FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (3rd - 9th JANUARY 1972)
This week's many stories include the green light for the long-delayed Parr baths, the council consider whether stinky brook is still stinky, Saints threaten a boycott of the BBC2 Trophy, Rainford Council announces plans to sell off their council homes and why St Helens GPs could now stay snug in their beds.
We begin on the 3rd with the return of Billy Bottle. North West milk distributors J. Hanson & Sons – who delivered milk to many St Helens' homes – were appealing for the return of their milk bottles, with an astonishing 25,000 claimed as going astray each day. In fact in the whole of the North West, they reckoned 150,000 bottles disappeared daily, with each costing 2p. The mind boggles as to where they all went!
Three years ago Hanson's created a character called 'Billy Bottle' – a little man with a bottle-shaped body – to hammer home their campaign. Now they had joined forces with other major milk companies in a 16-week campaign, which resurrected Billy as its figurehead. And if they got more of their empties back, the milkies said they would buy thirty television sets for deserving OAPs.
Talking of OAPs, St Helens' oldest resident needed hospital treatment this week. Anne Penkethman fell in her room at a home for the elderly in Moss Bank and the 101-year-old required three stitches to her forehead at Providence Hospital.
The subject of the St Helens "stinky brook" came up for discussion again on the 5th. At the Town Council's monthly meeting, Cllr. Bill Shepherd wanted to know when it could be said that pollution levels in the Sutton and Parr areas had been markedly reduced. British Sidac was responsible for pumping its manufacturing effluent from its Lancots Lane works into the brook. The cellulose wrappings firm had established a treatment plant and submitted a total of 28 reports to the council on how matters were improving. But it still wasn't known for certain how effective their remedial efforts had been.
So Alderman Harold Rimmer said he intended consulting the Mersey and Weaver River Authority for an independent view on the matter but thought things were getting better: "The sulphuric acid treatment plant is now working continually," he said, "and I understand that there has been a marked improvement in the state of the brook."
However, things were clearly still far from rosy. Within a few months, the town's MP, Leslie Spriggs, would complain to the Commons of the "damnable" and obnoxious odour coming from the brook. The Reporter's article about his complaint would be published under the headline "MP Tells House Of The Town's Smelly Brook".
Rainford Council's Finance Committee met on the 5th and decided to allow most of its tenants the chance to buy their own home. An urban district council then ran the village with 555 properties under its ownership and the controversial policy would enable 450 of them to go on the market. Existing tenants would be able to buy their council homes at rates 15% below their value, with mortgages made available. Rainford would thus become the first council within the St Helens district to introduce a right to buy scheme for its renters. But 105 homes would be excluded from the scheme – including bungalows and houses in the village's North End.
Also on the 5th a public inquiry was held into Greenall Whitley's plans to build a betting shop behind the Travellers Rest Hotel in Crab Street. The headquarters of the Air Training Corps were located close by – and that had been one reason why St Helens Council had rejected Greenall's planning application.
At the appeal hearing a Department of Environment inspector was told that the betting shop would not place any ATC member in any form of moral danger. That was simply because the shop would be closed when the Corp's HQ was being used. However, Sister Marie of the Convent of Notre Dame had sent a written submission to the hearing, objecting to the scheme and saying the shop would be "another temptation". The inspector would report his decision in due course.
On January 30th 1965, the St Helens Reporter's lead story bore the headline: "£300,000 Swimming Baths For Parr – The End Of A long Trip To Widnes". The article began: "A £300,000 luxury swimming baths accommodating 500 bathers and with tiered seating for 300 spectators, is to be built at Parr. A large car park will be provided. Work on the new baths will start next year and the building is expected to be ready in 1968."
However, in November of 1968, Percy Cunliffe from Charnwood Street had a letter published in the Reporter wondering what had happened to the proposed new baths. He claimed that the Town Council had been promising to build them for 30 years but not a single brick had been laid. Then in the following year there was a public outcry when the council chose to build a 9-hole golf course in Sherdley Park instead of the long-promised baths. The council said they couldn't afford both schemes but buckled under public pressure and decided to build a slimmed down, half-price version of the baths in Parr. Then it all went quiet again…
However, on the 6th of this week it was announced that work would begin in the autumn on building the town's second pool at the Recreation Park in Parr. Alderman Arthur Luther was chairman of the council's Works Committee and said: "I'm delighted to announce that we can now go ahead and this time we have the Sports Council's backing. The scheme has had a chequered history because of money troubles but I hope that this is the end of it. The pool will be 33 metres long and should be a great asset to the town." Cost-cutting meant there would be no diving facilities but two shallow ends would allow more schoolchildren to be safely taught how to swim.
