St Helens History This Week

Bringing History to Life from 50, 100 and 150 Years Ago!

Bringing History to Life from 50, 100 and 150 Years Ago!

FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (4th - 10th JANUARY 1971)

This week's many stories include more job losses at Pilkingtons, the inquest into the Hardshaw Street demolition deaths, hauntings in Newton and Haydock, shirt making in St Helens and the kind driving instructor who turned detective to trace the owners of a lost dog.
Castle Hill, Newton-le-Willows hauntings
We begin on the 4th when in discussing local hauntings the Liverpool Echo said: "Much more scarifying is the Lady in White who haunts the Newton-le-Willows area. The legend goes back 2,000 years when the Celts built Castle Hill [pictured above] as the last resting place of their chiefs who had died in battle. In recent times the mound was excavated, laying bare their calcined bones. The White Lady, who is said to “flit and glide,” has been recorded on many occasions. One man who saw it said:

"“It was a terrifying experience when I picked up this huge figure in my cycle lamp beam. I'll never cycle down there at night again. It is something I will never forget.” Three Newton-le Willows boys saw it outside Haydock Golf Course and a motorcyclist reported that he had been pulled off his machine by a clutching hand. In Farnworth, a man mounted on horse-back is said to have been seen in the graveyard of the parish church and at one time there were reports of a ghostly monster with fire coming from its nostrils."

During the evening of the 5th, St Helens Amateur Operatic Society held unscheduled auditions to choose a new leading lady for their March production of 'The Sound of Music'. 32-year-old Jennifer Littler from Crow Lane East in Newton-le-Willows had been due to play the role at the Theatre Royal but then discovered she was pregnant.

It's ages since I've mentioned the greyhound racing at Park Road. The names of the dogs do intrigue me as they often reference television programmes, films and music of the time. So two of the winners of the 5th – 'Too Young' and 'Rambling Rose' – clearly have their monikers inspired by the popular songs of the same name and the owners of 'Skippy' and 'Sundance' were presumably fans of the kangaroo TV series and the Butch Cassidy film. Would you put your hard-earned cash on a greyhound called 'Hopeless'? If you had on the 5th you'd have been quids in, as the dog won the 8.15pm race!

The Liverpool Echo on the 6th described how a kind driving instructor had "turned detective" to trace the owners of a lost dog that had been tramping the streets for over a month. Rex – a brown and black mongrel – had been found in Earlestown with the name and address of Mary Kirk from Old Lane in Rainhill on its collar. However Mary and her husband and children – Michelle (9) and Stuart (8) had moved to Field Road in Clock Face – which is how Rex came to get lost.

So Bernice Riding of Common Road in Newton-le-Willows decided to spend a day tracking down the Kirk family, leaving Rex in the hands of the RSPCA. Mrs. Kirk told the Echo: "We are very indebted to Mrs. Riding and the R.S.P.C.A. for the work they have done in tracing our dog. My children are absolutely overjoyed that Rex is back with us."

Also on the 6th it was announced that Thomas Dennier from Liverpool had been appointed the first Director of Social Services for St Helens at a salary of £4,500. A new Social Services Act had obliged local authorities to bring under one department the relevant children's services, welfare and mental health responsibilities.

The Pilkington Musical Section performance of 'Mother Goose' continued throughout this week at the Theatre Royal. Kath Halliwell from Hardshaw Street was playing the goose and, according to the St Helens Reporter, had won the role because of the high quality of her "waddle and quack"! Meanwhile the glass giant – from whom the drama group took its name – announced on the 7th that they planned to make 200 more redundancies over the next two months. This time Pilks was not blaming last year's strike for the job losses but instead said it was because they were closing one of the glass making tanks at their Sheet Works in Grove Street.

This was through stocks of sheet glass in the country being very high because of a decline in the rate of house building and an increase in glass imports. Some 300 hourly-paid jobs would be affected but the spokesman said that the company was hopeful of keeping the number of jobs lost to less than 200 by transferring some workers to their Cowley Hill float glass plant.

Also on the 7th a number of new St Helens housing estates were being advertised in the Liverpool Echo. The developers had been selling homes on the estate opposite Sherdley Park gates for over two years. They clearly had a few houses left but in just three months had increased the minimum price from £3,995 to £4,099 and the minimum deposit from £195 to £200. I wonder why you would do that, raise the cost by a small amount so it psychologically seems a lot higher to the purchaser?

A special saving scheme for newly-weds and "courting couples" allowed buyers to save their deposit over a 3 to 12-month period while their chosen home was being built. Also advertised were homes on the new estates at Windy Arbour Lane in Whiston, on the so-called Mill Farm estate off Leach Lane in Sutton and also in Old Whint Road in Haydock.

On the 7th Newton-le-Willows magistrates were told that a 21-year-old woman had hidden cannabis inside a piece of fudge that she had taken to her husband inside Risley Remand Centre. She was fined £25 and after being sentenced, screamed: "I cannot pay. Take me and my two children to Risley".

