FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (5th - 11th SEPTEMBER 1972)
This week's stories include the blind Sutton Manor secretary who suffered discrimination, the shock closure of a Sutton pet food firm, the petticoat battle plan to besiege Leathers chemical plant, the dangerous chimney in Sutton Manor and the gang of 200 pickets that raided a building site in Haydock.
We begin with a fire at Nevin's grocery store at Tickle Avenue in Parr, which was blamed on children armed with matches. Flames swept through piles of cardboard boxes and cartons in the yard damaging part of the roof, a door, gates and a wall light. A St Helens Fire Brigade spokesman said: "Kids are always getting in the supermarket yard by climbing over the wall. A fire there is a danger to the people who live in the flats above the store. They could be suffocated."
On the 6th the 300 workers at Stamina Foods in Baxters Lane in Sutton were called to a meeting to be told the factory was closing down and they were all losing their jobs. The bombshell announcement came after Ranks Hovis McDougall had sold the plant to Spillers who decided they would not continue production in St Helens. For around thirty years, the firm had made Stamina dog food and Paws cat food in Sutton but would close in September.
John Byram of Ashtons Green Drive, the works convenor for the Transport and General Workers Union, said the feeling among the workforce was that the deal was a sell-out: "There have been rumours over the past eight months, but we were always reassured. It's disgraceful. It's been pushed through quickly and we were never consulted." In response Spillers said: "We just don't need the factory…We don't want to be callous – it is a matter of some concern to us that these people are treated generously." Ranks Hovis McDougall planned to spend £100,000 on redundancy pay and Spillers had asked their factories on Merseyside to try and absorb some of the workforce.
The Reporter had described in March how St Helens Housing Committee had decided to modernise 3,000 pre-war council homes in the town. Officials planned to visit all the families concerned to find out what improvements they would like – although the installation of a bathroom and central heating would be the scheme's priorities. While the upgrading was being carried out, tenants would be moved into alternative accommodation – but they faced increased rents upon their return.
Understandably, some would not have been very compliant, having got used to their old homes and low rent. So this week a newly renovated council house "show home" in Recreation Street was opened for public inspection. St Helens Corporation had spent £2,000 (about £30,000 in today's money) installing a bathroom, central heating and a larger kitchen into the house. Housing Manager Harold Kay said:
"This is a revolution in our town planning, and will help to keep the character of the town while still implementing modernisation. In this, our first venture into modernisation, the council have decided to allow residents to choose their own central heating, but this policy could be changed. The show house is here so that people can see what we are trying to achieve in our modernisation plans." The first council estate set to benefit from the modernisation would be 202 houses within the Haresfinch area.
On the 8th the St Helens Reporter described how a "petticoat battle plan to besiege a chemical plant with a human blockade" had been launched. I recently reported how Leathers Chemicals were closing their plant in Bradford. That had led to concerns being raised in Sutton that their controversial sulphuric acid works in Lancots Lane (pictured above) would be expanded. Leathers emphatically denied that would happen but the community in Sutton had lost faith in their promises and that of the neighbouring British Sidac.
So large numbers of volunteers comprising parents, students and the unemployed had decided to cordon off the factory, 24 hours a day, if action was not taken within a month. A 500-name petition had already been prepared for the Department of the Environment and for St Helens Council to demand they reduce pollution from Leathers' factory or shut it down. If the campaigner's ultimatum was not met, attempts would be made to sabotage production by stopping trucks entering or leaving their premises in Lancots Lane.
The three women behind the plan were Barbara Fairhurst of Hoghton Road and Mary Smith and Gladys Hartness, both of Massey Street. Mrs Fairhurst, a mother of two, told the Reporter: "We will sit in the road and stop the tankers going in and out of the factory. If they want to pass they will have to mow us down first. We will picket day and night to stop production, and this will affect British Sidac too."