A major story in the St Helens Reporter on the 7th was a row between Saints and the Rugby League, which was casting a shadow over the team's participation in next season's BBC2 Trophy. Also known as the Floodlit Trophy, the Knowsley Road club were the current holders of the competition. However, Saints were unhappy with the cash that they'd received for being the winners and the compensation awarded for an early kick-off in one particular match.
The Reporter also wrote how a new system had come into operation to give the town's GPs a good night's rest: "Doctors in St. Helens have plugged in to a lifeline emergency service to save them from sleepless nights. They can stay snug in their beds while other doctors deal with urgent night-time calls." Most of the town's GPs had signed up to the new service, which was run by a company called On Call Limited.
Over the Christmas holidays 700 calls from the St Helens district had been handled. Each GP paid a fixed sum to On Call for each of their patient's calls that the company's doctors responded to. The substitute medics operated a 12-hour service and were equipped with radio telephones, detailed maps and a navigator. A spokesman for On Call said: "The advantage is that a patient who needs urgent treatment will be seen by a doctor who is wide awake and who can come at short notice. So far we have had no complaints of any sort."
The Reporter's Snoopy Club column for young kids began this week with these words: "Hello children, Christmas and New Year are now just memories. I hope you didn't have tummy-ache with eating too much!"
When you read some of the adverts in the Reporter in the 1970s, it is hardly surprising that St Helens church leaders were pushing back against what they saw as declining moral standards. In this week's edition of the paper, the ABC Savoy in Bridge Street published this sensationalised description of their forthcoming film 'Nun Of Monza': "SUNDAY NEXT FOR 7 DAYS. Rape! Torture! Despair! Within the convent of Monza, Sister Virginia was raped. For this she was tortured."
The utility companies' customer service during the 1970s was, of course, nothing like today. I expect being in public ownership was part of the reason but whatever the explanation, the people of St Helens needed patience. If you wanted a new telephone you had to wait at least six months and the gas and electricity companies could also be a bit tardy in dealing with requests – and might even be off-hand to polite callers.
This week the Reporter profiled Barry Swift's gas central heating problems. The 24-year-old teacher from St George's Avenue in Windle had been waiting three months for the Gas Board to repair his system. And when he rang to complain, he said he was abruptly told: "We're very busy…some people have to wait six months." Barry told the Reporter that he was amazed at the Gas Board's complacent attitude but finally, after making many calls, they had got his central heating working again.
The paper also reported that a group of pensioners were guarding St Luke's Church from wreckers. The OAP's had formed their daytime patrol after a raid by vandals on the Knowsley Road church in which Bibles and prayer books were ripped and a stained glass window smashed.
And finally, the workers at the local coal mines went out on strike on the 9th as part of a national dispute over pay. It would not be until the end of February that the miners would return to work. There'll be much on this story over the coming weeks.
Next week's stories will include the dollies in a dust up at Prescot Road, St Helens' schools are poised to close because of the coal strike, a Reporter feature on Westfield Street and the town's last trolleybus is saved from the scrapyard.
Three years ago Hanson's created a character called 'Billy Bottle' – a little man with a bottle-shaped body – to hammer home their campaign. Now they had joined forces with other major milk companies in a 16-week campaign, which resurrected Billy as its figurehead. And if they got more of their empties back, the milkies said they would buy thirty television sets for deserving OAPs.
Talking of OAPs, St Helens' oldest resident needed hospital treatment this week. Anne Penkethman fell in her room at a home for the elderly in Moss Bank and the 101-year-old required three stitches to her forehead at Providence Hospital.