You don't really think of the St Helens district as having been a shirt-making hub but there have been a number of such manufacturers over the years. Until 1968 Barron Walton had run their Windle Factory on the corner of North Road and Windle Street. And Rael Brook who called themselves "the world's leading shirt manufacturers" had in 1970 expanded their factory in Warrington Road in Rainhill.

During the previous year Humphrey Lloyd in Corporation Street (by the Rivoli) had opened their Fingerpost Factory in Langtree Street. In an advert nine years later they said their manufacturing capacity was 10,000 shirts a week. Actually they wrote 800 dozen – which always bemuses me as a ridiculous way of stating a number!

Anyway back to this week in 1970 and Humphrey Lloyd on the 7th was advertising for an "experienced male cutter" who could use a band knife and was used to "modern methods in bulk garment cutting". And "Excellent wages – excellent conditions of work" were promised. No doubt the cheaper labour and lousier conditions in the Far East put an end to quality garment making in St Helens and in many other places.

On the 8th the inquest into what the St Helens Reporter had dubbed the "death avalanche" of Hardshaw Street took place. Just before Christmas, John Griffiths of Doulton Street and Elsie Robinson from Pollitt Crescent in Clock Face had died after heavy coping stones had fallen on top of them. They were dislodged from a block of shops previously occupied by Rothery Radio, Barons and a wine shop. These were being demolished as part of a hotel extension.

The Reporter had previously written: "Were men actually pulling down an old building without so much as roping off a pavement crowded with Christmas shoppers – without so much as a warning notice?" That appears to have been the case and the inquest jury heard that the erection of scaffolding had been postponed so as not to interfere with Christmas shopping.

The demolition firm told the hearing that they had met with a council building inspector and explained that their main work would not occur until after Christmas. And as scaffolding would leave only a foot of pavement, the inspector had told them to only install scaffolding when the main demolition was underway.

However the firm insisted that none of the work done by their men could have dislodged the coping stones. They told the coroner that even if scaffolding had been erected, the weight of the falling stones – which measured 4ft by 2ft 6ins – would simply have pushed it across the street with fatal consequences.

And finally a mass meeting of Hull dockers took place on the 9th in which their ban on handling export consignments from Pilkingtons was discussed. That had been in place since last August in retaliation for the glass firm refusing to reinstate all their sacked strikers. The men unanimously decided to continue the ban.

Next week's stories will include the reign of terror in Haresfinch, a new main police station for St Helens, the train vandals that caused disruption at Rainford, a lorry theft from Sherdley Road and the start of a long postal strike.
This week's many stories include more job losses at Pilkingtons, the inquest into the Hardshaw Street demolition deaths, hauntings in Newton and Haydock, shirt making in St Helens and the kind driving instructor who turned detective to trace the owners of a lost dog.
Castle Hill, Newton-le-Willows hauntings
We begin on the 4th when in discussing local hauntings the Liverpool Echo said:

"Much more scarifying is the Lady in White who haunts the Newton-le-Willows area. The legend goes back 2,000 years when the Celts built Castle Hill [pictured above] as the last resting place of their chiefs who had died in battle.

"In recent times the mound was excavated, laying bare their calcined bones. The White Lady, who is said to “flit and glide,” has been recorded on many occasions. One man who saw it said:

"“It was a terrifying experience when I picked up this huge figure in my cycle lamp beam. I'll never cycle down there at night again. It is something I will never forget.”

"Three Newton-le Willows boys saw it outside Haydock Golf Course and a motorcyclist reported that he had been pulled off his machine by a clutching hand.

"In Farnworth, a man mounted on horse-back is said to have been seen in the graveyard of the parish church and at one time there were reports of a ghostly monster with fire coming from its nostrils."

During the evening of the 5th, St Helens Amateur Operatic Society held unscheduled auditions to choose a new leading lady for their March production of 'The Sound of Music'.

32-year-old Jennifer Littler from Crow Lane East in Newton-le-Willows had been due to play the role at the Theatre Royal but then discovered she was pregnant.

It's ages since I've mentioned the greyhound racing at Park Road. The names of the dogs do intrigue me as they often reference television programmes, films and music of the time.

So two of the winners of the 5th – 'Too Young' and 'Rambling Rose' – clearly have their monikers inspired by the popular songs of the same name and the owners of 'Skippy' and 'Sundance' were presumably fans of the kangaroo TV series and the Butch Cassidy film.

Would you put your hard-earned cash on a greyhound called 'Hopeless'? If you had on the 5th you'd have been quids in, as the dog won the 8.15pm race!

The Liverpool Echo on the 6th described how a kind driving instructor had "turned detective" to trace the owners of a lost dog that had been tramping the streets for over a month.

Rex – a brown and black mongrel – had been found in Earlestown with the name and address of Mary Kirk from Old Lane in Rainhill on its collar.

However Mary and her husband and children – Michelle (9) and Stuart (8) had moved to Field Road in Clock Face – which is how Rex came to get lost.