The Reporter profiled "attractive blonde" Linda Murphy on the 8th after the 24-year-old complained of discrimination by prospective employers when seeking a job as a secretary. Linda, of Forest Road in Sutton Manor, had been completely blind for 8 years and although she had a shorthand speed of 100 words a minute and could type at 45 words a minute, could not find a job.
"The man at the employment [exchange] tries very hard", she said. "But it always seems to be the same. He rings up an employer and tells them my qualifications and it seems to go well until he tells them I'm blind." Since leaving college, Linda had had two jobs and in her last position said she was alone in an office and "did everything", even acting as a receptionist.
But the firm went bust and since then she could not find work, in spite of leading an almost normal life with her guide dog. "Now I've got Sindy, I'm completely independent and can go anywhere," explained Linda. "I don't need special treatment because I'm blind but employers don't seem to appreciate that."
Tesco of Bridge Street "the store with so much more than grocery" was advertising double Green Shield stamps on Tuesdays and Thursdays. What was described as a "giant pack" of Kellogg's Cornflakes could be bought from the supermarket for just 10½p. At the time of writing, large 720g packs of Kellogg's are available from Tesco for £2.85!
The builders' strike was continuing and the Reporter also described how "rampaging pickets" had stormed a building site at Folds Road in Haydock where a new housing estate was being built. A skeleton staff of six had been manning the site throughout the strike in a bid to get the houses ready on schedule. But earlier in the week, a gang of 200 pickets attacked them and committed £200 worth of damage.
One man had his haversack filled with paint and a vacuum flask smashed and Vincent Roberts of Hard Lane in St Helens was rolled in a pool of paint. Plaster was also entered down the toilet and into a bath and paint was emptied onto tiled floors. The van belonging to one of the men was also damaged. Sixteen-year-old Vincent Roberts told the Reporter: "When they saw us we tried to get up in the loft but they collared a couple of us. They were pretty angry. I got put in some paint. My pants were ruined. Later though they gave me £2 to compensate because, being an apprentice, I'm not supposed to be on strike."
The building workers' strike also extended to those involved in destruction – as opposed to construction – which had led to safety concerns in Sutton Manor. That was after demolition work in Jubits Lane had been suspended. For two weeks worried parents had watched as a half-demolished chimney had stood on top of the shell of a house while children played underneath. The demolition crew had been forced to leave the site after claiming to have received threats from pickets.
Kathleen Boden, who lived next door to the site, said: "The way the place has been left is a disgrace. It is a terrible danger to children playing on it, and a constant worry to us. Hardly a day goes by when we do not have to tell children to keep clear of the house. The chimney looks as if it is going to fall any minute." As a result of Mrs Boden's complaint, the Reporter spoke to Hall Brothers, the haulage contractors of Merton Bank, who owned the land.
Barrie Hall said the demolition work had been contracted out to the Lancashire Demolition Company of Pewfall, near Haydock. They claimed that pickets had threatened to smash up any of the plant machinery that the firm employed while the strike was on. But the problem was eventually solved and the houses made safer by workmen taking the dangerous chimney down by hand, brick by brick.
The introduction of one-man buses in St Helens in 1968 was creating a health problem for drivers. Previously young men could get plenty of exercise working as a conductor on a double-decker for many years before becoming a driver. But on single-deckers they were becoming drivers at an earlier age – and getting flabby! So the Reporter described how the Transport Department had created a football team for the men. So far twenty drivers had joined and they were taking part in training sessions and had already played one match.
Cllr. Allan Lycett, the Mayor of St Helens, was pictured in the Reporter sitting on a bus, after forsaking the mayoral limo in order to reduce ratepayers' petrol bill. He said he preferred a threepenny bus ride when commuting to the Town Hall from his home in Regents Road. Although, when on official business, Cllr. Lycett travelled by the chauffeur-driven Daimler provided for the mayor.
