FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 27 OCT - 2 NOV 1975
This week's many stories include the angry words hurled at councillors attending a meeting in Derbyshire Hill, the big rise in bus fares, the Helena House Christmas Grotto, how one Rainhill eyesore had been replaced by another and complaints are made about the lengthy waiting times to see consultants and GPs.
We begin on the evening of the 28th at a packed Town Hall where parents, teachers, tutors and youth workers watched singer and comic Mike Harding present Duke of Edinburgh awards to over 150 youngsters. 1975 was considered a bonanza year for St Helens DOE gold medal awards, as 37 golds had gone to local people since February.
On the 29th a meeting of residents on the Derbyshire Hill estate was held in the Bold Miners Institute in Fleet Lane. Local clergymen and a police community liaison officer joined councillors on the platform representing East Sutton, Parr and Hardshaw wards who were on social services, housing and planning committees. They had been invited to the meeting to offer help and advice to the residents in forming a tenants community association. The coal board, which was the owner of the homes, had also been invited but no one had attended.
But the St Helens Reporter in their account of the meeting said a question and answer session had "threatened to develop into a slanging match as angry men and women hurled their grievances at the platform party." These mainly concerned delays in repairs to houses and to street lights and pavements.
George Williams of Brookland Lane was particularly vocal, accusing the council of inaction. He claimed that only three out of twelve lamps in his street were lit and then said: "If you walk on any of our pavements you fall over them. Yet you councillors ask us to vote for you. We don't want this association to become a band of yes-men for the councillors and the NCB."
But Jack Morris, chairman of the Housing Committee, angrily replied: "I have not come here to be criticised as an elected member. We can only try and get things done, but we don't hold the purse strings. I don't like these accusations – to say we've done nothing is a lie." Later a Town Hall spokesman told the Reporter: "There is a wearying story of non-stop vandalism on this estate. We do our best to combat it, but as fast as we make repairs things get broken again."
Last week the St Helens Reporter said "militant" junior hospital doctors in St Helens were "blacking" most non-urgent cases in a bid for better pay and conditions. Emergency cases were being exempted, as well as sick children and pregnant women. And this week a resolution of the dispute that was involving doctors across Merseyside appeared no nearer. In fact a spokesman for the doctors warned that his colleagues would take even tougher action if their demands were not met.
The number of patients attending outpatients departments at St Helens and Whiston hospitals was reported to have been substantially reduced, with no routine admissions being accepted. The dispute was a demand for a reduction in junior doctors' long working hours and an increase in their overtime payments.
In a separate story members of St Helens and Knowsley Community Health Council complained about the lengthy waiting time to see health professionals. The committee chairman, County Councillor Bob Foulkes, said that despite his wife's acute osteoarthritis, she was not able to see a consultant until next June, adding: "It is an abnormal situation when people have to wait seven or eight months. I realise the present industrial action would have some effect on the service, but this seems to be normal practice."
Another criticism that was made at the meeting that still resonates today was over the difficulty in getting appointments to see a GP, with some patients said to have to wait weeks. Councillor Seth Powell said: "In many cases it seems to be the doctor's receptionist who decides whether you get an appointment. She will ask you the symptoms and apparently make a diagnosis. If people want a doctor, they should be allowed to speak to one." The appointment scheme that was now in place in a number of GP practices within the St Helens district was fairly new and the Council asked for a report on it to be made.
With the demise of Oxley's, Helena House was now the only major store in St Helens offering a Christmas Grotto. Every year a lot of effort went into creating a theme for the event and an advert in the Reporter stated that from 10am on Saturday, November 8th, Santa would be in his "Womble Grotto" in Baldwin Street. The Wombles had begun on TV in 1973 and were now hugely popular.
The grotto would be in the basement of the store, which led, unsurprisingly, to the first floor, where all the toys were on show! And so the children could select the gifts they wanted before presenting Father Christmas with their list, with Helena House, no doubt, hoping they would all be bought from them.
I wrote recently how the demolition of an eyesore in Warrington Road in Rainhill had finally begun. The two derelict shops and a row of cottages opposite the Victoria Hotel in Warrington Road were being brought down as part of a redevelopment scheme. The site had been vacant for ten years and had become the target for vandals, with windows and boards smashed and slogans daubed on walls.
But this week the Reporter described how one eyesore had been replaced by a new one. Eventually it was hoped that a supermarket would be built on the site – but that, in itself, was controversial. However, for the time being what was described as an ugly fence had been half-erected there. It had only been semi-installed because St Helens Council had been so dissatisfied with the look of the fence that they had asked the demolition contractors to stop putting it up.
