FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (1st - 7th NOVEMBER 1971)
This week's 17 stories include the children who played chicken on Croppers Hill, the flexitime pioneer of Lancots Lane, Helena House open their Xmas Grotto, a Bonfire night plot in Liverpool Road, the strict Redgate Boys Band rulebook, more details of the Merseyside super-council and St Helens police's inquiry into horse doping.
At the start of the week the Liverpool Echo gave this glowing review to a performance in St Helens by the Paraguayan ensemble Los Paraguayos: "Those superb exponents of Latin American music, Luie Alberto del Parana y Los Paraguayos, received the tumultuous reception of a capacity audience at the Theatre Royal, St. Helens, on Saturday night. The five musicians and the glamorous Carmen delighted the audience with their skill and exuberance. Highlight of the evening was the playing of two harps simultaneously – “for the first time in Europe” – by Paraguayan musician Fausto Franco, known to his colleagues as “The magic hands of the Indian Harp.”"
On the 2nd there was an accident at the junction of Parr Stocks Road and Sorogold Street in St Helens in which Stephen Haunch was hit by a car. The nine-year-old from Rose Drive in Haydock was admitted to Providence Hospital with head injuries and on the following day was stated to be satisfactory.
A report issued in March suggested that as many as 80 horses competing in races in Britain could be doped each year. The Echo revealed on the 2nd that the Home Office had commissioned two St Helens police officers to produce a further report on ways of improving security at the racetrack. Chief Superintendent Jack Watson, the head of St Helens police, and Inspector Tom Mather had been visiting racecourses for two months and hoped to be able to submit their recommendations by the end of December.
Judith Smith of Fairlie Drive in Rainhill was pictured in the Echo on the 2nd after recently spending six weeks on the shores of the Dead Sea in Israel. The 24-year-old had worked on a kibbutz in temperatures of 100 degrees (38°C). "I lost a stone and my friend lost seven pounds", said Judith.
It was reported on the 2nd that although Knowsley Safari Park would be remaining open during the winter months, the special Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive bus service conveying passengers through the animal reserve had ended. In thirteen weeks since the start of August, the double decker buses from Speke – and passing through Garston, Pier Head, Bootle, Netherton and Kirkby – had carried 11,500 people. The cost – including admission to the new park – had been only 60p for adults and 35p for children under 15. That compared well to the £1 price for admission by car. St Helens Corporation's Transport Department also ran their own safari buses to the reserve. The total number of visitors to the Safari Park was now described as being well past the half million mark – putting the 2 million target for the first year of Lord Derby and Jimmy Chipperfield's scheme easily in reach.
At St Helens Town Council's meeting on the 3rd, Cllr. Bill Shepherd described seeing children playing chicken on Croppers Hill. Cllr. Shepherd said he had witnessed youngsters on two occasions dicing with death. Older children had even dragged two-year-old toddlers across Prescot Road in front of passing cars.
"How would you like to clock on and off work whenever the fancy takes you – within reason, that is? Come in at eight and finish at four one day, in at 9.15 and finish at six the next? Better still work the maximum period every day, then take a long weekend or a day [off] for Christmas shopping?" That was Monica O’Hare's introduction to her lengthy article in the Echo on the 4th describing Pakcel Converters. The firm based in Lancots Lane in Sutton was pioneering what we know as flexitime in St Helens. The subsidiary company of British Sidac described itself as a specialist supplier of printed flexible packaging films and laminates. In other words, wrappers and packets for food like crisps.
Personnel manager Robert Swarbrick was the man behind the scheme and said: "The idea wasn't to increase productivity, just to facilitate those who have buses and trains to catch, want to miss the rush hour on the roads, or who would like to go shopping or take their children to school. As far as I know we are only the second firm in this country to use the idea, but it has certainly caught on in West Germany."
Audio typist June Brockley thought it a marvellous system: "This week I'm working from nine to five and only taking half an hour for lunch. It means I can drop the children off to school first, and collect them from their grandma's in the evenings. Last week when they were on mid-term holiday, I worked from 8.15 to 4.30." Secretary Marian Orme had been working an additional fifteen minutes every evening and reducing her lunch break to half-an-hour. "As a result", she said, "I was able to take the day off on Monday to supervise preliminary work for the changeover to North Sea gas. The beauty of the whole thing is that no one is forced to change. You can still work your old hours if you wish. Many do."
