FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 2 - 8 DECEMBER 1974
This week's many stories include the strange child assault in Sherdley Park, the bakers' strike in St Helens, hopes rise that a longstanding Eccleston eyesore could be removed, the Reporter's Christmas painting competition, Beecham's festival of brass and the Clock Face boy who fell down a deep manhole.
We begin on the 2nd when a newspaper known as the Belfast News-Letter reported how Foster Plastics of Rainford were producing a new material to make houses impervious to dry rot and attacks by mice. They said Foster's new lightweight plastic wood could be nailed, screwed, sawn or stapled but at present it was more expensive than the timber it was designed to replace.
On the morning of the 2nd a loud knocking on her front door woke Maureen Moulsdale. Thinking it was her husband coming off nightshift early, she dashed downstairs to find a stranger saying her house was on fire. Mrs Moulsdale of McCormack Avenue in Parr later told the St Helens Reporter: "Flames were shooting out of the windows of the house. The fire was in the living room, and everything in there was burning up."
She ran upstairs and woke up her three children and got them out of the house and the fire brigade was called. As Maureen's husband, James, arrived home from work he found two fire engines pulling up at his house, which by then was well alight, although his family were safe. Their living room and everything in it was, however, destroyed.
Just who the man had been who raised the alarm was not known. But Mrs Moulsdale said: "We would like to meet and thank the passer-by who probably saved our lives." The cause of the blaze was not known but it was thought it had been smouldering through the night.
Each year a schools' public speaking competition was organised by the St Helens and District Junior Chamber of Commerce. The winner of this year's individual award was Catherine Houghton of Cowley School whose subject was local dialect and the team trophy went to West Park boys.
There was a curious court case this week in which a 40-year-old man from Baxters Lane was cleared of assaulting an 11-year-old girl in Sherdley Park. The prosecution explained how the girl and a 10-year-old boy had been playing near the duck pond. When the boy went away the man was said to have pushed the girl to the ground and sat on top of her until her screaming led to him running off.
The man was later arrested and gave the police this explanation for what had occurred: "My dog went into the field and wouldn't come when I called him. I jumped over the ditch, hoping to catch him, slipped and hit the girl with my elbows. She fell over with me lying across her chest."
The man's barrister was Brian Leveson who would become a top judge and in 2017 was made the Head of Criminal Justice for England and Wales. Despite being the lead prosecutor in some notable cases (such as the Rosemary West murders and the Ken Dodd tax evasion case) he will probably be best remembered for chairing the public inquiry into the British press.
This is what Leveson had to say about the girl in the Sherdley Park incident: "Children are well known to exaggerate and fantasise, not deliberately, but something may happen and they make up the rest." The man was cleared of the charge.
During the evening of the 3rd folk stars Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl performed in Prescot Civic Hall. Tickets cost 50p (40p for students and OAPs) and could be bought in advance from Rothery Records or local libraries.
On the 5th Pilkingtons reported a big drop in their profits for the last six months to just under £5m, down from over £11 million in the same period last year. Chairman Sir Alastair Pilkington blamed reduced demand for glass and high inflation.
The St Helens Reporter on the 6th described concerns that children might have to go without Christmas party sandwiches and other treats because of a bread strike. However, bakers, some firms and a church had been "pulling out the stops" to prevent the bread shortage from ruining celebrations.
St Helens Parish Church's planned party for 120 deprived children had been under threat but one of their curates had persuaded his local baker to treat it as a special case and allow them 18 loaves. Also set to take place on the 7th was Pilkington's Fibreglass party for 450 children where barm cakes and rolls had been obtained. And Beechams had managed to get their hands on seven dozen balm cakes for the 80 children that they were accommodating and they had ordered extra crisps, biscuits and jellies.
Housewives had been queuing before dawn for bread for their families and there had been a few angry scenes when people had attempted to jump the queue. The dispute was through the bakers union demanding a £40 basic weekly wage and four weeks annual holiday, as well as an end to Sunday working.
The Reporter ran a Christmas competition for schoolchildren of all ages in which they were asked to paint or crayon-in a drawing of carol singers that was published in the paper. The six winners would each receive a voucher worth £2.50 to be spent at local shops.