The subject of the St Helens "stinky brook" came up for discussion again on the 5th. At the Town Council's monthly meeting, Cllr. Bill Shepherd wanted to know when it could be said that pollution levels in the Sutton and Parr areas had been markedly reduced. British Sidac was responsible for pumping its manufacturing effluent from its Lancots Lane works into the brook. The cellulose wrappings firm had established a treatment plant and submitted a total of 28 reports to the council on how matters were improving. But it still wasn't known for certain how effective their remedial efforts had been.
So Alderman Harold Rimmer said he intended consulting the Mersey and Weaver River Authority for an independent view on the matter but thought things were getting better: "The sulphuric acid treatment plant is now working continually," he said, "and I understand that there has been a marked improvement in the state of the brook."
However, things were clearly still far from rosy. Within a few months, the town's MP, Leslie Spriggs, would complain to the Commons of the "damnable" and obnoxious odour coming from the brook. The Reporter's article about his complaint would be published under the headline "MP Tells House Of The Town's Smelly Brook".
Rainford Council's Finance Committee met on the 5th and decided to allow most of its tenants the chance to buy their own home. An urban district council then ran the village with 555 properties under its ownership and the controversial policy would enable 450 of them to go on the market. Existing tenants would be able to buy their council homes at rates 15% below their value, with mortgages made available. Rainford would thus become the first council within the St Helens district to introduce a right to buy scheme for its renters. But 105 homes would be excluded from the scheme – including bungalows and houses in the village's North End.
Also on the 5th a public inquiry was held into Greenall Whitley's plans to build a betting shop behind the Travellers Rest Hotel in Crab Street. The headquarters of the Air Training Corps were located close by – and that had been one reason why St Helens Council had rejected Greenall's planning application.
At the appeal hearing a Department of Environment inspector was told that the betting shop would not place any ATC member in any form of moral danger. That was simply because the shop would be closed when the Corp's HQ was being used. However, Sister Marie of the Convent of Notre Dame had sent a written submission to the hearing, objecting to the scheme and saying the shop would be "another temptation". The inspector would report his decision in due course.
On January 30th 1965, the St Helens Reporter's lead story bore the headline: "£300,000 Swimming Baths For Parr – The End Of A long Trip To Widnes". The article began: "A £300,000 luxury swimming baths accommodating 500 bathers and with tiered seating for 300 spectators, is to be built at Parr. A large car park will be provided. Work on the new baths will start next year and the building is expected to be ready in 1968."
However, in November of 1968, Percy Cunliffe from Charnwood Street had a letter published in the Reporter wondering what had happened to the proposed new baths. He claimed that the Town Council had been promising to build them for 30 years but not a single brick had been laid. Then in the following year there was a public outcry when the council chose to build a 9-hole golf course in Sherdley Park instead of the long-promised baths. The council said they couldn't afford both schemes but buckled under public pressure and decided to build a slimmed down, half-price version of the baths in Parr. Then it all went quiet again…
However, on the 6th of this week it was announced that work would begin in the autumn on building the town's second pool at the Recreation Park in Parr. Alderman Arthur Luther was chairman of the council's Works Committee and said: "I'm delighted to announce that we can now go ahead and this time we have the Sports Council's backing. The scheme has had a chequered history because of money troubles but I hope that this is the end of it. The pool will be 33 metres long and should be a great asset to the town." Cost-cutting meant there would be no diving facilities but two shallow ends would allow more schoolchildren to be safely taught how to swim.
A major story in the St Helens Reporter on the 7th was a row between Saints and the Rugby League, which was casting a shadow over the team's participation in next season's BBC2 Trophy. Also known as the Floodlit Trophy, the Knowsley Road club were the current holders of the competition. However, Saints were unhappy with the cash that they'd received for being the winners and the compensation awarded for an early kick-off in one particular match.
The Reporter also wrote how a new system had come into operation to give the town's GPs a good night's rest: "Doctors in St. Helens have plugged in to a lifeline emergency service to save them from sleepless nights. They can stay snug in their beds while other doctors deal with urgent night-time calls." Most of the town's GPs had signed up to the new service, which was run by a company called On Call Limited.
Over the Christmas holidays 700 calls from the St Helens district had been handled. Each GP paid a fixed sum to On Call for each of their patient's calls that the company's doctors responded to. The substitute medics operated a 12-hour service and were equipped with radio telephones, detailed maps and a navigator. A spokesman for On Call said: "The advantage is that a patient who needs urgent treatment will be seen by a doctor who is wide awake and who can come at short notice. So far we have had no complaints of any sort."
