FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 4 - 10 MAY 1976
This week's many stories include the conclusion of the Radio Caroline Roadshow trial, Boots new store opens its doors, Fossett's Circus comes to Parr, the expansion of one-man bus operations in St Helens is halted, 300 female employees of Beecham's open an equal pay claim, fifty youngsters receive their Duke of Edinburgh awards and 25,000 Saints fans make their way to Wembley – but the team's homecoming celebration is marred by a crush.
The week began with the conclusion of the trial of James Monks, the former manager of the Fleece Hotel in Church Street in St Helens, along with two Liverpool men. The trio faced charges involving the promotion of the pirate radio ship Radio Caroline, after the Fleece had hosted the Caroline Roadshow on its premises and allowed posters advertising the station to be put up.
The case was the first of its kind and all three defendants were found guilty with Monks – who seemingly had been sacked from his job at the Fleece – ordered to pay a £25 fine and £50 costs. The other two men would later be given suspended prison sentences for their part in putting up posters in the Fleece.
One-man bus operations had begun in St Helens in 1968 and they were being slowly phased in and conductors were being slowly phased out. Well, that was the intention. But at a meeting of the Passenger Transport Committee on the 4th it was revealed that extra bus conductors had needed to be recruited in St Helens because of the government's counter inflation policies.
When drivers of buses with conductors migrated to one-man operation they received extra cash and because inflation in 1975 had hit 24%, the Labour government had clamped down on both price and pay rises. Arthur Moffat, the Director General of the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive, explained to the meeting that the transition to a fully one-man operated fleet had subsequently been halted, as they were unable to increase the pay of drivers that changed over.
And because of shortages of manpower, conductors had temporarily been hired. The committee decided to take the matter up with the Department of Employment to see whether they might amend their policies.
The Passenger Transport Committee also decided that the controversial fare box system would not be coming to St Helens – at least not for the time being. Fare boxes had been piloted on certain routes in Liverpool and on the Wirral and they relied upon passengers putting the right money into a box on the bus upon entering.
No change could be given and if the passenger did not have the correct cash for his or her fare, the driver would give them a voucher. That was exchangeable for cash at the transport office. Councillor Wells told the meeting that there was a disparity between an official survey of the scheme and his own findings:
"The report we've been given by the Executive says that only 0.1 per cent of people were dissatisfied with the fare box experiments. My God, as I go along and talk to people in bus queues on these routes I find they are a 100 per cent dissatisfied. I know people who deliberately miss these buses to avoid the boxes."
At Eccleston Parish Council's meeting this week, a councillor complained of a rampage of super-size rabbits running through his vegetable patch in Albany Avenue. Holding his hands apart to describe the large size of the rabbits, Cllr Bill Paton reckoned that the big bunnies had got at forty of his Brussels sprouts plants.
"I have seen three on my lawn at a time, and there have been little ones running around," explained the councillor. The council decided to refer the matter to the St Helens Environmental Health Department.
On the 5th Joy Burrows officially opened the new lounge at Rainhill Ex-Services Club. Joy was the daughter of Colonel D. G. A. Taylor, of whom the lounge was named after and who had died in 1975. He had been a founder member of the club in 1945 and had worked to convert it from a wooden hut in Warrington Road to the substantial premises that it had now become.
Boots' new store on Church Street as part of the Lagrange Arcade opened its doors on the 7th. That was the day after its shop on the corner of Ormskirk Street and Barrow Street, which they had occupied since 1898 and is pictured above, had closed. On St Valentine's Day in 1955 that store had collapsed while the premises were being extended, causing ten persons to be injured. A full-page advert was taken out in the St Helens Reporter that stated how being on two floors, the new shop was four times bigger than its predecessor.
Fifty St Helens youngsters this week received their Duke of Edinburgh awards at the Town Hall from Dr Jim Duff. He had been a member of the expedition that in 1975 had conquered the south face of Everest. The gold award winners were David Plumpton and Brian Schofield and the silver award winners were Jane Cameron, Susan Godson, Anne Martindale, Janet Norton, Yvonne Poole, Linda Clarke, Jean Darricott and Stephen Halliwell.
