FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (2nd - 8th September 1969)
This week's stories include the Haydock crime wave, the hapless Taylor Park aviary thieves, the dumping of rubbish at Rainford Junction, Pilks make armour-plated glass for King Tut, an Open Day is held at Mill Street Barracks and the pageantry and glamour as the Band of the Irish Guards comes to town.
We begin on the 2nd with an article in the Liverpool Echo on Steven Hughes of Windlebrook Crescent near Bleak Hill Road. The 20-year-old had been one of three Cambridge University students turned back by Bulgarian border guards because their hair was too long.
Steven and his friends had to withdraw fifty yards back into Yugoslavia where they got a pair of scissors and cut each other's hair. Then the fussy Bulgarians allowed them to enter their country. The trio were heading to Turkey to spend several weeks studying the migratory habits of birds.
There was also an article in the Echo about the preparations being made on Merseyside for the continuation of British Summer Time during the winter. Between 1968 and 1971 GMT+1 was employed all year round, which meant the mornings in the winter were very dark. Last year some schools in Liverpool started their classes late.
However the St Helens Education Department told the Echo that they would not be following suit, as the town was compact and well lit. Although the officials had contacted head teachers about the provision of fluorescent armbands and jackets for their children.
This was the first week of the merged Robins Lane Secondary School, which comprised the previously separate boys' and girls' schools. Joseph Woods was the headmaster and Phyllis Cole served as his deputy. Miss Cole had been the deputy headmistress of the girls' school after transferring from Rivington Secondary Modern. Eleanor Lancaster took the opportunity to retire as headmistress after a 38-year teaching career. For fifteen of these she had been in charge of the girls at Robins Lane.
Ambulancemen in St Helens and Liverpool returned to normal duty on the 2nd after a six-day strike over union recognition – although emergency cases were still dealt with.
The Guardian published a photograph on the 3rd of a panel of Pilkington Armourplate glass that was being put on the sarcophagus of King Tutankhamun in Egypt. This was after the mummy had been given its first medical and X-ray examination. It was the first time that the tomb had been re-opened since Howard Carter made his discovery in 1922. Pilks had been asked to supply toughened, 10mm thick, armour-plated glass to cover the stone coffin and the firm had it specially made at Cowley Hill.
The St Helens Reporter described on the 5th how a crime wave in Haydock might lead to its police station being made operational again. A dozen offences had been committed in the past month, one of which had been a burglary at Roberts' confectionery firm in Vicarage Road. Their sales manager Frank Newton called for the reintroduction of the bobby on the beat, saying: "We do not have the same contact with the panda car patrols."
Farmer Ted Rosbotham of Bridge Farm at Rainford Junction complained to the Reporter that local people were dumping huge amounts of rubbish on and around his farm. He said a corner adjoining his 230-acre farm had gradually become a dump and the country lanes that wended through his property were littered with junk. Mr Rosbotham added: "The people doing it are the ones who moved out to the country to get away from town dirt."
The paper's front-page splash was the announcement that Golden Wonder planned to close its Haydock depot and transfer its operations to a "massive new plant" that was being built at Lea Green.
Mary Rowe from Elephant Lane was pictured in the Reporter after being voted "Miss J. and P. Jacobs, St Helens" from a dozen contestants. She received a trophy and £25.
The first Christmas advert in the paper this year came from Howard Travel from Cotham Street. The agency was advertising short seasonal breaks to places like Dunoon, Isle of Man, Dublin, Torquay, Bude, Southsea, Ostend etc. "Go on, give yourself a treat!", they wrote.
Roy Mason, the Minister of Power, visited Parkside Colliery in Newton-le-Willows on the 5th and announced that recruitment in the coal industry in the North West was three times higher than it had been last year. Mr Mason claimed that miners today were a lot happier and the mining industry had a more optimistic look.
On the 5th and 6th the Liverpool folk group The Spinners returned to the Theatre Royal in Corporation Street. It is now 61 years since the foursome formed, originally performing as a skiffle group.
There was an Open Day at Mill Street Barracks on the 6th organised by the 213 Battery Royal Artillery (Volunteers). This had been recently created through a merger of the old unit with Royal Artillery volunteers from Widnes.
There was an opportunity to see light air defence guns in action, learn to work a radio set, see displays of radar, vehicles and a command post, with music provided by the pipes and drums of the Lancashire Artillery. The present strength of the battery was one hundred and they had vacancies for another fifty to train as gunners, radio operators or cooks – hence the open day.
On the same day 400 children left Bold Miners' Institute in Fleet Lane for their annual trip to Southport. Forty members, relatives and friends of St Luke's Church Choir made a separate trip to the resort for their yearly outing.