And finally, the Joe Loss Orchestra performed at the Theatre Royal in St Helens on the 10th. Seats for the "Sunday spectacular" cost between 60p and £1.
Next week's stories will include the closure of a longstanding haulier, the "death crossing" at Rainford Junction, St Helens psychedelic gasometers and the Gower Street family left with no loo because of striking council workers.
We begin with a fire at Nevin's grocery store at Tickle Avenue in Parr, which was blamed on children armed with matches. Flames swept through piles of cardboard boxes and cartons in the yard damaging part of the roof, a door, gates and a wall light. A St Helens Fire Brigade spokesman said: "Kids are always getting in the supermarket yard by climbing over the wall. A fire there is a danger to the people who live in the flats above the store. They could be suffocated."
On the 6th the 300 workers at Stamina Foods in Baxters Lane in Sutton were called to a meeting to be told the factory was closing down and they were all losing their jobs. The bombshell announcement came after Ranks Hovis McDougall had sold the plant to Spillers who decided they would not continue production in St Helens. For around thirty years, the firm had made Stamina dog food and Paws cat food in Sutton but would close in September.
John Byram of Ashtons Green Drive, the works convenor for the Transport and General Workers Union, said the feeling among the workforce was that the deal was a sell-out: "There have been rumours over the past eight months, but we were always reassured. It's disgraceful. It's been pushed through quickly and we were never consulted." In response Spillers said: "We just don't need the factory…We don't want to be callous – it is a matter of some concern to us that these people are treated generously." Ranks Hovis McDougall planned to spend £100,000 on redundancy pay and Spillers had asked their factories on Merseyside to try and absorb some of the workforce.
The Reporter had described in March how St Helens Housing Committee had decided to modernise 3,000 pre-war council homes in the town. Officials planned to visit all the families concerned to find out what improvements they would like – although the installation of a bathroom and central heating would be the scheme's priorities. While the upgrading was being carried out, tenants would be moved into alternative accommodation – but they faced increased rents upon their return.
Understandably, some would not have been very compliant, having got used to their old homes and low rent. So this week a newly renovated council house "show home" in Recreation Street was opened for public inspection. St Helens Corporation had spent £2,000 (about £30,000 in today's money) installing a bathroom, central heating and a larger kitchen into the house. Housing Manager Harold Kay said:
"This is a revolution in our town planning, and will help to keep the character of the town while still implementing modernisation. In this, our first venture into modernisation, the council have decided to allow residents to choose their own central heating, but this policy could be changed. The show house is here so that people can see what we are trying to achieve in our modernisation plans." The first council estate set to benefit from the modernisation would be 202 houses within the Haresfinch area.
So large numbers of volunteers comprising parents, students and the unemployed had decided to cordon off the factory, 24 hours a day, if action was not taken within a month. A 500-name petition had already been prepared for the Department of the Environment and for St Helens Council to demand they reduce pollution from Leathers' factory or shut it down. If the campaigner's ultimatum was not met, attempts would be made to sabotage production by stopping trucks entering or leaving their premises in Lancots Lane.
The three women behind the plan were Barbara Fairhurst of Hoghton Road and Mary Smith and Gladys Hartness, both of Massey Street. Mrs Fairhurst, a mother of two, told the Reporter: "We will sit in the road and stop the tankers going in and out of the factory. If they want to pass they will have to mow us down first. We will picket day and night to stop production, and this will affect British Sidac too."
The Reporter profiled "attractive blonde" Linda Murphy on the 8th after the 24-year-old complained of discrimination by prospective employers when seeking a job as a secretary. Linda, of Forest Road in Sutton Manor, had been completely blind for 8 years and although she had a shorthand speed of 100 words a minute and could type at 45 words a minute, could not find a job.
"The man at the employment [exchange] tries very hard", she said. "But it always seems to be the same. He rings up an employer and tells them my qualifications and it seems to go well until he tells them I'm blind." Since leaving college, Linda had had two jobs and in her last position said she was alone in an office and "did everything", even acting as a receptionist.