Silcock's annual Thatto Heath Pleasure Fair in Leicester Street off Elephant Lane began on the 4th and would run for three weeks – but was closed on Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Also on that day, the Unnamed Players began three evenings of performances of two plays called 'Pillar To Post' and 'Distant Drums' at the Theatre Royal.
The 350-page Bill that would take St Helens out of Lancashire and into a new "Merseyside Super-council" in April 1974 was published on the 4th. Since Environment Secretary Peter Walker had published the first draft plans in February, more than 60 changes had been made. However, none affected St Helens, although Southport would now be joining the town within a metropolitan Merseyside. It was intended that Merseyside would include four local district councils, with one comprising St Helens, Haydock, Huyton-with-Roby, Kirkby, Newton-le-Willows, Prescot, Rainford, Skelmersdale and Holland, Billinge-and-Winstanley (except the areas in Greater Manchester), the South Ward of Ashton-in-Makerfield, part of Whiston, part of Bold and Simonswood.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 5th and described a row in Liverpool Road after council officials had removed a bonfire from waste ground. The wood was taken away on safety grounds, much to the fury of Eileen Harrison. She told the paper: "I was so angry when I saw the workmen breaking it up. The children have been collecting rubbish for weeks now." However, Mrs Harrison revealed that the bonfire would still be going ahead, as more material was being collected and stashed in backyards until the evening of the 5th. The Reporter's headline to their article was: "Angry Mothers Hatch Bonfire Night Plot".
The Whalley's World column profiled Leo Murphy, the leader of Redgate Boys' Silver Band (pictured above), who was described as a man who mixed discipline with benevolence. The 57-year-old's rulebook had these key points: • All new applicants to play in his band had to be thoroughly vetted. • No girls were permitted to join. • Band boys who got emotionally involved with girls were shown the door. • Smartness, discipline and good manners must always be evident amongst members.
Explaining his philosophy, Mr Murphy said: "I must really take to a boy if he is to join my band … and he must realise that it is an honour for him to be with Redgate. If he would rather go courting than pay attention to his music, then I have no use for the lad. I'm not playing second fiddle."
The Reporter also stated that work on the new Eccleston fire station had reached its half-way stage. The building in Millfields costing £72,000 (about £1m in today's money) – and manned by 28 officers – would open next Spring. Fifty years appears to be the lifespan of many a large building these days. Developers now plan to demolish the station and replace it with a care home – at a cost of £12 million. And a separate article in the Reporter described how Whiston's Planning and Development Committee had given a developer permission to clear an eight-acre site off Burrows Lane in preparation for the building of a new estate.
At 10am on the 6th, Helena House (pictured above) opened their Xmas Grotto in their department store's basement. In previous years Santa had arrived in Baldwin Street via a parade from Shaw Street Station led by the aforementioned Redgate Boys' Silver Band. But there was no parade this year, although Father Christmas's young customers were still promised a Fairy Glen and a beautiful waterfall to gaze at and "lovely gifts for boys and girls of all ages".
Skelmersdale United had won the Amateur Cup at Wembley a few months earlier. I know, I was there with my noisy rattle cheering them on! However, last month after an examination of its books, the FA had hit the club with a record fine of £1,500 after finding them guilty of eight counts of gross mismanagement. At 3am on the 6th, top Skem Utd supporter John Cadwell of Church Road in Rainford undertook a 50-mile hike in aid of the Supporters' Appeal Fund. The sponsored walk was scheduled to end just before 3pm, when the team kicked off against Chorley and suffered their third home league defeat in a row.
And finally, many of us dwell on what might have been if we'd done this or hadn't done that. I expect Alan Williams might well have pondered what could have been if he hadn't given away the Beatles! This article was published this week in the Echo:
"A man said to have been the original manager of the Beatles and former owner of the Blue Angel Club, Liverpool, now owed £6,139 to creditors, a Liverpool Bankruptcy hearing was told to-day. He is Alan Richard Williams, aged 41, of Grove Park, Toxteth, Liverpool. The Registrar, Mr. J. Tegid Jones, heard that Mr. Williams had managed the famous Liverpool pop group when they first started, but had not found it possible to commercialise their act himself. Mr. R. W. F. Pagan, the Official Receiver, said that in March, 1961, Mr. Williams developed premises in Seel Street known as the Blue Angel Club.
"This was at that time a proprietary club with Mr. Williams as the proprietor. According to Mr. Williams, up until 1968, the club had operated successfully, but with increasing competition as new similar establishments were opened throughout the city, he said, the business started to go downhill. A receiving order was made and it was found that Mr. Williams owed unsecured creditors £4,815, and preferential creditors £1,324. He had assets of £51, making a deficit of £6,088. Mr. Williams pointed out that he was owed by book debtors a total of £6,529."
