FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (4th - 10th APRIL 1972)
This week's stories include the topsy-turvy town of St Helens that didn't give a damn about dogs, Sidac warns that the Stinky Brook would be getting stinkier, the winner of Pilkingtons most glamorous Mrs Mopp contest is announced, Rainhill Hospital conducts a review after three deaths in three months, an All Star XI play at Hoghton Road and the book printed in St Helens that cost up to £3,000 to buy in today's money.
We begin at the Theatre Royal on the 4th when keyboard masters Alan Price and Georgie Fame performed together. Then for three evenings from the 5th, 'OId Time Music Hall' was on the Corporation Street stage.
This week it was announced that the controversial British Sidac plant in Lancots Lane in Sutton was experiencing more trouble. A fault had occurred in a 200 ft. chimney that led to its effluent treatment plant breaking down. That meant for the next three months, until the problem could be fixed, some of the cellulose maker's waste would be discharged into Sutton Brook untreated.
Since their arrival in St Helens in the 1930s, Sidac had been chiefly responsible for the so-called "Stinky Brook" – but they were never great in taking responsibility for their pollution. This week Sidac told the Press: "It must be remembered that we were the pioneers in this type of effluent treatment, and we have to suffer the consequences of being the guinea pigs." Of course, many local people would say that they were the ones suffering the consequences. However, it should also be stated that Sidac provided much employment, with 1,600 staff working on its 40-acre site in Sutton during the ‘70s.
Rainhill Hospital announced this week that it would be conducting a review in the light of the death of Heinrich Margolies. The 61-year-old Ukrainian had been found dead in a frozen field at Lowton and he was the third voluntary patient in three months to die after walking out of the hospital. The problem was that patients admitted voluntarily could not easily be stopped from leaving – and, indeed, were often encouraged to spend time outside of the institution to improve their confidence in public settings. However, John Wilson, group secretary of the 2,000 bed hospital, stated that they intended to review their policies concerning when to inform the police that a patient was deemed missing.
The Reporter on the 7th ran a hard-hitting editorial on its front page calling St Helens a "topsy-turvy town". That was because its people raised huge amounts for charity every year – but also annually condemned 300 dogs to death. "Why don't we give a damn about dogs?", asked the paper's editor. A separate front-page article by Eric Leatherbarrow described how the canine "death row" in St Helens was doing "brisk business", after dogs had been found guilty of the crime of being unwanted.
RSPCA Inspector Pat Colgan told the paper that St Helens had the worst record for stray dogs that he had encountered in 17 years: "I have worked in seven other places from Birmingham to Birkenhead but I have never seen a town like St. Helens for stray dogs. I wouldn't say people are cruel. They are just indifferent."
"Glamorous" Janet Etchells from Dentons Green was pictured in the Reporter on the roof of Helena House. The part-time model had recently appeared on Top of the Pops and, according to the paper, "seems set on a chart-topping career".
Charles Martin was approaching the end of his mayoral year and reflected in the Reporter on his big success – that he hadn't put on any weight! The paper wrote: "The daily round of official wining-and-dining has always added extra inches to mayoral middles. Last year's number-one citizen put on a plump stone."
However, master butcher Martin was still a trim 11st. 7lbs, having only added two pounds in twelve months. That was in spite of attending an average of five official banquets a week – each with four or five courses. "I was warned before I started that the chain of office might be resting on a bigger waistline by the end of the year," Cllr. Martin explained. "I just used a little caution. If I've been attending a big lunch, then that one meal is enough for the day."
The Reporter also described how Wood Westworth was producing a special book using paper handmade from seaweed – and selling it for up to £200. That's the equivalent of £3,000 in today's money. And all copies were pre-sold! Using a photographic printing process, the Corporation Street printers were producing 100 copies of a handwritten edition of the poem 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'.
The century-old St Helens printing firm had been commissioned to make the limited editions to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The intention was to replicate the handwritten work, so that only an expert would be able to tell that they were copies. The first 10 purchases of the book would pay £200 and the rest were paying £100.