But the firm went bust and since then she could not find work, in spite of leading an almost normal life with her guide dog. "Now I've got Sindy, I'm completely independent and can go anywhere," explained Linda. "I don't need special treatment because I'm blind but employers don't seem to appreciate that."
Tesco of Bridge Street "the store with so much more than grocery" was advertising double Green Shield stamps on Tuesdays and Thursdays. What was described as a "giant pack" of Kellogg's Cornflakes could be bought from the supermarket for just 10½p. At the time of writing, large 720g packs of Kellogg's are available from Tesco for £2.85!
The builders' strike was continuing and the Reporter also described how "rampaging pickets" had stormed a building site at Folds Road in Haydock where a new housing estate was being built. A skeleton staff of six had been manning the site throughout the strike in a bid to get the houses ready on schedule. But earlier in the week, a gang of 200 pickets attacked them and committed £200 worth of damage.
One man had his haversack filled with paint and a vacuum flask smashed and Vincent Roberts of Hard Lane in St Helens was rolled in a pool of paint. Plaster was also entered down the toilet and into a bath and paint was emptied onto tiled floors. The van belonging to one of the men was also damaged. Sixteen-year-old Vincent Roberts told the Reporter: "When they saw us we tried to get up in the loft but they collared a couple of us. They were pretty angry. I got put in some paint. My pants were ruined. Later though they gave me £2 to compensate because, being an apprentice, I'm not supposed to be on strike."
The building workers' strike also extended to those involved in destruction – as opposed to construction – which had led to safety concerns in Sutton Manor. That was after demolition work in Jubits Lane had been suspended. For two weeks worried parents had watched as a half-demolished chimney had stood on top of the shell of a house while children played underneath. The demolition crew had been forced to leave the site after claiming to have received threats from pickets.
Kathleen Boden, who lived next door to the site, said: "The way the place has been left is a disgrace. It is a terrible danger to children playing on it, and a constant worry to us. Hardly a day goes by when we do not have to tell children to keep clear of the house. The chimney looks as if it is going to fall any minute." As a result of Mrs Boden's complaint, the Reporter spoke to Hall Brothers, the haulage contractors of Merton Bank, who owned the land.
Barrie Hall said the demolition work had been contracted out to the Lancashire Demolition Company of Pewfall, near Haydock. They claimed that pickets had threatened to smash up any of the plant machinery that the firm employed while the strike was on. But the problem was eventually solved and the houses made safer by workmen taking the dangerous chimney down by hand, brick by brick.
The introduction of one-man buses in St Helens in 1968 was creating a health problem for drivers. Previously young men could get plenty of exercise working as a conductor on a double-decker for many years before becoming a driver. But on single-deckers they were becoming drivers at an earlier age – and getting flabby! So the Reporter described how the Transport Department had created a football team for the men. So far twenty drivers had joined and they were taking part in training sessions and had already played one match.
Cllr. Allan Lycett, the Mayor of St Helens, was pictured in the Reporter sitting on a bus, after forsaking the mayoral limo in order to reduce ratepayers' petrol bill. He said he preferred a threepenny bus ride when commuting to the Town Hall from his home in Regents Road. Although, when on official business, Cllr. Lycett travelled by the chauffeur-driven Daimler provided for the mayor.
And finally, the Joe Loss Orchestra performed at the Theatre Royal in St Helens on the 10th. Seats for the "Sunday spectacular" cost between 60p and £1.
Next week's stories will include the closure of a longstanding haulier, the "death crossing" at Rainford Junction, St Helens psychedelic gasometers and the Gower Street family left with no loo because of striking council workers.
This week's stories include the blind Sutton Manor secretary who suffered discrimination, the shock closure of a Sutton pet food firm, the petticoat battle plan to besiege Leathers chemical plant, the dangerous chimney in Sutton Manor and the gang of 200 pickets that raided a building site in Haydock.
