St Helens History This Week

Bringing History to Life from 50, 100 and 150 Years Ago!

Bringing History to Life from 50, 100 and 150 Years Ago!

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (26th SEPT. - 2nd OCT. 1972)

This week's stories include the ding-dong row at St Bartholomew's Church in Rainhill, the severe criticism of St Helens by its own townsfolk, the giant crane that came crashing down on a Liverpool Road building site, the residents of Factory Row in Ravenhead complain about Pilks and more attempts are made to save Crank post office.

We begin on the 26th with the Liverpool Echo's profile of Neil Foster, the founder of the recently-formed Vintage Rock 'n' Roll Appreciation Society. The 32-year-old clerk from Coniston Avenue in Prescot had found many fellow devotees of ‘50s rock and roll and his revivalist movement was flourishing. But Neil had two gripes. He said they were finding it difficult to locate a genuine rock and roll group to play for them and many of their younger members didn't know how to jive.

This week Barbara Windsor starred with Simon Oates in a 'The Owl & The Pussycat' at the Theatre Royal in St Helens. The Stage newspaper in its review of the show from earlier in the month said: "The diminutive and curvy Miss Windsor, in a variety of bizarre and colourful dress and undress, belts out the tart's tantrums to fine effect." Unfortunately, the Theatre Royal's ad in the Reporter spelt the actress's name as Barbara Winsor.

St Helens building workers returned to work this week after an agreement was reached that brought the 12-week-long nationwide strike to an end. The men had wanted a minimum wage of £30 for a 35-hour working week but had to settle for a three-year deal paying £26 with no maximum hours. A mass meeting of 6,000 Greater Merseyside building workers at the Liverpool Stadium voted to return to work, while deploring the agreement reached by their National Executive.
St Helens Reporter masthead 1972
The St Helens Reporter's lead story on the 29th concerned the results of last week's survey on residents' views that twenty members of the Junior Chamber of Commerce had conducted. And those interviewed certainly didn't hold back in their opinions of St Helens! "A bloody shambles", said one respondent. "Scruffy", "disgusting" and "a mess" were other forthright views expressed. Out of 500 people canvassed on the street, 72% said their impression of the town centre was bad and 60% also thought that most people had no pride in their town.

Less than a third of interviewees thought that enough was being done to attract new industries and jobs to St Helens. Popular suggestions for improvements were a reduction in the time between the demolition of old homes and other buildings and the construction of replacements; greater moves to reduce pollution; more effort to keep the town clean; the planting of more trees and the creation of open spaces, particularly as local play areas as opposed to big parks.

The survey's organiser, Derek Broom, told the Reporter: "When we asked for any comments on impressions of the town centre, everyone was a bad one. There were no good comments about it. The people who said their impressions were bad, didn't just say they were bad. They said the town was terrible, foul and disgusting. Their replies were very strong." The survey was conducted on behalf of the St Helens and District Civic Society, which had only been formed just under a year ago.

This was the Reporter's introduction to their description of how a 26-ton crane had earlier in the week crashed down on a Liverpool Road building site: "Three men; frozen with horror, stared death in the face as a giant crane tottered and swayed above their heads." The St Helens men frozen with fear were John Traynor from Parr, Jim Kilgannon of Raglan Street and Derek Ashcroft from Grange Park.

The crane was being moved when part of the road crumbled and the machine was knocked off balance. "We didn't know which way it was going to go," explained John Traynor. "Then it very slowly toppled away from us." Jim Kilgannon added: "The driver was going to jump out as it began to fall away, but we shouted to him to keep still. If he'd jumped out he could have gone underneath."

As the crane crashed down on its side, its 70-foot jib smashed through scaffolding and into the flats that were under construction. But only a window and some tiles were damaged. There were no injuries, apart from the shocked crane driver. But it could have been a different story, as most of the workers normally on site were out on strike and could otherwise have been struck when the crane fell.
St Bartholomew Church, Rainhill, St Helens
The Reporter also described how a "ding-dong row" had broken out in Rainhill. Parish councillor Pat Johnson said that as young mothers were soothing their children to sleep, bell ringers at St Bartholomew's Church (pictured above in earlier days) would swing into action. "The residents of Mooreway must feel like wringing the bell ringers' necks," commented Mrs Johnson. The practice peals that disturbed the little children only occurred on Monday evenings between 7 pm and 9 pm and Rainhill Parish Council intended asking the bellringers to switch to a more reasonable time.

However, when the Reporter approached Anthony Walsh, the ringmaster at St Bartholomew's, he said: "The bells had been rung at the church for 100 years – long before the residents came here." However, the parish priest, the Rev. Father Joseph McNamara, was rather more co-operative, saying he would ask the bell ringers to alter their times.