I wouldn't have thought that many mothers or fathers would have been getting out their painting palettes or crayoning sets to do their kid's entry for them. But just in case any parents were thinking of cheating, the entry form that had to be cut out of the paper required a signature from a parent or guardian to support the statement, "I certify that the enclosed painting is my child's unaided work."
The Reporter described how residents in Eccleston were hoping to get rid of an eyesore that had been with them for 20 years. The Technical Services Department of St Helens Council were hopeful that the owner of a strip of waste ground in Lester Drive would clean up his land within the next few months.
In the summer it was always overgrown with tall grass that obstructed the view of motorists; refuse was often tipped there and ants that invaded nearby homes were said to come from the waste ground. The land had been the property of builder Richard Ellison who had built the houses in Lester Drive. When he died the land passed to his son in London and this had caused difficulties in getting the site cleared up.
The Reporter stated that Beecham's first ever Festival of Brass had proved such a great success that the firm had decided to repeat the competition in 1975. The contest had taken place in a packed Beecham's Social Club with the adjudicators praising the high standard of the performances.
For the last fortnight 39 drivers and draymen working for John Smith's brewery in Haydock had been on strike. Their unofficial stoppage was over bonus payments and the Reporter said their bosses had now decided to make their absence from their jobs permanent after issuing redundancy notices.
Singer Tony Christie was in concert at the Theatre Royal in St Helens on the 7th performing two shows. His most popular song was "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo". On the 8th a 3-year-old boy had a very lucky escape after falling down an 8-foot deep manhole. Brian Marsh of Farm Close in Clock Face had been walking with his mother Pat and baby sister Adele when the accident occurred. Mrs Marsh said later:
"We had gone to visit a friend on the Blue Acre Estate. One minute Brian was walking beside the pram, and next minute he was gone. I was panic stricken. Brian was crying and screaming for me to get him out but the hole was so deep that I could hardly see him down there. I had to knock on a door and leave the baby with complete strangers. Someone phoned for the fire and ambulance and I rushed back to Brian."
Fifteen minutes later two fire engines, an ambulance and the police arrived on the estate to rescue Brian who emerged from the hole suffering only a slight bruise on his forehead. After an examination at St Helens Hospital, the little boy was allowed home. It was believed that the manhole cover had been missing for about a week and rubbish had been allowed to accumulate inside – including the framework of an old go-cart.
Mrs Marsh said: "It was really frightening. I can't help thinking that Brian could have been seriously hurt, especially with all that old rubbish down the hole." And what had St Helens Council to say about the matter? They could, of course, have stated that they were holding an urgent investigation and expressed sympathy for the boy.
But this was the 1970s where "no comment" was the stock in trade response and so in reply to the Reporter's enquiry, a spokesman at St Helens Town Hall said nowt! That, of course, brings up the philosophical question as to whether you can be a spokesman if you don't speak!
And finally, at the ABC Cinema for 7 days from the 8th, there was a double bill with 'Canterbury Tales' and Woody Allen's 'Bananas' being shown. And at the Capitol an X-rated film called 'Hot Lips' was screened.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the bid to close down Leathers Chemicals, the need for a secondary school in Rainhill, a fire in Beth Avenue badly burns two children, and Pilkington's confirm their new glass factory is to be built in Greengate.
We begin on the 2nd when a newspaper known as the Belfast News-Letter reported how Foster Plastics of Rainford were producing a new material to make houses impervious to dry rot and attacks by mice. They said Foster's new lightweight plastic wood could be nailed, screwed, sawn or stapled but at present it was more expensive than the timber it was designed to replace.
On the morning of the 2nd a loud knocking on her front door woke Maureen Moulsdale. Thinking it was her husband coming off nightshift early, she dashed downstairs to find a stranger saying her house was on fire. Mrs Moulsdale of McCormack Avenue in Parr later told the St Helens Reporter: "Flames were shooting out of the windows of the house. The fire was in the living room, and everything in there was burning up."