We begin with a fire at Nevin's grocery store at Tickle Avenue in Parr, which was blamed on children armed with matches.
Flames swept through piles of cardboard boxes and cartons in the yard damaging part of the roof, a door, gates and a wall light. A St Helens Fire Brigade spokesman said:
"Kids are always getting in the supermarket yard by climbing over the wall. A fire there is a danger to the people who live in the flats above the store. They could be suffocated."
On the 6th the 300 workers at Stamina Foods in Baxters Lane in Sutton were called to a meeting to be told the factory was closing down and they were all losing their jobs.
The bombshell announcement came after Ranks Hovis McDougall had sold the plant to Spillers who decided they would not continue production in St Helens.
For around thirty years, the firm had made Stamina dog food and Paws cat food in Sutton but would close in September.
John Byram of Ashtons Green Drive, the works convenor for the Transport and General Workers Union, said the feeling among the workforce was that the deal was a sell-out:
"There have been rumours over the past eight months, but we were always reassured. It's disgraceful. It's been pushed through quickly and we were never consulted."
In response Spillers said: "We just don't need the factory…We don't want to be callous – it is a matter of some concern to us that these people are treated generously."
Ranks Hovis McDougall planned to spend £100,000 on redundancy pay and Spillers had asked their factories on Merseyside to try and absorb some of the workforce.
The Reporter had described in March how St Helens Housing Committee had decided to modernise 3,000 pre-war council homes in the town.
Officials planned to visit all the families concerned to find out what improvements they would like – although the installation of a bathroom and central heating would be the scheme's priorities.
While the upgrading was being carried out, tenants would be moved into alternative accommodation – but they faced increased rents upon their return.
Understandably, some would not have been very compliant, having got used to their old homes and low rent.
So this week a newly renovated council house "show home" in Recreation Street was opened for public inspection.
St Helens Corporation had spent £2,000 (about £30,000 in today's money) installing a bathroom, central heating and a larger kitchen into the house. Housing Manager Harold Kay said:
"This is a revolution in our town planning, and will help to keep the character of the town while still implementing modernisation. In this, our first venture into modernisation, the council have decided to allow residents to choose their own central heating, but this policy could be changed. The show house is here so that people can see what we are trying to achieve in our modernisation plans."
The first council estate set to benefit from the modernisation would be 202 houses within the Haresfinch area.
On the 8th the St Helens Reporter described how a "petticoat battle plan to besiege a chemical plant with a human blockade" had been launched.
I recently reported how Leathers Chemicals were closing their plant in Bradford.
That had led to concerns being raised in Sutton that their controversial sulphuric acid works in Lancots Lane (pictured above) would be expanded.
Leathers emphatically denied that would happen but the community in Sutton had lost faith in their promises and that of the neighbouring British Sidac.
So large numbers of volunteers comprising parents, students and the unemployed had decided to cordon off the factory, 24 hours a day, if action was not taken within a month.
A 500-name petition had already been prepared for the Department of the Environment and for St Helens Council to demand they reduce pollution from Leathers' factory or shut it down.
If the campaigner's ultimatum was not met, attempts would be made to sabotage production by stopping trucks entering or leaving their premises in Lancots Lane.
The three women behind the plan were Barbara Fairhurst of Hoghton Road and Mary Smith and Gladys Hartness, both of Massey Street. Mrs Fairhurst, a mother of two, told the Reporter:
"We will sit in the road and stop the tankers going in and out of the factory. If they want to pass they will have to mow us down first. We will picket day and night to stop production, and this will affect British Sidac too."
The Reporter profiled "attractive blonde" Linda Murphy on the 8th after the 24-year-old complained of discrimination by prospective employers when seeking a job as a secretary.
Linda, of Forest Road in Sutton Manor, had been completely blind for 8 years and although she had a shorthand speed of 100 words a minute and could type at 45 words a minute, could not find a job.
