FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (4th - 10th NOVEMBER 1969)
This week's stories include Bonfire Night in St Helens, Father Christmas arrives in style at Helena House, the council's house building plans for the next three years are revealed, why the town's bus service was operating on a knife-edge, seven golden weddings are celebrated and what St Helens' mothers thought of sex education.
We begin with a recruitment campaign that the National Coal Board launched this week to fill 500 vacancies at nine Lancashire collieries. These included 80 at Sutton Manor; 30 at Wood Pit, Haydock; 50 at Bold and 80 vacancies at Parkside in Newton-le-Willows. The campaign would include TV and press advertising with youths under 18 able to join an apprenticeship training scheme lasting three to four years.
On the 4th the St Helens Education Committee was advertising in the Guardian for a Youth Leader at the Broad Oak Youth Centre. The successful candidate would be paid a salary from £950 to £1,500 per year, depending on experience and qualifications.
Little Pamela Jones came close to losing her eye in a firework accident on the 5th. The 18-month-old child was being carried in her father's arms at a bonfire behind the Farmer's Arms in Sutton, when a "rip-rap" firework jumped into the air and hit her just above the eye. If the firework had exploded as it struck Pamela's face, the toddler could have been blinded. Her father rushed his daughter to St Helens Hospital, where she was treated for a burn to her eyebrow.
However Pamela from Eliza Street in Sutton was the only casualty that the hospital treated on the night. There was also just one minor injury at Providence Hospital that required treatment, with the burns unit at Whiston reporting no admissions at all from the St Helens area.
The broadcast at the end of October of a BBC One documentary called "Remember, Remember" had focussed minds on the dangers of fireworks. After watching the programme William Sutton of Mount Pleasant Avenue in Parr organised a petition calling for a ban on the retail sale of fireworks. However most shops in St Helens reported a boom in sales, with Helena House saying theirs had increased by 20% over last year. Keith Orrell's shop in Fingerpost reported a complete sell out by the 5th, with the proprietor telling the St Helens Reporter: "We have sold more this year than any other year, despite the clamp-down."
Seventy labourers at Pilkington's float glass plant at Cowley Hill agreed to return to work on the 5th after a week-long strike over shop steward recognition. However the Westfield Street building site strike over the employment of so-called "lump labour" had yet to be settled. This had begun on October 24th and was continuing despite an intervention by the Mayor, Tom Wilcock.
The Rev. Paul Conder appealed in his parish magazine this week for more parishioners to volunteer as Sunday School teachers. That was because an increasing number of children were attending Sunday school in Sutton.
Also this week the council announced proposals to build changing rooms for footballers using a pitch in Watery Lane, with their Amenities Committee having approved the plans in principle.
On the 6th St Helens Town Council announced its housing plans for the next 3½ years. Over a 42-week period until the end of the 1972 - 3 financial year, the council planned to build 2,423 new homes. The average cost of each property would be £4,000, with a total budget of £11 million (around £200m in today's money.) The weekly rents for council tenants would range from £4 10 shillings for a one-bedroom bungalow to £5 10 shillings for a four-bedroom house. It was expected that 70% of the new homes would be needed to re-house tenants in slum clearance areas.
On the 6th the Guardian described how Pilkington's had started sending weekly exports of motor industry float glass to Australia by container. More than 1,000 tons of glass was sent out during the first week in 62 containers from St Helens, via the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam. Also on the 6th Newtown Players began three nightly performances of the comedy 'Fools Paradise' at the Theatre Royal.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 7th and announced that two new multi-storey car parks were going to be built in the town. They would both accommodate 300 cars and would cost £410,000 each.
The paper also reported how St Helens buses had carried nearly five million fewer passengers last year. As a result the Transport Department's profits had been reduced by £20,000 (around £350,000 in today's money). The Corporation's Transport Manager, Alex Barlow, said this was a "very heavy blow" to their finances, with passenger numbers declining by 20% over the past two years. In part this was because of reduced services or simply because of buses not turning up at stops due to the severe staff shortage.
The lack of staff was exacerbated by as many as 88 drivers and 151 conductors resigning during the past year and only 173 replacements having been recruited. This had been despite an extensive advertising campaign. "Our continued inability to retain operating staff is a constant source of trouble", said Mr Barlow. This, he argued, was an industry-wide problem "where the competition for available labour is fierce."
