FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (3rd - 9th June 1969)
This week's stories include the opening of The Sutton Arms in Elephant Lane, St Helens mothers are advised to give birth at home, a wedding feature in the St Helens Reporter, the Blessed Julie Gala and Donkey Derby in Bobbys Lane, Sunday sport in Prescot and St Helens Art Club's annual exhibition.
We begin on the 3rd with the official opening of The Sutton Arms by Councillor Tom Wilcock, the Mayor of St Helens. The pub on the corner of Elephant Lane and Sherdley Road had been built on land that Alf Sutton had sold to Greenall Whitley in 1967.
As part of the deal the Elton Head Road haulage contractor had insisted that the new £40,000 pub be named the Sutton Arms. An unusual feature was a mural behind the lounge bar of a 1840s Ordnance Survey map of St Helens and there was also a collection of sporting scenes painted by Reporter cartoonist Cliff Gerrard.
Bob and Edna Johnson were the first managers of the pub that seated 300 and instead of the usual beer cellar, The Sutton Arms had six 36-gallon tanks at floor level that did away with old-fashioned beer barrels. The pub closed in 2011 and suffered severe fire damage by suspected arsonists in two attacks a year later before the building was demolished.
Prescot's Highways, Lighting and Open Spaces Committee decided this week to permit Sunday sport on their recreation grounds. Sports facilities including bowls, tennis and pitch and putt were being allowed but not yet organised football matches.
The Conservative leader of the council, Cllr. L. Mawdsley, disclosed that he had received many requests for the playing of tennis on the King George V Playing Field and Cllr. Bradley said it was a "matter of personal conscience". However Cllr. Dutton was concerned that noise from children playing on the swings would ruin the peace of nearby residents.
St Helens Corporation had granted the playing of Sunday sport within their public parks and fields in 1961. However Haydock had yet to sanction the playing of football and other games on their sports fields on the Sabbath, although permission was expected soon.
The clergy had for years used their influence to prevent Sunday sport and in this month's parish magazine the Vicar of Haydock railed against the current trend. The Rev. Stanley Wilson said if sport and entertainment of all kinds became legal on Sundays, the traditional English Sunday would largely disappear.
He wrote that the "old fashioned Sunday had good points. It was a needed opportunity for rest of mind and body, and for refreshment of the spirit. It was a day when the family could be together, and could go visiting." Rev. Wilson was concerned that what was sometimes called the "Continental Sunday" with its "fun and games" would become part of the new English way of life.
Redgate Boys Silver Band left for Frankfurt on the 5th where they would compete against other countries in the World Festival of Music. The band frequently toured Europe and its thirty-six members would be appearing on German television.
"Birds Make Their Nest Between Two Bicycle Wheels" was the headline to a story on the front page of the St Helens Reporter on the 6th. William Berks from Clock Face Road told how two thrushes had entered his shed through a broken window and built a nest in two wheels that were hanging on a nail.
The male bird had become so domesticated that it went to Mr Berks when he whistled and there were now four or five youngsters in the nest. Meanwhile in Rainford 13-year-old Philip Pye reported that a blackbird had laid eggs in a nest in an old washhouse adjacent to his home in Holly Crescent.
However the Reporter's main story bore the headline: "Give Birth At Home Advice To Mothers". This came from the Borough's recently retired Medical Officer who hit out at what he called the "conveyor belt system" currently employed at maternity hospitals.
Dr Gerald O’Brien felt a 48-hour stay in hospital was too short for any mother; especially one having her first baby and a full eight-day stay was far better. The doctor felt that new mothers were being released prematurely from hospital because of the high demand for maternity beds. In 1967 20.6% of all births took place at home and Miss A. I. Robinson, a supervisor of midwives, felt this figure could be higher, saying:
"Mothers whose babies are delivered at home are far happier. Our midwives do a splendid job, and for a mother to have her baby at home is like being in a private ward." The birth rate in the town had actually been declining over the past ten years, mainly – Dr O’Brien believed – because couples were moving outside of the borough boundary.
Elizabeth Phillips from Dorothy Street in Thatto Heath was also in the paper complaining about youths using her back garden as a cut through to an adjacent playing field. They regularly jumped over her front gate, ran past the side of the house and went through a gap in the fence in her garden. "This has been going on for nearly two years", she said, "and I cannot put up with it much longer. I broke out crying when I heard the bad language they were using."