From the 7th the ABC Savoy began screening a double-header of Raquel Welsh in 'One Million Years B.C.' and Ursula Andress in 'She'. The Bridge Street cinema's advert in the Reporter said: "Double the glamour – double the excitement". On the following day the Band of the Irish Guards performed in a charity concert at the Theatre Royal. However they weren't driven to the venue like other performers. They arrived in Corporation Street marching in style, as described by the Reporter:
"All the pageantry and glamour of the band and pipe band of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards came to St. Helens on Monday during a rousing march past outside the Town Hall, followed by a concert at the Theatre Royal. The band brought a gay splash of colour to the town in their scarlet uniforms and bearskin hats. The pipe band looked equally resplendent in their saffron kilts, green cloaks and bonnets. The Battalion are currently making a tour of the North West."
Also on the 8th a 25-year-old Haydock man was sent to prison for a year for stealing two parrots and fifteen foreign birds valued at £55 from the aviary at Taylor Park. He and his accomplice had put them into boxes and then rode off on pedal cycles. However they panicked when they saw a police officer in Higher Parr Street and abandoned both the birds and bikes and ran off. The man was already under a suspended prison sentence and asked for two other offences to be considered.
On that same day the Capitol on the corner of Duke Street and North Road started showing 'The Naked World of Harrison Marks', starring Harrison Marks, directed by Harrison Marks, produced by Harrison Marks, screenplay by Harrison Marks….. I bet he made the tea too!
To end here are some other stories that were in the national newspapers this week. The Daily Mirror wrote that around 4½ million prescriptions for amphetamines were written last year. Speed was then legal, not becoming a Class B controlled drug until 1971. The paper also commented on the exodus of the Isle of Wight festivalgoers:
"The departure of the pop fans provided something new in the way of Bank Holiday entertainment for the Isle of Wight. For as 100,000 fans, hippies, and weirdies moved out yesterday, the sightseers moved in. All day there was heavy two-way traffic on the roads and lanes around the site of the pop festival. The sightseers stared in wonder at the departing army and at the scene of their three-day rave-up. The heaving, pulsating Pop City of a few hours before was already an area of devastation. It was a huge tip of wreckage and rubbish that festival organisers reckon will take two weeks to clear."
A photo of Paul and Linda McCartney holding their 12-hour-old baby Mary was in all the papers. The 27-year-old Beatle had taken the picture himself using a camera with a timer. Unfortunately both Paul and Linda forgot to smile!
And finally the Daily Express wrote of a bank heist in Haringey in which two robbers had snatched a brown parcel belonging to George Meadows. The duo then raced outside and escaped in their getaway white sports car. The robbery had taken place after the 65-year-old had put his parcel on the counter while he was paying in £60. "They must have thought that it contained more money", said Mr Meadows.
However the raiders would have had quite a shock when they opened their ill-gotten gains. Instead of cash there was a dog's dinner – 2lb. of lamb tongues to be precise – that had been intended for Mr Meadows' pet Lassie!
Next week's stories will include the increase in VD in St Helens through the "decadence of moral values", pet blessing in Sherdley Park, vandalism at Lacey Street Child Welfare Clinic, power-cut chaos, the mortgages from St Helens Council and how the Co-op was coping without its divi.
We begin on the 2nd with an article in the Liverpool Echo on Steven Hughes of Windlebrook Crescent near Bleak Hill Road. The 20-year-old had been one of three Cambridge University students turned back by Bulgarian border guards because their hair was too long.
Steven and his friends had to withdraw fifty yards back into Yugoslavia where they got a pair of scissors and cut each other's hair. Then the fussy Bulgarians allowed them to enter their country. The trio were heading to Turkey to spend several weeks studying the migratory habits of birds.
There was also an article in the Echo about the preparations being made on Merseyside for the continuation of British Summer Time during the winter. Between 1968 and 1971 GMT+1 was employed all year round, which meant the mornings in the winter were very dark. Last year some schools in Liverpool started their classes late.
However the St Helens Education Department told the Echo that they would not be following suit, as the town was compact and well lit. Although the officials had contacted head teachers about the provision of fluorescent armbands and jackets for their children.
Robins Lane Secondary School with headmaster Joseph Woods alongside pupil Billy Hughes, who'd just been given a watch for good timekeeping
Robins Lane Secondary School with headmaster Joseph Woods and pupil Billy Hughes
Robins Lane Secondary School
Ambulancemen in St Helens and Liverpool returned to normal duty on the 2nd after a six-day strike over union recognition – although emergency cases were still dealt with.
The Guardian published a photograph on the 3rd of a panel of Pilkington Armourplate glass that was being put on the sarcophagus of King Tutankhamun in Egypt. This was after the mummy had been given its first medical and X-ray examination. It was the first time that the tomb had been re-opened since Howard Carter made his discovery in 1922. Pilks had been asked to supply toughened, 10mm thick, armour-plated glass to cover the stone coffin and the firm had it specially made at Cowley Hill.
The St Helens Reporter described on the 5th how a crime wave in Haydock might lead to its police station being made operational again. A dozen offences had been committed in the past month, one of which had been a burglary at Roberts' confectionery firm in Vicarage Road. Their sales manager Frank Newton called for the reintroduction of the bobby on the beat, saying: "We do not have the same contact with the panda car patrols."
