens as well as presenting other dangers. But a combination of dog control orders banning animals from being allowed outside without a lead and the increasing road traffic making dog owners concerned about their pet's safety has changed attitudes.
The animals ran loose in the school grounds and scattered pupils during their lunch break and at play times. Among them were children with cardiac conditions, including a girl with two holes in her heart and Sister Mary feared that a shock could prove fatal for one of these youngsters. Last year after a child had been bitten, the school called the police. But five minutes after they'd left, the animals had returned.
A school spokesman said: "Sister Mary is concerned about the children, especially the infants, who are terrified by the animals. There are several pupils suffering from various ailments, including heart conditions, and the effects of packs of dogs roaming loose could be fatal."
Over 600 children aged between five and 11 attended the school and Sister Mary feared it was only a matter of time before one of them was attacked. St Helens Police said they had not had any complaints from the school recently but they would send a policeman round to "have a word" with the headmistress.
In early 1973 the giant waste heaps at Islands Brow in Haresfinch began to be transformed into wooded hills. Eventually 9,000 four-foot high trees would be planted on five acres of banking. But out of the 1,000 saplings planted within the first few weeks of the scheme, 200 had been torn from their beds with some of them snapped in two. David Nicholl was the head gardener at Pilkington's Prescot Road head office and said:
"It was a sickening site. The uprooted trees, mostly pines, had been used as spears and were lying along the banking and in the road. We replanted as many as we could. It's sheer vandalism. Most of the trees that were damaged had been planted near the houses. These people don't seem to understand that this planting is for their benefit. Parents could do a lot by trying to get this across to their children. We can't keep going on like this. We're getting nowhere."
At this week's meeting of the St Helens Leisure and Recreation Committee, Councillor Eric Kerr said he had personally stopped a gang of 13-year-olds from destroying saplings at Islands Brow, adding: "The trees are being continually broken by vandals. It's happening everywhere. I had to stop my car and get out to prevent children from doing this." Their Director of Leisure, Ted Gallagher, revealed that the cost of tree damage had run into hundreds of pounds, adding: "Out of 600 planted at Parr, we now have 50 intact."
But he said that in order to beat the vandals "tough guy" trees were now being planted. The so-called "feathered trees" were normally younger than saplings but were more resilient, with their branches harder to break. They also had an added advantage in that the trees could grow again if they were broken and also could be purchased at a low initial cost.
Talking of Islands Brow, on the 17th its “A” football team played The Owls from Skelmersdale in a stormy cup game. It became so wild that referee Richard Tarry walked off the pitch 10 minutes into the second half with the score 2-2, saying he was abandoning the match. That was when eight players began fighting and another chased their opponent across the field brandishing a corner flag.
In an earlier punch-up during the game, one of the Islands Brow players had a tooth knocked out. The referee told the Reporter: "The game was getting unmanageable. If it had gone on I would have had to send eight people off, and that wouldn't have left many on the pitch."
Commenting on the abandonment the Islands Brow manager, Dave Holmes of Bosworth Road in St Helens, said: "We were a bit upset because we thought we would have won. I don't think it had been really dirty – but we'll be on our best behaviour on Sunday." That was when the match was going to be replayed.
'Take Me High' starring Cliff Richard began a week's screening at the ABC Savoy on the 17th. And the Capitol began showing two Clint Eastwood films, 'The Beguiled' and 'Play Misty For Me'.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the St Helens grandmother fighting the general election, the award-winning nuclear detectives in their Eccleston bunker, the bitter row over a slum housing survey and a call to end half-day closing in St Helens.
This week's many stories include the town's champion female fork lift truck driver, the pack of dogs frightening the children at St Theresa's school in Sutton Manor, the lifesaving Clock Face milkman, the 14-week-long ambulance workers dispute is settled, the tough guy trees being planted to beat the vandals and the stormy Islands Brow cup game that had to be abandoned.
We begin with a meeting of the St Helens Leisure and Recreation Committee in which the subject of music in the parks came up for discussion.
It was revealed that there were many differences in how parks within the wider St Helens area hired bands.
Last year Whiston Rural District Council – whose division included Eccleston, Windle and Prescot – had failed to hire a single band to play in their parks.