"The man at the employment [exchange] tries very hard", she said. "But it always seems to be the same. He rings up an employer and tells them my qualifications and it seems to go well until he tells them I'm blind."
Since leaving college, Linda had had two jobs and in her last position said she was alone in an office and "did everything", even acting as a receptionist.
But the firm went bust and since then she could not find work, in spite of leading an almost normal life with her guide dog.
"Now I've got Sindy, I'm completely independent and can go anywhere," explained Linda. "I don't need special treatment because I'm blind but employers don't seem to appreciate that."
Tesco of Bridge Street "the store with so much more than grocery" was advertising double Green Shield stamps on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
What was described as a "giant pack" of Kellogg's Cornflakes could be bought from the supermarket for just 10½p.
At the time of writing, large 720g packs of Kellogg's are available from Tesco for £2.85!
The builders' strike was continuing and the Reporter also described how "rampaging pickets" had stormed a building site at Folds Road in Haydock where a new housing estate was being built.
A skeleton staff of six had been manning the site throughout the strike in a bid to get the houses ready on schedule.
But earlier in the week, a gang of 200 pickets attacked them and committed £200 worth of damage.
One man had his haversack filled with paint and a vacuum flask smashed and Vincent Roberts of Hard Lane in St Helens was rolled in a pool of paint.
Plaster was also entered down the toilet and into a bath and paint was emptied onto tiled floors. The van belonging to one of the men was also damaged.
Sixteen-year-old Vincent Roberts told the Reporter:
"When they saw us we tried to get up in the loft but they collared a couple of us. They were pretty angry. I got put in some paint. My pants were ruined. Later though they gave me £2 to compensate because, being an apprentice, I'm not supposed to be on strike."
The building workers' strike also extended to those involved in destruction – as opposed to construction – which had led to safety concerns in Sutton Manor. That was after demolition work in Jubits Lane had been suspended.
For two weeks worried parents had watched as a half-demolished chimney had stood on top of the shell of a house while children played underneath.
The demolition crew had been forced to leave the site after claiming to have received threats from pickets.
Kathleen Boden, who lived next door to the site, said: "The way the place has been left is a disgrace. It is a terrible danger to children playing on it, and a constant worry to us. Hardly a day goes by when we do not have to tell children to keep clear of the house. The chimney looks as if it is going to fall any minute."
As a result of Mrs Boden's complaint, the Reporter spoke to Hall Brothers, the haulage contractors of Merton Bank, who owned the land.
Barrie Hall said the demolition work had been contracted out to the Lancashire Demolition Company of Pewfall, near Haydock.
They claimed that pickets had threatened to smash up any of the plant machinery that the firm employed while the strike was on.
But the problem was eventually solved and the houses made safer by workmen taking the dangerous chimney down by hand, brick by brick.
The introduction of one-man buses in St Helens in 1968 was creating a health problem for drivers.
Previously young men could get plenty of exercise working as a conductor on a double-decker for many years before becoming a driver.
But on single-deckers they were becoming drivers at an earlier age – and getting flabby!
So the Reporter described how the Transport Department had created a football team for the men.
So far twenty drivers had joined and they were taking part in training sessions and had already played one match.
Cllr. Allan Lycett, the Mayor of St Helens, was pictured in the Reporter sitting on a bus, after forsaking the mayoral limo in order to reduce ratepayers' petrol bill.
He said he preferred a threepenny bus ride when commuting to the Town Hall from his home in Regents Road.
Although, when on official business, Cllr. Lycett travelled by the chauffeur-driven Daimler provided for the mayor.
And finally, the Joe Loss Orchestra performed at the Theatre Royal in St Helens on the 10th. Seats for the "Sunday spectacular" cost between 60p and £1.