Next week's stories will include the girl footballer from Clock Face who caused a row after playing in a boys team, the Pilkington loo strike, plans for a giant one-way road system, the young lion tamer from Rainhill and the bus lodged under a Sutton bridge.
At the start of the week the Liverpool Echo gave this glowing review to a performance in St Helens by the Paraguayan ensemble Los Paraguayos: "Those superb exponents of Latin American music, Luie Alberto del Parana y Los Paraguayos, received the tumultuous reception of a capacity audience at the Theatre Royal, St. Helens, on Saturday night. The five musicians and the glamorous Carmen delighted the audience with their skill and exuberance. Highlight of the evening was the playing of two harps simultaneously – “for the first time in Europe” – by Paraguayan musician Fausto Franco, known to his colleagues as “The magic hands of the Indian Harp.”"
On the 2nd there was an accident at the junction of Parr Stocks Road and Sorogold Street in St Helens in which Stephen Haunch was hit by a car. The nine-year-old from Rose Drive in Haydock was admitted to Providence Hospital with head injuries and on the following day was stated to be satisfactory.
A report issued in March suggested that as many as 80 horses competing in races in Britain could be doped each year. The Echo revealed on the 2nd that the Home Office had commissioned two St Helens police officers to produce a further report on ways of improving security at the racetrack. Chief Superintendent Jack Watson, the head of St Helens police, and Inspector Tom Mather had been visiting racecourses for two months and hoped to be able to submit their recommendations by the end of December.
Judith Smith of Fairlie Drive in Rainhill was pictured in the Echo on the 2nd after recently spending six weeks on the shores of the Dead Sea in Israel. The 24-year-old had worked on a kibbutz in temperatures of 100 degrees (38°C). "I lost a stone and my friend lost seven pounds", said Judith.
It was reported on the 2nd that although Knowsley Safari Park would be remaining open during the winter months, the special Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive bus service conveying passengers through the animal reserve had ended. In thirteen weeks since the start of August, the double decker buses from Speke – and passing through Garston, Pier Head, Bootle, Netherton and Kirkby – had carried 11,500 people. The cost – including admission to the new park – had been only 60p for adults and 35p for children under 15. That compared well to the £1 price for admission by car. St Helens Corporation's Transport Department also ran their own safari buses to the reserve. The total number of visitors to the Safari Park was now described as being well past the half million mark – putting the 2 million target for the first year of Lord Derby and Jimmy Chipperfield's scheme easily in reach.
At St Helens Town Council's meeting on the 3rd, Cllr. Bill Shepherd described seeing children playing chicken on Croppers Hill. Cllr. Shepherd said he had witnessed youngsters on two occasions dicing with death. Older children had even dragged two-year-old toddlers across Prescot Road in front of passing cars.
"How would you like to clock on and off work whenever the fancy takes you – within reason, that is? Come in at eight and finish at four one day, in at 9.15 and finish at six the next? Better still work the maximum period every day, then take a long weekend or a day [off] for Christmas shopping?" That was Monica O’Hare's introduction to her lengthy article in the Echo on the 4th describing Pakcel Converters. The firm based in Lancots Lane in Sutton was pioneering what we know as flexitime in St Helens. The subsidiary company of British Sidac described itself as a specialist supplier of printed flexible packaging films and laminates. In other words, wrappers and packets for food like crisps.
Personnel manager Robert Swarbrick was the man behind the scheme and said: "The idea wasn't to increase productivity, just to facilitate those who have buses and trains to catch, want to miss the rush hour on the roads, or who would like to go shopping or take their children to school. As far as I know we are only the second firm in this country to use the idea, but it has certainly caught on in West Germany."
Audio typist June Brockley thought it a marvellous system: "This week I'm working from nine to five and only taking half an hour for lunch. It means I can drop the children off to school first, and collect them from their grandma's in the evenings. Last week when they were on mid-term holiday, I worked from 8.15 to 4.30." Secretary Marian Orme had been working an additional fifteen minutes every evening and reducing her lunch break to half-an-hour. "As a result", she said, "I was able to take the day off on Monday to supervise preliminary work for the changeover to North Sea gas. The beauty of the whole thing is that no one is forced to change. You can still work your old hours if you wish. Many do."
