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!

ST HELENS 50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
This page is a series of weekly articles that describe llfe in the Lancashire town in the 1970s and which are updated every Sunday morning.
50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
This page is a series of weekly articles that describe llfe in St Helens in Lancashire in the 1970s and which are updated every Sunday morning.
Nevins New Year babies summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (20th - 26th DECEMBER 1971)

This week's article is a Christmas special with many stories describing how the festive season was spent – including the New Year baby contest, the Christmas parties, Christmas Day dinner for Thatto Heath old folk, the St Helens Hospital crib theft, the New Year scheme to reduce the council house waiting list and the Dean of St Helens upsets ex-soldiers by delivering a fiery Christmas sermon on Northern Ireland.
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St Helens Crematorium Summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (13th - 19th DECEMBER 1971)

This week's 16 stories include the shocking problem at St Helens Crematorium, disappointment for Rainhill's mad mile safety campaigners, a new nightclub opens in Carr Mill, St Helens Council is told to speed up its slum clearance, it's announced that dozens of homes in the Napier Street area of St Helens are to be knocked down and hopes are raised that the Haydock hole-in-the-heart boy could be home for Christmas.
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Tom O'Connor Summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (6th - 12th DECEMBER 1971)

This week's stories include plans for a giant night life complex at Carr Mill, a UFO stops play at Ruskin Drive, an arson attack on a Sherdley Road haulage contractor, a Haydock boy has a successful hole-in-the-heart operation, the tree vandals of Derbyshire Hill, St Helens Police's Christmas crime prevention plan, a victory for miners at Bold Colliery and long-term plans to shut down Rainhill Hospital are announced.
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Helena House Summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (29th NOV. - 5th DEC. 1971)

This week's stories include the complexity of concessionary bus travel within the St Helens and Merseyside district, Saints fans are attacked by Leeds supporters at an away match, there is a newspaper feature on the Sherdley Road gipsy site, the Christmas shopping bargains available at Helena House, a big Sankey Canal clean up scheme is announced and a call is made for the eyesore of Carr Mill Dam to be improved.
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Barrow Street Summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (22nd - 28th NOVEMBER 1971)

This week's stories include the couple who credited the St Helens air with becoming pregnant, the derelict houses in Boundary Road that were a danger to children, Pat Phoenix opens a health food shop in Barrow Street, Rainford's novel way of getting a new youth club built, attempts to save the seemingly doomed Prescot Town FC, Rainhill Amateur Operatic Society's latest show and Beecham's other pills and powders.
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Theatre Royal Summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (15th - 21st NOVEMBER 1971)

This week's 18 stories include the soaring VD toll in St Helens, a police raid on the Wizard's Cave in North Road, the lengthy telephone waiting list, a fundraising game in aid of Jack Pimblett's family, why the East Lancs between Moss Bank and Carr Mill needed a face-lift, the 16-year-old Parr girl who lost most of a hand in a machine and more on the 11-year-old girl from Clock Face who was banned from playing football.
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Lancots Lane Summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (8th - 14th NOVEMBER 1971)

This week's 17 stories include the Pilkington loo strike at Cowley Hill, plans for a giant one-way road system in St Helens, the young lion tamer from Rainhill, a coroner calls for dipped headlights on cars after a tragedy in Pocket Nook, the bus driver who lodged his vehicle under a Sutton bridge after being over the limit and the 11-year-old girl footballer from Clock Face who caused a row after she'd played for a boys' team.
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Redgate Boys Summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (1st - 7th NOVEMBER 1971)

This week's seventeen stories include the children who played a dangerous game of chicken on Croppers Hill, the pioneering flexi-time firm from Lancots Lane in Sutton, Helena House open their annual Xmas Grotto, the Bonfire night plot in Liverpool Road, the strict Redgate Boys Band rulebook, the half-way stage is reached in building Eccleston's new fire station and St Helens police's inquiry into horse doping.
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Warrington Road Summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (25th - 31st OCTOBER 1971)

This week's stories include the Billinge boy's 20ft. drop down a manhole, how local MPs cast their vote as the Commons elects to join the Common Market, the Prescot man honoured for singing on a ship at Gallipoli, why Pilks could not make strong enough glass to stop vandals in Liverpool, another accident on Warrington Road in Rainhill and the proposed black belt for a blind judo enthusiast in Newton-le-Willows.
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Providence Hospital Summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (18th - 24th OCTOBER 1971)

This week's 15 stories include the funeral of rugby star Jack Pimblett, the Boardman's furniture fire in Bridge Street, the Rainhill school inspired by Knowsley Safari Park, the monkey guard dog at the reserve, the growth of female football teams, the Duke Street newsagent charged with possessing obscene literature, a boost for Providence Hospital and whether women bosses were the most detestable of the species.
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Plaza Summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (11th - 17th OCTOBER 1971)

This week's many stories include the terrified widow driven from her home by Plaza strip night rowdies, an update on abandoned dog Faithful Fred, the mysterious draining of the deadly canal at Haydock, a warning by St Helens Police about housebreaking, the Pilkington Recs scrum collapse tragedy, the Thatto Heath modern man and the musical 'Showboat' is performed at the Theatre Royal and receives a rave review.
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