In most editions of the Reporter during 1972, some community within the St Helens district was complaining about their lot. It might be the state of their houses or gardens, or even the nearby roads that got their goat. This week the householders of Factory Row in Ravenhead were the ones up in arms and complaining about Pilkingtons. The glass giant was their landlord and the residents reckoned that three years earlier they had promised to improve the forecourt of their homes – but nothing had yet been done.

Having read about Pilks' recently announced plans to landscape the "Chemics" wasteland between Borough Road and Ravenhead Road, the residents were concerned about becoming the "forgotten people", as it was put. Factory Row tenant Margaret Leatherhead commented: "In Winter it is like a river, we get flooded and dirt is constantly being brought into the house. It is terrible."

And John Houghton said: "My wife and I have had enough of this place and are moving out. Dirt is trodden in the house all year round, and we have decided to move out. On top of the dirt we never get a good night's sleep. The men from the foundry use the place for a car park and are starting up their cars all night."

There was an advertising feature in the Reporter on Bill Lewis Sports of Baldwin Street. The shop went back many years but was now run by Bill's son John who predicted that roller-skating was set to make a comeback in St Helens.

Rainford councillors were still occupied with attempts to save Crank Post Office. Earlier this year the tenants of the sub-office had been given notice to quit by their landlord – and it was expected that the building would now be demolished. Although there was an acceptance that the existing post office was lost, steps were being taken to try and find an alternative site.

At this week's meeting of the Rainford Management Committee, Cllr. Sam Appleton said: "The sub-post office is vital to Crank. The old people would have to come down into Rainford to collect their pensions if it were to close, and apart from the cost to them there are very few buses."

Cllr. Dennis Collins, himself a postman, added: "If we can find somewhere to put the office ourselves we could perhaps solve the situation." And so the committee decided to instruct its officers to look for a suitable piece of land owned by the council in which they could build a shop with flat that could also encompass a sub-post office.

Rainhill Guides held a gala on the 30th to raise cash for repairs to their hut in Stoney Lane. Perhaps Charles Harrison from Chancery Lane in Parr went to the event in his new car. The Echo wrote on the 30th that he'd won a Ford Capri in one of their competitions and had already collected it.

St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library

Next week's stories will include the anti-pollution measures that Leathers promised to introduce, the Capitol Cinema's all-night screenings, St Helens Council agree to receive expelled Ugandan Asians and the mysterious Rainford explosions.
This week's stories include the ding-dong row at St Bartholomew's Church in Rainhill, the severe criticism of St Helens by its own townsfolk, the giant crane that came crashing down on a Liverpool Road building site, the residents of Factory Row in Ravenhead complain about Pilks and more attempts are made to save Crank post office.

We begin on the 26th with the Liverpool Echo's profile of Neil Foster, the founder of the recently-formed Vintage Rock 'n' Roll Appreciation Society.

The 32-year-old clerk from Coniston Avenue in Prescot had found many fellow devotees of ‘50s rock and roll and his revivalist movement was flourishing. But Neil had two gripes.

He said they were finding it difficult to locate a genuine rock and roll group to play for them and many of their younger members didn't know how to jive.

This week Barbara Windsor starred with Simon Oates in a 'The Owl & The Pussycat' at the Theatre Royal in St Helens.

The Stage newspaper in its review of the show from earlier in the month said: "The diminutive and curvy Miss Windsor, in a variety of bizarre and colourful dress and undress, belts out the tart's tantrums to fine effect."

Unfortunately, the Theatre Royal's ad in the Reporter spelt the actress's name as Barbara Winsor.

St Helens building workers returned to work this week after an agreement was reached that brought the 12-week-long nationwide strike to an end.

The men had wanted a minimum wage of £30 for a 35-hour working week but had to settle for a three-year deal paying £26 with no maximum hours.

A mass meeting of 6,000 Greater Merseyside building workers at the Liverpool Stadium voted to return to work, while deploring the agreement reached by their National Executive.
St Helens Reporter masthead 1972
The St Helens Reporter's lead story on the 29th concerned the results of last week's survey on residents' views that twenty members of the Junior Chamber of Commerce had conducted.

And those interviewed certainly didn't hold back in their opinions of St Helens!

"A bloody shambles", said one respondent. "Scruffy", "disgusting" and "a mess" were other forthright views expressed.

Out of 500 people canvassed on the street, 72% said their impression of the town centre was bad and 60% also thought that most people had no pride in their town.

Less than a third of interviewees thought that enough was being done to attract new industries and jobs to St Helens.

Popular suggestions for improvements were a reduction in the time between the demolition of old homes and other buildings and the construction of replacements; greater moves to reduce pollution; more effort to keep the town clean; the planting of more trees and the creation of open spaces, particularly as local play areas as opposed to big parks.