Next week's stories will include the closure of a longstanding haulier, the "death crossing" at Rainford Junction, St Helens psychedelic gasometers and the Gower Street family left with no loo because of striking council workers.
We begin with a fire at Nevin's grocery store at Tickle Avenue in Parr, which was blamed on children armed with matches.
Flames swept through piles of cardboard boxes and cartons in the yard damaging part of the roof, a door, gates and a wall light. A St Helens Fire Brigade spokesman said:
"Kids are always getting in the supermarket yard by climbing over the wall. A fire there is a danger to the people who live in the flats above the store. They could be suffocated."
On the 6th the 300 workers at Stamina Foods in Baxters Lane in Sutton were called to a meeting to be told the factory was closing down and they were all losing their jobs.
The bombshell announcement came after Ranks Hovis McDougall had sold the plant to Spillers who decided they would not continue production in St Helens.
For around thirty years, the firm had made Stamina dog food and Paws cat food in Sutton but would close in September.
John Byram of Ashtons Green Drive, the works convenor for the Transport and General Workers Union, said the feeling among the workforce was that the deal was a sell-out:
"There have been rumours over the past eight months, but we were always reassured. It's disgraceful. It's been pushed through quickly and we were never consulted."
In response Spillers said: "We just don't need the factory…We don't want to be callous – it is a matter of some concern to us that these people are treated generously."
Ranks Hovis McDougall planned to spend £100,000 on redundancy pay and Spillers had asked their factories on Merseyside to try and absorb some of the workforce.
The Reporter had described in March how St Helens Housing Committee had decided to modernise 3,000 pre-war council homes in the town.
Officials planned to visit all the families concerned to find out what improvements they would like – although the installation of a bathroom and central heating would be the scheme's priorities.
While the upgrading was being carried out, tenants would be moved into alternative accommodation – but they faced increased rents upon their return.
Understandably, some would not have been very compliant, having got used to their old homes and low rent.
So this week a newly renovated council house "show home" in Recreation Street was opened for public inspection.
St Helens Corporation had spent £2,000 (about £30,000 in today's money) installing a bathroom, central heating and a larger kitchen into the house. Housing Manager Harold Kay said:
"This is a revolution in our town planning, and will help to keep the character of the town while still implementing modernisation. In this, our first venture into modernisation, the council have decided to allow residents to choose their own central heating, but this policy could be changed. The show house is here so that people can see what we are trying to achieve in our modernisation plans."
The first council estate set to benefit from the modernisation would be 202 houses within the Haresfinch area.
I recently reported how Leathers Chemicals were closing their plant in Bradford.
That had led to concerns being raised in Sutton that their controversial sulphuric acid works in Lancots Lane (pictured above) would be expanded.
Leathers emphatically denied that would happen but the community in Sutton had lost faith in their promises and that of the neighbouring British Sidac.
So large numbers of volunteers comprising parents, students and the unemployed had decided to cordon off the factory, 24 hours a day, if action was not taken within a month.
A 500-name petition had already been prepared for the Department of the Environment and for St Helens Council to demand they reduce pollution from Leathers' factory or shut it down.
If the campaigner's ultimatum was not met, attempts would be made to sabotage production by stopping trucks entering or leaving their premises in Lancots Lane.
The three women behind the plan were Barbara Fairhurst of Hoghton Road and Mary Smith and Gladys Hartness, both of Massey Street. Mrs Fairhurst, a mother of two, told the Reporter:
"We will sit in the road and stop the tankers going in and out of the factory. If they want to pass they will have to mow us down first. We will picket day and night to stop production, and this will affect British Sidac too."
The Reporter profiled "attractive blonde" Linda Murphy on the 8th after the 24-year-old complained of discrimination by prospective employers when seeking a job as a secretary.
Linda, of Forest Road in Sutton Manor, had been completely blind for 8 years and although she had a shorthand speed of 100 words a minute and could type at 45 words a minute, could not find a job.