When you read some of the adverts in the Reporter in the 1970s, it is hardly surprising that St Helens church leaders were pushing back against what they saw as declining moral standards. In this week's edition of the paper, the ABC Savoy in Bridge Street published this sensationalised description of their forthcoming film 'Nun Of Monza': "SUNDAY NEXT FOR 7 DAYS. Rape! Torture! Despair! Within the convent of Monza, Sister Virginia was raped. For this she was tortured."
The utility companies' customer service during the 1970s was, of course, nothing like today. I expect being in public ownership was part of the reason but whatever the explanation, the people of St Helens needed patience. If you wanted a new telephone you had to wait at least six months and the gas and electricity companies could also be a bit tardy in dealing with requests – and might even be off-hand to polite callers.
This week the Reporter profiled Barry Swift's gas central heating problems. The 24-year-old teacher from St George's Avenue in Windle had been waiting three months for the Gas Board to repair his system. And when he rang to complain, he said he was abruptly told: "We're very busy…some people have to wait six months." Barry told the Reporter that he was amazed at the Gas Board's complacent attitude but finally, after making many calls, they had got his central heating working again.
The paper also reported that a group of pensioners were guarding St Luke's Church from wreckers. The OAP's had formed their daytime patrol after a raid by vandals on the Knowsley Road church in which Bibles and prayer books were ripped and a stained glass window smashed.
And finally, the workers at the local coal mines went out on strike on the 9th as part of a national dispute over pay. It would not be until the end of February that the miners would return to work. There'll be much on this story over the coming weeks.
Next week's stories will include the dollies in a dust up at Prescot Road, St Helens' schools are poised to close because of the coal strike, a Reporter feature on Westfield Street and the town's last trolleybus is saved from the scrapyard.
This week's many stories include the green light for the long-delayed Parr baths, the council consider whether stinky brook is still stinky, Saints threaten a boycott of the BBC2 Trophy, Rainford Council announces plans to sell off their council homes and why St Helens GPs could now stay snug in their beds.
We begin on the 3rd with the return of Billy Bottle. North West milk distributors J. Hanson & Sons – who delivered milk to many St Helens' homes – were appealing for the return of their milk bottles, with an astonishing 25,000 claimed as going astray each day.
In fact in the whole of the North West, they reckoned 150,000 bottles disappeared daily, with each costing 2p. The mind boggles as to where they all went!
Three years ago Hanson's created a character called 'Billy Bottle' – a little man with a bottle-shaped body – to hammer home their campaign.
Now they had joined forces with other major milk companies in a 16-week campaign, which resurrected Billy as its figurehead.
And if they got more of their empties back, the milkies said they would buy thirty television sets for deserving OAPs.
Talking of OAPs, St Helens' oldest resident needed hospital treatment this week.
Anne Penkethman fell in her room at a home for the elderly in Moss Bank and the 101-year-old required three stitches to her forehead at Providence Hospital.
The subject of the St Helens "stinky brook" came up for discussion again on the 5th.
At the Town Council's monthly meeting, Cllr. Bill Shepherd wanted to know when it could be said that pollution levels in the Sutton and Parr areas had been markedly reduced.
British Sidac was responsible for pumping its manufacturing effluent from its Lancots Lane works into the brook.
The cellulose wrappings firm had established a treatment plant and submitted a total of 28 reports to the council on how matters were improving. But it still wasn't known for certain how effective their remedial efforts had been.
So Alderman Harold Rimmer said he intended consulting the Mersey and Weaver River Authority for an independent view on the matter but thought things were getting better:
"The sulphuric acid treatment plant is now working continually," he said, "and I understand that there has been a marked improvement in the state of the brook."
However, things were clearly still far from rosy. Within a few months, the town's MP, Leslie Spriggs, would complain to the Commons of the "damnable" and obnoxious odour coming from the brook.
The Reporter's article about his complaint would be published under the headline "MP Tells House Of The Town's Smelly Brook".
Rainford Council's Finance Committee met on the 5th and decided to allow most of its tenants the chance to buy their own home.