The St Helens Reporter described on the 7th how 300 female employees of Beecham's had opened an equal pay claim against their employer. Their union claimed that the most that women workers at the Westfield Street works could earn was less than the male minimum.
The women had held a one-day token strike to make their feelings known and a meeting between the union and Beecham's management had been held this week but had not led to any agreement. The next step was for the General and Municipal Workers Union to take the claim to a Central Arbitration Committee.
The front-page headline of the Reporter blared out the headline "We're On Our Way To Wembley . . ." The Reporter reckoned 25,000 Saints fans would on the following day be making a road and rail exodus to London to watch their team play the Challenge Cup final against Widnes.
More than 3,000 would travel to London from Shaw Street Station on 9 trains and over 100 coaches would be taking many other fans by road. Saints won the game 20 - 5 with the Liverpool Echo writing on the 8th:
"St. Helens carried off the Rugby League Challenge Cup in a Wembley sizzler this afternoon. With temperatures soaring into the 80's the Saints and Widnes produced a final full of good football with St. Helens clinching their victory in a dramatic spell."
The Mayor of St Helens, Peggy McNamara, had already announced that win or lose at Wembley, Saints would receive a civic reception at the Town Hall on the Sunday. But things did not go well, as the Daily Express reported on the 10th next to three photos (main one above):
"A frightened little girl looks appealingly at a policeman for help; children, dazed and bewildered, are treated by a first aid team on the pavement. For the triumph of St. Helens Rugby League team turned to a moment of fear for some of the children in the 15,000 crowd welcoming home the Cup winners last night.
"Fifty children and teenage girls were hurt by the crowd surging from behind as the team's open-top bus edged towards the town hall for an official reception. At one point St. Helens skipper Kel Coslett and his players helped police clear a way for casualties into the town hall."
And finally, for six days from the 10th, Sir Robert Fossett's Circus was on the Parr Stocks Road land by the fire station. The shows were heralded by their "Jumbo Trek", in which a "mighty herd" of Indian and African elephants arrived at St Helens Railway Station and were then driven to Parr Stocks Road, probably by a circuitous route through the town centre. Advance bookings could be made at Ellisons Travel in Westfield Street or at the box office on the circus site.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the smashed windows of coaches taking Saints supporters to away games, a cash crisis threatens NHS services and fire causes considerable damage to the HQ of the St John Ambulance Brigade.
The week began with the conclusion of the trial of James Monks, the former manager of the Fleece Hotel in Church Street in St Helens, along with two Liverpool men. The trio faced charges involving the promotion of the pirate radio ship Radio Caroline, after the Fleece had hosted the Caroline Roadshow on its premises and allowed posters advertising the station to be put up.
The case was the first of its kind and all three defendants were found guilty with Monks – who seemingly had been sacked from his job at the Fleece – ordered to pay a £25 fine and £50 costs. The other two men would later be given suspended prison sentences for their part in putting up posters in the Fleece.
One-man bus operations had begun in St Helens in 1968 and they were being slowly phased in and conductors were being slowly phased out. Well, that was the intention. But at a meeting of the Passenger Transport Committee on the 4th it was revealed that extra bus conductors had needed to be recruited in St Helens because of the government's counter inflation policies.
When drivers of buses with conductors migrated to one-man operation they received extra cash and because inflation in 1975 had hit 24%, the Labour government had clamped down on both price and pay rises. Arthur Moffat, the Director General of the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive, explained to the meeting that the transition to a fully one-man operated fleet had subsequently been halted, as they were unable to increase the pay of drivers that changed over.
And because of shortages of manpower, conductors had temporarily been hired. The committee decided to take the matter up with the Department of Employment to see whether they might amend their policies.
The Passenger Transport Committee also decided that the controversial fare box system would not be coming to St Helens – at least not for the time being. Fare boxes had been piloted on certain routes in Liverpool and on the Wirral and they relied upon passengers putting the right money into a box on the bus upon entering.