The fence was made of 6-foot high corrugated steel sheets and residents claimed that it was spoiling their village. John Kelly was manager of the next-door chemist's and said: "It's a disgrace. Nobody has been near this so-called safety fence for a week. I think the old cottages looked better than these present premises."
And John Webster, secretary of Rainhill Civic Society, said: "We have been agitating for these cottages to be pulled down for a long time because they were dangerous and they were being vandalised. We were assured that a respectable protective fencing would be put up. In our opinion that is more unsightly than the cottages – and they were bad enough." The council said they were now considering painting the fence and setting it back 10 feet and installing some seating in front for villagers.
On November 2nd bus fares in St Helens increased by 50%, with 4p fares rising to 6p, 8p to 12p, 12p to 18p and 15p to 23p. It was the third rise in the last 12 months, which meant bus fares in the town during that period had trebled. But the bus drivers and conductors were not happy about the increases as they feared they would be priced out of a job. Their spokesman Frank Lavelle said: "The increases are ridiculous. People just can't afford it."
And finally, on the 2nd at the ABC Savoy, 'Mandingo', starring James Mason and Susan George, replaced 'Shampoo' starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. And at the Capitol Cinema, the double-bill of 'Straw Dogs' and 'Soldier Blue' was replaced by 'Klansman', starring Lee Marvin and Richard Burton.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include more criticism of the bus fare rises, the woman who abused St Helens councillors at their monthly meeting, the three horses that strayed on to the Rainford Bypass and the Rainhill Hospital Bonfire Night.
We begin on the evening of the 28th at a packed Town Hall where parents, teachers, tutors and youth workers watched singer and comic Mike Harding present Duke of Edinburgh awards to over 150 youngsters. 1975 was considered a bonanza year for St Helens DOE gold medal awards, as 37 golds had gone to local people since February.
On the 29th a meeting of residents on the Derbyshire Hill estate was held in the Bold Miners Institute in Fleet Lane. Local clergymen and a police community liaison officer joined councillors on the platform representing East Sutton, Parr and Hardshaw wards who were on social services, housing and planning committees. They had been invited to the meeting to offer help and advice to the residents in forming a tenants community association. The coal board, which was the owner of the homes, had also been invited but no one had attended.
But the St Helens Reporter in their account of the meeting said a question and answer session had "threatened to develop into a slanging match as angry men and women hurled their grievances at the platform party." These mainly concerned delays in repairs to houses and to street lights and pavements.
George Williams of Brookland Lane was particularly vocal, accusing the council of inaction. He claimed that only three out of twelve lamps in his street were lit and then said: "If you walk on any of our pavements you fall over them. Yet you councillors ask us to vote for you. We don't want this association to become a band of yes-men for the councillors and the NCB."
But Jack Morris, chairman of the Housing Committee, angrily replied: "I have not come here to be criticised as an elected member. We can only try and get things done, but we don't hold the purse strings. I don't like these accusations – to say we've done nothing is a lie." Later a Town Hall spokesman told the Reporter: "There is a wearying story of non-stop vandalism on this estate. We do our best to combat it, but as fast as we make repairs things get broken again."
Last week the St Helens Reporter said "militant" junior hospital doctors in St Helens were "blacking" most non-urgent cases in a bid for better pay and conditions. Emergency cases were being exempted, as well as sick children and pregnant women. And this week a resolution of the dispute that was involving doctors across Merseyside appeared no nearer. In fact a spokesman for the doctors warned that his colleagues would take even tougher action if their demands were not met.
The number of patients attending outpatients departments at St Helens and Whiston hospitals was reported to have been substantially reduced, with no routine admissions being accepted. The dispute was a demand for a reduction in junior doctors' long working hours and an increase in their overtime payments.
In a separate story members of St Helens and Knowsley Community Health Council complained about the lengthy waiting time to see health professionals. The committee chairman, County Councillor Bob Foulkes, said that despite his wife's acute osteoarthritis, she was not able to see a consultant until next June, adding: "It is an abnormal situation when people have to wait seven or eight months. I realise the present industrial action would have some effect on the service, but this seems to be normal practice."
Another criticism that was made at the meeting that still resonates today was over the difficulty in getting appointments to see a GP, with some patients said to have to wait weeks. Councillor Seth Powell said: "In many cases it seems to be the doctor's receptionist who decides whether you get an appointment. She will ask you the symptoms and apparently make a diagnosis. If people want a doctor, they should be allowed to speak to one." The appointment scheme that was now in place in a number of GP practices within the St Helens district was fairly new and the Council asked for a report on it to be made.
