FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (4th - 10th MAY 1970)
We begin on May 4th with a dramatic picture in the Daily Mirror of two women dragging a man at a mass meeting of Pilkington strikers. The text underneath read: "Sixteen stone Matt McGrath tried to end a strike on his own yesterday. But he reckoned without the militant approach to trade unionism of Mary Houltram and Anne Hamilton – shown in the picture above.
"Shop steward Matt, 39, was trying to end a pay strike by nearly 9,000 workers at Pilkington's glassworks in St. Helens, Lancs. But as he climbed up on the platform, the women, both widows aged 38, chased after him. They waltzed him round by the tie and flung him over the edge. Matt collected a bruised shin and ripped his trousers. He said afterwards: “I've never been so embarrassed in all my life. But you can't argue with two women in that mood.”
"Mary, a mother of three, said: “I laddered my tights in the struggle but it was worth it to keep him quiet.” Anne added: “We'd do it again if necessary. He had a whole lot of nerve getting up like that, realising everybody wanted to stay out. He's lucky he didn't get a cuff on the ear.” A spokesman for the firm said later that 700 workers at five of the firm's six plants had ended their month-old strike yesterday."
The strike was seemingly beginning to break up, although at the mass meeting nearly 5,000 of the workers had voted to stay out. The strike committee was insisting on a £5 interim pay award before returning to work with further negotiations on a further £5 increase then taking place. Pilks' management would only offer a £3 initial rise, followed by discussions in their Joint Industrial Council negotiating body on restructuring wages.
The firm claimed that 1,000 workers had resumed work on Monday (4th) – although strike convenor Gerry Caughey insisted the number was only 150. Most of those that had returned to their jobs were employed at the Grove Street Sheet Works. However at the City Road works on the same day workers voted unanimously to remain out. On the 5th Pilkingtons put out this short press statement: "Return to work in Pilkington plants outside St. Helens itself complete this morning. Total back at work today, including St. Helens, is 2,853."
An extraordinary aspect of the dispute was that the strikers became pitted against their own union and last week some rebels had ransacked its branch office in Kirkland Street. Later on the 5th John Conley of the National Union of General and Municipal Workers visited St Helens to tell strikers that the stoppage was over.
The so-called "rank-and-file committee" was furious over his refusal to meet with them and joint strike leader Councillor John Potter told the press: "There is one thing certain – that when this strike is over, the NUGMW will be 8,000 members short." Mr Potter also claimed that supplies to Pilkington factories were being "blacked" by other unions.
Later that day serious trouble erupted at the Sheet Works factory, as described by the Daily Mirror: "Strike pickets and workers fought outside a factory's gates yesterday. Workers leaving Pilkington's glassworks at St. Helens, Lancs, found their way barred by 800 wildcat strikers. Police reinforcements were rushed to the factory as fighting broke out and the workers were forced back inside the gates. The pickets eventually let them leave when they promised not to turn up for today's shift."
Two injuries were reported in the fighting and no workers went on the night shift. On the following morning a scuffle took place as some employees went through picket lines at the Grove Street factory. However only fifty workers clocked in and most soon left. Meanwhile at the Cowley Hill float glass works a man was injured when a wagon went through a picket line.
Shop steward Matt McGrath said: "Communists have been moving among the pickets making speeches. They have been stirring up feeling in the crowd." However strike leader Gerry Caughey denied the claims: "There is no truth in it. All this talk about Reds under the bed is rubbish." Despite his denial Tom Wilcock, the Mayor of St Helens – who also worked at Pilkingtons – believed that there were some infiltrators. He labelled them "troublemakers well known to the police, the union and the company."
For two weeks Cllr. Wilcock had been attempting to mediate between the rebel rank-and-file committee, the NUGMW trade union and Pilkingtons. Talking to the Reporter the Mayor made this heartfelt plea: "For God's sake, let us settle these differences. This town has never known a strike like this – and let us hope we will never have to suffer the bitterness and hardship of another one." In a separate article the Reporter summed up the sad state of the strike: "A heatwave of violence, bringing bloodshed, fear and anguish, has ripped a scar across the once-peaceful glass strike."
