FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 24 FEB - 2 MARCH 1975
This week's many stories include Pilkington's shock announcement of job losses, the schemes to reclaim derelict land, the digger vandalism in Merton Bank, the unhappy residents of two St Helens housing estates, Olympic gold medallist Mary Peters comes to St Helens, a TV comic storms off the stage at Moss Lane and the extraordinary court case involving Greenall Whitley and the landlord of the Alexandra Hotel.
We begin on the 24th when the panto Cinderella began a week's performances at the Theatre Royal, with Beryl Johnson playing the title role.
The St Helens Newspaper on the 25th described how St Helens Council had launched a clean-up project, which, as the paper put it, would "facelift the town's dereliction". The Planning Committee had approved the spending of £137,000 on seven schemes of derelict land reclamation.
These included 27 acres of land in Jackson Street, which had formerly housed the so-called Kimmicks chemical waste. Pickavances had already removed the waste (as shown above) and the council's investment would allow the remediation of the land.
Another scheme would involve the creation of a linear park along 28 acres of Rainford's disused railway. Additionally, the canal and railway at Pocket Nook, the land at Worsley Brow in Sutton and the Jubits Lane railway in Sutton Manor would also be improved.
The Newspaper also described how an extraordinary court case had taken place in which Greenall Whitley had supported an action against one of its own landlords. For 14 years Terry Coleman had been the licensee of the Alexandra Hotel in Crossley Road and the brewery wanted his licence transferring to James Cowley of Rainford who had applied to the court for a protection order. But Mr Coleman did not want to leave his Thatto Heath hostelry and he had a petition signed by 200 of his regulars supporting his case.
During the two-hour hearing Greenalls made some extraordinary allegations, including a claim that the landlord had poured a glass of beer over a female customer's head – something that Terry denied. The brewery's counsel claimed that Mr Coleman had got "into deep water in running the pub" and they felt it best to change their tenant and licensee.
The police had also indicated that they would oppose Mr Coleman's separate application to renew his licence in March because they felt his premises were being conducted in a disorderly manner. The landlord was accused of "arrogance, bad manners, bad language and a total inability to be civil to customers".
Greenall's admitted that Mr Coleman had been an excellent licensee until he had suffered an accident in which he had fallen down stairs and fractured his skull. Mr Coleman broke down with relief at the end of the hearing when the magistrates decided not to grant the application but he would still face a difficult licensing hearing next month.
"Shock waves are resounding throughout St. Helens following Pilkington's disclosure of plans for massive redundancies this week." That was how the St Helens Reporter began its front-page lead story on the 28th in which they revealed Pilks' plans to shed between 12 and 15% of their 21,000 UK workforce. But the paper added that the overall job losses were not quite as grim as they had first appeared.
That was because they included 1,300 people that had already left the company, 933 of which had been employed in St Helens factories. But still over 1,000 workers from St Helens' glass plants were expected to be made redundant, victims of the economic crisis that was hitting the country.
David Pilkington, their Director of Personnel, explained the background to the drastic decision: "Demand for several main products has fallen sharply. This is due to a major reduction of activity in the building, motor vehicle and television industries, and in some fibre-reinforced plastics manufacturing."
The Olympic gold medallist Mary Peters came to St Helens this week to present nearly 200 Duke of Edinburgh awards to teenagers at the Town Hall. After handing over the certificates and shaking hands with each winner, Mary gave a speech in which she said the Duke of Edinburgh scheme was important as it helped young people "strive for something for tomorrow, and gives them aspirations to achieve something better."
The Reporter described how a public meeting for 1,500 people on a new Sutton estate "where there is nothing to do and nowhere to go" had been called for next week. The estate in question was at Beth Avenue where there were concerns about the lack of any facilities, with the meeting intended to set up a community council on the estate.
Jim Atherton, who would chair next week's meeting, told the Reporter: "The estate is deteriorating rapidly. People are being fobbed off by local government officials, who seem to treat Beth Avenue residents as second-class citizens."
The Reporter also described how many residents on another new housing estate were battling with their builders because they claimed their homes were riddled with faults. This estate was at Markfield Crescent in Merton Bank and although the owners said they had expected teething troubles after moving in, the faults had been so extensive that they felt they had been lumbered with unsound properties.
Carol and Alan Pendleton described their dormer bungalow as having a sagging roof; water was seeping down walls instead of along guttering; there was damp, fungus and rust in bedrooms and bathroom; floorboards had been nailed to a hot water pipe that caused a burst and they had numerous other complaints, including a sinking driveway.