Silcock's annual Thatto Heath Pleasure Fair in Leicester Street off Elephant Lane began on the 4th and would run for three weeks – but was closed on Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Also on that day, the Unnamed Players began three evenings of performances of two plays called 'Pillar To Post' and 'Distant Drums' at the Theatre Royal.
The 350-page Bill that would take St Helens out of Lancashire and into a new "Merseyside Super-council" in April 1974 was published on the 4th. Since Environment Secretary Peter Walker had published the first draft plans in February, more than 60 changes had been made. However, none affected St Helens, although Southport would now be joining the town within a metropolitan Merseyside. It was intended that Merseyside would include four local district councils, with one comprising St Helens, Haydock, Huyton-with-Roby, Kirkby, Newton-le-Willows, Prescot, Rainford, Skelmersdale and Holland, Billinge-and-Winstanley (except the areas in Greater Manchester), the South Ward of Ashton-in-Makerfield, part of Whiston, part of Bold and Simonswood.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 5th and described a row in Liverpool Road after council officials had removed a bonfire from waste ground. The wood was taken away on safety grounds, much to the fury of Eileen Harrison. She told the paper: "I was so angry when I saw the workmen breaking it up. The children have been collecting rubbish for weeks now." However, Mrs Harrison revealed that the bonfire would still be going ahead, as more material was being collected and stashed in backyards until the evening of the 5th. The Reporter's headline to their article was: "Angry Mothers Hatch Bonfire Night Plot".
Explaining his philosophy, Mr Murphy said: "I must really take to a boy if he is to join my band … and he must realise that it is an honour for him to be with Redgate. If he would rather go courting than pay attention to his music, then I have no use for the lad. I'm not playing second fiddle."
The Reporter also stated that work on the new Eccleston fire station had reached its half-way stage. The building in Millfields costing £72,000 (about £1m in today's money) – and manned by 28 officers – would open next Spring. Fifty years appears to be the lifespan of many a large building these days. Developers now plan to demolish the station and replace it with a care home – at a cost of £12 million. And a separate article in the Reporter described how Whiston's Planning and Development Committee had given a developer permission to clear an eight-acre site off Burrows Lane in preparation for the building of a new estate.
Skelmersdale United had won the Amateur Cup at Wembley a few months earlier. I know, I was there with my noisy rattle cheering them on! However, last month after an examination of its books, the FA had hit the club with a record fine of £1,500 after finding them guilty of eight counts of gross mismanagement. At 3am on the 6th, top Skem Utd supporter John Cadwell of Church Road in Rainford undertook a 50-mile hike in aid of the Supporters' Appeal Fund. The sponsored walk was scheduled to end just before 3pm, when the team kicked off against Chorley and suffered their third home league defeat in a row.
And finally, many of us dwell on what might have been if we'd done this or hadn't done that. I expect Alan Williams might well have pondered what could have been if he hadn't given away the Beatles! This article was published this week in the Echo:
"A man said to have been the original manager of the Beatles and former owner of the Blue Angel Club, Liverpool, now owed £6,139 to creditors, a Liverpool Bankruptcy hearing was told to-day. He is Alan Richard Williams, aged 41, of Grove Park, Toxteth, Liverpool. The Registrar, Mr. J. Tegid Jones, heard that Mr. Williams had managed the famous Liverpool pop group when they first started, but had not found it possible to commercialise their act himself. Mr. R. W. F. Pagan, the Official Receiver, said that in March, 1961, Mr. Williams developed premises in Seel Street known as the Blue Angel Club.
"This was at that time a proprietary club with Mr. Williams as the proprietor. According to Mr. Williams, up until 1968, the club had operated successfully, but with increasing competition as new similar establishments were opened throughout the city, he said, the business started to go downhill. A receiving order was made and it was found that Mr. Williams owed unsecured creditors £4,815, and preferential creditors £1,324. He had assets of £51, making a deficit of £6,088. Mr. Williams pointed out that he was owed by book debtors a total of £6,529."
Next week's stories will include the girl footballer from Clock Face who caused a row after playing in a boys team, the Pilkington loo strike, plans for a giant one-way road system, the young lion tamer from Rainhill and the bus lodged under a Sutton bridge.
This week's 17 stories include the children who played chicken on Croppers Hill, the flexitime pioneer of Lancots Lane, Helena House open their Xmas Grotto, a Bonfire night plot in Liverpool Road, the strict Redgate Boys Band rulebook, more details of the Merseyside super-council and St Helens police's inquiry into horse doping.