However there was hope for a resolution on the 9th when in a surprise intervention, Barbara Castle announced that she had ordered a court of inquiry. The Minister for Employment said that because of rising tensions between strikers and those who wished to work, a full investigation into the conduct of the dispute and of the issues involved was necessary. Mrs Castle also called for an early return to work and the Pilkington management and the NUGMW union both welcomed the move.
And now for the non-strike news this week. Yes there was some! On the 4th a 45-year-old man from Haresfinch was placed on probation for two years after committing an indecent assault on a woman. The 19-year-old had been attacked after being dragged into Victoria Park. The man also pleaded guilty to exposing himself to schoolgirls and committing three other assaults on women and was told to get medical treatment.
From the 4th the Pilkington Players began six nights of performances of the period melodrama 'Pink String and Sealing Wax' at the Theatre Royal.
The campaign to repeal the bye-law that prevented the playing of amateur sport on council-owned pitches on Sundays received a boost this week. That was when the Home Office wrote to a campaigner stating that no such bye-law existed! Alderman Tom Hignett, the chairman of the council's Amenities Committee, admitted to the Reporter that he had known it all along. He said it had always been left up to his members' discretion and they felt they were acting in the best interests of the town in opposing organised Sunday games.
The new traffic scheme that gives priority to buses in Church Street was attacked at a Town Council meeting on the 6th. Cllr. Bill Shepherd said: "At any set of traffic lights along Church Street, if there is more than one bus involved, then congestion builds up." Cllr. William Williams, the Chairman of the Transport Committee, admitted that there had been teething troubles but expected things to improve: "We are certainly watching matters closely. I am sure that the flow of traffic will become easier when local drivers get used to the idea."
At a Health Committee meeting on the 7th the decision not to build a health centre in Eccleston was bitterly criticised. Councillor Tom McCormack sat on Whiston Rural District Council and said they had complained to Prime Minister Harold Wilson, Health Secretary Richard Crossman and Lancashire County Council.
A site in Ansdell Drive had been earmarked for the health centre but would not now be bought. "Haydock and Cantrill Farm have got them. What about Eccleston?", asked Cllr. McCormack. The Committee agreed on the need for a purpose-built centre in Eccleston to meet the growing health needs of the population and decided to make further representations.
And finally a story in the Reporter on the 8th that has remarkable parallels with today – yes, another one! It began: "Eight hundred old people, sick, crippled and living alone, are being shut out of hospitals because there is no room on the wards. Only 190 beds are available in three hospitals for geriatric patients. But more than 1,000 are wanted to cope with St. Helens old folk urgently needing hospital treatments."
Whiston Hospital's superintendent physician, Dr Leon Horwich, told the Reporter: "We have an acute problem with the infirm aged. There is a never ending army of them. We give priority to only acute emergencies. But there are hundreds of old people who desperately need to come into hospital."
Next week's stories will include a claim of organised thuggery in the Pilkington dispute, the glass giant warns of massive redundancies, the dog collar strike ballot at Central Modern, the fly-away parrot from Birchley Street and the Carr Mill boy who got stuck up a tree.
This week's stories include a "heatwave of violence" outside Pilkingtons Sheet Works, the Mayor's plea for a resolution of the strike, a surprise intervention by Barbara Castle, a surprise revelation concerning the bye-law banning Sunday sport and the Vicar of Sutton considers setting up a body of vigilantes to stop church vandalism.
We begin on May 4th with a dramatic picture in the Daily Mirror of two women dragging a man at a mass meeting of Pilkington strikers. The text underneath read:
"Sixteen stone Matt McGrath tried to end a strike on his own yesterday. But he reckoned without the militant approach to trade unionism of Mary Houltram and Anne Hamilton – shown in the picture above.