Graham and Patricia Yates said their kitchen ceiling collapsed the day after they moved in. "The whole place is shoddily built. Door frames are crooked and nothing seems to match," complained Patricia. And James Martin added: "We have had nothing but trouble with our house."
There were many other complaints, including the unfinished state of the roads. The developers were Broseley Homes and in its response they said there were bound to be a few small problems with new houses but admitted to being surprised by the volume of complaints being made.
Mike Donohue had performed on TV's 'The Comedians' and 'Who Do You Do?' and when he appeared at St Helens Rugby Club at Moss Lane last weekend he had expected a rapturous audience. But some people had talked amongst themselves, which had infuriated him so much that the comic rounded on them, saying: "I don't need money so badly [that] I have to put up with you."
Mike – who said he had been twenty years in the business – then stormed off the stage. From his home in Aughton, the comic and impressionist told the Reporter: "I didn't consider them worthy of me. They were just an ignorant shower. I was disgusted with the whole set-up. The whole thing was just a big bloody joke as far as I could see. I am an accomplished and professional entertainer and I know my job backwards. In my opinion, these people didn't want to be entertained."
A spokesman at Moss Lane said Donohue had performed for them last November and had then gone down very well. But last week the comic had been using similar material and after he had walked off the stage the club treasurer had gone into his dressing room to apologise for the unresponsive audience. But he claimed Donohue had abused him and in response the club was now refusing to pay his fee.
The Reporter also described how vandals with some mechanical know-how had crashed a £14,000 mechanical digger through an 8-foot high wall and then dumped it into the canal. The 14-ton digger was being used on a site off Merton Bank Road where its owners were building their own plant hire yard.
It had been locked up for the night and the ignition keys removed. But the intruders had smashed the front window of the digger to get into its cab and started the engine by bypassing the ignition. After being driven for 100 yards, the machine smashed a 20-foot hole in a wall and then dropped into the canal on the other side, with the digger needing to be lifted out of the canal by crane.
And finally, on March 2nd the film version of the TV comedy 'Man About The House' starring Paula Wilcox, Richard O’Sullivan and Sally Thomsett replaced 'Emmanuelle' at the ABC Savoy. And the Capitol replaced a sex film called 'Clockwork Banana', with 'Chinatown' starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway.
St Helens Reporter and Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the postman robbed in Eccleston, the rebel Thatto Heath landlord throws in the towel, the complaints from the stallholders in the Tontine Market and the first community centre in St Helens opens in Chester Lane.
We begin on the 24th when the panto Cinderella began a week's performances at the Theatre Royal, with Beryl Johnson playing the title role.
The St Helens Newspaper on the 25th described how St Helens Council had launched a clean-up project, which, as the paper put it, would "facelift the town's dereliction". The Planning Committee had approved the spending of £137,000 on seven schemes of derelict land reclamation.
Another scheme would involve the creation of a linear park along 28 acres of Rainford's disused railway. Additionally, the canal and railway at Pocket Nook, the land at Worsley Brow in Sutton and the Jubits Lane railway in Sutton Manor would also be improved.
The Newspaper also described how an extraordinary court case had taken place in which Greenall Whitley had supported an action against one of its own landlords. For 14 years Terry Coleman had been the licensee of the Alexandra Hotel in Crossley Road and the brewery wanted his licence transferring to James Cowley of Rainford who had applied to the court for a protection order. But Mr Coleman did not want to leave his Thatto Heath hostelry and he had a petition signed by 200 of his regulars supporting his case.
During the two-hour hearing Greenalls made some extraordinary allegations, including a claim that the landlord had poured a glass of beer over a female customer's head – something that Terry denied. The brewery's counsel claimed that Mr Coleman had got "into deep water in running the pub" and they felt it best to change their tenant and licensee.
The police had also indicated that they would oppose Mr Coleman's separate application to renew his licence in March because they felt his premises were being conducted in a disorderly manner. The landlord was accused of "arrogance, bad manners, bad language and a total inability to be civil to customers".
Greenall's admitted that Mr Coleman had been an excellent licensee until he had suffered an accident in which he had fallen down stairs and fractured his skull. Mr Coleman broke down with relief at the end of the hearing when the magistrates decided not to grant the application but he would still face a difficult licensing hearing next month.
"Shock waves are resounding throughout St. Helens following Pilkington's disclosure of plans for massive redundancies this week." That was how the St Helens Reporter began its front-page lead story on the 28th in which they revealed Pilks' plans to shed between 12 and 15% of their 21,000 UK workforce. But the paper added that the overall job losses were not quite as grim as they had first appeared.