At the start of the week the Liverpool Echo gave this glowing review to a performance in St Helens by the Paraguayan ensemble Los Paraguayos:
"Those superb exponents of Latin American music, Luie Alberto del Parana y Los Paraguayos, received the tumultuous reception of a capacity audience at the Theatre Royal, St. Helens, on Saturday night.
"The five musicians and the glamorous Carmen delighted the audience with their skill and exuberance.
"Highlight of the evening was the playing of two harps simultaneously – “for the first time in Europe” – by Paraguayan musician Fausto Franco, known to his colleagues as “The magic hands of the Indian Harp.”"
On the 2nd there was an accident at the junction of Parr Stocks Road and Sorogold Street in St Helens in which Stephen Haunch was hit by a car.
The nine-year-old from Rose Drive in Haydock was admitted to Providence Hospital with head injuries and on the following day was stated to be satisfactory.
A report issued in March suggested that as many as 80 horses competing in races in Britain could be doped each year.
The Echo revealed on the 2nd that the Home Office had commissioned two St Helens police officers to produce a further report on ways of improving security at the racetrack.
Chief Superintendent Jack Watson, the head of St Helens police, and Inspector Tom Mather had been visiting racecourses for two months and hoped to be able to submit their recommendations by the end of December.
Judith Smith of Fairlie Drive in Rainhill was pictured in the Echo on the 2nd after recently spending six weeks on the shores of the Dead Sea in Israel.
The 24-year-old had worked on a kibbutz in temperatures of 100 degrees (38°C). "I lost a stone and my friend lost seven pounds", said Judith.
It was reported on the 2nd that although Knowsley Safari Park would be remaining open during the winter months, the special Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive bus service conveying passengers through the animal reserve had ended.
In thirteen weeks since the start of August, the double decker buses from Speke – and passing through Garston, Pier Head, Bootle, Netherton and Kirkby – had carried 11,500 people.
The cost – including admission to the new park – had been only 60p for adults and 35p for children under 15. That compared well to the £1 price for admission by car.
St Helens Corporation's Transport Department also ran their own safari buses to the reserve.
The total number of visitors to the Safari Park was now described as being well past the half million mark – putting the 2 million target for the first year of Lord Derby and Jimmy Chipperfield's scheme easily in reach.
At St Helens Town Council's meeting on the 3rd, Cllr. Bill Shepherd described seeing children playing chicken on Croppers Hill.
Cllr. Shepherd said he had witnessed youngsters on two occasions dicing with death.
Older children had even dragged two-year-old toddlers across Prescot Road in front of passing cars.
"How would you like to clock on and off work whenever the fancy takes you – within reason, that is? Come in at eight and finish at four one day, in at 9.15 and finish at six the next?
"Better still work the maximum period every day, then take a long weekend or a day [off] for Christmas shopping?"
That was Monica O’Hare's introduction to her lengthy article in the Echo on the 4th describing Pakcel Converters.
The firm based in Lancots Lane in Sutton was pioneering what we know as flexitime in St Helens.
The subsidiary company of British Sidac described itself as a specialist supplier of printed flexible packaging films and laminates. In other words, wrappers and packets for food like crisps.
Personnel manager Robert Swarbrick was the man behind the scheme and said:
"The idea wasn't to increase productivity, just to facilitate those who have buses and trains to catch, want to miss the rush hour on the roads, or who would like to go shopping or take their children to school.
"As far as I know we are only the second firm in this country to use the idea, but it has certainly caught on in West Germany."
Audio typist June Brockley thought it a marvellous system: "This week I'm working from nine to five and only taking half an hour for lunch. It means I can drop the children off to school first, and collect them from their grandma's in the evenings.
"Last week when they were on mid-term holiday, I worked from 8.15 to 4.30."
Secretary Marian Orme had been working an additional fifteen minutes every evening and reducing her lunch break to half-an-hour.
"As a result", she said, "I was able to take the day off on Monday to supervise preliminary work for the changeover to North Sea gas.
"The beauty of the whole thing is that no one is forced to change. You can still work your old hours if you wish. Many do."
Silcock's annual Thatto Heath Pleasure Fair in Leicester Street off Elephant Lane began on the 4th and would run for three weeks – but was closed on Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Also on that day, the Unnamed Players began three evenings of performances of two plays called 'Pillar To Post' and 'Distant Drums' at the Theatre Royal.
The 350-page Bill that would take St Helens out of Lancashire and into a new "Merseyside Super-council" in April 1974 was published on the 4th.
Since Environment Secretary Peter Walker had published the first draft plans in February, more than 60 changes had been made.