So Bernice Riding of Common Road in Newton-le-Willows decided to spend a day tracking down the Kirk family, leaving Rex in the hands of the RSPCA. Mrs. Kirk told the Echo:

"We are very indebted to Mrs. Riding and the R.S.P.C.A. for the work they have done in tracing our dog. My children are absolutely overjoyed that Rex is back with us."

Also on the 6th it was announced that Thomas Dennier from Liverpool had been appointed the first Director of Social Services for St Helens at a salary of £4,500.

A new Social Services Act had obliged local authorities to bring under one department the relevant children's services, welfare and mental health responsibilities.

The Pilkington Musical Section performance of 'Mother Goose' continued throughout this week at the Theatre Royal.

Kath Halliwell from Hardshaw Street was playing the goose and, according to the St Helens Reporter, had won the role because of the high quality of her "waddle and quack"!

Meanwhile the glass giant – from whom the drama group took its name – announced on the 7th that they planned to make 200 more redundancies over the next two months.

This time Pilks was not blaming last year's strike for the job losses but instead said it was because they were closing one of the glass making tanks at their Sheet Works in Grove Street.

This was through stocks of sheet glass in the country being very high because of a decline in the rate of house building and an increase in glass imports.

Some 300 hourly-paid jobs would be affected but the spokesman said that the company was hopeful of keeping the number of jobs lost to less than 200 by transferring some workers to their Cowley Hill float glass plant.

Also on the 7th a number of new St Helens housing estates were being advertised in the Liverpool Echo.

The developers had been selling homes on the estate opposite Sherdley Park gates for over two years.

They clearly had a few houses left but in just three months had increased the minimum price from £3,995 to £4,099 and the minimum deposit from £195 to £200.

I wonder why you would do that, raise the cost by a small amount so it psychologically seems a lot higher to the purchaser?

A special saving scheme for newly-weds and "courting couples" allowed buyers to save their deposit over a 3 to 12-month period while their chosen home was being built.

Also advertised were homes on the new estates at Windy Arbour Lane in Whiston, on the so-called Mill Farm estate off Leach Lane in Sutton and also in Old Whint Road in Haydock.

On the 7th Newton-le-Willows magistrates were told that a 21-year-old woman had hidden cannabis inside a piece of fudge that she had taken to her husband inside Risley Remand Centre.

She was fined £25 and after being sentenced, screamed: "I cannot pay. Take me and my two children to Risley".

You don't really think of the St Helens district as having been a shirt-making hub but there have been a number of such manufacturers over the years.

Until 1968 Barron Walton had run their Windle Factory on the corner of North Road and Windle Street.

And Rael Brook who called themselves "the world's leading shirt manufacturers" had in 1970 expanded their factory in Warrington Road in Rainhill.

During the previous year Humphrey Lloyd in Corporation Street (by the Rivoli) had opened their Fingerpost Factory in Langtree Street.

In an advert nine years later they said their manufacturing capacity was 10,000 shirts a week.

Actually they wrote 800 dozen – which always bemuses me as a ridiculous way of stating a number!

Anyway back to this week in 1970 and Humphrey Lloyd on the 7th was advertising for an "experienced male cutter" who could use a band knife and was used to "modern methods in bulk garment cutting".

And "Excellent wages – excellent conditions of work" were promised.

No doubt the cheaper labour and lousier conditions in the Far East put an end to quality garment making in St Helens and in many other places.

On the 8th the inquest into what the St Helens Reporter had dubbed the "death avalanche" of Hardshaw Street took place.

Just before Christmas, John Griffiths of Doulton Street and Elsie Robinson from Pollitt Crescent in Clock Face had died after heavy coping stones had fallen on top of them.

They were dislodged from a block of shops previously occupied by Rothery Radio, Barons and a wine shop. These were being demolished as part of a hotel extension.

The Reporter had previously written: "Were men actually pulling down an old building without so much as roping off a pavement crowded with Christmas shoppers – without so much as a warning notice?"

That appears to have been the case and the inquest jury heard that the erection of scaffolding had been postponed so as not to interfere with Christmas shopping.

The demolition firm told the hearing that they had met with a council building inspector and explained that their main work would not occur until after Christmas.

And as scaffolding would leave only a foot of pavement, the inspector had told them to only install scaffolding when the main demolition was underway.

However the firm insisted that none of the work done by their men could have dislodged the coping stones.

They told the coroner that even if scaffolding had been erected, the weight of the falling stones – which measured 4ft by 2ft 6ins – would simply have pushed it across the street with fatal consequences.

And finally a mass meeting of Hull dockers took place on the 9th in which their ban on handling export consignments from Pilkingtons was discussed.

That had been in place since last August in retaliation for the glass firm refusing to reinstate all their sacked strikers. The men unanimously decided to continue the ban.

Next week's stories will include the reign of terror in Haresfinch, a new main police station for St Helens, the train vandals that caused disruption at Rainford, a lorry theft from Sherdley Road and the start of a long postal strike.
BACK