That was because they included 1,300 people that had already left the company, 933 of which had been employed in St Helens factories. But still over 1,000 workers from St Helens' glass plants were expected to be made redundant, victims of the economic crisis that was hitting the country.
David Pilkington, their Director of Personnel, explained the background to the drastic decision: "Demand for several main products has fallen sharply. This is due to a major reduction of activity in the building, motor vehicle and television industries, and in some fibre-reinforced plastics manufacturing."
The Olympic gold medallist Mary Peters came to St Helens this week to present nearly 200 Duke of Edinburgh awards to teenagers at the Town Hall. After handing over the certificates and shaking hands with each winner, Mary gave a speech in which she said the Duke of Edinburgh scheme was important as it helped young people "strive for something for tomorrow, and gives them aspirations to achieve something better."
The Reporter described how a public meeting for 1,500 people on a new Sutton estate "where there is nothing to do and nowhere to go" had been called for next week. The estate in question was at Beth Avenue where there were concerns about the lack of any facilities, with the meeting intended to set up a community council on the estate.
Jim Atherton, who would chair next week's meeting, told the Reporter: "The estate is deteriorating rapidly. People are being fobbed off by local government officials, who seem to treat Beth Avenue residents as second-class citizens."
The Reporter also described how many residents on another new housing estate were battling with their builders because they claimed their homes were riddled with faults. This estate was at Markfield Crescent in Merton Bank and although the owners said they had expected teething troubles after moving in, the faults had been so extensive that they felt they had been lumbered with unsound properties.
Carol and Alan Pendleton described their dormer bungalow as having a sagging roof; water was seeping down walls instead of along guttering; there was damp, fungus and rust in bedrooms and bathroom; floorboards had been nailed to a hot water pipe that caused a burst and they had numerous other complaints, including a sinking driveway.
Graham and Patricia Yates said their kitchen ceiling collapsed the day after they moved in. "The whole place is shoddily built. Door frames are crooked and nothing seems to match," complained Patricia. And James Martin added: "We have had nothing but trouble with our house."
There were many other complaints, including the unfinished state of the roads. The developers were Broseley Homes and in its response they said there were bound to be a few small problems with new houses but admitted to being surprised by the volume of complaints being made.
Mike Donohue had performed on TV's 'The Comedians' and 'Who Do You Do?' and when he appeared at St Helens Rugby Club at Moss Lane last weekend he had expected a rapturous audience. But some people had talked amongst themselves, which had infuriated him so much that the comic rounded on them, saying: "I don't need money so badly [that] I have to put up with you."
Mike – who said he had been twenty years in the business – then stormed off the stage. From his home in Aughton, the comic and impressionist told the Reporter: "I didn't consider them worthy of me. They were just an ignorant shower. I was disgusted with the whole set-up. The whole thing was just a big bloody joke as far as I could see. I am an accomplished and professional entertainer and I know my job backwards. In my opinion, these people didn't want to be entertained."
A spokesman at Moss Lane said Donohue had performed for them last November and had then gone down very well. But last week the comic had been using similar material and after he had walked off the stage the club treasurer had gone into his dressing room to apologise for the unresponsive audience. But he claimed Donohue had abused him and in response the club was now refusing to pay his fee.
The Reporter also described how vandals with some mechanical know-how had crashed a £14,000 mechanical digger through an 8-foot high wall and then dumped it into the canal. The 14-ton digger was being used on a site off Merton Bank Road where its owners were building their own plant hire yard.
It had been locked up for the night and the ignition keys removed. But the intruders had smashed the front window of the digger to get into its cab and started the engine by bypassing the ignition. After being driven for 100 yards, the machine smashed a 20-foot hole in a wall and then dropped into the canal on the other side, with the digger needing to be lifted out of the canal by crane.
And finally, on March 2nd the film version of the TV comedy 'Man About The House' starring Paula Wilcox, Richard O’Sullivan and Sally Thomsett replaced 'Emmanuelle' at the ABC Savoy. And the Capitol replaced a sex film called 'Clockwork Banana', with 'Chinatown' starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway.
St Helens Reporter and Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the postman robbed in Eccleston, the rebel Thatto Heath landlord throws in the towel, the complaints from the stallholders in the Tontine Market and the first community centre in St Helens opens in Chester Lane.