The Reporter liked it advertising features and this week's was titled "Everything For The Wedding in St. Helens". The advertisers included Wizards Cave at 22 North Road who had a full range of horseshoes, wedding cake decorations, novelties, confetti, gift wrap and gift cards.
Further up North Road at nos. 56 - 58, P. A. White was advertising "all makes of photographic equipment", including Kodak Instamatics from £2 9 shillings. Then there was Foster's Florists of Hardshaw Street, Westfield Street and Ormskirk Street – "for wedding flowers of charm and elegance".
Helena House was offering "complete wedding catering", with "first-class accommodation for any size party". Couples could choose from their Modern Ballroom (seating capacity 450), the Mayfair Suite (150) or the Private Room (45). Across the road in Baldwin Street the Sefton Arms was advertising their Princess Room with "complete party catering", along with "the personal touch by your hosts Joan and Gordon Weston."
Dingsdales Confectioners in Eccleston Street were able to supply "your wedding cake and all requirements for the reception". These included fancies, pies, rolls, sausage rolls, jellies and trifles. Rimmer and Welding of 25 Duke Street was selling 22ct. gold wedding rings from £7 to £30, with 9ct. gold plain band rings for bridegrooms from £5 to £18.
The bridegroom requiring a good suit to impress their future in-laws could look no further than T. Jones of 29 North Road, "bespoke tailors to St. Helens for 69 years". They claimed the "largest range of cloths in town" with all suits made on their own premises "to your own measurements and design".
As well as offering rooms for the reception, Helena House's Travel Services Department was separately advertising the "perfect honeymoon" and their Jewellery Department on the ground floor had a wide selection of rings.
Dancer Sharon Charnock from Parr had her picture in the paper again after winning the junior trophy in the St Helens Dancing Schools festival. The 6-year-old from Pool End (near Fleet Lane) had won six trophies and 44 medals since she began dancing two years earlier. Sharon was also in the semi-final of the All England Sunshine Competition (great name!), which would take place in Nottingham in a few weeks time.
The St Helens Reporter also covered the St Helens Art Club's annual exhibition, which began this week in Central Library's Art Gallery. It was the 43rd exhibition of the society that could trace its history back to the 1890s and Lady Pilkington was a great supporter.
Not only did she open the exhibition but her own portrait was one of the star exhibits, having been painted by Herbert Roberts. Lord and Lady Pilkington had at least seven pictures painted by club members hanging in their home at Windle Hall.
The Blessed Julie Gala and Donkey Derby was held on the 7th at the UGB sports field at Bobbys Lane in Eccleston. The admission price was 1/6 and 5,000 people attended. "Meet Bishop Gray" said their advert in the Reporter in large text. He was Joseph Gray, the newly appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Liverpool.
This was the ninth annual fete organised by Blessed Julie with the money raised going towards the church's building fund. The donkey derby was a new innovation which went down well, as the Liverpool Echo described: "Everyone entered into the carnival spirit, including the parish priest, Father John Higham, who challenged the chairman of Whiston Council, Councillor Tom Rose to a sulky trap donkey race and won."
The fancy dress competition for the over 7s was won by Harry, Godfrey and Helen Caine from Burrows Lane. The under 7s contest was won by Anita, Philip, Linda and Nicholas Stevens, along with Peter and Paula Manchester, all from Howards Lane, Eccleston. They called themselves 'The Diddy Kids'.
The Echo also reported that visitors to the Pilkington Gala in August at Ruskin Drive were expected to consume 40,000 cups of tea and coffee, 12,000 sandwiches, 15,000 buns and over 10,000 packets of crisps. Also on the 7th hundreds of visitors attended a garden party organised by the Scouts in aid of the Bispham Hall estate at Billinge, which they used as a camp training centre. Later that day a barn dance was held in the Scout Hut in New Street in Sutton with the Poachers performing and Roy Hordley as MC.
From the 9th at the ABC Savoy the black comedy film 'The Assassination Bureau' – starring Oliver Reed, Diana Rigg and Telly Savalas – began six days of screenings. In the Guardian Grange Park Secondary School was advertising for a teacher of German. The comprehensive's headmaster was then Mr H. Campbell. Later that day light-welterweight Victor Paul from St Helens outpointed Ronnie Clifford from Pudsey in a six-round fight in Manchester.