She ran upstairs and woke up her three children and got them out of the house and the fire brigade was called. As Maureen's husband, James, arrived home from work he found two fire engines pulling up at his house, which by then was well alight, although his family were safe. Their living room and everything in it was, however, destroyed.
Just who the man had been who raised the alarm was not known. But Mrs Moulsdale said: "We would like to meet and thank the passer-by who probably saved our lives." The cause of the blaze was not known but it was thought it had been smouldering through the night.
Each year a schools' public speaking competition was organised by the St Helens and District Junior Chamber of Commerce. The winner of this year's individual award was Catherine Houghton of Cowley School whose subject was local dialect and the team trophy went to West Park boys.
The man was later arrested and gave the police this explanation for what had occurred: "My dog went into the field and wouldn't come when I called him. I jumped over the ditch, hoping to catch him, slipped and hit the girl with my elbows. She fell over with me lying across her chest."
The man's barrister was Brian Leveson who would become a top judge and in 2017 was made the Head of Criminal Justice for England and Wales. Despite being the lead prosecutor in some notable cases (such as the Rosemary West murders and the Ken Dodd tax evasion case) he will probably be best remembered for chairing the public inquiry into the British press.
This is what Leveson had to say about the girl in the Sherdley Park incident: "Children are well known to exaggerate and fantasise, not deliberately, but something may happen and they make up the rest." The man was cleared of the charge.
During the evening of the 3rd folk stars Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl performed in Prescot Civic Hall. Tickets cost 50p (40p for students and OAPs) and could be bought in advance from Rothery Records or local libraries.
On the 5th Pilkingtons reported a big drop in their profits for the last six months to just under £5m, down from over £11 million in the same period last year. Chairman Sir Alastair Pilkington blamed reduced demand for glass and high inflation.
The St Helens Reporter on the 6th described concerns that children might have to go without Christmas party sandwiches and other treats because of a bread strike. However, bakers, some firms and a church had been "pulling out the stops" to prevent the bread shortage from ruining celebrations.
St Helens Parish Church's planned party for 120 deprived children had been under threat but one of their curates had persuaded his local baker to treat it as a special case and allow them 18 loaves. Also set to take place on the 7th was Pilkington's Fibreglass party for 450 children where barm cakes and rolls had been obtained. And Beechams had managed to get their hands on seven dozen balm cakes for the 80 children that they were accommodating and they had ordered extra crisps, biscuits and jellies.
Housewives had been queuing before dawn for bread for their families and there had been a few angry scenes when people had attempted to jump the queue. The dispute was through the bakers union demanding a £40 basic weekly wage and four weeks annual holiday, as well as an end to Sunday working.
The Reporter ran a Christmas competition for schoolchildren of all ages in which they were asked to paint or crayon-in a drawing of carol singers that was published in the paper. The six winners would each receive a voucher worth £2.50 to be spent at local shops.
I wouldn't have thought that many mothers or fathers would have been getting out their painting palettes or crayoning sets to do their kid's entry for them. But just in case any parents were thinking of cheating, the entry form that had to be cut out of the paper required a signature from a parent or guardian to support the statement, "I certify that the enclosed painting is my child's unaided work."
The Reporter described how residents in Eccleston were hoping to get rid of an eyesore that had been with them for 20 years. The Technical Services Department of St Helens Council were hopeful that the owner of a strip of waste ground in Lester Drive would clean up his land within the next few months.
In the summer it was always overgrown with tall grass that obstructed the view of motorists; refuse was often tipped there and ants that invaded nearby homes were said to come from the waste ground. The land had been the property of builder Richard Ellison who had built the houses in Lester Drive. When he died the land passed to his son in London and this had caused difficulties in getting the site cleared up.
The Reporter stated that Beecham's first ever Festival of Brass had proved such a great success that the firm had decided to repeat the competition in 1975. The contest had taken place in a packed Beecham's Social Club with the adjudicators praising the high standard of the performances.
For the last fortnight 39 drivers and draymen working for John Smith's brewery in Haydock had been on strike. Their unofficial stoppage was over bonus payments and the Reporter said their bosses had now decided to make their absence from their jobs permanent after issuing redundancy notices.