The Transport Manager had previously blamed the situation on low pay, with the Government not allowing St Helens Corporation to increase wages. However they had now been able to increase pay but Mr Barlow was still pessimistic about the situation: "Unfortunately there is no indication that the recent increases have stabilised the position, and we are still operating on a knife edge."
There was also a photo in the Reporter of Christine Ashcroft sitting on Father Christmas's knee at Oxley's Department Store. Santa had arrived in Barrow Street six days earlier and eight-year-old Christine was the first in the queue.
The paper's 'What People Think' column chose the proposed sex classes for eight and nine-year-olds as this week's subject, which they said appalled many St Helens' parents. From the New Year teachers would be able to illustrate sex lessons with colour slides produced by the BBC. These would include the sex act and scenes of a baby's birth. It was the latter that particularly upset the mothers that the Reporter talked to on the street.
These included Barbara Jones from Esthwaite Avenue, Carr Mill, who said: "I think this new idea of teaching eight-year-olds everything is stupid. They are too young. Slides of a woman having a baby could have a bad effect on them in later life." Beryl Hall of Shirwell Grove, Sutton Leach, agreed, saying: "They should talk about sex and discuss it freely, but not show any slides at all." Mother of six Sarah Grundy from Claremont Road in Billinge thought children should not be taught about sex until aged twelve or thirteen and she was also not in favour of the slides, saying: "I think too that seeing pictures of an actual birth could put young girls entirely off the process."
However mother of three Valerie Clayton from Ramford Street in Parr, was all in favour, explaining how she had never been taught the facts of life at school: "The sooner children are told about life the better. I know what it is like to be completely ignorant. It can be frightening."
"Rainford's New Trustee Savings Bank is Now Open at 26 Church Road", said a large ad in the paper. Amongst its services "the friendly bank" was offering 7% investment accounts. It was a branch of the Ormskirk TSB, which had first opened in 1882.
A photograph of workmen busy on a new £45,000 road was also published. This would run from near the Triplex factory in Knowsley Road to Burrows Lane and when completed in early 1970 would be called Millfields.
There were three romantic stories in the paper of how couples celebrating golden weddings this month had first met. Harry Brown had got talking to Doris, his wife-to-be, on a tram while on a journey to re-join the Royal Engineers in France during WW1. He was in uniform and so was Doris, as she was the conductress on the St Helens-bound tram from Haydock. The couple from Queens Drive in Windle were married a couple of years later.
John Potter was a uniformed member of the Boys Brigade attending a church service and had passed a note along a line of his friends to a young lady that he fancied called Mary. A romance began and then a wedding at Ormskirk Street Congregational Church. The couple were now celebrating fifty years of marriage at their Rigby Street home. Thomas and Alice Prescott were also celebrating their golden anniversary at their home in Friar Street, Windle City. They had got talking while attending a show at the Theatre Royal.
Before their retirements all three men had spent their working lives at Pilkington's. It was a reminder of how the glass firm had dominated employment in St Helens during much of the 20th century and given many men jobs for life. Harry Brown had worked for Pilks for 48 years, John Potter for 50 years and Tom Prescott for 36 years.
Other couples celebrating 50 years of marriage this month were John and Margaret Critchley of Lincoln Crescent, Haresfinch, Bert and Annie Manchester from Albion Street, Harriet and Arthur Briers from Kentmere Avenue, Carr Mill and William and Alice Gear from Princess Avenue, Windle. And yes all the men had worked for Pilks – Arthur Briers for 39 years and Bert Manchester for 45 years.
The Reporter had recently lambasted Hallowe'en masks but still printed a photo of the young pupils of Windlehurst Primary School celebrating October 31st by donning "grotesque masks, black coats and large, pointed hats", along with broomsticks and turnip lanterns.
The Mayor, Councillor Tom Wilcock, opened the 23rd St Helens & District Autumn Show on the 7th. The two-day event in the Town Hall featured a record-breaking 500 entries with classes including chrysanthemums, cacti and arts and crafts. For the fourth consecutive year green-fingered Stanley Kostrzewski from Wilson Street in Prescot was the most successful competitor.
Father Christmas was already at Oxley's but on the 8th he arrived in style at Helena House. A parade led by Redgate Boys' Silver Band took Santa in a "Mermaid's Chariot" from Shaw Street station to Baldwin Street. The Mermaid's Chariot coach was then placed in Helena House's basement for children to "ride" and see Father Christmas in his grotto and then visit the Toy Fair on the first floor. It followed a similar pattern to last year but then Santa rode in what was described as a "Wells Fargo" coach and the Toy Fair was called Toyland.