This week's many stories include Pilkington's shock announcement of job losses, the schemes to reclaim derelict land, the digger vandalism in Merton Bank, the unhappy residents of two St Helens housing estates, Olympic gold medallist Mary Peters comes to St Helens, a TV comic storms off the stage at Moss Lane and the extraordinary court case involving Greenall Whitley and the landlord of the Alexandra Hotel.
We begin on the 24th when the panto Cinderella began a week's performances at the Theatre Royal, with Beryl Johnson playing the title role.
The St Helens Newspaper on the 25th described how St Helens Council had launched a clean-up project, which, as the paper put it, would "facelift the town's dereliction".
The Planning Committee had approved the spending of £137,000 on seven schemes of derelict land reclamation.
These included 27 acres of land in Jackson Street, which had formerly housed the so-called Kimmicks chemical waste.
Pickavances had already removed the waste (shown above) and the council's investment would allow the remediation of the land.
Another scheme would involve the creation of a linear park along 28 acres of Rainford's disused railway.
Additionally, the canal and railway at Pocket Nook, the land at Worsley Brow in Sutton and the Jubits Lane railway in Sutton Manor would also be improved.
The Newspaper also described how an extraordinary court case had taken place in which Greenall Whitley had supported an action against one of its own landlords.
For 14 years Terry Coleman had been the licensee of the Alexandra Hotel in Crossley Road and the brewery wanted his licence transferring to James Cowley of Rainford who had applied to the court for a protection order.
But Mr Coleman did not want to leave his Thatto Heath hostelry and he had a petition signed by 200 of his regulars supporting his case.
During the two-hour hearing Greenalls made some extraordinary allegations, including a claim that the landlord had poured a glass of beer over a female customer's head – something that Terry denied.
The brewery's counsel claimed that Mr Coleman had got into "deep water in running the pub" and they felt it best to change their tenant and licensee.
The police had also indicated that they would oppose Mr Coleman’s separate application to renew his licence in March because they felt his premises were being conducted in a disorderly manner.
The landlord was accused of "arrogance, bad manners, bad language and a total inability to be civil to customers".
Greenall's admitted that Mr Coleman had been an excellent licensee until he had suffered an accident in which he had fallen down stairs and fractured his skull.
Mr Coleman broke down with relief at the end of the hearing when the magistrates decided not to grant the application but he would still face a difficult licensing hearing next month.
"Shock waves are resounding throughout St. Helens following Pilkington's disclosure of plans for massive redundancies this week."
That was how the St Helens Reporter began its front-page lead story on the 28th in which they revealed Pilks' plans to shed between 12 and 15% of their 21,000 UK workforce.
But the paper added that the overall job losses were not quite as grim as they had first appeared.
That was because they included 1,300 people that had already left the company, 933 of which had been employed in St Helens factories.
But still over 1,000 workers from St Helens' glass plants were expected to be made redundant, victims of the economic crisis that was hitting the country.
David Pilkington, their Director of Personnel, explained the background to the drastic decision:
"Demand for several main products has fallen sharply. This is due to a major reduction of activity in the building, motor vehicle and television industries, and in some fibre-reinforced plastics manufacturing."
The Olympic gold medallist Mary Peters came to St Helens this week to present nearly 200 Duke of Edinburgh awards to teenagers at the Town Hall.
After handing over the certificates and shaking hands with each winner, Mary gave a speech in which she said the Duke of Edinburgh scheme was important as it helped young people "strive for something for tomorrow, and gives them aspirations to achieve something better."
The Reporter described how a public meeting for 1,500 people on a new Sutton estate "where there is nothing to do and nowhere to go" had been called for next week.
The estate in question was at Beth Avenue where there were concerns about the lack of any facilities, with the meeting intended to set up a community council on the estate.
Jim Atherton, who would chair next week's meeting, told the Reporter:
"The estate is deteriorating rapidly. People are being fobbed off by local government officials, who seem to treat Beth Avenue residents as second-class citizens."
The Reporter also described how many residents on another new housing estate were battling with their builders because they claimed their homes were riddled with faults.
This estate was at Markfield Crescent in Merton Bank and although the owners said they had expected teething troubles after moving in, the faults had been so extensive that they felt they had been lumbered with unsound properties.
Carol and Alan Pendleton described their dormer bungalow as having a sagging roof; water was seeping down walls instead of along guttering; there was damp, fungus and rust in bedrooms and bathroom; floorboards had been nailed to a hot water pipe that caused a burst and they had numerous other complaints, including a sinking driveway.
Graham and Patricia Yates said their kitchen ceiling collapsed the day after they moved in.