But at Haydock there had been 16 performances and Newton had held a similar number in Willow Park and Market Square.
Billinge only hosted a couple of concerts in Bankes Park and Rainford had just one performance that took place outside its council offices.
But in St Helens there had been many band concerts held in Sherdley Park and Victoria Park.
All these areas would now come under the new St Helens Metropolitan District Council and its Director of Leisure and Recreation, Ted Gallagher, was asked to work out a common policy for the playing of music and resolve discrepancies between them.
Milkman Ron Slater was praised in the Reporter on the 15th for his actions in raising the alarm when he found no empty bottles outside Isobel Shacklady's home and her curtains drawn.
As a result police broke into the 93-year-old's flat in Pollitt Crescent in Clock Face and found Mrs Shacklady lying injured on the floor.
Her pelvis had been fractured in a fall and she had lain there helpless for 36 hours but was now recovering in St Helens Hospital.
The Reporter also wrote: "On buses, trains and ferries the search goes on to find the prettiest public transport user on Merseyside."
Jacqueline Henshall and Lynda Keegan, both from St Helens, were pictured in the paper as possible contestants to win the title of Miss Mersey Travel.
Jean McKeegan was profiled after beating 15 men in her class at the National British Truck Association Fork Lift Driver of the Year competition at Olympia.
Jean, a mother of four of Stevenage Close in Sutton Heath, had taken to driving forklift trucks 14 years earlier when working for Stamina Foods in Sutton.
Now she was one of two women drivers at United Glass's Elton Head Road warehouse.
"I like the job very much, although you need a lot of stamina," said Jean. And commenting on her male colleagues at UGB, she said:
"They didn't like the idea of women joining them at first, although they have accepted it now."
One of the features of life in the 1960s and ‘70s that you don't see today is the sight of loose dogs on the street.
Wandering canines used to cause a quarter of all traffic accidents in St Helens as well as presenting other dangers.
But a combination of dog control orders banning animals from being allowed outside without a lead and the increasing road traffic making dog owners concerned about their pet's safety has changed attitudes.
A particular problem was those dogs that went about in packs. This week the Reporter described how the headmistress of St Theresa's Primary School in Sutton Manor was worried about her pupils suffering a dog attack.
Every day as many as a dozen dogs, attracted by the sounds of children playing and the smell of food being cooked in the kitchens, converged on the school and roamed through its playground and gardens.
The animals ran loose in the school grounds and scattered pupils during their lunch break and at play times.
Among them were children with cardiac conditions, including a girl with two holes in her heart and Sister Mary feared that a shock could prove fatal for one of these youngsters.
Last year after a child had been bitten, the school called the police. But five minutes after they'd left, the animals had returned.
A school spokesman said: "Sister Mary is concerned about the children, especially the infants, who are terrified by the animals. There are several pupils suffering from various ailments, including heart conditions, and the effects of packs of dogs roaming loose could be fatal."
Over 600 children aged between five and 11 attended the school and Sister Mary feared it was only a matter of time before one of them was attacked.
St Helens Police said they had not had any complaints from the school recently but they would send a policeman round to "have a word" with the headmistress.
In early 1973 the giant waste heaps at Islands Brow in Haresfinch began to be transformed into wooded hills.
Eventually 9,000 four-foot high trees would be planted on five acres of banking.
But out of the 1,000 saplings planted within the first few weeks of the scheme, 200 had been torn from their beds with some of them snapped in two.
David Nicholl was the head gardener at Pilkington's Prescot Road head office and said:
"It was a sickening site. The uprooted trees, mostly pines, had been used as spears and were lying along the banking and in the road. We replanted as many as we could. It's sheer vandalism.
"Most of the trees that were damaged had been planted near the houses. These people don't seem to understand that this planting is for their benefit. Parents could do a lot by trying to get this across to their children. We can't keep going on like this. We're getting nowhere."
At this week's meeting of the St Helens Leisure and Recreation Committee, Councillor Eric Kerr said he had personally stopped a gang of 13-year-olds from destroying saplings at Islands Brow, adding:
"The trees are being continually broken by vandals. It's happening everywhere. I had to stop my car and get out to prevent children from doing this."