The grotto would be in the basement of the store, which led, unsurprisingly, to the first floor, where all the toys were on show! And so the children could select the gifts they wanted before presenting Father Christmas with their list, with Helena House, no doubt, hoping they would all be bought from them.
I wrote recently how the demolition of an eyesore in Warrington Road in Rainhill had finally begun. The two derelict shops and a row of cottages opposite the Victoria Hotel in Warrington Road were being brought down as part of a redevelopment scheme. The site had been vacant for ten years and had become the target for vandals, with windows and boards smashed and slogans daubed on walls.
But this week the Reporter described how one eyesore had been replaced by a new one. Eventually it was hoped that a supermarket would be built on the site – but that, in itself, was controversial. However, for the time being what was described as an ugly fence had been half-erected there. It had only been semi-installed because St Helens Council had been so dissatisfied with the look of the fence that they had asked the demolition contractors to stop putting it up.
The fence was made of 6-foot high corrugated steel sheets and residents claimed that it was spoiling their village. John Kelly was manager of the next-door chemist's and said: "It's a disgrace. Nobody has been near this so-called safety fence for a week. I think the old cottages looked better than these present premises."
And John Webster, secretary of Rainhill Civic Society, said: "We have been agitating for these cottages to be pulled down for a long time because they were dangerous and they were being vandalised. We were assured that a respectable protective fencing would be put up. In our opinion that is more unsightly than the cottages – and they were bad enough." The council said they were now considering painting the fence and setting it back 10 feet and installing some seating in front for villagers.
And finally, on the 2nd at the ABC Savoy, 'Mandingo', starring James Mason and Susan George, replaced 'Shampoo' starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. And at the Capitol Cinema, the double-bill of 'Straw Dogs' and 'Soldier Blue' was replaced by 'Klansman', starring Lee Marvin and Richard Burton.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include more criticism of the bus fare rises, the woman who abused St Helens councillors at their monthly meeting, the three horses that strayed on to the Rainford Bypass and the Rainhill Hospital Bonfire Night.
This week's many stories include the angry words hurled at councillors attending a meeting in Derbyshire Hill, the big rise in bus fares, the Helena House Christmas Grotto, how one Rainhill eyesore had been replaced by another and complaints are made about the lengthy waiting times to see consultants and GPs.
We begin on the evening of the 28th at a packed Town Hall where parents, teachers, tutors and youth workers watched singer and comic Mike Harding present Duke of Edinburgh awards to over 150 youngsters.
1975 was considered a bonanza year for St Helens DOE gold medal awards, as 37 golds had gone to local people since February.
On the 29th a meeting of residents on the Derbyshire Hill estate was held in the Bold Miners Institute in Fleet Lane.
Local clergymen and a police community liaison officer joined councillors on the platform representing East Sutton, Parr and Hardshaw wards who were on social services, housing and planning committees.
They had been invited to the meeting to offer help and advice to the residents in forming a tenants community association.
The coal board, which was the owner of the homes, had also been invited but no one had attended.
But the St Helens Reporter in their account of the meeting said a question and answer session had "threatened to develop into a slanging match as angry men and women hurled their grievances at the platform party."
These mainly concerned delays in repairs to houses and to street lights and pavements.
George Williams of Brookland Lane was particularly vocal, accusing the council of inaction. He claimed that only three out of twelve lamps in his street were lit and then said:
"If you walk on any of our pavements you fall over them. Yet you councillors ask us to vote for you. We don't want this association to become a band of yes-men for the councillors and the NCB."
But Jack Morris, chairman of the Housing Committee, angrily replied: "I have not come here to be criticised as an elected member. We can only try and get things done, but we don't hold the purse strings. I don't like these accusations – to say we've done nothing is a lie."
Later a Town Hall spokesman told the Reporter: "There is a wearying story of non-stop vandalism on this estate. We do our best to combat it, but as fast as we make repairs things get broken again."
Last week the St Helens Reporter said "militant" junior hospital doctors in St Helens were "blacking" most non-urgent cases in a bid for better pay and conditions.
Emergency cases were being exempted, as well as sick children and pregnant women.
And this week a resolution of the dispute that was involving doctors across Merseyside appeared no nearer.
In fact a spokesman for the doctors warned that his colleagues would take even tougher action if their demands were not met.
The number of patients attending outpatients departments at St Helens and Whiston hospitals was reported to have been substantially reduced, with no routine admissions being accepted.
The dispute was a demand for a reduction in junior doctors' long working hours and an increase in their overtime payments.
In a separate story members of St Helens and Knowsley Community Health Council complained about the lengthy waiting time to see health professionals.