An urban district council then ran the village with 555 properties under its ownership and the controversial policy would enable 450 of them to go on the market.
Existing tenants would be able to buy their council homes at rates 15% below their value, with mortgages made available.
Rainford would thus become the first council within the St Helens district to introduce a right to buy scheme for its renters.
But 105 homes would be excluded from the scheme – including bungalows and houses in the village's North End.
Also on the 5th a public inquiry was held into Greenall Whitley's plans to build a betting shop behind the Travellers Rest Hotel in Crab Street.
The headquarters of the Air Training Corps were located close by – and that had been one reason why St Helens Council had rejected Greenall's planning application.
At the appeal hearing a Department of Environment inspector was told that the betting shop would not place any ATC member in any form of moral danger.
That was simply because the shop would be closed when the Corp's HQ was being used.
However, Sister Marie of the Convent of Notre Dame had sent a written submission to the hearing, objecting to the scheme and saying the shop would be "another temptation". The inspector would report his decision in due course.
On January 30th 1965, the St Helens Reporter's lead story bore the headline: "£300,000 Swimming Baths For Parr – The End Of A long Trip To Widnes".
The article began: "A £300,000 luxury swimming baths accommodating 500 bathers and with tiered seating for 300 spectators, is to be built at Parr.
"A large car park will be provided. Work on the new baths will start next year and the building is expected to be ready in 1968."
However, in November of 1968, Percy Cunliffe from Charnwood Street had a letter published in the Reporter wondering what had happened to the proposed new baths.
He claimed that the Town Council had been promising to build them for 30 years but not a single brick had been laid.
Then in the following year there was a public outcry when the council chose to build a 9-hole golf course in Sherdley Park instead of the long-promised baths.
The council said they couldn't afford both schemes but buckled under public pressure and decided to build a slimmed down, half-price version of the baths in Parr. Then it all went quiet again…
However, on the 6th of this week it was announced that work would begin in the autumn on building the town's second pool at the Recreation Park in Parr.
Alderman Arthur Luther was chairman of the council's Works Committee and said:
"I'm delighted to announce that we can now go ahead and this time we have the Sports Council's backing. The scheme has had a chequered history because of money troubles but I hope that this is the end of it. The pool will be 33 metres long and should be a great asset to the town."
Cost-cutting meant there would be no diving facilities but two shallow ends would allow more schoolchildren to be safely taught how to swim.
A major story in the St Helens Reporter on the 7th was a row between Saints and the Rugby League, which was casting a shadow over the team's participation in next season's BBC2 Trophy.
Also known as the Floodlit Trophy, the Knowsley Road club were the current holders of the competition.
However, Saints were unhappy with the cash that they'd received for being the winners and the compensation awarded for an early kick-off in one particular match.
The Reporter also wrote how a new system had come into operation to give the town's GPs a good night's rest:
"Doctors in St. Helens have plugged in to a lifeline emergency service to save them from sleepless nights. They can stay snug in their beds while other doctors deal with urgent night-time calls."
Most of the town's GPs had signed up to the new service, which was run by a company called On Call Limited.
Over the Christmas holidays 700 calls from the St Helens district had been handled.
Each GP paid a fixed sum to On Call for each of their patient's calls that the company's doctors responded to.
The substitute medics operated a 12-hour service and were equipped with radio telephones, detailed maps and a navigator.
A spokesman for On Call said: "The advantage is that a patient who needs urgent treatment will be seen by a doctor who is wide awake and who can come at short notice. So far we have had no complaints of any sort."
The Reporter's Snoopy Club column for young kids began this week with these words:
"Hello children, Christmas and New Year are now just memories. I hope you didn't have tummy-ache with eating too much!"
When you read some of the adverts in the Reporter in the 1970s, it is hardly surprising that St Helens church leaders were pushing back against what they saw as declining moral standards.
In this week's edition of the paper, the ABC Savoy in Bridge Street published this sensationalised description of their forthcoming film 'Nun Of Monza':
"SUNDAY NEXT FOR 7 DAYS. Rape! Torture! Despair! Within the convent of Monza, Sister Virginia was raped. For this she was tortured."
The utility companies' customer service during the 1970s was, of course, nothing like today.