Next week's stories will include the killer pits near Walkers Lane, a visit by Princess Alexandra to Haydock, a reprieve for Victoria Park's Mansion House, the Bishop Road golf "firing range", Rivington Road walk to Ormskirk and Redgate Boys Silver Band's German success.
We begin on the 3rd with the official opening of The Sutton Arms by Councillor Tom Wilcock, the Mayor of St Helens. The pub on the corner of Elephant Lane and Sherdley Road had been built on land that Alf Sutton had sold to Greenall Whitley in 1967.
Bob and Edna Johnson were the first managers of the pub that seated 300 and instead of the usual beer cellar, The Sutton Arms had six 36-gallon tanks at floor level that did away with old-fashioned beer barrels. The pub closed in 2011 and suffered severe fire damage by suspected arsonists in two attacks a year later before the building was demolished.
Prescot's Highways, Lighting and Open Spaces Committee decided this week to permit Sunday sport on their recreation grounds. Sports facilities including bowls, tennis and pitch and putt were being allowed but not yet organised football matches.
The Conservative leader of the council, Cllr. L. Mawdsley, disclosed that he had received many requests for the playing of tennis on the King George V Playing Field and Cllr. Bradley said it was a "matter of personal conscience". However Cllr. Dutton was concerned that noise from children playing on the swings would ruin the peace of nearby residents.
St Helens Corporation had granted the playing of Sunday sport within their public parks and fields in 1961. However Haydock had yet to sanction the playing of football and other games on their sports fields on the Sabbath, although permission was expected soon.
The clergy had for years used their influence to prevent Sunday sport and in this month's parish magazine the Vicar of Haydock railed against the current trend. The Rev. Stanley Wilson said if sport and entertainment of all kinds became legal on Sundays, the traditional English Sunday would largely disappear.
He wrote that the "old fashioned Sunday had good points. It was a needed opportunity for rest of mind and body, and for refreshment of the spirit. It was a day when the family could be together, and could go visiting." Rev. Wilson was concerned that what was sometimes called the "Continental Sunday" with its "fun and games" would become part of the new English way of life.
Redgate Boys Silver Band left for Frankfurt on the 5th where they would compete against other countries in the World Festival of Music. The band frequently toured Europe and its thirty-six members would be appearing on German television.
"Birds Make Their Nest Between Two Bicycle Wheels" was the headline to a story on the front page of the St Helens Reporter on the 6th. William Berks from Clock Face Road told how two thrushes had entered his shed through a broken window and built a nest in two wheels that were hanging on a nail.
The male bird had become so domesticated that it went to Mr Berks when he whistled and there were now four or five youngsters in the nest. Meanwhile in Rainford 13-year-old Philip Pye reported that a blackbird had laid eggs in a nest in an old washhouse adjacent to his home in Holly Crescent.
However the Reporter's main story bore the headline: "Give Birth At Home Advice To Mothers". This came from the Borough's recently retired Medical Officer who hit out at what he called the "conveyor belt system" currently employed at maternity hospitals.
Dr Gerald O’Brien felt a 48-hour stay in hospital was too short for any mother; especially one having her first baby and a full eight-day stay was far better. The doctor felt that new mothers were being released prematurely from hospital because of the high demand for maternity beds. In 1967 20.6% of all births took place at home and Miss A. I. Robinson, a supervisor of midwives, felt this figure could be higher, saying:
"Mothers whose babies are delivered at home are far happier. Our midwives do a splendid job, and for a mother to have her baby at home is like being in a private ward." The birth rate in the town had actually been declining over the past ten years, mainly – Dr O’Brien believed – because couples were moving outside of the borough boundary.
Elizabeth Phillips from Dorothy Street in Thatto Heath was also in the paper complaining about youths using her back garden as a cut through to an adjacent playing field. They regularly jumped over her front gate, ran past the side of the house and went through a gap in the fence in her garden. "This has been going on for nearly two years", she said, "and I cannot put up with it much longer. I broke out crying when I heard the bad language they were using."
The Reporter liked it advertising features and this week's was titled "Everything For The Wedding in St. Helens". The advertisers included Wizards Cave at 22 North Road who had a full range of horseshoes, wedding cake decorations, novelties, confetti, gift wrap and gift cards.