"Shop steward Matt, 39, was trying to end a pay strike by nearly 9,000 workers at Pilkington's glassworks in St. Helens, Lancs. But as he climbed up on the platform, the women, both widows aged 38, chased after him.
“They waltzed him round by the tie and flung him over the edge. Matt collected a bruised shin and ripped his trousers. He said afterwards: “I've never been so embarrassed in all my life. But you can't argue with two women in that mood.”
"Mary, a mother of three, said: “I laddered my tights in the struggle but it was worth it to keep him quiet.” Anne added: “We'd do it again if necessary. He had a whole lot of nerve getting up like that, realising everybody wanted to stay out. He's lucky he didn't get a cuff on the ear.”
“A spokesman for the firm said later that seven hundred workers at five of the firm's six plants had ended their month-old strike yesterday."
The strike was seemingly beginning to break up, although at the mass meeting nearly 5,000 of the workers had voted to stay out.
The strike committee was insisting on a £5 interim pay award before returning to work with further negotiations on a further £5 increase then taking place.
Pilks' management would only offer a £3 initial rise, followed by discussions in their Joint Industrial Council negotiating body on restructuring wages.
The firm claimed that 1,000 workers had resumed work on Monday (4th) – although strike convenor Gerry Caughey insisted the number was only 150.
Most of those that had returned to their jobs were employed at the Grove Street Sheet Works.
However at the City Road works on the same day workers voted unanimously to remain out. On the 5th Pilkingtons put out this short press statement:
"Return to work in Pilkington plants outside St. Helens itself complete this morning. Total back at work today, including St. Helens, is 2,853."
An extraordinary aspect of the dispute was that the strikers became pitted against their own union and last week some rebels had ransacked its branch office in Kirkland Street.
Later on the 5th John Conley of the National Union of General and Municipal Workers visited St Helens to tell strikers that the stoppage was over.
The so-called "rank-and-file committee" was furious over his refusal to meet with them and joint strike leader Councillor John Potter told the press:
"There is one thing certain – that when this strike is over, the NUGMW will be 8,000 members short."
Mr Potter also claimed that supplies to the Pilkington factories were being "blacked" by other unions.
Later that day serious trouble erupted at the Sheet Works factory, as described by the Daily Mirror:
"Strike pickets and workers fought outside a factory's gates yesterday. Workers leaving Pilkington's glassworks at St. Helens, Lancs, found their way barred by 800 wildcat strikers.
“Police reinforcements were rushed to the factory as fighting broke out and the workers were forced back inside the gates. The pickets eventually let them leave when they promised not to turn up for today's shift."
Two injuries were reported in the fighting and no workers went on the night shift. On the following morning a scuffle took place as some employees went through picket lines at the Grove Street factory.
However only fifty workers clocked in and most soon left. Meanwhile at the Cowley Hill float glass works a man was injured when a wagon went through a picket line.
Pilkingtons then put out a press release stating that some of the men instigating trouble outside their works were outsiders that did not work for them.
Statements in the St Helens Reporter on the 8th supported these claims. Their front-page splash began:
"Sinister groups of agitators are alleged to have “infiltrated” the 8,500 Pilkington wildcat glass strikers. Police have been told about the “Faceless Ones” who are said to have been mingling with pickets around the firm's six glass plants."
Shop steward Matt McGrath said: "Communists have been moving among the pickets making speeches. They have been stirring up feeling in the crowd."
However strike leader Gerry Caughey denied the claims: "There is no truth in it. All this talk about Reds under the bed is rubbish."
Despite his denial Tom Wilcock, the Mayor of St Helens – who also worked at Pilkingtons – believed that there were some infiltrators.
He labelled them "troublemakers well known to the police, the union and the company."
For two weeks Cllr. Wilcock had been attempting to mediate between the rebel rank-and-file committee, the NUGMW trade union and Pilkingtons.