"Dollies In A Dust Up" had been the headline to an article published in the Liverpool Echo in January (shown above). The story described the annoyance of cleaners at Pilkington's HQ in Prescot Road when they saw how they'd been depicted in the company's newspaper. The Echo wrote that the cartoon used: "“Mrs. Mop” character complete with turban, bedraggled hair, wrinkled stockings and “Old Mother Riley” boots."
Alice Platt of Nutgrove Hall Drive told the Echo: "The cartoon character went back over 40 years. Those days have long gone. Cleaners are now much smarter in appearance and we use sophisticated cleaning equipment." The women's protests against the cartoon prompted Pilks to run a competition for the most glamorous cleaning lady on their books – and there were more than 90 of them nationally. However, as I wrote in January, the prize for the winner was not going to be particularly glamorous. It was a vacuum cleaner and floor polisher!
This week the Reporter updated the story. Ann Moran was pictured in the paper after winning the title of "Pilkington's most glamorous Mrs. Mopp", as the paper put it. And the "petite char" received her prizes from the guilty cartoonist Stan Lea, who also worked at Pilks as a production worker. "I started the dust up. I might as well finish it," he said. "I made a mistake but I won’t do it again." The mistake, according to the Reporter, had placed him "under fire from the firm's mop and bucket angry brigade after drawing a cartoon of a dowdy office cleaner." Ann from Scholes Park said: "The girls I work with are pretty smart. That cartoon was a bit of a liberty. We're not at all like that."
The Reporter also revealed that the prices for parking vehicles in the new multi-storey car parks planned for the town centre had been announced. Motorists, the paper said, would face "stiff charges" if they left their vehicles for long periods. Both the St Mary's and Tontine car parks would be charging as much as 50p for a stay of over five hours. That's £7 - £8 in today's money. The high cost was intended to deter long-term parking, as the multi-storey car parks were intended mainly for short-term use by shoppers. Parking for up to an hour would only rate a charge of 3p and a stay of between 1 to 2 hours would cost 5p.
"Absorbing Hobbies and Past Times" was the name of an advertising feature in the paper. Advertisers included camera supplier F. George Laughton of 6 - 8 Cotham Street ("Save £££ at Laughtons"); Dressmaking fabric supplier Marstons of 16 North Road ("Our prices can't be beaten in the north of England"); Bob Collins with head office at 1 Borough Road ("Enjoy your betting with a firm of repute") and home brew supplier Ron Pimblett of North Road and Knowsley Road ("Who else but “Pim's” can give you these new knock-out brews for you to make in your own home, easily and cheaply.")
Meanwhile, at the town’s cinemas from the 9th, the Capitol was showing 'The Sound of Music' for a full week and what I call the ABC Savoy (technically the ABC St Helens) was screening the Charlton Heston film 'The Omega Man'.
The Pilkington "Gala Girl" always ran a charity appeal during her 12-month term of office and the present incumbent, Margaret Pinnington of Cheviot Avenue, had chosen Spina Bifida. And so on the 9th, Peter Robinson's All Star XI played a football match against a Pilkington XI in aid of Margaret's appeal.
The game at the St Helens Town ground at Hoghton Road featured the now disgraced Stuart Hall, Freddy Garrity (of Dreamers fame) and Ken Farrington, better known as Billy Walker from Coronation Street. Admission was by programme, costing 20p.
Next week's stories will include the Nutgrove boy who saved two dumped pups from drowning, St Helens park rangers are to get Alsatians to deter vandals, the Duke Street shopkeeper forced to retire after five break-ins and the Cowley school trip to Argentina.
We begin at the Theatre Royal on the 4th when keyboard masters Alan Price and Georgie Fame performed together. Then for three evenings from the 5th, 'OId Time Music Hall' was on the Corporation Street stage.
Since their arrival in St Helens in the 1930s, Sidac had been chiefly responsible for the so-called "Stinky Brook" – but they were never great in taking responsibility for their pollution. This week Sidac told the Press: "It must be remembered that we were the pioneers in this type of effluent treatment, and we have to suffer the consequences of being the guinea pigs." Of course, many local people would say that they were the ones suffering the consequences. However, it should also be stated that Sidac provided much employment, with 1,600 staff working on its 40-acre site in Sutton during the ‘70s.