Their Director of Leisure, Ted Gallagher, revealed that the cost of tree damage had run into hundreds of pounds, adding: "Out of 600 planted at Parr, we now have 50 intact."
But he said that in order to beat the vandals "tough guy" trees were now being planted.
The so-called "feathered trees" were normally younger than saplings but were more resilient, with their branches harder to break.
They also had an added advantage in that the trees could grow again if they were broken and also could be purchased at a low initial cost.
Talking of Islands Brow, on the 17th its “A” football team played The Owls from Skelmersdale in a stormy cup game.
It became so wild that referee Richard Tarry walked off the pitch 10 minutes into the second half with the score 2-2, saying he was abandoning the match.
That was when eight players began fighting and another chased their opponent across the field brandishing a corner flag.
In an earlier punch-up during the game, one of the Islands Brow players had a tooth knocked out.
The referee told the Reporter: "The game was getting unmanageable. If it had gone on I would have had to send eight people off, and that wouldn't have left many on the pitch."
Commenting on the abandonment the Islands Brow manager, Dave Holmes of Bosworth Road in St Helens, said:
"We were a bit upset because we thought we would have won. I don't think it had been really dirty – but we'll be on our best behaviour on Sunday." That was when the match was going to be replayed.
'Take Me High' starring Cliff Richard began a week's screening at the ABC Savoy on the 17th. And the Capitol began showing two Clint Eastwood films, 'The Beguiled' and 'Play Misty For Me'.
And finally, at midnight on the 17th the St Helens ambulance workers at their Jackson Street station (pictured above) lifted their 14-week-long ban on all but emergency and admission calls.
That was after a deal was reached with St Helens Corporation on overtime rates and payments for working unsocial hours.
Shop steward Ray Pownall said: "Other ambulance men settled with their local authorities six or eight weeks ago. St. Helens has been one of the lowest paid groups in the past, but through this agreement we're catching up."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the St Helens grandmother fighting the general election, the award-winning nuclear detectives in their Eccleston bunker, the bitter row over a slum housing survey and a call to end half-day closing in St Helens.
We begin with a meeting of the St Helens Leisure and Recreation Committee in which the subject of music in the parks came up for discussion.
It was revealed that there were many differences in how parks within the wider St Helens area hired bands.
Last year Whiston Rural District Council – whose division included Eccleston, Windle and Prescot – had failed to hire a single band to play in their parks.
But at Haydock there had been 16 performances and Newton had held a similar number in Willow Park and Market Square.
Billinge only hosted a couple of concerts in Bankes Park and Rainford had just one performance that took place outside its council offices.
But in St Helens there had been many band concerts held in Sherdley Park and Victoria Park.
All these areas would now come under the new St Helens Metropolitan District Council and its Director of Leisure and Recreation, Ted Gallagher, was asked to work out a common policy for the playing of music and resolve discrepancies between them.
Milkman Ron Slater was praised in the Reporter on the 15th for his actions in raising the alarm when he found no empty bottles outside Isobel Shacklady's home and her curtains drawn.
As a result police broke into the 93-year-old's flat in Pollitt Crescent in Clock Face and found Mrs Shacklady lying injured on the floor.
Her pelvis had been fractured in a fall and she had lain there helpless for 36 hours but was now recovering in St Helens Hospital.
The Reporter also wrote: "On buses, trains and ferries the search goes on to find the prettiest public transport user on Merseyside."
Jacqueline Henshall and Lynda Keegan, both from St Helens, were pictured in the paper as possible contestants to win the title of Miss Mersey Travel.
Jean McKeegan was profiled after beating 15 men in her class at the National British Truck Association Fork Lift Driver of the Year competition at Olympia.
Jean, a mother of four of Stevenage Close in Sutton Heath, had taken to driving forklift trucks 14 years earlier when working for Stamina Foods in Sutton.
Now she was one of two women drivers at United Glass's Elton Head Road warehouse.
"I like the job very much, although you need a lot of stamina," said Jean. And commenting on her male colleagues at UGB, she said:
"They didn't like the idea of women joining them at first, although they have accepted it now."