Talking to the Reporter the Mayor made this heartfelt plea:
"For God's sake, let us settle these differences. This town has never known a strike like this – and let us hope we will never have to suffer the bitterness and hardship of another one."
In a separate article the Reporter summed up the sad state of the strike:
"A heatwave of violence, bringing bloodshed, fear and anguish, has ripped a scar across the once-peaceful glass strike."
However there was hope for a resolution on the 9th when in a surprise intervention, Barbara Castle announced that she had ordered a court of inquiry.
The Minister for Employment said that because of rising tensions between strikers and those who wished to work, a full investigation into the conduct of the dispute and of the issues involved was necessary.
Mrs Castle also called for an early return to work and the Pilkington management and the NUGMW union both welcomed the move.
And now for the non-strike news this week. Yes there was some!
On the 4th a 45-year-old man from Haresfinch was placed on probation for two years after committing an indecent assault on a woman.
The nineteen-year-old had been attacked after being dragged into Victoria Park.
The man also pleaded guilty to exposing himself to schoolgirls and committing three other assaults on women and was told to get medical treatment.
From the 4th the Pilkington Players began six nights of performances of the period melodrama 'Pink String and Sealing Wax' at the Theatre Royal.
The campaign to repeal the bye-law that prevented the playing of amateur sport on council-owned pitches on Sundays received a boost this week.
That was when the Home Office wrote to a campaigner stating that no such bye-law existed!
Alderman Tom Hignett, the chairman of the council's Amenities Committee, admitted to the Reporter that he had known it all along.
He said it had always been left up to his members' discretion and they felt they were acting in the best interests of the town in opposing organised Sunday games.
In his church magazine for May, the Rev. Paul Conder wrote that he was considering setting up a body of vigilantes to stop an outbreak of vandalism.
The Sutton vicar complained of glass being smashed at St Nicholas (shown above) and All Saints churches, with the windows in the vestry and porch of the former being regular targets.
Rev. Conder appealed for help from parents and felt that a "band of watchers" would be a good idea, which would be discussed at a church meeting.
The new traffic scheme that gives priority to buses in Church Street was attacked at a Town Council meeting on the 6th.
Cllr. Bill Shepherd said: "At any set of traffic lights along Church Street, if there is more than one bus involved, then congestion builds up."
Cllr. William Williams, the Chairman of the Transport Committee, admitted that there had been teething troubles but expected things to improve:
"We are certainly watching matters closely. I am sure that the flow of traffic will become easier when local drivers get used to the idea."
At a Health Committee meeting on the 7th the decision not to build a health centre in Eccleston was bitterly criticised.
Councillor Tom McCormack sat on Whiston Rural District Council and said they had complained to Prime Minister Harold Wilson, Health Secretary Richard Crossman and Lancashire County Council.
A site in Ansdell Drive had been earmarked for the health centre but would not now be bought. "Haydock and Cantrill Farm have got them. What about Eccleston?", asked Cllr. McCormack.
The Committee agreed on the need for a purpose-built centre in Eccleston to meet the growing health needs of the population and decided to make further representations.
And finally a story in the Reporter on the 8th that has remarkable parallels with today – yes, another one! It began:
"Eight hundred old people, sick, crippled and living alone, are being shut out of hospitals because there is no room on the wards.
"Only 190 beds are available in three hospitals for geriatric patients. But more than 1,000 are wanted to cope with St. Helens old folk urgently needing hospital treatments."
Whiston Hospital's superintendent physician, Dr Leon Horwich, told the St Helens Reporter:
"We have an acute problem with the infirm aged. There is a never ending army of them. We give priority to only acute emergencies.
"But there are hundreds of old people who desperately need to come into hospital."
Next week's stories will include a claim of organised thuggery in the Pilkington dispute, the glass giant warns of massive redundancies, the dog collar strike ballot at Central Modern, the fly-away parrot from Birchley Street and the Carr Mill boy who got stuck up a tree.