Singer Tony Christie was in concert at the Theatre Royal in St Helens on the 7th performing two shows. His most popular song was "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo". On the 8th a 3-year-old boy had a very lucky escape after falling down an 8-foot deep manhole. Brian Marsh of Farm Close in Clock Face had been walking with his mother Pat and baby sister Adele when the accident occurred. Mrs Marsh said later:
"We had gone to visit a friend on the Blue Acre Estate. One minute Brian was walking beside the pram, and next minute he was gone. I was panic stricken. Brian was crying and screaming for me to get him out but the hole was so deep that I could hardly see him down there. I had to knock on a door and leave the baby with complete strangers. Someone phoned for the fire and ambulance and I rushed back to Brian."
Fifteen minutes later two fire engines, an ambulance and the police arrived on the estate to rescue Brian who emerged from the hole suffering only a slight bruise on his forehead. After an examination at St Helens Hospital, the little boy was allowed home. It was believed that the manhole cover had been missing for about a week and rubbish had been allowed to accumulate inside – including the framework of an old go-cart.
Mrs Marsh said: "It was really frightening. I can't help thinking that Brian could have been seriously hurt, especially with all that old rubbish down the hole." And what had St Helens Council to say about the matter? They could, of course, have stated that they were holding an urgent investigation and expressed sympathy for the boy.
But this was the 1970s where "no comment" was the stock in trade response and so in reply to the Reporter's enquiry, a spokesman at St Helens Town Hall said nowt! That, of course, brings up the philosophical question as to whether you can be a spokesman if you don't speak!
And finally, at the ABC Cinema for 7 days from the 8th, there was a double bill with 'Canterbury Tales' and Woody Allen's 'Bananas' being shown. And at the Capitol an X-rated film called 'Hot Lips' was screened.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the bid to close down Leathers Chemicals, the need for a secondary school in Rainhill, a fire in Beth Avenue badly burns two children, and Pilkington's confirm their new glass factory is to be built in Greengate.
This week's many stories include the strange child assault in Sherdley Park, the bakers' strike in St Helens, hopes rise that a longstanding Eccleston eyesore could be removed, the Reporter's Christmas painting competition, Beecham's festival of brass and the Clock Face boy who fell down a deep manhole.
We begin on the 2nd when a newspaper known as the Belfast News-Letter reported how Foster Plastics of Rainford were producing a new material to make houses impervious to dry rot and attacks by mice.
They said Foster's new lightweight plastic wood could be nailed, screwed, sawn or stapled but at present it was more expensive than the timber it was designed to replace.
On the morning of the 2nd a loud knocking on her front door woke Maureen Moulsdale.
Thinking it was her husband coming off nightshift early, she dashed downstairs to find a stranger saying her house was on fire. Mrs Moulsdale of McCormack Avenue in Parr later told the St Helens Reporter:
"Flames were shooting out of the windows of the house. The fire was in the living room, and everything in there was burning up."
She ran upstairs and woke up her three children and got them out of the house and the fire brigade was called.
As Maureen's husband, James, arrived home from work he found two fire engines pulling up at his house, which by then was well alight, although his family were safe.
Their living room and everything in it was, however, destroyed.
Just who the man had been who raised the alarm was not known. But Mrs Moulsdale said: "We would like to meet and thank the passer-by who probably saved our lives."
Each year a schools' public speaking competition was organised by the St Helens and District Junior Chamber of Commerce.
The winner of this year's individual award was Catherine Houghton of Cowley School whose subject was local dialect and the team trophy went to West Park boys.
There was a curious court case this week in which a 40-year-old man from Baxters Lane was cleared of assaulting an 11-year-old girl in Sherdley Park.
The prosecution explained how the girl and a 10-year-old boy had been playing near the duck pond.
When the boy went away the man was said to have pushed the girl to the ground and sat on top of her until her screaming led to him running off.
The man was later arrested and gave the police this explanation for what had occurred:
"My dog went into the field and wouldn't come when I called him. I jumped over the ditch, hoping to catch him, slipped and hit the girl with my elbows. She fell over with me lying across her chest."