Further up North Road at nos. 56 - 58, P. A. White was advertising "all makes of photographic equipment", including Kodak Instamatics from £2 9 shillings. Then there was Foster's Florists of Hardshaw Street, Westfield Street and Ormskirk Street – "for wedding flowers of charm and elegance".
Helena House was offering "complete wedding catering", with "first-class accommodation for any size party". Couples could choose from their Modern Ballroom (seating capacity 450), the Mayfair Suite (150) or the Private Room (45). Across the road in Baldwin Street the Sefton Arms was advertising their Princess Room with "complete party catering", along with "the personal touch by your hosts Joan and Gordon Weston."
Dingsdales Confectioners in Eccleston Street were able to supply "your wedding cake and all requirements for the reception". These included fancies, pies, rolls, sausage rolls, jellies and trifles. Rimmer and Welding of 25 Duke Street was selling 22ct. gold wedding rings from £7 to £30, with 9ct. gold plain band rings for bridegrooms from £5 to £18.
The bridegroom requiring a good suit to impress their future in-laws could look no further than T. Jones of 29 North Road, "bespoke tailors to St. Helens for 69 years". They claimed the "largest range of cloths in town" with all suits made on their own premises "to your own measurements and design".
As well as offering rooms for the reception, Helena House's Travel Services Department was separately advertising the "perfect honeymoon" and their Jewellery Department on the ground floor had a wide selection of rings.
Dancer Sharon Charnock from Parr had her picture in the paper again after winning the junior trophy in the St Helens Dancing Schools festival. The 6-year-old from Pool End (near Fleet Lane) had won six trophies and 44 medals since she began dancing two years earlier. Sharon was also in the semi-final of the All England Sunshine Competition (great name!), which would take place in Nottingham in a few weeks time.
The St Helens Reporter also covered the St Helens Art Club's annual exhibition, which began this week in Central Library's Art Gallery. It was the 43rd exhibition of the society that could trace its history back to the 1890s and Lady Pilkington was a great supporter.
Not only did she open the exhibition but her own portrait was one of the star exhibits, having been painted by Herbert Roberts. Lord and Lady Pilkington had at least seven pictures painted by club members hanging in their home at Windle Hall.
The Blessed Julie Gala and Donkey Derby was held on the 7th at the UGB sports field at Bobbys Lane in Eccleston. The admission price was 1/6 and 5,000 people attended. "Meet Bishop Gray" said their advert in the Reporter in large text. He was Joseph Gray, the newly appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Liverpool.
This was the ninth annual fete organised by Blessed Julie with the money raised going towards the church's building fund. The donkey derby was a new innovation which went down well, as the Liverpool Echo described: "Everyone entered into the carnival spirit, including the parish priest, Father John Higham, who challenged the chairman of Whiston Council, Councillor Tom Rose to a sulky trap donkey race and won."
The fancy dress competition for the over 7s was won by Harry, Godfrey and Helen Caine from Burrows Lane. The under 7s contest was won by Anita, Philip, Linda and Nicholas Stevens, along with Peter and Paula Manchester, all from Howards Lane, Eccleston. They called themselves 'The Diddy Kids'.
The Echo also reported that visitors to the Pilkington Gala in August at Ruskin Drive were expected to consume 40,000 cups of tea and coffee, 12,000 sandwiches, 15,000 buns and over 10,000 packets of crisps. Also on the 7th hundreds of visitors attended a garden party organised by the Scouts in aid of the Bispham Hall estate at Billinge, which they used as a camp training centre. Later that day a barn dance was held in the Scout Hut in New Street in Sutton with the Poachers performing and Roy Hordley as MC.
From the 9th at the ABC Savoy the black comedy film 'The Assassination Bureau' – starring Oliver Reed, Diana Rigg and Telly Savalas – began six days of screenings. In the Guardian Grange Park Secondary School was advertising for a teacher of German. The comprehensive's headmaster was then Mr H. Campbell. Later that day light-welterweight Victor Paul from St Helens outpointed Ronnie Clifford from Pudsey in a six-round fight in Manchester.
Next week's stories will include the killer pits near Walkers Lane, a visit by Princess Alexandra to Haydock, a reprieve for Victoria Park's Mansion House, the Bishop Road golf "firing range", Rivington Road walk to Ormskirk and Redgate Boys Silver Band's German success.