"Sixteen stone Matt McGrath tried to end a strike on his own yesterday. But he reckoned without the militant approach to trade unionism of Mary Houltram and Anne Hamilton – shown in the picture above.
"Shop steward Matt, 39, was trying to end a pay strike by nearly 9,000 workers at Pilkington's glassworks in St. Helens, Lancs. But as he climbed up on the platform, the women, both widows aged 38, chased after him.
“They waltzed him round by the tie and flung him over the edge. Matt collected a bruised shin and ripped his trousers. He said afterwards: “I've never been so embarrassed in all my life. But you can't argue with two women in that mood.”
"Mary, a mother of three, said: “I laddered my tights in the struggle but it was worth it to keep him quiet.” Anne added: “We'd do it again if necessary. He had a whole lot of nerve getting up like that, realising everybody wanted to stay out. He's lucky he didn't get a cuff on the ear.”
“A spokesman for the firm said later that seven hundred workers at five of the firm's six plants had ended their month-old strike yesterday."
The strike was seemingly beginning to break up, although at the mass meeting nearly 5,000 of the workers had voted to stay out.
The strike committee was insisting on a £5 interim pay award before returning to work with further negotiations on a further £5 increase then taking place.
Pilks' management would only offer a £3 initial rise, followed by discussions in their Joint Industrial Council negotiating body on restructuring wages.
The firm claimed that 1,000 workers had resumed work on Monday (4th) – although strike convenor Gerry Caughey insisted the number was only 150.
Most of those that had returned to their jobs were employed at the Grove Street Sheet Works.
However at the City Road works on the same day workers voted unanimously to remain out. On the 5th Pilkingtons put out this short press statement:
"Return to work in Pilkington plants outside St. Helens itself complete this morning. Total back at work today, including St. Helens, is 2,853."
An extraordinary aspect of the dispute was that the strikers became pitted against their own union and last week some rebels had ransacked its branch office in Kirkland Street.
Later on the 5th John Conley of the National Union of General and Municipal Workers visited St Helens to tell strikers that the stoppage was over.
The so-called "rank-and-file committee" was furious over his refusal to meet with them and joint strike leader Councillor John Potter told the press:
"There is one thing certain – that when this strike is over, the NUGMW will be 8,000 members short."
Mr Potter also claimed that supplies to the Pilkington factories were being "blacked" by other unions.
Later that day serious trouble erupted at the Sheet Works factory, as described by the Daily Mirror:
"Strike pickets and workers fought outside a factory's gates yesterday. Workers leaving Pilkington's glassworks at St. Helens, Lancs, found their way barred by 800 wildcat strikers.
“Police reinforcements were rushed to the factory as fighting broke out and the workers were forced back inside the gates. The pickets eventually let them leave when they promised not to turn up for today's shift."
Two injuries were reported in the fighting and no workers went on the night shift. On the following morning a scuffle took place as some employees went through picket lines at the Grove Street factory.
However only fifty workers clocked in and most soon left. Meanwhile at the Cowley Hill float glass works a man was injured when a wagon went through a picket line.
Statements in the St Helens Reporter on the 8th supported these claims. Their front-page splash began:
"Sinister groups of agitators are alleged to have “infiltrated” the 8,500 Pilkington wildcat glass strikers. Police have been told about the “Faceless Ones” who are said to have been mingling with pickets around the firm's six glass plants."
Shop steward Matt McGrath said: "Communists have been moving among the pickets making speeches. They have been stirring up feeling in the crowd."
However strike leader Gerry Caughey denied the claims: "There is no truth in it. All this talk about Reds under the bed is rubbish."
Despite his denial Tom Wilcock, the Mayor of St Helens – who also worked at Pilkingtons – believed that there were some infiltrators.
He labelled them "troublemakers well known to the police, the union and the company."