The man's barrister was Brian Leveson who would become a top judge and in 2017 was made the Head of Criminal Justice for England and Wales.
Despite being the lead prosecutor in some notable cases (such as the Rosemary West murders and the Ken Dodd tax evasion case) he will probably be best remembered for chairing the public inquiry into the British press.
This is what Leveson had to say about the girl in the Sherdley Park incident:
"Children are well known to exaggerate and fantasise, not deliberately, but something may happen and they make up the rest." The man was cleared of the charge.
During the evening of the 3rd folk stars Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl performed in Prescot Civic Hall.
Tickets cost 50p (40p for students and OAPs) and could be bought in advance from Rothery Records or local libraries.
On the 5th Pilkingtons reported a big drop in their profits for the last six months to just under £5m, down from over £11 million in the same period last year.
Chairman Sir Alastair Pilkington blamed reduced demand for glass and high inflation.
The St Helens Reporter on the 6th described concerns that children might have to go without Christmas party sandwiches and other treats because of a bread strike.
However, bakers, some firms and a church had been "pulling out the stops" to prevent the bread shortage from ruining celebrations.
St Helens Parish Church's planned party for 120 deprived children had been under threat but one of their curates had persuaded his local baker to treat it as a special case and allow them 18 loaves.
Also set to take place on the 7th was Pilkington's Fibreglass party for 450 children where barm cakes and rolls had been obtained.
And Beechams had managed to get their hands on seven dozen balm cakes for the 80 children that they were accommodating and they had ordered extra crisps, biscuits and jellies.
Housewives had been queuing before dawn for bread for their families and there had been a few angry scenes when people had attempted to jump the queue.
The dispute was through the bakers union demanding a £40 basic weekly wage and four weeks annual holiday, as well as an end to Sunday working.
The Reporter ran a Christmas competition for schoolchildren of all ages in which they were asked to paint or crayon-in a drawing of carol singers that was published in the paper.
The six winners would each receive a voucher worth £2.50 to be spent at local shops.
I wouldn't have thought that many mothers or fathers would have been getting out their painting palettes or crayoning sets to do their kid's entry for them.
But just in case any parents were thinking of cheating, the entry form that had to be cut out of the paper required a signature from a parent or guardian to support the statement, "I certify that the enclosed painting is my child's unaided work."
The Reporter described how residents in Eccleston were hoping to get rid of an eyesore that had been with them for 20 years.
The Technical Services Department of St Helens Council were hopeful that the owner of a strip of waste ground in Lester Drive would clean up his land within the next few months.
In the summer it was always overgrown with tall grass that obstructed the view of motorists; refuse was often tipped there and ants that invaded nearby homes were said to come from the waste ground.
The land had been the property of builder Richard Ellison who had built the houses in Lester Drive.
When he died the land passed to his son in London and this had caused difficulties in getting the site cleared up.
The Reporter stated that Beecham's first ever Festival of Brass had proved such a great success that the firm had decided to repeat the competition in 1975.
The contest had taken place in a packed Beecham's Social Club with the adjudicators praising the high standard of the performances.
For the last fortnight 39 drivers and draymen working for John Smith's brewery in Haydock had been on strike.
Their unofficial stoppage was over bonus payments and the Reporter said their bosses had now decided to make their absence from their jobs permanent after issuing redundancy notices.
Singer Tony Christie was in concert at the Theatre Royal in St Helens on the 7th performing two shows. His most popular song was "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo".
On the 8th a 3-year-old boy had a very lucky escape after falling down an 8-foot deep manhole.
Brian Marsh of Farm Close in Clock Face had been walking with his mother Pat and baby sister Adele when the accident occurred. Mrs Marsh said later:
"We had gone to visit a friend on the Blue Acre Estate. One minute Brian was walking beside the pram, and next minute he was gone. I was panic stricken.
"Brian was crying and screaming for me to get him out but the hole was so deep that I could hardly see him down there.
"I had to knock on a door and leave the baby with complete strangers. Someone phoned for the fire and ambulance and I rushed back to Brian."
Fifteen minutes later two fire engines, an ambulance and the police arrived on the estate to rescue Brian who emerged from the hole suffering only a slight bruise on his forehead.