The committee chairman, County Councillor Bob Foulkes, said that despite his wife's acute osteoarthritis, she was not able to see a consultant until next June, adding:
"It is an abnormal situation when people have to wait seven or eight months. I realise the present industrial action would have some effect on the service, but this seems to be normal practice."
Another criticism that was made at the meeting that still resonates today was over the difficulty in getting appointments to see a GP, with some patients said to have to wait weeks.
Councillor Seth Powell said: "In many cases it seems to be the doctor's receptionist who decides whether you get an appointment. She will ask you the symptoms and apparently make a diagnosis. If people want a doctor, they should be allowed to speak to one."
The appointment scheme that was now in place in a number of GP practices within the St Helens district was fairly new and the Council asked for a report on it to be made.
With the demise of Oxley's, Helena House was now the only major store in St Helens offering a Christmas Grotto.
Every year a lot of effort went into creating a theme for the event and an advert in the Reporter stated that from 10am on Saturday, November 8th, Santa would be in his "Womble Grotto" in Baldwin Street. The Wombles had begun on TV in 1973 and were now hugely popular.
The grotto would be in the basement of the store, which led, unsurprisingly, to the first floor, where all the toys were on show!
And so the children could select the gifts they wanted before presenting Father Christmas with their list, with Helena House, no doubt, hoping they would all be bought from them.
I wrote recently how the demolition of an eyesore in Warrington Road in Rainhill had finally begun.
The two derelict shops and a row of cottages opposite the Victoria Hotel in Warrington Road were being brought down as part of a redevelopment scheme.
The site had been vacant for ten years and had become the target for vandals, with windows and boards smashed and slogans daubed on walls.
But this week the Reporter described how one eyesore had been replaced by a new one.
Eventually it was hoped that a supermarket would be built on the site – but that, in itself, was controversial. However, for the time being what was described as an ugly fence had been half-erected there.
It had only been semi-installed because St Helens Council had been so dissatisfied with the look of the fence that they had asked the demolition contractors to stop putting it up.
The fence was made of 6-foot high corrugated steel sheets and residents claimed that it was spoiling their village.
John Kelly was manager of the next-door chemist's and said: "It's a disgrace. Nobody has been near this so-called safety fence for a week. I think the old cottages looked better than these present premises."
And John Webster, secretary of Rainhill Civic Society, said:
"We have been agitating for these cottages to be pulled down for a long time because they were dangerous and they were being vandalised.
"We were assured that a respectable protective fencing would be put up. In our opinion that is more unsightly than the cottages – and they were bad enough."
The council said they were now considering painting the fence and setting it back 10 feet and installing some seating in front for villagers.
On November 2nd bus fares in St Helens increased by 50%, with 4p fares rising to 6p, 8p to 12p, 12p to 18p and 15p to 23p.
It was the third rise in the last 12 months, which meant bus fares in the town during that period had trebled.
But the bus drivers and conductors were not happy about the increases as they feared they would be priced out of a job.
Their spokesman Frank Lavelle said: "The increases are ridiculous. People just can't afford it."
And finally, on the 2nd at the ABC Savoy, 'Mandingo', starring James Mason and Susan George, replaced 'Shampoo' starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie.
And at the Capitol Cinema, the double-bill of 'Straw Dogs' and 'Soldier Blue' was replaced by 'Klansman', starring Lee Marvin and Richard Burton.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include more criticism of the bus fare rises, the woman who abused St Helens councillors at their monthly meeting, the three horses that strayed on to the Rainford Bypass and the Rainhill Hospital Bonfire Night.
We begin on the evening of the 28th at a packed Town Hall where parents, teachers, tutors and youth workers watched singer and comic Mike Harding present Duke of Edinburgh awards to over 150 youngsters.
1975 was considered a bonanza year for St Helens DOE gold medal awards, as 37 golds had gone to local people since February.
On the 29th a meeting of residents on the Derbyshire Hill estate was held in the Bold Miners Institute in Fleet Lane.
Local clergymen and a police community liaison officer joined councillors on the platform representing East Sutton, Parr and Hardshaw wards who were on social services, housing and planning committees.
They had been invited to the meeting to offer help and advice to the residents in forming a tenants community association.
The coal board, which was the owner of the homes, had also been invited but no one had attended.
But the St Helens Reporter in their account of the meeting said a question and answer session had "threatened to develop into a slanging match as angry men and women hurled their grievances at the platform party."
These mainly concerned delays in repairs to houses and to street lights and pavements.