I expect being in public ownership was part of the reason but whatever the explanation, the people of St Helens needed patience.
If you wanted a new telephone you had to wait at least six months and the gas and electricity companies could also be a bit tardy in dealing with requests – and might even be off-hand to polite callers.
This week the Reporter profiled Barry Swift's gas central heating problems. The 24-year-old teacher from St George's Avenue in Windle had been waiting three months for the Gas Board to repair his system.
And when he rang to complain, he said he was abruptly told: "We're very busy…some people have to wait six months."
Barry told the Reporter that he was amazed at the Gas Board's complacent attitude but finally, after making many calls, they had got his central heating working again.
The paper also reported that a group of pensioners were guarding St Luke's Church from wreckers.
The OAP's had formed their daytime patrol after a raid by vandals on the Knowsley Road church in which Bibles and prayer books were ripped and a stained glass window smashed.
And finally, the workers at the local coal mines went out on strike on the 9th as part of a national dispute over pay.
It would not be until the end of February that the miners would return to work. There'll be much on this story over the coming weeks.
Next week's stories will include the dollies in a dust up at Prescot Road, St Helens' schools are poised to close because of the coal strike, a Reporter feature on Westfield Street and the town's last trolleybus is saved from the scrapyard.
In fact in the whole of the North West, they reckoned 150,000 bottles disappeared daily, with each costing 2p. The mind boggles as to where they all went!
Three years ago Hanson's created a character called 'Billy Bottle' – a little man with a bottle-shaped body – to hammer home their campaign.
Now they had joined forces with other major milk companies in a 16-week campaign, which resurrected Billy as its figurehead.
And if they got more of their empties back, the milkies said they would buy thirty television sets for deserving OAPs.
Talking of OAPs, St Helens' oldest resident needed hospital treatment this week.
Anne Penkethman fell in her room at a home for the elderly in Moss Bank and the 101-year-old required three stitches to her forehead at Providence Hospital.
The subject of the St Helens "stinky brook" came up for discussion again on the 5th.
At the Town Council's monthly meeting, Cllr. Bill Shepherd wanted to know when it could be said that pollution levels in the Sutton and Parr areas had been markedly reduced.
British Sidac was responsible for pumping its manufacturing effluent from its Lancots Lane works into the brook.
The cellulose wrappings firm had established a treatment plant and submitted a total of 28 reports to the council on how matters were improving. But it still wasn't known for certain how effective their remedial efforts had been.
So Alderman Harold Rimmer said he intended consulting the Mersey and Weaver River Authority for an independent view on the matter but thought things were getting better:
"The sulphuric acid treatment plant is now working continually," he said, "and I understand that there has been a marked improvement in the state of the brook."
However, things were clearly still far from rosy. Within a few months, the town's MP, Leslie Spriggs, would complain to the Commons of the "damnable" and obnoxious odour coming from the brook.
The Reporter's article about his complaint would be published under the headline "MP Tells House Of The Town's Smelly Brook".
Rainford Council's Finance Committee met on the 5th and decided to allow most of its tenants the chance to buy their own home.
An urban district council then ran the village with 555 properties under its ownership and the controversial policy would enable 450 of them to go on the market.
Existing tenants would be able to buy their council homes at rates 15% below their value, with mortgages made available.
Rainford would thus become the first council within the St Helens district to introduce a right to buy scheme for its renters.
But 105 homes would be excluded from the scheme – including bungalows and houses in the village's North End.
Also on the 5th a public inquiry was held into Greenall Whitley's plans to build a betting shop behind the Travellers Rest Hotel in Crab Street.
The headquarters of the Air Training Corps were located close by – and that had been one reason why St Helens Council had rejected Greenall's planning application.
At the appeal hearing a Department of Environment inspector was told that the betting shop would not place any ATC member in any form of moral danger.
That was simply because the shop would be closed when the Corp's HQ was being used.
However, Sister Marie of the Convent of Notre Dame had sent a written submission to the hearing, objecting to the scheme and saying the shop would be "another temptation". The inspector would report his decision in due course.
On January 30th 1965, the St Helens Reporter's lead story bore the headline: "£300,000 Swimming Baths For Parr – The End Of A long Trip To Widnes".