After an examination at St Helens Hospital, the little boy was allowed home.
It was believed that the manhole cover had been missing for about a week and rubbish had been allowed to accumulate inside – including the framework of an old go-cart.
Mrs Marsh said: "It was really frightening. I can't help thinking that Brian could have been seriously hurt, especially with all that old rubbish down the hole."
And what had St Helens Council to say about the matter? They could, of course, have stated that they were holding an urgent investigation and expressed sympathy for the boy.
But this was the 1970s where "no comment" was the stock in trade response and so in reply to the Reporter's enquiry, a spokesman at St Helens Town Hall said nowt!
That, of course, brings up the philosophical question as to whether you can be a spokesman if you don't speak!
And finally, at the ABC Cinema for 7 days from the 8th, there was a double bill with 'Canterbury Tales' and Woody Allen's 'Bananas' being shown. And at the Capitol an X-rated film called 'Hot Lips' was screened.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the bid to close down Leathers Chemicals, the need for a secondary school in Rainhill, a fire in Beth Avenue badly burns two children, and Pilkington's confirm their new glass factory is to be built in Greengate.
We begin on the 2nd when a newspaper known as the Belfast News-Letter reported how Foster Plastics of Rainford were producing a new material to make houses impervious to dry rot and attacks by mice.
They said Foster's new lightweight plastic wood could be nailed, screwed, sawn or stapled but at present it was more expensive than the timber it was designed to replace.
On the morning of the 2nd a loud knocking on her front door woke Maureen Moulsdale.
Thinking it was her husband coming off nightshift early, she dashed downstairs to find a stranger saying her house was on fire. Mrs Moulsdale of McCormack Avenue in Parr later told the St Helens Reporter:
"Flames were shooting out of the windows of the house. The fire was in the living room, and everything in there was burning up."
She ran upstairs and woke up her three children and got them out of the house and the fire brigade was called.
As Maureen's husband, James, arrived home from work he found two fire engines pulling up at his house, which by then was well alight, although his family were safe.
Their living room and everything in it was, however, destroyed.
Just who the man had been who raised the alarm was not known. But Mrs Moulsdale said: "We would like to meet and thank the passer-by who probably saved our lives."
Each year a schools' public speaking competition was organised by the St Helens and District Junior Chamber of Commerce.
The winner of this year's individual award was Catherine Houghton of Cowley School whose subject was local dialect and the team trophy went to West Park boys.
The prosecution explained how the girl and a 10-year-old boy had been playing near the duck pond.
When the boy went away the man was said to have pushed the girl to the ground and sat on top of her until her screaming led to him running off.
The man was later arrested and gave the police this explanation for what had occurred:
"My dog went into the field and wouldn't come when I called him. I jumped over the ditch, hoping to catch him, slipped and hit the girl with my elbows. She fell over with me lying across her chest."
The man's barrister was Brian Leveson who would become a top judge and in 2017 was made the Head of Criminal Justice for England and Wales.
Despite being the lead prosecutor in some notable cases (such as the Rosemary West murders and the Ken Dodd tax evasion case) he will probably be best remembered for chairing the public inquiry into the British press.
This is what Leveson had to say about the girl in the Sherdley Park incident:
"Children are well known to exaggerate and fantasise, not deliberately, but something may happen and they make up the rest." The man was cleared of the charge.
During the evening of the 3rd folk stars Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl performed in Prescot Civic Hall.
Tickets cost 50p (40p for students and OAPs) and could be bought in advance from Rothery Records or local libraries.
On the 5th Pilkingtons reported a big drop in their profits for the last six months to just under £5m, down from over £11 million in the same period last year.
Chairman Sir Alastair Pilkington blamed reduced demand for glass and high inflation.
The St Helens Reporter on the 6th described concerns that children might have to go without Christmas party sandwiches and other treats because of a bread strike.
However, bakers, some firms and a church had been "pulling out the stops" to prevent the bread shortage from ruining celebrations.
St Helens Parish Church's planned party for 120 deprived children had been under threat but one of their curates had persuaded his local baker to treat it as a special case and allow them 18 loaves.