No change could be given and if the passenger did not have the correct cash for his or her fare, the driver would give them a voucher. That was exchangeable for cash at the transport office. Councillor Wells told the meeting that there was a disparity between an official survey of the scheme and his own findings:
"The report we've been given by the Executive says that only 0.1 per cent of people were dissatisfied with the fare box experiments. My God, as I go along and talk to people in bus queues on these routes I find they are a 100 per cent dissatisfied. I know people who deliberately miss these buses to avoid the boxes."
At Eccleston Parish Council's meeting this week, a councillor complained of a rampage of super-size rabbits running through his vegetable patch in Albany Avenue. Holding his hands apart to describe the large size of the rabbits, Cllr Bill Paton reckoned that the big bunnies had got at forty of his Brussels sprouts plants.
"I have seen three on my lawn at a time, and there have been little ones running around," explained the councillor. The council decided to refer the matter to the St Helens Environmental Health Department.
On the 5th Joy Burrows officially opened the new lounge at Rainhill Ex-Services Club. Joy was the daughter of Colonel D. G. A. Taylor, of whom the lounge was named after and who had died in 1975. He had been a founder member of the club in 1945 and had worked to convert it from a wooden hut in Warrington Road to the substantial premises that it had now become.
Fifty St Helens youngsters this week received their Duke of Edinburgh awards at the Town Hall from Dr Jim Duff. He had been a member of the expedition that in 1975 had conquered the south face of Everest. The gold award winners were David Plumpton and Brian Schofield and the silver award winners were Jane Cameron, Susan Godson, Anne Martindale, Janet Norton, Yvonne Poole, Linda Clarke, Jean Darricott and Stephen Halliwell.
The St Helens Reporter described on the 7th how 300 female employees of Beecham's had opened an equal pay claim against their employer. Their union claimed that the most that women workers at the Westfield Street works could earn was less than the male minimum.
The women had held a one-day token strike to make their feelings known and a meeting between the union and Beecham's management had been held this week but had not led to any agreement. The next step was for the General and Municipal Workers Union to take the claim to a Central Arbitration Committee.
The front-page headline of the Reporter blared out the headline "We're On Our Way To Wembley . . ." The Reporter reckoned 25,000 Saints fans would on the following day be making a road and rail exodus to London to watch their team play the Challenge Cup final against Widnes.
More than 3,000 would travel to London from Shaw Street Station on 9 trains and over 100 coaches would be taking many other fans by road. Saints won the game 20 - 5 with the Liverpool Echo writing on the 8th:
"St. Helens carried off the Rugby League Challenge Cup in a Wembley sizzler this afternoon. With temperatures soaring into the 80's the Saints and Widnes produced a final full of good football with St. Helens clinching their victory in a dramatic spell."
"A frightened little girl looks appealingly at a policeman for help; children, dazed and bewildered, are treated by a first aid team on the pavement. For the triumph of St. Helens Rugby League team turned to a moment of fear for some of the children in the 15,000 crowd welcoming home the Cup winners last night.
"Fifty children and teenage girls were hurt by the crowd surging from behind as the team's open-top bus edged towards the town hall for an official reception. At one point St. Helens skipper Kel Coslett and his players helped police clear a way for casualties into the town hall."
And finally, for six days from the 10th, Sir Robert Fossett's Circus was on the Parr Stocks Road land by the fire station. The shows were heralded by their "Jumbo Trek", in which a "mighty herd" of Indian and African elephants arrived at St Helens Railway Station and were then driven to Parr Stocks Road, probably by a circuitous route through the town centre. Advance bookings could be made at Ellisons Travel in Westfield Street or at the box office on the circus site.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the smashed windows of coaches taking Saints supporters to away games, a cash crisis threatens NHS services and fire causes considerable damage to the HQ of the St John Ambulance Brigade.
This week's many stories include the conclusion of the Radio Caroline Roadshow trial, Boots new store opens its doors, Fossett's Circus comes to Parr, the expansion of one-man bus operations in St Helens is halted, 300 female employees of Beecham's begin an equal pay claim, fifty youngsters receive their Duke of Edinburgh awards and 25,000 Saints fans make their way to Wembley – but the team's homecoming celebration is marred by a crush.