"The whole place is shoddily built. Door frames are crooked and nothing seems to match," complained Patricia.
And James Martin added: "We have had nothing but trouble with our house."
There were many other complaints, including the unfinished state of the roads.
The developers were Broseley Homes and in its response they said there were bound to be a few small problems with new houses but admitted to being surprised by the volume of complaints being made.
Mike Donohue had performed on TV's 'The Comedians' and 'Who Do You Do?' and when he appeared at St Helens Rugby Club at Moss Lane last weekend he had expected a rapturous audience.
But some people had talked amongst themselves, which had infuriated him so much that the comic rounded on them, saying: "I don't need money so badly [that] I have to put up with you."
Mike – who said he had been twenty years in the business – then stormed off the stage. From his home in Aughton, the comic and impressionist told the Reporter:
"I didn't consider them worthy of me. They were just an ignorant shower. I was disgusted with the whole set-up.
"The whole thing was just a big bloody joke as far as I could see. I am an accomplished and professional entertainer and I know my job backwards. In my opinion, these people didn't want to be entertained."
A spokesman at Moss Lane said Donohue had performed for them last November and had then gone down very well.
But last week the comic had been using similar material and after he had walked off the stage the club treasurer had gone into his dressing room to apologise for the unresponsive audience.
But he claimed Donohue had abused him and in response the club was now refusing to pay his fee.
The Reporter also described how vandals with some mechanical know-how had crashed a £14,000 mechanical digger through an 8-foot high wall and then dumped it into the canal.
The 14-ton digger was being used on a site off Merton Bank Road where its owners were building their own plant hire yard.
It had been locked up for the night and the ignition keys removed. But the intruders had smashed the front window of the digger to get into its cab and started the engine by bypassing the ignition.
After being driven for 100 yards, the machine smashed a 20-foot hole in a wall and then dropped into the canal on the other side, with the digger needing to be lifted out of the canal by crane.
And finally, on March 2nd the film version of the TV comedy 'Man About The House' starring Paula Wilcox, Richard O’Sullivan and Sally Thomsett replaced 'Emmanuelle' at the ABC Savoy.
And the Capitol replaced a sex film called 'Clockwork Banana', with 'Chinatown' starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway.
St Helens Reporter and Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the postman robbed in Eccleston, the rebel Thatto Heath landlord throws in the towel, the complaints from the stallholders in the Tontine Market and the first community centre in St Helens opens in Chester Lane.
We begin on the 24th when the panto Cinderella began a week's performances at the Theatre Royal, with Beryl Johnson playing the title role.
The St Helens Newspaper on the 25th described how St Helens Council had launched a clean-up project, which, as the paper put it, would "facelift the town's dereliction".
The Planning Committee had approved the spending of £137,000 on seven schemes of derelict land reclamation.
These included 27 acres of land in Jackson Street, which had formerly housed the so-called Kimmicks chemical waste.
Another scheme would involve the creation of a linear park along 28 acres of Rainford's disused railway.
Additionally, the canal and railway at Pocket Nook, the land at Worsley Brow in Sutton and the Jubits Lane railway in Sutton Manor would also be improved.
The Newspaper also described how an extraordinary court case had taken place in which Greenall Whitley had supported an action against one of its own landlords.
For 14 years Terry Coleman had been the licensee of the Alexandra Hotel in Crossley Road and the brewery wanted his licence transferring to James Cowley of Rainford who had applied to the court for a protection order.
But Mr Coleman did not want to leave his Thatto Heath hostelry and he had a petition signed by 200 of his regulars supporting his case.
During the two-hour hearing Greenalls made some extraordinary allegations, including a claim that the landlord had poured a glass of beer over a female customer's head – something that Terry denied.
The brewery's counsel claimed that Mr Coleman had got into "deep water in running the pub" and they felt it best to change their tenant and licensee.
The police had also indicated that they would oppose Mr Coleman’s separate application to renew his licence in March because they felt his premises were being conducted in a disorderly manner.
The landlord was accused of "arrogance, bad manners, bad language and a total inability to be civil to customers".
Greenall's admitted that Mr Coleman had been an excellent licensee until he had suffered an accident in which he had fallen down stairs and fractured his skull.
Mr Coleman broke down with relief at the end of the hearing when the magistrates decided not to grant the application but he would still face a difficult licensing hearing next month.
"Shock waves are resounding throughout St. Helens following Pilkington's disclosure of plans for massive redundancies this week."