However, none affected St Helens, although Southport would now be joining the town within a metropolitan Merseyside.
It was intended that Merseyside would include four local district councils, with one comprising St Helens, Haydock, Huyton-with-Roby, Kirkby, Newton-le-Willows, Prescot, Rainford, Skelmersdale and Holland, Billinge-and-Winstanley (except the areas in Greater Manchester), the South Ward of Ashton-in-Makerfield, part of Whiston, part of Bold and Simonswood.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 5th and described a row in Liverpool Road after council officials had removed a bonfire from waste ground.
The wood was taken away on safety grounds, much to the fury of Eileen Harrison. She told the paper:
"I was so angry when I saw the workmen breaking it up. The children have been collecting rubbish for weeks now."
However, Mrs Harrison revealed that the bonfire would still be going ahead, as more material was being collected and stashed in backyards until the evening of the 5th.
The Reporter's headline to their article was: "Angry Mothers Hatch Bonfire Night Plot".
The Whalley's World column profiled Leo Murphy, the leader of Redgate Boys' Silver Band (pictured above), who was described as a man who mixed discipline with benevolence.
The 57-year-old's rulebook had these key points:
• All new applicants to play in his band had to be thoroughly vetted.
• No girls were permitted to join.
• Band boys who got emotionally involved with girls were shown the door.
• Smartness, discipline and good manners must always be evident amongst members.
Explaining his philosophy, Mr Murphy said:
"I must really take to a boy if he is to join my band … and he must realise that it is an honour for him to be with Redgate. If he would rather go courting than pay attention to his music, then I have no use for the lad. I'm not playing second fiddle."
The Reporter also stated that work on the new Eccleston fire station had reached its half-way stage.
The building in Millfields costing £72,000 (about £1m in today's money) – and manned by 28 officers – would open next Spring.
Fifty years appears to be the lifespan of many a large building these days. Developers now plan to demolish the station and replace it with a care home – at a cost of £12 million.
And a separate article in the Reporter described how Whiston's Planning and Development Committee had given a developer permission to clear an eight-acre site off Burrows Lane in preparation for the building of a new estate.
At 10am on the 6th, Helena House (pictured above) opened their Xmas Grotto in their department store's basement.
In previous years Santa had arrived in Baldwin Street via a parade from Shaw Street Station led by the aforementioned Redgate Boys' Silver Band.
But there was no parade this year, although Father Christmas's young customers were still promised a Fairy Glen and a beautiful waterfall to gaze at and "lovely gifts for boys and girls of all ages".
Skelmersdale United had won the Amateur Cup at Wembley a few months earlier. I know, I was there with my noisy rattle cheering them on!
However, last month after an examination of its books, the FA had hit the club with a record fine of £1,500 after finding them guilty of eight counts of gross mismanagement.
At 3am on the 6th, top Skem Utd supporter John Cadwell of Church Road in Rainford undertook a 50-mile hike in aid of the Supporters' Appeal Fund.
The sponsored walk was scheduled to end just before 3pm, when the team kicked off against Chorley and suffered their third home league defeat in a row.
And finally, many of us dwell on what might have been if we'd done this or hadn't done that.
I expect Alan Williams might well have pondered what could have been if he hadn't given away the Beatles! This article was published this week in the Echo:
"A man said to have been the original manager of the Beatles and former owner of the Blue Angel Club, Liverpool, now owed £6,139 to creditors, a Liverpool Bankruptcy hearing was told to-day.
"He is Alan Richard Williams, aged 41, of Grove Park, Toxteth, Liverpool. The Registrar, Mr. J. Tegid Jones, heard that Mr. Williams had managed the famous Liverpool pop group when they first started, but had not found it possible to commercialise their act himself.
"Mr. R. W. F. Pagan, the Official Receiver, said that in March, 1961, Mr. Williams developed premises in Seel Street known as the Blue Angel Club.
"This was at that time a proprietary club with Mr. Williams as the proprietor.
"According to Mr. Williams, up until 1968, the club had operated successfully, but with increasing competition as new similar establishments were opened throughout the city, he said, the business started to go downhill.
"A receiving order was made and it was found that Mr. Williams owed unsecured creditors £4,815, and preferential creditors £1,324.
"He had assets of £51, making a deficit of £6,088. Mr. Williams pointed out that he was owed by book debtors a total of £6,529."
Next week's stories will include the girl footballer from Clock Face who caused a row after playing in a boys team, the Pilkington loo strike, plans for a giant one-way road system, the young lion tamer from Rainhill and the bus lodged under a Sutton bridge.