The week began with the conclusion of the trial of James Monks, the former manager of the Fleece Hotel in Church Street in St Helens, along with two Liverpool men.
The trio faced charges involving the promotion of the pirate radio ship Radio Caroline, after the Fleece had hosted the Caroline Roadshow on its premises and allowed posters advertising the station to be put up.
The case was the first of its kind and all three defendants were found guilty with Monks – who seemingly had been sacked from his job at the Fleece – ordered to pay a £25 fine and £50 costs.
The other two men would later be given suspended prison sentences for their part in putting up posters in the Fleece.
One-man bus operations had begun in St Helens in 1968 and they were being slowly phased in and conductors were being slowly phased out.
Well, that was the intention. But at a meeting of the Passenger Transport Committee on the 4th it was revealed that extra bus conductors had needed to be recruited in St Helens because of the government's counter inflation policies.
When drivers of buses with conductors migrated to one-man operation they received extra cash and because inflation in 1975 had hit 24%, the Labour government had clamped down on both price and pay rises.
Arthur Moffat, the Director General of the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive, explained to the meeting that the transition to a fully one-man operated fleet had subsequently been halted, as they were unable to increase the pay of drivers that changed over.
And because of shortages of manpower, conductors had temporarily been hired.
The committee decided to take the matter up with the Department of Employment to see whether they might amend their policies.
The Passenger Transport Committee also decided that the controversial fare box system would not be coming to St Helens – at least not for the time being.
Fare boxes had been piloted on certain routes in Liverpool and on the Wirral and they relied upon passengers putting the right money into a box on the bus upon entering.
No change could be given and if the passenger did not have the correct cash for his or her fare, the driver would give them a voucher. That was exchangeable for cash at the transport office.
Councillor Wells told the meeting that there was a disparity between an official survey of the scheme and his own findings:
"The report we've been given by the Executive says that only 0.1 per cent of people were dissatisfied with the fare box experiments. My God, as I go along and talk to people in bus queues on these routes I find they are a 100 per cent dissatisfied. I know people who deliberately miss these buses to avoid the boxes."
At Eccleston Parish Council's meeting this week, a councillor complained of a rampage of super-size rabbits running through his vegetable patch in Albany Avenue.
Holding his hands apart to describe the large size of the rabbits, Cllr Bill Paton reckoned that the big bunnies had got at forty of his Brussels sprouts plants.
"I have seen three on my lawn at a time, and there have been little ones running around," explained the councillor.
The council decided to refer the matter to the St Helens Environmental Health Department.
On the 5th Joy Burrows officially opened the new lounge at Rainhill Ex-Services Club.
Joy was the daughter of Colonel D. G. A. Taylor, of whom the lounge was named after and who had died in 1975.
He had been a founder member of the club in 1945 and had worked to convert it from a wooden hut in Warrington Road to the substantial premises that it had now become.
Boots' new store on Church Street as part of the Lagrange Arcade opened its doors on the 7th.
That was the day after its shop on the corner of Ormskirk Street and Barrow Street, which they had occupied since 1898 (pictured above), had closed.
On St Valentine's Day in 1955 that store had collapsed while the premises were being extended, causing ten persons to be injured.
A full-page advert was taken out in the St Helens Reporter that stated how being on two floors, the new shop was four times bigger than its predecessor.
Fifty St Helens youngsters this week received their Duke of Edinburgh awards at the Town Hall from Dr Jim Duff.
He had been a member of the expedition that in 1975 had conquered the south face of Everest.
The gold award winners were David Plumpton and Brian Schofield and the silver award winners were Jane Cameron, Susan Godson, Anne Martindale, Janet Norton, Yvonne Poole, Linda Clarke, Jean Darricott and Stephen Halliwell.
The St Helens Reporter described on the 7th how 300 female employees of Beecham's had opened an equal pay claim against their employer.
Their union claimed that the most that women workers at the Westfield Street works could earn was less than the male minimum.