That was how the St Helens Reporter began its front-page lead story on the 28th in which they revealed Pilks' plans to shed between 12 and 15% of their 21,000 UK workforce.
But the paper added that the overall job losses were not quite as grim as they had first appeared.
That was because they included 1,300 people that had already left the company, 933 of which had been employed in St Helens factories.
But still over 1,000 workers from St Helens' glass plants were expected to be made redundant, victims of the economic crisis that was hitting the country.
David Pilkington, their Director of Personnel, explained the background to the drastic decision:
"Demand for several main products has fallen sharply. This is due to a major reduction of activity in the building, motor vehicle and television industries, and in some fibre-reinforced plastics manufacturing."
The Olympic gold medallist Mary Peters came to St Helens this week to present nearly 200 Duke of Edinburgh awards to teenagers at the Town Hall.
After handing over the certificates and shaking hands with each winner, Mary gave a speech in which she said the Duke of Edinburgh scheme was important as it helped young people "strive for something for tomorrow, and gives them aspirations to achieve something better."
The Reporter described how a public meeting for 1,500 people on a new Sutton estate "where there is nothing to do and nowhere to go" had been called for next week.
The estate in question was at Beth Avenue where there were concerns about the lack of any facilities, with the meeting intended to set up a community council on the estate.
Jim Atherton, who would chair next week's meeting, told the Reporter:
"The estate is deteriorating rapidly. People are being fobbed off by local government officials, who seem to treat Beth Avenue residents as second-class citizens."
The Reporter also described how many residents on another new housing estate were battling with their builders because they claimed their homes were riddled with faults.
This estate was at Markfield Crescent in Merton Bank and although the owners said they had expected teething troubles after moving in, the faults had been so extensive that they felt they had been lumbered with unsound properties.
Carol and Alan Pendleton described their dormer bungalow as having a sagging roof; water was seeping down walls instead of along guttering; there was damp, fungus and rust in bedrooms and bathroom; floorboards had been nailed to a hot water pipe that caused a burst and they had numerous other complaints, including a sinking driveway.
Graham and Patricia Yates said their kitchen ceiling collapsed the day after they moved in.
"The whole place is shoddily built. Door frames are crooked and nothing seems to match," complained Patricia.
And James Martin added: "We have had nothing but trouble with our house."
There were many other complaints, including the unfinished state of the roads.
The developers were Broseley Homes and in its response they said there were bound to be a few small problems with new houses but admitted to being surprised by the volume of complaints being made.
Mike Donohue had performed on TV's 'The Comedians' and 'Who Do You Do?' and when he appeared at St Helens Rugby Club at Moss Lane last weekend he had expected a rapturous audience.
But some people had talked amongst themselves, which had infuriated him so much that the comic rounded on them, saying: "I don't need money so badly [that] I have to put up with you."
Mike – who said he had been twenty years in the business – then stormed off the stage. From his home in Aughton, the comic and impressionist told the Reporter:
"I didn't consider them worthy of me. They were just an ignorant shower. I was disgusted with the whole set-up.
"The whole thing was just a big bloody joke as far as I could see. I am an accomplished and professional entertainer and I know my job backwards. In my opinion, these people didn't want to be entertained."
A spokesman at Moss Lane said Donohue had performed for them last November and had then gone down very well.
But last week the comic had been using similar material and after he had walked off the stage the club treasurer had gone into his dressing room to apologise for the unresponsive audience.
But he claimed Donohue had abused him and in response the club was now refusing to pay his fee.
The Reporter also described how vandals with some mechanical know-how had crashed a £14,000 mechanical digger through an 8-foot high wall and then dumped it into the canal.
The 14-ton digger was being used on a site off Merton Bank Road where its owners were building their own plant hire yard.
It had been locked up for the night and the ignition keys removed. But the intruders had smashed the front window of the digger to get into its cab and started the engine by bypassing the ignition.
After being driven for 100 yards, the machine smashed a 20-foot hole in a wall and then dropped into the canal on the other side, with the digger needing to be lifted out of the canal by crane.
And finally, on March 2nd the film version of the TV comedy 'Man About The House' starring Paula Wilcox, Richard O’Sullivan and Sally Thomsett replaced 'Emmanuelle' at the ABC Savoy.
And the Capitol replaced a sex film called 'Clockwork Banana', with 'Chinatown' starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway.
St Helens Reporter and Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the postman robbed in Eccleston, the rebel Thatto Heath landlord throws in the towel, the complaints from the stallholders in the Tontine Market and the first community centre in St Helens opens in Chester Lane.