Next week's stories will include the roving gangs in Haydock that were looking for mischief, the foul stench of the stinky brook, criticism of fashion stores in St Helens, the death of the founder of Barton's pickles, Pilkington's coloured glass blocks and the town's newsagents advertise in a Reporter feature.
We begin with a recruitment campaign that the National Coal Board launched this week to fill 500 vacancies at nine Lancashire collieries. These included 80 at Sutton Manor; 30 at Wood Pit, Haydock; 50 at Bold and 80 vacancies at Parkside in Newton-le-Willows. The campaign would include TV and press advertising with youths under 18 able to join an apprenticeship training scheme lasting three to four years.
On the 4th the St Helens Education Committee was advertising in the Guardian for a Youth Leader at the Broad Oak Youth Centre. The successful candidate would be paid a salary from £950 to £1,500 per year, depending on experience and qualifications.
Little Pamela Jones came close to losing her eye in a firework accident on the 5th. The 18-month-old child was being carried in her father's arms at a bonfire behind the Farmer's Arms in Sutton, when a "rip-rap" firework jumped into the air and hit her just above the eye. If the firework had exploded as it struck Pamela's face, the toddler could have been blinded. Her father rushed his daughter to St Helens Hospital, where she was treated for a burn to her eyebrow.
However Pamela from Eliza Street in Sutton was the only casualty that the hospital treated on the night. There was also just one minor injury at Providence Hospital that required treatment, with the burns unit at Whiston reporting no admissions at all from the St Helens area.
The broadcast at the end of October of a BBC One documentary called "Remember, Remember" had focussed minds on the dangers of fireworks. After watching the programme William Sutton of Mount Pleasant Avenue in Parr organised a petition calling for a ban on the retail sale of fireworks. However most shops in St Helens reported a boom in sales, with Helena House saying theirs had increased by 20% over last year. Keith Orrell's shop in Fingerpost reported a complete sell out by the 5th, with the proprietor telling the St Helens Reporter: "We have sold more this year than any other year, despite the clamp-down."
Seventy labourers at Pilkington's float glass plant at Cowley Hill agreed to return to work on the 5th after a week-long strike over shop steward recognition. However the Westfield Street building site strike over the employment of so-called "lump labour" had yet to be settled. This had begun on October 24th and was continuing despite an intervention by the Mayor, Tom Wilcock.
The Rev. Paul Conder appealed in his parish magazine this week for more parishioners to volunteer as Sunday School teachers. That was because an increasing number of children were attending Sunday school in Sutton.
Also this week the council announced proposals to build changing rooms for footballers using a pitch in Watery Lane, with their Amenities Committee having approved the plans in principle.
On the 6th St Helens Town Council announced its housing plans for the next 3½ years. Over a 42-week period until the end of the 1972 - 3 financial year, the council planned to build 2,423 new homes. The average cost of each property would be £4,000, with a total budget of £11 million (around £200m in today's money.) The weekly rents for council tenants would range from £4 10 shillings for a one-bedroom bungalow to £5 10 shillings for a four-bedroom house. It was expected that 70% of the new homes would be needed to re-house tenants in slum clearance areas.
On the 6th the Guardian described how Pilkington's had started sending weekly exports of motor industry float glass to Australia by container. More than 1,000 tons of glass was sent out during the first week in 62 containers from St Helens, via the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam. Also on the 6th Newtown Players began three nightly performances of the comedy 'Fools Paradise' at the Theatre Royal.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 7th and announced that two new multi-storey car parks were going to be built in the town. They would both accommodate 300 cars and would cost £410,000 each.
The lack of staff was exacerbated by as many as 88 drivers and 151 conductors resigning during the past year and only 173 replacements having been recruited. This had been despite an extensive advertising campaign. "Our continued inability to retain operating staff is a constant source of trouble", said Mr Barlow. This, he argued, was an industry-wide problem "where the competition for available labour is fierce."
The Transport Manager had previously blamed the situation on low pay, with the Government not allowing St Helens Corporation to increase wages. However they had now been able to increase pay but Mr Barlow was still pessimistic about the situation: "Unfortunately there is no indication that the recent increases have stabilised the position, and we are still operating on a knife edge."
There was also a photo in the Reporter of Christine Ashcroft sitting on Father Christmas's knee at Oxley's Department Store. Santa had arrived in Barrow Street six days earlier and eight-year-old Christine was the first in the queue.