Farmer Ted Rosbotham of Bridge Farm at Rainford Junction complained to the Reporter that local people were dumping huge amounts of rubbish on and around his farm. He said a corner adjoining his 230-acre farm had gradually become a dump and the country lanes that wended through his property were littered with junk. Mr Rosbotham added: "The people doing it are the ones who moved out to the country to get away from town dirt."
The paper's front-page splash was the announcement that Golden Wonder planned to close its Haydock depot and transfer its operations to a "massive new plant" that was being built at Lea Green.
Mary Rowe from Elephant Lane was pictured in the Reporter after being voted "Miss J. and P. Jacobs, St Helens" from a dozen contestants. She received a trophy and £25.
The first Christmas advert in the paper this year came from Howard Travel from Cotham Street. The agency was advertising short seasonal breaks to places like Dunoon, Isle of Man, Dublin, Torquay, Bude, Southsea, Ostend etc. "Go on, give yourself a treat!", they wrote.
Roy Mason, the Minister of Power, visited Parkside Colliery in Newton-le-Willows on the 5th and announced that recruitment in the coal industry in the North West was three times higher than it had been last year. Mr Mason claimed that miners today were a lot happier and the mining industry had a more optimistic look.
On the 5th and 6th the Liverpool folk group The Spinners returned to the Theatre Royal in Corporation Street. It is now 61 years since the foursome formed, originally performing as a skiffle group.
There was an Open Day at Mill Street Barracks on the 6th organised by the 213 Battery Royal Artillery (Volunteers). This had been recently created through a merger of the old unit with Royal Artillery volunteers from Widnes.
There was an opportunity to see light air defence guns in action, learn to work a radio set, see displays of radar, vehicles and a command post, with music provided by the pipes and drums of the Lancashire Artillery. The present strength of the battery was one hundred and they had vacancies for another fifty to train as gunners, radio operators or cooks – hence the open day.
On the same day 400 children left Bold Miners' Institute in Fleet Lane for their annual trip to Southport. Forty members, relatives and friends of St Luke's Church Choir made a separate trip to the resort for their yearly outing.
From the 7th the ABC Savoy began screening a double-header of Raquel Welsh in 'One Million Years B.C.' and Ursula Andress in 'She'. The Bridge Street cinema's advert in the Reporter said: "Double the glamour – double the excitement". On the following day the Band of the Irish Guards performed in a charity concert at the Theatre Royal. However they weren't driven to the venue like other performers. They arrived in Corporation Street marching in style, as described by the Reporter:
"All the pageantry and glamour of the band and pipe band of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards came to St. Helens on Monday during a rousing march past outside the Town Hall, followed by a concert at the Theatre Royal. The band brought a gay splash of colour to the town in their scarlet uniforms and bearskin hats. The pipe band looked equally resplendent in their saffron kilts, green cloaks and bonnets. The Battalion are currently making a tour of the North West."
Also on the 8th a 25-year-old Haydock man was sent to prison for a year for stealing two parrots and fifteen foreign birds valued at £55 from the aviary at Taylor Park. He and his accomplice had put them into boxes and then rode off on pedal cycles. However they panicked when they saw a police officer in Higher Parr Street and abandoned both the birds and bikes and ran off. The man was already under a suspended prison sentence and asked for two other offences to be considered.
On that same day the Capitol on the corner of Duke Street and North Road started showing 'The Naked World of Harrison Marks', starring Harrison Marks, directed by Harrison Marks, produced by Harrison Marks, screenplay by Harrison Marks….. I bet he made the tea too!
To end here are some other stories that were in the national newspapers this week. The Daily Mirror wrote that around 4½ million prescriptions for amphetamines were written last year. Speed was then legal, not becoming a Class B controlled drug until 1971. The paper also commented on the exodus of the Isle of Wight festivalgoers:
"The departure of the pop fans provided something new in the way of Bank Holiday entertainment for the Isle of Wight. For as 100,000 fans, hippies, and weirdies moved out yesterday, the sightseers moved in. All day there was heavy two-way traffic on the roads and lanes around the site of the pop festival. The sightseers stared in wonder at the departing army and at the scene of their three-day rave-up. The heaving, pulsating Pop City of a few hours before was already an area of devastation. It was a huge tip of wreckage and rubbish that festival organisers reckon will take two weeks to clear."
And finally the Daily Express wrote of a bank heist in Haringey in which two robbers had snatched a brown parcel belonging to George Meadows. The duo then raced outside and escaped in their getaway white sports car. The robbery had taken place after the 65-year-old had put his parcel on the counter while he was paying in £60. "They must have thought that it contained more money", said Mr Meadows.
However the raiders would have had quite a shock when they opened their ill-gotten gains. Instead of cash there was a dog's dinner – 2lb. of lamb tongues to be precise – that had been intended for Mr Meadows' pet Lassie!
Next week's stories will include the increase in VD in St Helens through the "decadence of moral values", pet blessing in Sherdley Park, vandalism at Lacey Street Child Welfare Clinic, power-cut chaos, the mortgages from St Helens Council and how the Co-op was coping without its divi.