"The man at the employment [exchange] tries very hard", she said. "But it always seems to be the same. He rings up an employer and tells them my qualifications and it seems to go well until he tells them I'm blind."
Since leaving college, Linda had had two jobs and in her last position said she was alone in an office and "did everything", even acting as a receptionist.
But the firm went bust and since then she could not find work, in spite of leading an almost normal life with her guide dog.
"Now I've got Sindy, I'm completely independent and can go anywhere," explained Linda. "I don't need special treatment because I'm blind but employers don't seem to appreciate that."
Tesco of Bridge Street "the store with so much more than grocery" was advertising double Green Shield stamps on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
What was described as a "giant pack" of Kellogg's Cornflakes could be bought from the supermarket for just 10½p.
At the time of writing, large 720g packs of Kellogg's are available from Tesco for £2.85!
The builders' strike was continuing and the Reporter also described how "rampaging pickets" had stormed a building site at Folds Road in Haydock where a new housing estate was being built.
A skeleton staff of six had been manning the site throughout the strike in a bid to get the houses ready on schedule.
But earlier in the week, a gang of 200 pickets attacked them and committed £200 worth of damage.
One man had his haversack filled with paint and a vacuum flask smashed and Vincent Roberts of Hard Lane in St Helens was rolled in a pool of paint.
Plaster was also entered down the toilet and into a bath and paint was emptied onto tiled floors. The van belonging to one of the men was also damaged.
Sixteen-year-old Vincent Roberts told the Reporter:
"When they saw us we tried to get up in the loft but they collared a couple of us. They were pretty angry. I got put in some paint. My pants were ruined. Later though they gave me £2 to compensate because, being an apprentice, I'm not supposed to be on strike."
The building workers' strike also extended to those involved in destruction – as opposed to construction – which had led to safety concerns in Sutton Manor. That was after demolition work in Jubits Lane had been suspended.
For two weeks worried parents had watched as a half-demolished chimney had stood on top of the shell of a house while children played underneath.
The demolition crew had been forced to leave the site after claiming to have received threats from pickets.
Kathleen Boden, who lived next door to the site, said: "The way the place has been left is a disgrace. It is a terrible danger to children playing on it, and a constant worry to us. Hardly a day goes by when we do not have to tell children to keep clear of the house. The chimney looks as if it is going to fall any minute."
As a result of Mrs Boden's complaint, the Reporter spoke to Hall Brothers, the haulage contractors of Merton Bank, who owned the land.
Barrie Hall said the demolition work had been contracted out to the Lancashire Demolition Company of Pewfall, near Haydock.
They claimed that pickets had threatened to smash up any of the plant machinery that the firm employed while the strike was on.
But the problem was eventually solved and the houses made safer by workmen taking the dangerous chimney down by hand, brick by brick.
The introduction of one-man buses in St Helens in 1968 was creating a health problem for drivers.
Previously young men could get plenty of exercise working as a conductor on a double-decker for many years before becoming a driver.
But on single-deckers they were becoming drivers at an earlier age – and getting flabby!
So the Reporter described how the Transport Department had created a football team for the men.
So far twenty drivers had joined and they were taking part in training sessions and had already played one match.
Cllr. Allan Lycett, the Mayor of St Helens, was pictured in the Reporter sitting on a bus, after forsaking the mayoral limo in order to reduce ratepayers' petrol bill.
He said he preferred a threepenny bus ride when commuting to the Town Hall from his home in Regents Road.
Although, when on official business, Cllr. Lycett travelled by the chauffeur-driven Daimler provided for the mayor.
And finally, the Joe Loss Orchestra performed at the Theatre Royal in St Helens on the 10th. Seats for the "Sunday spectacular" cost between 60p and £1.
Next week's stories will include the closure of a longstanding haulier, the "death crossing" at Rainford Junction, St Helens psychedelic gasometers and the Gower Street family left with no loo because of striking council workers.