The women had held a one-day token strike to make their feelings known and a meeting between the union and Beecham's management had been held this week but had not led to any agreement.
The next step was for the General and Municipal Workers Union to take the claim to a Central Arbitration Committee.
The front-page headline of the Reporter blared out the headline "We're On Our Way To Wembley . . ."
The Reporter reckoned 25,000 Saints fans would on the following day be making a road and rail exodus to London to watch their team play the Challenge Cup final against Widnes.
More than 3,000 would travel to London from Shaw Street Station on 9 trains and over 100 coaches would be taking many other fans by road.
Saints won the game 20 - 5 with the Liverpool Echo writing on the 8th:
"St. Helens carried off the Rugby League Challenge Cup in a Wembley sizzler this afternoon. With temperatures soaring into the 80's the Saints and Widnes produced a final full of good football with St. Helens clinching their victory in a dramatic spell."
The Mayor of St Helens, Peggy McNamara, had already announced that win or lose at Wembley, Saints would receive a civic reception at the Town Hall on the Sunday.
But things did not go well, as the Daily Express reported on the 10th next to three photos (main one shown above):
"A frightened little girl looks appealingly at a policeman for help; children, dazed and bewildered, are treated by a first aid team on the pavement.
"For the triumph of St. Helens Rugby League team turned to a moment of fear for some of the children in the 15,000 crowd welcoming home the Cup winners last night.
"Fifty children and teenage girls were hurt by the crowd surging from behind as the team's open-top bus edged towards the town hall for an official reception.
"At one point St. Helens skipper Kel Coslett and his players helped police clear a way for casualties into the town hall."
And finally, for six days from the 10th, Sir Robert Fossett's Circus was on the Parr Stocks Road land by the fire station.
The shows were heralded by their "Jumbo Trek", in which a "mighty herd" of Indian and African elephants arrived at St Helens Railway Station and were then driven to Parr Stocks Road, probably by a circuitous route through the town centre.
Advance bookings could be made at Ellisons Travel in Westfield Street or at the box office on the circus site.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the smashed windows of coaches taking Saints supporters to away games, a cash crisis threatens NHS services and fire causes considerable damage to the HQ of the St John's Ambulance Brigade.
The week began with the conclusion of the trial of James Monks, the former manager of the Fleece Hotel in Church Street in St Helens, along with two Liverpool men.
The trio faced charges involving the promotion of the pirate radio ship Radio Caroline, after the Fleece had hosted the Caroline Roadshow on its premises and allowed posters advertising the station to be put up.
The case was the first of its kind and all three defendants were found guilty with Monks – who seemingly had been sacked from his job at the Fleece – ordered to pay a £25 fine and £50 costs.
The other two men would later be given suspended prison sentences for their part in putting up posters in the Fleece.
One-man bus operations had begun in St Helens in 1968 and they were being slowly phased in and conductors were being slowly phased out.
Well, that was the intention. But at a meeting of the Passenger Transport Committee on the 4th it was revealed that extra bus conductors had needed to be recruited in St Helens because of the government's counter inflation policies.
When drivers of buses with conductors migrated to one-man operation they received extra cash and because inflation in 1975 had hit 24%, the Labour government had clamped down on both price and pay rises.
Arthur Moffat, the Director General of the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive, explained to the meeting that the transition to a fully one-man operated fleet had subsequently been halted, as they were unable to increase the pay of drivers that changed over.
And because of shortages of manpower, conductors had temporarily been hired.
The committee decided to take the matter up with the Department of Employment to see whether they might amend their policies.
The Passenger Transport Committee also decided that the controversial fare box system would not be coming to St Helens – at least not for the time being.
Fare boxes had been piloted on certain routes in Liverpool and on the Wirral and they relied upon passengers putting the right money into a box on the bus upon entering.
No change could be given and if the passenger did not have the correct cash for his or her fare, the driver would give them a voucher. That was exchangeable for cash at the transport office.