At the start of the week the Liverpool Echo gave this glowing review to a performance in St Helens by the Paraguayan ensemble Los Paraguayos:
"Those superb exponents of Latin American music, Luie Alberto del Parana y Los Paraguayos, received the tumultuous reception of a capacity audience at the Theatre Royal, St. Helens, on Saturday night.
"The five musicians and the glamorous Carmen delighted the audience with their skill and exuberance.
"Highlight of the evening was the playing of two harps simultaneously – “for the first time in Europe” – by Paraguayan musician Fausto Franco, known to his colleagues as “The magic hands of the Indian Harp.”"
On the 2nd there was an accident at the junction of Parr Stocks Road and Sorogold Street in St Helens in which Stephen Haunch was hit by a car.
The nine-year-old from Rose Drive in Haydock was admitted to Providence Hospital with head injuries and on the following day was stated to be satisfactory.
A report issued in March suggested that as many as 80 horses competing in races in Britain could be doped each year.
The Echo revealed on the 2nd that the Home Office had commissioned two St Helens police officers to produce a further report on ways of improving security at the racetrack.
Chief Superintendent Jack Watson, the head of St Helens police, and Inspector Tom Mather had been visiting racecourses for two months and hoped to be able to submit their recommendations by the end of December.
Judith Smith of Fairlie Drive in Rainhill was pictured in the Echo on the 2nd after recently spending six weeks on the shores of the Dead Sea in Israel.
The 24-year-old had worked on a kibbutz in temperatures of 100 degrees (38°C). "I lost a stone and my friend lost seven pounds", said Judith.
It was reported on the 2nd that although Knowsley Safari Park would be remaining open during the winter months, the special Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive bus service conveying passengers through the animal reserve had ended.
In thirteen weeks since the start of August, the double decker buses from Speke – and passing through Garston, Pier Head, Bootle, Netherton and Kirkby – had carried 11,500 people.
The cost – including admission to the new park – had been only 60p for adults and 35p for children under 15. That compared well to the £1 price for admission by car.
St Helens Corporation's Transport Department also ran their own safari buses to the reserve.
The total number of visitors to the Safari Park was now described as being well past the half million mark – putting the 2 million target for the first year of Lord Derby and Jimmy Chipperfield's scheme easily in reach.
At St Helens Town Council's meeting on the 3rd, Cllr. Bill Shepherd described seeing children playing chicken on Croppers Hill.
Cllr. Shepherd said he had witnessed youngsters on two occasions dicing with death.
Older children had even dragged two-year-old toddlers across Prescot Road in front of passing cars.
"How would you like to clock on and off work whenever the fancy takes you – within reason, that is? Come in at eight and finish at four one day, in at 9.15 and finish at six the next?
"Better still work the maximum period every day, then take a long weekend or a day [off] for Christmas shopping?"
That was Monica O’Hare's introduction to her lengthy article in the Echo on the 4th describing Pakcel Converters.
The firm based in Lancots Lane in Sutton was pioneering what we know as flexitime in St Helens.
The subsidiary company of British Sidac described itself as a specialist supplier of printed flexible packaging films and laminates. In other words, wrappers and packets for food like crisps.
Personnel manager Robert Swarbrick was the man behind the scheme and said:
"The idea wasn't to increase productivity, just to facilitate those who have buses and trains to catch, want to miss the rush hour on the roads, or who would like to go shopping or take their children to school.
"As far as I know we are only the second firm in this country to use the idea, but it has certainly caught on in West Germany."
Audio typist June Brockley thought it a marvellous system: "This week I'm working from nine to five and only taking half an hour for lunch. It means I can drop the children off to school first, and collect them from their grandma's in the evenings.
"Last week when they were on mid-term holiday, I worked from 8.15 to 4.30."
Secretary Marian Orme had been working an additional fifteen minutes every evening and reducing her lunch break to half-an-hour.
"As a result", she said, "I was able to take the day off on Monday to supervise preliminary work for the changeover to North Sea gas.
"The beauty of the whole thing is that no one is forced to change. You can still work your old hours if you wish. Many do."
Silcock's annual Thatto Heath Pleasure Fair in Leicester Street off Elephant Lane began on the 4th and would run for three weeks – but was closed on Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Also on that day, the Unnamed Players began three evenings of performances of two plays called 'Pillar To Post' and 'Distant Drums' at the Theatre Royal.