Rainhill Hospital announced this week that it would be conducting a review in the light of the death of Heinrich Margolies. The 61-year-old Ukrainian had been found dead in a frozen field at Lowton and he was the third voluntary patient in three months to die after walking out of the hospital. The problem was that patients admitted voluntarily could not easily be stopped from leaving – and, indeed, were often encouraged to spend time outside of the institution to improve their confidence in public settings. However, John Wilson, group secretary of the 2,000 bed hospital, stated that they intended to review their policies concerning when to inform the police that a patient was deemed missing.
The Reporter on the 7th ran a hard-hitting editorial on its front page calling St Helens a "topsy-turvy town". That was because its people raised huge amounts for charity every year – but also annually condemned 300 dogs to death. "Why don't we give a damn about dogs?", asked the paper's editor. A separate front-page article by Eric Leatherbarrow described how the canine "death row" in St Helens was doing "brisk business", after dogs had been found guilty of the crime of being unwanted.
RSPCA Inspector Pat Colgan told the paper that St Helens had the worst record for stray dogs that he had encountered in 17 years: "I have worked in seven other places from Birmingham to Birkenhead but I have never seen a town like St. Helens for stray dogs. I wouldn't say people are cruel. They are just indifferent."
"Glamorous" Janet Etchells from Dentons Green was pictured in the Reporter on the roof of Helena House. The part-time model had recently appeared on Top of the Pops and, according to the paper, "seems set on a chart-topping career".
Charles Martin was approaching the end of his mayoral year and reflected in the Reporter on his big success – that he hadn't put on any weight! The paper wrote: "The daily round of official wining-and-dining has always added extra inches to mayoral middles. Last year's number-one citizen put on a plump stone."
However, master butcher Martin was still a trim 11st. 7lbs, having only added two pounds in twelve months. That was in spite of attending an average of five official banquets a week – each with four or five courses. "I was warned before I started that the chain of office might be resting on a bigger waistline by the end of the year," Cllr. Martin explained. "I just used a little caution. If I've been attending a big lunch, then that one meal is enough for the day."
The Reporter also described how Wood Westworth was producing a special book using paper handmade from seaweed – and selling it for up to £200. That's the equivalent of £3,000 in today's money. And all copies were pre-sold! Using a photographic printing process, the Corporation Street printers were producing 100 copies of a handwritten edition of the poem 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'.
The century-old St Helens printing firm had been commissioned to make the limited editions to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The intention was to replicate the handwritten work, so that only an expert would be able to tell that they were copies. The first 10 purchases of the book would pay £200 and the rest were paying £100.
Alice Platt of Nutgrove Hall Drive told the Echo: "The cartoon character went back over 40 years. Those days have long gone. Cleaners are now much smarter in appearance and we use sophisticated cleaning equipment." The women's protests against the cartoon prompted Pilks to run a competition for the most glamorous cleaning lady on their books – and there were more than 90 of them nationally. However, as I wrote in January, the prize for the winner was not going to be particularly glamorous. It was a vacuum cleaner and floor polisher!
This week the Reporter updated the story. Ann Moran was pictured in the paper after winning the title of "Pilkington's most glamorous Mrs. Mopp", as the paper put it. And the "petite char" received her prizes from the guilty cartoonist Stan Lea, who also worked at Pilks as a production worker. "I started the dust up. I might as well finish it," he said. "I made a mistake but I won’t do it again." The mistake, according to the Reporter, had placed him "under fire from the firm's mop and bucket angry brigade after drawing a cartoon of a dowdy office cleaner." Ann from Scholes Park said: "The girls I work with are pretty smart. That cartoon was a bit of a liberty. We're not at all like that."
The Reporter also revealed that the prices for parking vehicles in the new multi-storey car parks planned for the town centre had been announced. Motorists, the paper said, would face "stiff charges" if they left their vehicles for long periods. Both the St Mary's and Tontine car parks would be charging as much as 50p for a stay of over five hours. That's £7 - £8 in today's money. The high cost was intended to deter long-term parking, as the multi-storey car parks were intended mainly for short-term use by shoppers. Parking for up to an hour would only rate a charge of 3p and a stay of between 1 to 2 hours would cost 5p.