The survey's organiser, Derek Broom, told the Reporter:

"When we asked for any comments on impressions of the town centre, everyone was a bad one. There were no good comments about it.

"The people who said their impressions were bad, didn't just say they were bad. They said the town was terrible, foul and disgusting. Their replies were very strong."

The survey was conducted on behalf of the St Helens and District Civic Society, which had only been formed just under a year ago.

This was the Reporter's introduction to their description of how a 26-ton crane had earlier in the week crashed down on a Liverpool Road building site:

"Three men; frozen with horror, stared death in the face as a giant crane tottered and swayed above their heads."

The St Helens men frozen with fear were John Traynor from Parr, Jim Kilgannon of Raglan Street and Derek Ashcroft from Grange Park.

The crane was being moved when part of the road crumbled and the machine was knocked off balance.

"We didn't know which way it was going to go," explained John Traynor. "Then it very slowly toppled away from us."

Jim Kilgannon added: "The driver was going to jump out as it began to fall away, but we shouted to him to keep still. If he'd jumped out he could have gone underneath."

As the crane crashed down on its side, its 70-foot jib smashed through scaffolding and into the flats that were under construction. But only a window and some tiles were damaged.

There were no injuries, apart from the shocked crane driver. But it could have been a different story, as most of the workers normally on site were out on strike and could otherwise have been struck when the crane fell.
St Bartholomew Church, Rainhill, St Helens
The Reporter also described how a "ding-dong row" had broken out in Rainhill.

Parish councillor Pat Johnson said that as young mothers were soothing their children to sleep, bell ringers at St Bartholomew's Church (pictured above in earlier days) would swing into action.

"The residents of Mooreway must feel like wringing the bell ringers' necks," commented Mrs Johnson.

The practice peals that disturbed the little children only occurred on Monday evenings between 7 pm and 9 pm and Rainhill Parish Council intended asking the bellringers to switch to a more reasonable time.

However, when the Reporter approached Anthony Walsh, the ringmaster at St Bartholomew's, he said:

"The bells had been rung at the church for 100 years – long before the residents came here."

However, the parish priest, the Rev. Father Joseph McNamara, was rather more co-operative, saying he would ask the bell ringers to alter their times.

In most editions of the Reporter during 1972, some community within the St Helens district was complaining about their lot.

It might be the state of their houses or gardens, or even the nearby roads that got their goat.

This week the householders of Factory Row in Ravenhead were the ones up in arms and complaining about Pilkingtons.

The glass giant was their landlord and the residents reckoned that three years earlier they had promised to improve the forecourt of their homes – but nothing had yet been done.

Having read about Pilks' recently announced plans to landscape the "Chemics" wasteland between Borough Road and Ravenhead Road, the residents were concerned about becoming the "forgotten people", as it was put.

Factory Row tenant Margaret Leatherhead commented: "In Winter it is like a river, we get flooded and dirt is constantly being brought into the house. It is terrible."

And John Houghton said: "My wife and I have had enough of this place and are moving out. Dirt is trodden in the house all year round, and we have decided to move out.

"On top of the dirt we never get a good night's sleep. The men from the foundry use the place for a car park and are starting up their cars all night."

There was an advertising feature in the Reporter on Bill Lewis Sports of Baldwin Street.

The shop went back many years but was now run by Bill's son John who predicted that roller-skating was set to make a comeback in St Helens.

Rainford councillors were still occupied with attempts to save Crank Post Office.

Earlier this year the tenants of the sub-office had been given notice to quit by their landlord – and it was expected that the building would now be demolished.

Although there was an acceptance that the existing post office was lost, steps were being taken to try and find an alternative site.

At this week's meeting of the Rainford Management Committee, Cllr. Sam Appleton said:

"The sub-post office is vital to Crank. The old people would have to come down into Rainford to collect their pensions if it were to close, and apart from the cost to them there are very few buses."

Cllr. Dennis Collins, himself a postman, added: "If we can find somewhere to put the office ourselves we could perhaps solve the situation."

And so the committee decided to instruct its officers to look for a suitable piece of land owned by the council in which they could build a shop with flat that could also encompass a sub-post office.

Rainhill Guides held a gala on the 30th to raise cash for repairs to their hut in Stoney Lane.

Perhaps Charles Harrison from Chancery Lane in Parr went to the event in his new car. The Echo wrote on the 30th that he'd won a Ford Capri in one of their competitions and had already collected it.

St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library

Next week's stories will include the anti-pollution measures that Leathers promised to introduce, the Capitol Cinema's all-night screenings, St Helens Council agree to receive expelled Ugandan Asians and the mysterious Rainford explosions.
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