Also set to take place on the 7th was Pilkington's Fibreglass party for 450 children where barm cakes and rolls had been obtained.
And Beechams had managed to get their hands on seven dozen balm cakes for the 80 children that they were accommodating and they had ordered extra crisps, biscuits and jellies.
Housewives had been queuing before dawn for bread for their families and there had been a few angry scenes when people had attempted to jump the queue.
The dispute was through the bakers union demanding a £40 basic weekly wage and four weeks annual holiday, as well as an end to Sunday working.
The Reporter ran a Christmas competition for schoolchildren of all ages in which they were asked to paint or crayon-in a drawing of carol singers that was published in the paper.
The six winners would each receive a voucher worth £2.50 to be spent at local shops.
I wouldn't have thought that many mothers or fathers would have been getting out their painting palettes or crayoning sets to do their kid's entry for them.
But just in case any parents were thinking of cheating, the entry form that had to be cut out of the paper required a signature from a parent or guardian to support the statement, "I certify that the enclosed painting is my child's unaided work."
The Reporter described how residents in Eccleston were hoping to get rid of an eyesore that had been with them for 20 years.
The Technical Services Department of St Helens Council were hopeful that the owner of a strip of waste ground in Lester Drive would clean up his land within the next few months.
In the summer it was always overgrown with tall grass that obstructed the view of motorists; refuse was often tipped there and ants that invaded nearby homes were said to come from the waste ground.
The land had been the property of builder Richard Ellison who had built the houses in Lester Drive.
When he died the land passed to his son in London and this had caused difficulties in getting the site cleared up.
The Reporter stated that Beecham's first ever Festival of Brass had proved such a great success that the firm had decided to repeat the competition in 1975.
The contest had taken place in a packed Beecham's Social Club with the adjudicators praising the high standard of the performances.
For the last fortnight 39 drivers and draymen working for John Smith's brewery in Haydock had been on strike.
Their unofficial stoppage was over bonus payments and the Reporter said their bosses had now decided to make their absence from their jobs permanent after issuing redundancy notices.
Singer Tony Christie was in concert at the Theatre Royal in St Helens on the 7th performing two shows. His most popular song was "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo".
On the 8th a 3-year-old boy had a very lucky escape after falling down an 8-foot deep manhole.
Brian Marsh of Farm Close in Clock Face had been walking with his mother Pat and baby sister Adele when the accident occurred. Mrs Marsh said later:
"We had gone to visit a friend on the Blue Acre Estate. One minute Brian was walking beside the pram, and next minute he was gone. I was panic stricken.
"Brian was crying and screaming for me to get him out but the hole was so deep that I could hardly see him down there.
"I had to knock on a door and leave the baby with complete strangers. Someone phoned for the fire and ambulance and I rushed back to Brian."
Fifteen minutes later two fire engines, an ambulance and the police arrived on the estate to rescue Brian who emerged from the hole suffering only a slight bruise on his forehead.
After an examination at St Helens Hospital, the little boy was allowed home.
It was believed that the manhole cover had been missing for about a week and rubbish had been allowed to accumulate inside – including the framework of an old go-cart.
Mrs Marsh said: "It was really frightening. I can't help thinking that Brian could have been seriously hurt, especially with all that old rubbish down the hole."
And what had St Helens Council to say about the matter? They could, of course, have stated that they were holding an urgent investigation and expressed sympathy for the boy.
But this was the 1970s where "no comment" was the stock in trade response and so in reply to the Reporter's enquiry, a spokesman at St Helens Town Hall said nowt!
That, of course, brings up the philosophical question as to whether you can be a spokesman if you don't speak!
And finally, at the ABC Cinema for 7 days from the 8th, there was a double bill with 'Canterbury Tales' and Woody Allen's 'Bananas' being shown. And at the Capitol an X-rated film called 'Hot Lips' was screened.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the bid to close down Leathers Chemicals, the need for a secondary school in Rainhill, a fire in Beth Avenue badly burns two children, and Pilkington's confirm their new glass factory is to be built in Greengate.