The article began: "A £300,000 luxury swimming baths accommodating 500 bathers and with tiered seating for 300 spectators, is to be built at Parr.
"A large car park will be provided. Work on the new baths will start next year and the building is expected to be ready in 1968."
However, in November of 1968, Percy Cunliffe from Charnwood Street had a letter published in the Reporter wondering what had happened to the proposed new baths.
He claimed that the Town Council had been promising to build them for 30 years but not a single brick had been laid.
Then in the following year there was a public outcry when the council chose to build a 9-hole golf course in Sherdley Park instead of the long-promised baths.
The council said they couldn't afford both schemes but buckled under public pressure and decided to build a slimmed down, half-price version of the baths in Parr. Then it all went quiet again…
However, on the 6th of this week it was announced that work would begin in the autumn on building the town's second pool at the Recreation Park in Parr.
Alderman Arthur Luther was chairman of the council's Works Committee and said:
"I'm delighted to announce that we can now go ahead and this time we have the Sports Council's backing. The scheme has had a chequered history because of money troubles but I hope that this is the end of it. The pool will be 33 metres long and should be a great asset to the town."
Cost-cutting meant there would be no diving facilities but two shallow ends would allow more schoolchildren to be safely taught how to swim.
A major story in the St Helens Reporter on the 7th was a row between Saints and the Rugby League, which was casting a shadow over the team's participation in next season's BBC2 Trophy.
Also known as the Floodlit Trophy, the Knowsley Road club were the current holders of the competition.
However, Saints were unhappy with the cash that they'd received for being the winners and the compensation awarded for an early kick-off in one particular match.
The Reporter also wrote how a new system had come into operation to give the town's GPs a good night's rest:
"Doctors in St. Helens have plugged in to a lifeline emergency service to save them from sleepless nights. They can stay snug in their beds while other doctors deal with urgent night-time calls."
Most of the town's GPs had signed up to the new service, which was run by a company called On Call Limited.
Over the Christmas holidays 700 calls from the St Helens district had been handled.
Each GP paid a fixed sum to On Call for each of their patient's calls that the company's doctors responded to.
The substitute medics operated a 12-hour service and were equipped with radio telephones, detailed maps and a navigator.
A spokesman for On Call said: "The advantage is that a patient who needs urgent treatment will be seen by a doctor who is wide awake and who can come at short notice. So far we have had no complaints of any sort."
"Hello children, Christmas and New Year are now just memories. I hope you didn't have tummy-ache with eating too much!"
When you read some of the adverts in the Reporter in the 1970s, it is hardly surprising that St Helens church leaders were pushing back against what they saw as declining moral standards.
In this week's edition of the paper, the ABC Savoy in Bridge Street published this sensationalised description of their forthcoming film 'Nun Of Monza':
"SUNDAY NEXT FOR 7 DAYS. Rape! Torture! Despair! Within the convent of Monza, Sister Virginia was raped. For this she was tortured."
The utility companies' customer service during the 1970s was, of course, nothing like today.
I expect being in public ownership was part of the reason but whatever the explanation, the people of St Helens needed patience.
If you wanted a new telephone you had to wait at least six months and the gas and electricity companies could also be a bit tardy in dealing with requests – and might even be off-hand to polite callers.
This week the Reporter profiled Barry Swift's gas central heating problems. The 24-year-old teacher from St George's Avenue in Windle had been waiting three months for the Gas Board to repair his system.
And when he rang to complain, he said he was abruptly told: "We're very busy…some people have to wait six months."
Barry told the Reporter that he was amazed at the Gas Board's complacent attitude but finally, after making many calls, they had got his central heating working again.
The paper also reported that a group of pensioners were guarding St Luke's Church from wreckers.
The OAP's had formed their daytime patrol after a raid by vandals on the Knowsley Road church in which Bibles and prayer books were ripped and a stained glass window smashed.
And finally, the workers at the local coal mines went out on strike on the 9th as part of a national dispute over pay.
It would not be until the end of February that the miners would return to work. There'll be much on this story over the coming weeks.
Next week's stories will include the dollies in a dust up at Prescot Road, St Helens' schools are poised to close because of the coal strike, a Reporter feature on Westfield Street and the town's last trolleybus is saved from the scrapyard.