George Williams of Brookland Lane was particularly vocal, accusing the council of inaction. He claimed that only three out of twelve lamps in his street were lit and then said:
"If you walk on any of our pavements you fall over them. Yet you councillors ask us to vote for you. We don't want this association to become a band of yes-men for the councillors and the NCB."
But Jack Morris, chairman of the Housing Committee, angrily replied: "I have not come here to be criticised as an elected member. We can only try and get things done, but we don't hold the purse strings. I don't like these accusations – to say we've done nothing is a lie."
Later a Town Hall spokesman told the Reporter: "There is a wearying story of non-stop vandalism on this estate. We do our best to combat it, but as fast as we make repairs things get broken again."
Last week the St Helens Reporter said "militant" junior hospital doctors in St Helens were "blacking" most non-urgent cases in a bid for better pay and conditions.
Emergency cases were being exempted, as well as sick children and pregnant women.
And this week a resolution of the dispute that was involving doctors across Merseyside appeared no nearer.
In fact a spokesman for the doctors warned that his colleagues would take even tougher action if their demands were not met.
The number of patients attending outpatients departments at St Helens and Whiston hospitals was reported to have been substantially reduced, with no routine admissions being accepted.
The dispute was a demand for a reduction in junior doctors' long working hours and an increase in their overtime payments.
In a separate story members of St Helens and Knowsley Community Health Council complained about the lengthy waiting time to see health professionals.
The committee chairman, County Councillor Bob Foulkes, said that despite his wife's acute osteoarthritis, she was not able to see a consultant until next June, adding:
"It is an abnormal situation when people have to wait seven or eight months. I realise the present industrial action would have some effect on the service, but this seems to be normal practice."
Another criticism that was made at the meeting that still resonates today was over the difficulty in getting appointments to see a GP, with some patients said to have to wait weeks.
Councillor Seth Powell said: "In many cases it seems to be the doctor's receptionist who decides whether you get an appointment. She will ask you the symptoms and apparently make a diagnosis. If people want a doctor, they should be allowed to speak to one."
The appointment scheme that was now in place in a number of GP practices within the St Helens district was fairly new and the Council asked for a report on it to be made.
Every year a lot of effort went into creating a theme for the event and an advert in the Reporter stated that from 10am on Saturday, November 8th, Santa would be in his "Womble Grotto" in Baldwin Street. The Wombles had begun on TV in 1973 and were now hugely popular.
The grotto would be in the basement of the store, which led, unsurprisingly, to the first floor, where all the toys were on show!
And so the children could select the gifts they wanted before presenting Father Christmas with their list, with Helena House, no doubt, hoping they would all be bought from them.
I wrote recently how the demolition of an eyesore in Warrington Road in Rainhill had finally begun.
The two derelict shops and a row of cottages opposite the Victoria Hotel in Warrington Road were being brought down as part of a redevelopment scheme.
The site had been vacant for ten years and had become the target for vandals, with windows and boards smashed and slogans daubed on walls.
But this week the Reporter described how one eyesore had been replaced by a new one.
Eventually it was hoped that a supermarket would be built on the site – but that, in itself, was controversial. However, for the time being what was described as an ugly fence had been half-erected there.
It had only been semi-installed because St Helens Council had been so dissatisfied with the look of the fence that they had asked the demolition contractors to stop putting it up.
The fence was made of 6-foot high corrugated steel sheets and residents claimed that it was spoiling their village.
John Kelly was manager of the next-door chemist's and said: "It's a disgrace. Nobody has been near this so-called safety fence for a week. I think the old cottages looked better than these present premises."
And John Webster, secretary of Rainhill Civic Society, said:
"We have been agitating for these cottages to be pulled down for a long time because they were dangerous and they were being vandalised.
"We were assured that a respectable protective fencing would be put up. In our opinion that is more unsightly than the cottages – and they were bad enough."
The council said they were now considering painting the fence and setting it back 10 feet and installing some seating in front for villagers.
It was the third rise in the last 12 months, which meant bus fares in the town during that period had trebled.
But the bus drivers and conductors were not happy about the increases as they feared they would be priced out of a job.
Their spokesman Frank Lavelle said: "The increases are ridiculous. People just can't afford it."
And finally, on the 2nd at the ABC Savoy, 'Mandingo', starring James Mason and Susan George, replaced 'Shampoo' starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie.
And at the Capitol Cinema, the double-bill of 'Straw Dogs' and 'Soldier Blue' was replaced by 'Klansman', starring Lee Marvin and Richard Burton.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include more criticism of the bus fare rises, the woman who abused St Helens councillors at their monthly meeting, the three horses that strayed on to the Rainford Bypass and the Rainhill Hospital Bonfire Night.