The paper's 'What People Think' column chose the proposed sex classes for eight and nine-year-olds as this week's subject, which they said appalled many St Helens' parents. From the New Year teachers would be able to illustrate sex lessons with colour slides produced by the BBC. These would include the sex act and scenes of a baby's birth. It was the latter that particularly upset the mothers that the Reporter talked to on the street.
These included Barbara Jones from Esthwaite Avenue, Carr Mill, who said: "I think this new idea of teaching eight-year-olds everything is stupid. They are too young. Slides of a woman having a baby could have a bad effect on them in later life." Beryl Hall of Shirwell Grove, Sutton Leach, agreed, saying: "They should talk about sex and discuss it freely, but not show any slides at all." Mother of six Sarah Grundy from Claremont Road in Billinge thought children should not be taught about sex until aged twelve or thirteen and she was also not in favour of the slides, saying: "I think too that seeing pictures of an actual birth could put young girls entirely off the process."
However mother of three Valerie Clayton from Ramford Street in Parr, was all in favour, explaining how she had never been taught the facts of life at school: "The sooner children are told about life the better. I know what it is like to be completely ignorant. It can be frightening."
"Rainford's New Trustee Savings Bank is Now Open at 26 Church Road", said a large ad in the paper. Amongst its services "the friendly bank" was offering 7% investment accounts. It was a branch of the Ormskirk TSB, which had first opened in 1882.
A photograph of workmen busy on a new £45,000 road was also published. This would run from near the Triplex factory in Knowsley Road to Burrows Lane and when completed in early 1970 would be called Millfields.
There were three romantic stories in the paper of how couples celebrating golden weddings this month had first met. Harry Brown had got talking to Doris, his wife-to-be, on a tram while on a journey to re-join the Royal Engineers in France during WW1. He was in uniform and so was Doris, as she was the conductress on the St Helens-bound tram from Haydock. The couple from Queens Drive in Windle were married a couple of years later.
John Potter was a uniformed member of the Boys Brigade attending a church service and had passed a note along a line of his friends to a young lady that he fancied called Mary. A romance began and then a wedding at Ormskirk Street Congregational Church. The couple were now celebrating fifty years of marriage at their Rigby Street home. Thomas and Alice Prescott were also celebrating their golden anniversary at their home in Friar Street, Windle City. They had got talking while attending a show at the Theatre Royal.
Before their retirements all three men had spent their working lives at Pilkington's. It was a reminder of how the glass firm had dominated employment in St Helens during much of the 20th century and given many men jobs for life. Harry Brown had worked for Pilks for 48 years, John Potter for 50 years and Tom Prescott for 36 years.
Other couples celebrating 50 years of marriage this month were John and Margaret Critchley of Lincoln Crescent, Haresfinch, Bert and Annie Manchester from Albion Street, Harriet and Arthur Briers from Kentmere Avenue, Carr Mill and William and Alice Gear from Princess Avenue, Windle. And yes all the men had worked for Pilks – Arthur Briers for 39 years and Bert Manchester for 45 years.
The Reporter had recently lambasted Hallowe'en masks but still printed a photo of the young pupils of Windlehurst Primary School celebrating October 31st by donning "grotesque masks, black coats and large, pointed hats", along with broomsticks and turnip lanterns.
The Mayor, Councillor Tom Wilcock, opened the 23rd St Helens & District Autumn Show on the 7th. The two-day event in the Town Hall featured a record-breaking 500 entries with classes including chrysanthemums, cacti and arts and crafts. For the fourth consecutive year green-fingered Stanley Kostrzewski from Wilson Street in Prescot was the most successful competitor.
Father Christmas was already at Oxley's but on the 8th he arrived in style at Helena House. A parade led by Redgate Boys' Silver Band took Santa in a "Mermaid's Chariot" from Shaw Street station to Baldwin Street. The Mermaid's Chariot coach was then placed in Helena House's basement for children to "ride" and see Father Christmas in his grotto and then visit the Toy Fair on the first floor. It followed a similar pattern to last year but then Santa rode in what was described as a "Wells Fargo" coach and the Toy Fair was called Toyland.
Next week's stories will include the roving gangs in Haydock that were looking for mischief, the foul stench of the stinky brook, criticism of fashion stores in St Helens, the death of the founder of Barton's pickles, Pilkington's coloured glass blocks and the town's newsagents advertise in a Reporter feature.