"Absorbing Hobbies and Past Times" was the name of an advertising feature in the paper. Advertisers included camera supplier F. George Laughton of 6 - 8 Cotham Street ("Save £££ at Laughtons"); Dressmaking fabric supplier Marstons of 16 North Road ("Our prices can't be beaten in the north of England"); Bob Collins with head office at 1 Borough Road ("Enjoy your betting with a firm of repute") and home brew supplier Ron Pimblett of North Road and Knowsley Road ("Who else but “Pim's” can give you these new knock-out brews for you to make in your own home, easily and cheaply.")
Meanwhile, at the town’s cinemas from the 9th, the Capitol was showing 'The Sound of Music' for a full week and what I call the ABC Savoy (technically the ABC St Helens) was screening the Charlton Heston film 'The Omega Man'.
The Pilkington "Gala Girl" always ran a charity appeal during her 12-month term of office and the present incumbent, Margaret Pinnington of Cheviot Avenue, had chosen Spina Bifida. And so on the 9th, Peter Robinson's All Star XI played a football match against a Pilkington XI in aid of Margaret's appeal.
The game at the St Helens Town ground at Hoghton Road featured the now disgraced Stuart Hall, Freddy Garrity (of Dreamers fame) and Ken Farrington, better known as Billy Walker from Coronation Street. Admission was by programme, costing 20p.
Next week's stories will include the Nutgrove boy who saved two dumped pups from drowning, St Helens park rangers are to get Alsatians to deter vandals, the Duke Street shopkeeper forced to retire after five break-ins and the Cowley school trip to Argentina.
This week's stories include the topsy-turvy town of St Helens that didn't give a damn about dogs, Sidac warns that the Stinky Brook would be getting stinkier, the winner of Pilkingtons most glamorous Mrs Mopp contest is announced, Rainhill Hospital conducts a review after three deaths in three months, an All Star XI play at Hoghton Road and the book printed in St Helens that cost up to £3,000 to buy in today's money.
We begin at the Theatre Royal on the 4th when keyboard masters Alan Price and Georgie Fame performed together. Then for three evenings from the 5th, 'OId Time Music Hall' was on the Corporation Street stage.
This week it was announced that the controversial British Sidac plant in Lancots Lane in Sutton was experiencing more trouble.
A fault had occurred in a 200 ft. chimney that led to its effluent treatment plant breaking down.
That meant for the next three months, until the problem could be fixed, some of the cellulose maker's waste would be discharged into Sutton Brook untreated.
Since their arrival in St Helens in the 1930s, Sidac had been chiefly responsible for the so-called "Stinky Brook" – but they were never great in taking responsibility for their pollution. This week Sidac told the Press:
"It must be remembered that we were the pioneers in this type of effluent treatment, and we have to suffer the consequences of being the guinea pigs."
Of course, many local people would say that they were the ones suffering the consequences.
However, it should also be stated that Sidac provided much employment, with 1,600 staff working on its 40-acre site in Sutton during the ‘70s.
Rainhill Hospital announced this week that it would be conducting a review in the light of the death of Heinrich Margolies.
The 61-year-old Ukrainian had been found dead in a frozen field at Lowton and he was the third voluntary patient in three months to die after walking out of the hospital.
The problem was that patients admitted voluntarily could not easily be stopped from leaving – and, indeed, were often encouraged to spend time outside of the institution to improve their confidence in public settings.
However, John Wilson, group secretary of the 2,000 bed hospital, stated that they intended to review their policies concerning when to inform the police that a patient was deemed missing.
The Reporter on the 7th ran a hard-hitting editorial on its front page calling St Helens a "topsy-turvy town".
That was because its people raised huge amounts for charity every year – but also annually condemned 300 dogs to death. "Why don't we give a damn about dogs?", asked the paper's editor.
A separate front-page article by Eric Leatherbarrow described how the canine "death row" in St Helens was doing "brisk business", after dogs had been found guilty of the crime of being unwanted.