The 350-page Bill that would take St Helens out of Lancashire and into a new "Merseyside Super-council" in April 1974 was published on the 4th.
Since Environment Secretary Peter Walker had published the first draft plans in February, more than 60 changes had been made.
However, none affected St Helens, although Southport would now be joining the town within a metropolitan Merseyside.
It was intended that Merseyside would include four local district councils, with one comprising St Helens, Haydock, Huyton-with-Roby, Kirkby, Newton-le-Willows, Prescot, Rainford, Skelmersdale and Holland, Billinge-and-Winstanley (except the areas in Greater Manchester), the South Ward of Ashton-in-Makerfield, part of Whiston, part of Bold and Simonswood.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 5th and described a row in Liverpool Road after council officials had removed a bonfire from waste ground.
The wood was taken away on safety grounds, much to the fury of Eileen Harrison. She told the paper:
"I was so angry when I saw the workmen breaking it up. The children have been collecting rubbish for weeks now."
However, Mrs Harrison revealed that the bonfire would still be going ahead, as more material was being collected and stashed in backyards until the evening of the 5th.
The Reporter's headline to their article was: "Angry Mothers Hatch Bonfire Night Plot".
The 57-year-old's rulebook had these key points:
• All new applicants to play in his band had to be thoroughly vetted.
• No girls were permitted to join.
• Band boys who got emotionally involved with girls were shown the door.
• Smartness, discipline and good manners must always be evident amongst members.
Explaining his philosophy, Mr Murphy said:
"I must really take to a boy if he is to join my band … and he must realise that it is an honour for him to be with Redgate. If he would rather go courting than pay attention to his music, then I have no use for the lad. I'm not playing second fiddle."
The Reporter also stated that work on the new Eccleston fire station had reached its half-way stage.
The building in Millfields costing £72,000 (about £1m in today's money) – and manned by 28 officers – would open next Spring.
Fifty years appears to be the lifespan of many a large building these days. Developers now plan to demolish the station and replace it with a care home – at a cost of £12 million.
And a separate article in the Reporter described how Whiston's Planning and Development Committee had given a developer permission to clear an eight-acre site off Burrows Lane in preparation for the building of a new estate.
In previous years Santa had arrived in Baldwin Street via a parade from Shaw Street Station led by the aforementioned Redgate Boys' Silver Band.
But there was no parade this year, although Father Christmas's young customers were still promised a Fairy Glen and a beautiful waterfall to gaze at and "lovely gifts for boys and girls of all ages".
Skelmersdale United had won the Amateur Cup at Wembley a few months earlier. I know, I was there with my noisy rattle cheering them on!
However, last month after an examination of its books, the FA had hit the club with a record fine of £1,500 after finding them guilty of eight counts of gross mismanagement.
At 3am on the 6th, top Skem Utd supporter John Cadwell of Church Road in Rainford undertook a 50-mile hike in aid of the Supporters' Appeal Fund.
The sponsored walk was scheduled to end just before 3pm, when the team kicked off against Chorley and suffered their third home league defeat in a row.
And finally, many of us dwell on what might have been if we'd done this or hadn't done that.
I expect Alan Williams might well have pondered what could have been if he hadn't given away the Beatles! This article was published this week in the Echo:
"A man said to have been the original manager of the Beatles and former owner of the Blue Angel Club, Liverpool, now owed £6,139 to creditors, a Liverpool Bankruptcy hearing was told to-day.
"He is Alan Richard Williams, aged 41, of Grove Park, Toxteth, Liverpool. The Registrar, Mr. J. Tegid Jones, heard that Mr. Williams had managed the famous Liverpool pop group when they first started, but had not found it possible to commercialise their act himself.
"Mr. R. W. F. Pagan, the Official Receiver, said that in March, 1961, Mr. Williams developed premises in Seel Street known as the Blue Angel Club.
"This was at that time a proprietary club with Mr. Williams as the proprietor.
"According to Mr. Williams, up until 1968, the club had operated successfully, but with increasing competition as new similar establishments were opened throughout the city, he said, the business started to go downhill.
"A receiving order was made and it was found that Mr. Williams owed unsecured creditors £4,815, and preferential creditors £1,324.
"He had assets of £51, making a deficit of £6,088. Mr. Williams pointed out that he was owed by book debtors a total of £6,529."
Next week's stories will include the girl footballer from Clock Face who caused a row after playing in a boys team, the Pilkington loo strike, plans for a giant one-way road system, the young lion tamer from Rainhill and the bus lodged under a Sutton bridge.