For two weeks Cllr. Wilcock had been attempting to mediate between the rebel rank-and-file committee, the NUGMW trade union and Pilkingtons.
Talking to the Reporter the Mayor made this heartfelt plea:
"For God's sake, let us settle these differences. This town has never known a strike like this – and let us hope we will never have to suffer the bitterness and hardship of another one."
In a separate article the Reporter summed up the sad state of the strike:
"A heatwave of violence, bringing bloodshed, fear and anguish, has ripped a scar across the once-peaceful glass strike."
However there was hope for a resolution on the 9th when in a surprise intervention, Barbara Castle announced that she had ordered a court of inquiry.
The Minister for Employment said that because of rising tensions between strikers and those who wished to work, a full investigation into the conduct of the dispute and of the issues involved was necessary.
Mrs Castle also called for an early return to work and the Pilkington management and the NUGMW union both welcomed the move.
And now for the non-strike news this week. Yes there was some!
On the 4th a 45-year-old man from Haresfinch was placed on probation for two years after committing an indecent assault on a woman.
The nineteen-year-old had been attacked after being dragged into Victoria Park.
The man also pleaded guilty to exposing himself to schoolgirls and committing three other assaults on women and was told to get medical treatment.
From the 4th the Pilkington Players began six nights of performances of the period melodrama 'Pink String and Sealing Wax' at the Theatre Royal.
The campaign to repeal the bye-law that prevented the playing of amateur sport on council-owned pitches on Sundays received a boost this week.
That was when the Home Office wrote to a campaigner stating that no such bye-law existed!
Alderman Tom Hignett, the chairman of the council's Amenities Committee, admitted to the Reporter that he had known it all along.
He said it had always been left up to his members' discretion and they felt they were acting in the best interests of the town in opposing organised Sunday games.
In his church magazine for May, the Rev. Paul Conder wrote that he was considering setting up a body of vigilantes to stop an outbreak of vandalism.
Rev. Conder appealed for help from parents and felt that a "band of watchers" would be a good idea, which would be discussed at a church meeting.
The new traffic scheme that gives priority to buses in Church Street was attacked at a Town Council meeting on the 6th.
Cllr. Bill Shepherd said: "At any set of traffic lights along Church Street, if there is more than one bus involved, then congestion builds up."
Cllr. William Williams, the Chairman of the Transport Committee, admitted that there had been teething troubles but expected things to improve:
"We are certainly watching matters closely. I am sure that the flow of traffic will become easier when local drivers get used to the idea."
At a Health Committee meeting on the 7th the decision not to build a health centre in Eccleston was bitterly criticised.
Councillor Tom McCormack sat on Whiston Rural District Council and said they had complained to Prime Minister Harold Wilson, Health Secretary Richard Crossman and Lancashire County Council.
A site in Ansdell Drive had been earmarked for the health centre but would not now be bought. "Haydock and Cantrill Farm have got them. What about Eccleston?", asked Cllr. McCormack.
The Committee agreed on the need for a purpose-built centre in Eccleston to meet the growing health needs of the population and decided to make further representations.
And finally a story in the Reporter on the 8th that has remarkable parallels with today – yes, another one! It began:
"Eight hundred old people, sick, crippled and living alone, are being shut out of hospitals because there is no room on the wards.
"Only 190 beds are available in three hospitals for geriatric patients. But more than 1,000 are wanted to cope with St. Helens old folk urgently needing hospital treatments."
Whiston Hospital's superintendent physician, Dr Leon Horwich, told the St Helens Reporter:
"We have an acute problem with the infirm aged. There is a never ending army of them. We give priority to only acute emergencies.
"But there are hundreds of old people who desperately need to come into hospital."
Next week's stories will include a claim of organised thuggery in the Pilkington dispute, the glass giant warns of massive redundancies, the dog collar strike ballot at Central Modern, the fly-away parrot from Birchley Street and the Carr Mill boy who got stuck up a tree.