RSPCA Inspector Pat Colgan told the paper that St Helens had the worst record for stray dogs that he had encountered in 17 years:
"I have worked in seven other places from Birmingham to Birkenhead but I have never seen a town like St. Helens for stray dogs. I wouldn't say people are cruel. They are just indifferent."
"Glamorous" Janet Etchells from Dentons Green was pictured in the Reporter on the roof of Helena House.
The part-time model had recently appeared on Top of the Pops and, according to the paper, "seems set on a chart-topping career".
Charles Martin was approaching the end of his mayoral year and reflected in the Reporter on his big success – that he hadn't put on any weight! The paper wrote:
"The daily round of official wining-and-dining has always added extra inches to mayoral middles. Last year's number-one citizen put on a plump stone."
However, master butcher Martin was still a trim 11st. 7lbs, having only added two pounds in twelve months.
That was in spite of attending an average of five official banquets a week – each with four or five courses.
"I was warned before I started that the chain of office might be resting on a bigger waistline by the end of the year," Cllr. Martin explained.
"I just used a little caution. If I've been attending a big lunch, then that one meal is enough for the day."
The Reporter also described how Wood Westworth was producing a special book using paper handmade from seaweed – and selling it for up to £200.
That's the equivalent of £3,000 in today's money. And all copies were pre-sold!
Using a photographic printing process, the Corporation Street printers were producing 100 copies of a handwritten edition of the poem 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'.
The century-old St Helens printing firm had been commissioned to make the limited editions to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
The intention was to replicate the handwritten work, so that only an expert would be able to tell that they were copies.
The first 10 purchases of the book would pay £200 and the rest were paying £100.
"Dollies In A Dust Up" had been the headline to an article published in the Liverpool Echo in January (shown above).
The story described the annoyance of cleaners at Pilkington's HQ in Prescot Road when they saw how they'd been depicted in the company's newspaper.
The Echo wrote that the cartoon used: "“Mrs. Mop” character complete with turban, bedraggled hair, wrinkled stockings and “Old Mother Riley” boots."
Alice Platt of Nutgrove Hall Drive told the Echo: "The cartoon character went back over 40 years. Those days have long gone. Cleaners are now much smarter in appearance and we use sophisticated cleaning equipment."
The women's protests against the cartoon prompted Pilks to run a competition for the most glamorous cleaning lady on their books – and there were more than 90 of them nationally.
However, as I wrote in January, the prize for the winner was not going to be particularly glamorous. It was a vacuum cleaner and floor polisher!
This week the Reporter updated the story. Ann Moran was pictured in the paper after winning the title of "Pilkington's most glamorous Mrs. Mopp", as the paper put it.
And the "petite char" received her prizes from the guilty cartoonist Stan Lea, who also worked at Pilks as a production worker.
"I started the dust up. I might as well finish it," he said. "I made a mistake but I won’t do it again."
The mistake, according to the Reporter, had placed him "under fire from the firm's mop and bucket angry brigade after drawing a cartoon of a dowdy office cleaner."
Ann from Scholes Park said: "The girls I work with are pretty smart. That cartoon was a bit of a liberty. We're not at all like that."
The Reporter also revealed that the prices for parking vehicles in the new multi-storey car parks planned for the town centre had been announced.
Motorists, the paper said, would face "stiff charges" if they left their vehicles for long periods.
Both the St Mary's and Tontine car parks would be charging as much as 50p for a stay of over five hours. That's £7 - £8 in today's money.
The high cost was intended to deter long-term parking, as the multi-storey car parks were intended mainly for short-term use by shoppers.
Parking for up to an hour would only rate a charge of 3p and a stay of between 1 to 2 hours would cost 5p.
"Absorbing Hobbies and Past Times" was the name of an advertising feature in the paper.
Advertisers included camera supplier F. George Laughton of 6 - 8 Cotham Street ("Save £££ at Laughtons"); Dressmaking fabric supplier Marstons of 16 North Road ("Our prices can't be beaten in the north of England"); Bob Collins with head office at 1 Borough Road ("Enjoy your betting with a firm of repute") and home brew supplier Ron Pimblett of North Road and Knowsley Road ("Who else but “Pim's” can give you these new knock-out brews for you to make in your own home, easily and cheaply.")
