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.
Rainhill Hospital summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 29 JAN - 4 FEB 1974

This week's many stories include the big drop in air pollution in St Helens, the circus animals living in Burtonhead Road, the macho Royal Navy recruitment campaign, the big rise in drug overdose cases in St Helens, the farmers' concerns after gales struck the huge Rainford rubbish tip, the pigeons that were slaughtered in Thatto Heath and the leader of St Helens Council refuses to answer questions from the St Helens Reporter.
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Pilkington head office summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 22 - 28 JANUARY 1974

This week's many stories include the explosion at a College Street electricity sub-station that may have been arson, a letter bomb explodes at Pilkington's HQ in Prescot Road injuring a security man, the pioneering female Open University graduate, Sutton Manor miners discuss the bad conditions of their workplace and the controversy over Post Office proposals for a single daily letters collection in Rainford.
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Hotties fishing summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 15 - 21 JANUARY 1974

This week's stories include the armed robbery at McLean and Appleton's Prescot Road garage, the fishing for tropical fish in the Hotties, vandalism makes Billinge Hospital consider closing its toilets, the claim that Middlehurst Avenue in Windle was being turned into a strip joint, the appeal for the return of medicine bottles, the proposed extension to Robins Lane School and why it was the end of an era in Sutton.
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Leathers summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 8 - 14 JANUARY 1974

This week's many stories include the blockade of mud-splattering lorries in Burtonhead Road, how the three-day working week was affecting St Helens' businesses, Leathers' demand to dump their waste into public sewers, the plans to turn Birchley Hall in Billinge into a medieval village, the motor vehicle prosecutions under the Trades Descriptions Act and the remarkable Rainhill letter collection from a bygone age.
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Rockware Glass summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 1 - 7 JANUARY 1974

This week's many stories include the start of the three-day working week in St Helens, the death of the Blackbrook kidney donor, the senseless vandalism at the Victoria Park Meteorological Station, an investment boost for Rockware Glass, the liquidation threat for NUM men at Bold Colliery, UGB's Peasley glassworks advertise for a caring personnel manager and St Helens is dubbed a blackspot for child abnormalities.
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Savoy summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 25 - 31 DECEMBER 1973

This week's stories include the Christmas Day babies, a fireman is injured fighting a Christmas fire in a Bridge Street butcher's, the Reporter's New Year's Day baby competition, the dangerous distemper epidemic in St Helens, the Echo reviews the Christmas television shows, the pubs that defied a Christmas tradition and Rainford Council are forced to delay a solution to the monster lorries accused of destroying their village.
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Helena House St Helens summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 18 - 24 DECEMBER 1973

This week's stories include St Helens' shops preparations for the forthcoming 3-day week, the man who was banned from shopping in Tesco for complaining about being overcharged, the town's clergy criticise Sunday strip shows in Derbyshire Hill, a report on house building in St Helens, how St Helens' water supply had been safeguarded during an emergency and the seagulls on Blackbrook rugby club's pitch.
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Leathers St Helens summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 11 - 17 DECEMBER 1973

This week's many stories include the public inquiry held into Leathers Chemicals, Silcock's offer to lend their generators to St Helens Council to light up their Christmas trees, why the St Helens' hospitals were crowded with patients, the sinister disappearance of cats in Rainhill, a Christmas feature is in the Reporter, the tail docking of dogs and there's a facelift for the Fleece Hotel and a revamp for the Royal Raven.
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Victoria Square St Helens summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 4 - 10 DECEMBER 1973

This week's many stories include the robbery outside the Seven Stars in Eccleston, angry garage owners hit out at selfish car drivers in half-mile long petrol queues, the opening of Dingle Belles new motor accessories store in St Helens, the new pre-school playgroup for the children of shopping mothers, several major road improvements plans are announced and there's an expansion of the one-way system in St Helens.
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Kimmicks St Helens summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (27 NOV - 3 DEC 1973)

This week's many stories include the issuing of petrol rationing coupons in St Helens, the muck spreading that was taking place in Burtonhead Road that almost created an ice rink, Dave Lee Travis opens a new store in St Helens, the St Helens Youth Officer warns that modern technology was turning people into cabbages and St Helens Council is forced to buy back their old police station that they had given away for free.
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St Anne and Blessed Dominic St Helens summary

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (20 - 26 NOVEMBER 1973)

This week's stories include the Warrington Road gasworks that was being sent to Brazil, St Helens Council reveal their new coat of arms, a Parr abuser of boys and his blackmailer are both jailed, there is an update on how the ambulance strike is affecting local hospitals, a new Roman Catholic church is opened in Sutton and why in spite of the power crisis cinemagoers in St Helens were not shivering in their seats.
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