One of the features of life in the 1960s and ‘70s that you don't see today is the sight of loose dogs on the street.
Wandering canines used to cause a quarter of all traffic accidents in St Helens as well as presenting other dangers.
But a combination of dog control orders banning animals from being allowed outside without a lead and the increasing road traffic making dog owners concerned about their pet's safety has changed attitudes.
Every day as many as a dozen dogs, attracted by the sounds of children playing and the smell of food being cooked in the kitchens, converged on the school and roamed through its playground and gardens.
The animals ran loose in the school grounds and scattered pupils during their lunch break and at play times.
Among them were children with cardiac conditions, including a girl with two holes in her heart and Sister Mary feared that a shock could prove fatal for one of these youngsters.
Last year after a child had been bitten, the school called the police. But five minutes after they'd left, the animals had returned.
A school spokesman said: "Sister Mary is concerned about the children, especially the infants, who are terrified by the animals. There are several pupils suffering from various ailments, including heart conditions, and the effects of packs of dogs roaming loose could be fatal."
Over 600 children aged between five and 11 attended the school and Sister Mary feared it was only a matter of time before one of them was attacked.
St Helens Police said they had not had any complaints from the school recently but they would send a policeman round to "have a word" with the headmistress.
In early 1973 the giant waste heaps at Islands Brow in Haresfinch began to be transformed into wooded hills.
Eventually 9,000 four-foot high trees would be planted on five acres of banking.
But out of the 1,000 saplings planted within the first few weeks of the scheme, 200 had been torn from their beds with some of them snapped in two.
David Nicholl was the head gardener at Pilkington's Prescot Road head office and said:
"It was a sickening site. The uprooted trees, mostly pines, had been used as spears and were lying along the banking and in the road. We replanted as many as we could. It's sheer vandalism.
"Most of the trees that were damaged had been planted near the houses. These people don't seem to understand that this planting is for their benefit. Parents could do a lot by trying to get this across to their children. We can't keep going on like this. We're getting nowhere."
At this week's meeting of the St Helens Leisure and Recreation Committee, Councillor Eric Kerr said he had personally stopped a gang of 13-year-olds from destroying saplings at Islands Brow, adding:
"The trees are being continually broken by vandals. It's happening everywhere. I had to stop my car and get out to prevent children from doing this."
Their Director of Leisure, Ted Gallagher, revealed that the cost of tree damage had run into hundreds of pounds, adding: "Out of 600 planted at Parr, we now have 50 intact."
But he said that in order to beat the vandals "tough guy" trees were now being planted.
The so-called "feathered trees" were normally younger than saplings but were more resilient, with their branches harder to break.
They also had an added advantage in that the trees could grow again if they were broken and also could be purchased at a low initial cost.
Talking of Islands Brow, on the 17th its “A” football team played The Owls from Skelmersdale in a stormy cup game.
It became so wild that referee Richard Tarry walked off the pitch 10 minutes into the second half with the score 2-2, saying he was abandoning the match.
That was when eight players began fighting and another chased their opponent across the field brandishing a corner flag.
In an earlier punch-up during the game, one of the Islands Brow players had a tooth knocked out.
The referee told the Reporter: "The game was getting unmanageable. If it had gone on I would have had to send eight people off, and that wouldn't have left many on the pitch."
Commenting on the abandonment the Islands Brow manager, Dave Holmes of Bosworth Road in St Helens, said:
"We were a bit upset because we thought we would have won. I don't think it had been really dirty – but we'll be on our best behaviour on Sunday." That was when the match was going to be replayed.
'Take Me High' starring Cliff Richard began a week's screening at the ABC Savoy on the 17th. And the Capitol began showing two Clint Eastwood films, 'The Beguiled' and 'Play Misty For Me'.
That was after a deal was reached with St Helens Corporation on overtime rates and payments for working unsocial hours.
Shop steward Ray Pownall said: "Other ambulance men settled with their local authorities six or eight weeks ago. St. Helens has been one of the lowest paid groups in the past, but through this agreement we're catching up."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the St Helens grandmother fighting the general election, the award-winning nuclear detectives in their Eccleston bunker, the bitter row over a slum housing survey and a call to end half-day closing in St Helens.