Meanwhile, at the town’s cinemas from the 9th, the Capitol was showing 'The Sound of Music' for a full week and what I call the ABC Savoy (technically the ABC St Helens) was screening the Charlton Heston film 'The Omega Man'.
The Pilkington "Gala Girl" always ran a charity appeal during her 12-month term of office and the present incumbent, Margaret Pinnington of Cheviot Avenue, had chosen Spina Bifida.
And so on the 9th, Peter Robinson's All Star XI played a football match against a Pilkington XI in aid of Margaret's appeal.
The game at the St Helens Town ground at Hoghton Road featured the now disgraced Stuart Hall, Freddy Garrity (of Dreamers fame) and Ken Farrington, better known as Billy Walker from Coronation Street. Admission was by programme, costing 20p.
Next week's stories will include the Nutgrove boy who saved two dumped pups from drowning, St Helens park rangers are to get Alsatians to deter vandals, the Duke Street shopkeeper forced to retire after five break-ins and the Cowley school trip to Argentina.
We begin at the Theatre Royal on the 4th when keyboard masters Alan Price and Georgie Fame performed together. Then for three evenings from the 5th, 'OId Time Music Hall' was on the Corporation Street stage.
A fault had occurred in a 200 ft. chimney that led to its effluent treatment plant breaking down.
That meant for the next three months, until the problem could be fixed, some of the cellulose maker's waste would be discharged into Sutton Brook untreated.
Since their arrival in St Helens in the 1930s, Sidac had been chiefly responsible for the so-called "Stinky Brook" – but they were never great in taking responsibility for their pollution. This week Sidac told the Press:
"It must be remembered that we were the pioneers in this type of effluent treatment, and we have to suffer the consequences of being the guinea pigs."
Of course, many local people would say that they were the ones suffering the consequences.
However, it should also be stated that Sidac provided much employment, with 1,600 staff working on its 40-acre site in Sutton during the ‘70s.
Rainhill Hospital announced this week that it would be conducting a review in the light of the death of Heinrich Margolies.
The 61-year-old Ukrainian had been found dead in a frozen field at Lowton and he was the third voluntary patient in three months to die after walking out of the hospital.
The problem was that patients admitted voluntarily could not easily be stopped from leaving – and, indeed, were often encouraged to spend time outside of the institution to improve their confidence in public settings.
However, John Wilson, group secretary of the 2,000 bed hospital, stated that they intended to review their policies concerning when to inform the police that a patient was deemed missing.
The Reporter on the 7th ran a hard-hitting editorial on its front page calling St Helens a "topsy-turvy town".
That was because its people raised huge amounts for charity every year – but also annually condemned 300 dogs to death. "Why don't we give a damn about dogs?", asked the paper's editor.
A separate front-page article by Eric Leatherbarrow described how the canine "death row" in St Helens was doing "brisk business", after dogs had been found guilty of the crime of being unwanted.
RSPCA Inspector Pat Colgan told the paper that St Helens had the worst record for stray dogs that he had encountered in 17 years:
"I have worked in seven other places from Birmingham to Birkenhead but I have never seen a town like St. Helens for stray dogs. I wouldn't say people are cruel. They are just indifferent."
"Glamorous" Janet Etchells from Dentons Green was pictured in the Reporter on the roof of Helena House.
The part-time model had recently appeared on Top of the Pops and, according to the paper, "seems set on a chart-topping career".
Charles Martin was approaching the end of his mayoral year and reflected in the Reporter on his big success – that he hadn't put on any weight! The paper wrote:
"The daily round of official wining-and-dining has always added extra inches to mayoral middles. Last year's number-one citizen put on a plump stone."
However, master butcher Martin was still a trim 11st. 7lbs, having only added two pounds in twelve months.
That was in spite of attending an average of five official banquets a week – each with four or five courses.
"I was warned before I started that the chain of office might be resting on a bigger waistline by the end of the year," Cllr. Martin explained.