Councillor Wells told the meeting that there was a disparity between an official survey of the scheme and his own findings:
"The report we've been given by the Executive says that only 0.1 per cent of people were dissatisfied with the fare box experiments. My God, as I go along and talk to people in bus queues on these routes I find they are a 100 per cent dissatisfied. I know people who deliberately miss these buses to avoid the boxes."
At Eccleston Parish Council's meeting this week, a councillor complained of a rampage of super-size rabbits running through his vegetable patch in Albany Avenue.
Holding his hands apart to describe the large size of the rabbits, Cllr Bill Paton reckoned that the big bunnies had got at forty of his Brussels sprouts plants.
"I have seen three on my lawn at a time, and there have been little ones running around," explained the councillor.
The council decided to refer the matter to the St Helens Environmental Health Department.
On the 5th Joy Burrows officially opened the new lounge at Rainhill Ex-Services Club.
Joy was the daughter of Colonel D. G. A. Taylor, of whom the lounge was named after and who had died in 1975.
He had been a founder member of the club in 1945 and had worked to convert it from a wooden hut in Warrington Road to the substantial premises that it had now become.
Boots' new store on Church Street as part of the Lagrange Arcade opened its doors on the 7th.
On St Valentine's Day in 1955 that store had collapsed while the premises were being extended, causing ten persons to be injured.
A full-page advert was taken out in the St Helens Reporter that stated how being on two floors, the new shop was four times bigger than its predecessor.
Fifty St Helens youngsters this week received their Duke of Edinburgh awards at the Town Hall from Dr Jim Duff.
He had been a member of the expedition that in 1975 had conquered the south face of Everest.
The gold award winners were David Plumpton and Brian Schofield and the silver award winners were Jane Cameron, Susan Godson, Anne Martindale, Janet Norton, Yvonne Poole, Linda Clarke, Jean Darricott and Stephen Halliwell.
The St Helens Reporter described on the 7th how 300 female employees of Beecham's had opened an equal pay claim against their employer.
Their union claimed that the most that women workers at the Westfield Street works could earn was less than the male minimum.
The women had held a one-day token strike to make their feelings known and a meeting between the union and Beecham's management had been held this week but had not led to any agreement.
The next step was for the General and Municipal Workers Union to take the claim to a Central Arbitration Committee.
The front-page headline of the Reporter blared out the headline "We're On Our Way To Wembley . . ."
The Reporter reckoned 25,000 Saints fans would on the following day be making a road and rail exodus to London to watch their team play the Challenge Cup final against Widnes.
More than 3,000 would travel to London from Shaw Street Station on 9 trains and over 100 coaches would be taking many other fans by road.
Saints won the game 20 - 5 with the Liverpool Echo writing on the 8th:
"St. Helens carried off the Rugby League Challenge Cup in a Wembley sizzler this afternoon. With temperatures soaring into the 80's the Saints and Widnes produced a final full of good football with St. Helens clinching their victory in a dramatic spell."
The Mayor of St Helens, Peggy McNamara, had already announced that win or lose at Wembley, Saints would receive a civic reception at the Town Hall on the Sunday.
"A frightened little girl looks appealingly at a policeman for help; children, dazed and bewildered, are treated by a first aid team on the pavement.
"For the triumph of St. Helens Rugby League team turned to a moment of fear for some of the children in the 15,000 crowd welcoming home the Cup winners last night.
"Fifty children and teenage girls were hurt by the crowd surging from behind as the team's open-top bus edged towards the town hall for an official reception.
"At one point St. Helens skipper Kel Coslett and his players helped police clear a way for casualties into the town hall."
And finally, for six days from the 10th, Sir Robert Fossett's Circus was on the Parr Stocks Road land by the fire station.
The shows were heralded by their "Jumbo Trek", in which a "mighty herd" of Indian and African elephants arrived at St Helens Railway Station and were then driven to Parr Stocks Road, probably by a circuitous route through the town centre.
Advance bookings could be made at Ellisons Travel in Westfield Street or at the box office on the circus site.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the smashed windows of coaches taking Saints supporters to away games, a cash crisis threatens NHS services and fire causes considerable damage to the HQ of the St John's Ambulance Brigade.