"I just used a little caution. If I've been attending a big lunch, then that one meal is enough for the day."
The Reporter also described how Wood Westworth was producing a special book using paper handmade from seaweed – and selling it for up to £200.
That's the equivalent of £3,000 in today's money. And all copies were pre-sold!
Using a photographic printing process, the Corporation Street printers were producing 100 copies of a handwritten edition of the poem 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'.
The century-old St Helens printing firm had been commissioned to make the limited editions to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
The intention was to replicate the handwritten work, so that only an expert would be able to tell that they were copies.
The first 10 purchases of the book would pay £200 and the rest were paying £100.
The story described the annoyance of cleaners at Pilkington's HQ in Prescot Road when they saw how they'd been depicted in the company's newspaper.
The Echo wrote that the cartoon used: "“Mrs. Mop” character complete with turban, bedraggled hair, wrinkled stockings and “Old Mother Riley” boots."
Alice Platt of Nutgrove Hall Drive told the Echo: "The cartoon character went back over 40 years. Those days have long gone. Cleaners are now much smarter in appearance and we use sophisticated cleaning equipment."
The women's protests against the cartoon prompted Pilks to run a competition for the most glamorous cleaning lady on their books – and there were more than 90 of them nationally.
However, as I wrote in January, the prize for the winner was not going to be particularly glamorous. It was a vacuum cleaner and floor polisher!
This week the Reporter updated the story. Ann Moran was pictured in the paper after winning the title of "Pilkington's most glamorous Mrs. Mopp", as the paper put it.
And the "petite char" received her prizes from the guilty cartoonist Stan Lea, who also worked at Pilks as a production worker.
"I started the dust up. I might as well finish it," he said. "I made a mistake but I won’t do it again."
The mistake, according to the Reporter, had placed him "under fire from the firm's mop and bucket angry brigade after drawing a cartoon of a dowdy office cleaner."
Ann from Scholes Park said: "The girls I work with are pretty smart. That cartoon was a bit of a liberty. We're not at all like that."
The Reporter also revealed that the prices for parking vehicles in the new multi-storey car parks planned for the town centre had been announced.
Motorists, the paper said, would face "stiff charges" if they left their vehicles for long periods.
Both the St Mary's and Tontine car parks would be charging as much as 50p for a stay of over five hours. That's £7 - £8 in today's money.
The high cost was intended to deter long-term parking, as the multi-storey car parks were intended mainly for short-term use by shoppers.
Parking for up to an hour would only rate a charge of 3p and a stay of between 1 to 2 hours would cost 5p.
"Absorbing Hobbies and Past Times" was the name of an advertising feature in the paper.
Advertisers included camera supplier F. George Laughton of 6 - 8 Cotham Street ("Save £££ at Laughtons"); Dressmaking fabric supplier Marstons of 16 North Road ("Our prices can't be beaten in the north of England"); Bob Collins with head office at 1 Borough Road ("Enjoy your betting with a firm of repute") and home brew supplier Ron Pimblett of North Road and Knowsley Road ("Who else but “Pim's” can give you these new knock-out brews for you to make in your own home, easily and cheaply.")
Meanwhile, at the town’s cinemas from the 9th, the Capitol was showing 'The Sound of Music' for a full week and what I call the ABC Savoy (technically the ABC St Helens) was screening the Charlton Heston film 'The Omega Man'.
The Pilkington "Gala Girl" always ran a charity appeal during her 12-month term of office and the present incumbent, Margaret Pinnington of Cheviot Avenue, had chosen Spina Bifida.
And so on the 9th, Peter Robinson's All Star XI played a football match against a Pilkington XI in aid of Margaret's appeal.
The game at the St Helens Town ground at Hoghton Road featured the now disgraced Stuart Hall, Freddy Garrity (of Dreamers fame) and Ken Farrington, better known as Billy Walker from Coronation Street. Admission was by programme, costing 20p.
Next week's stories will include the Nutgrove boy who saved two dumped pups from drowning, St Helens park rangers are to get Alsatians to deter vandals, the Duke Street shopkeeper forced to retire after five break-ins and the Cowley school trip to Argentina.