FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 6 - 12 MAY 1974
This week's many stories include teenage terror on the new Four Acre Lane estate, a huge fire hits Pilks' Ravenhead works, the dearth of dentists in St Helens, plans for a bus station are mooted, the council considers closing Kwik Save in Reginald Road, the overcrowded and grim registry office and a protest meeting is organised to fight plans to demolish old homes in Rainford and Crank.
We begin on the 7th with the St Helens Newspaper's lead story which began: "Militant mothers have vowed to try to stamp out teenage terror tactics which bring fear to old age pensioners and children. Now the mums, who live on the Four Acre Lane estate at Sutton, have attacked St. Helens District Council and the police." The parents' group was calling on the council to provide more play and social facilities for children and teenagers on the new estate and for the police to have a "beat bobby" in the area to combat vandalism.
Their leader was Joyce Williams who had recently called a meeting of pensioners from neighbouring Ley Close, who each night suffered from the activities of gangs of teenagers. However, only one resident had turned up and the woman that did, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Newspaper:
"The others were too frightened to come. They don't want to get involved. Some dreadful things have happened round here. The pensioners have received threatening letters and have rubbish pushed through their letter-boxes. One couple had their windows broken late at night." In response the council said several play schemes were in the pipeline and the police simply stated that all areas of the town were patrolled equally.
On the 10th a huge fire at Pilkington's Ravenhead Works caused over £100,000 worth of damage. Ten fire engines battled the mystery blaze, which gutted an historic warehouse, parts of which dated back to 1776. That was when the British Plate Glass Company had used the building to produce the first plate glass in Britain.
The fire destroyed thousands of television tubes and scorched the walls of nearby buildings, although no one was hurt. Ken Appleton, the managing director of Pilkington's Pressed Glass division, said: "Everyone – the fire brigade and our own people – did a magnificent job. The smoke was so thick that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face."
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 10th and for a second week running its lead story concerned the plans to demolish old houses in Ormskirk Road, Church Road and Bushey Lane in Rainford, as well as a couple of dozen in Crank. Although the 139 homes were over a hundred years old, one hundred of them had received improvement grants from the old Rainford Urban District Council with many still undergoing building work.
But St Helens Council's Housing and Building Committee now had responsibility for houses in Rainford and they had taken the decision to demolish the homes at what was described as a "secret meeting". The Reporter had been given details of what was referred to as "The List", although they did not know the actual addresses of the properties being condemned.
The news had caused great concern in the district, as householders did not know whether or not they were on The List. But the Reporter said they had a means of finding out: "If they pay 25p to St. Helens District Council – and if they wait for a week – the Council will condescend to tell them the worst, or reprieve them."
The story dated back to February when the Reporter had described how public health inspectors had conducted a secret survey, motoring around Rainford and elsewhere but only inspecting the exterior of houses to determine those that were potentially unfit. Their act had infuriated councillors in Rainford, who believed that the new St Helens District Council had secret plans to demolish large numbers of perfectly good homes in the village.
Councillor Tony Brown had said angrily: "If they demolish here – they will have to do it elsewhere. And they won't get away with it." Their worst fears had now been realised and the Reporter described how Rainford Parish Council had organised a protest meeting in the Village Hall. It was hoped that a massive show of opposition would lead to the demolition plan being vetoed at the next St Helens District Council meeting.
In October 1973 an advert in the Liverpool Echo had said: "Status Is Here! – New Discount Warehouse At Reginald Rd, St. Helens. Gigantic discounts on all the popular leading makes of paint, wallpaper, kitchens, carpets and furniture for your bedroom, living room and lounge." But they didn't last more than a few months before leaving Sutton and at the end of March 1974 Kwik Save opened a huge supermarket in the same premises.
However, St Helens Council claimed that the planning permission that Status had been awarded had limited their retail sales to DIY products. In opening their replacement store Kwik Save had not sought permission for the sale of groceries and the Reporter stated that Town Hall lawyers were considering shutting down the supermarket. The Mayor of St Helens was Paddy Gill and he told the paper: "We don't want to encourage a thriving honky-tonk trade on the outskirts of town." Last year the council had refused permission for a hypermarket in Reginald Road on the same planning grounds that it was now using against Kwik Save.
The Reporter also revealed that the St Helens' Labour MP, Leslie Spriggs, planned to tell a Parliamentary inquiry of three attempts to buy him off with £5,000 a year directorships. Each offer had been made during the 1960s, with the first attempt by a Conservative MP in 1961 on condition that Spriggs voted against any sort of nationalisation.
Paul Fiske, the new curate at St Nicholas Church, made an appeal in the Reporter for teenagers in his Sutton Parish to do their homework earlier over the weekend. Youth Christian fellowship meetings were held on Sunday evenings but Mr Fiske complained of youngsters regularly telling him that they couldn't attend because they had homework to complete for Monday morning.
These comments by Roland Kaig – the Superintendent Registrar at St Helens Registry Office – in describing his facilities, were not exactly encouraging for those thinking of getting wed at his Hardshaw Street centre:
"It is most inadequate for weddings. It's just a little single-storey brick place like an old air-raid shelter. It's pretty awful. We have two waiting rooms, and they're pretty grim. The marriage room is a lovely little room but you can only get about 15 people in at a time. We fill the marriage room at times, and the waiting room, and other people from the same party overflow on to the street."
Mr Kaig felt able to make those critical comments as new purpose-built premises were going to be built off College Street, although they were not expected to be ready for two years. The office was also now catering for the registration of births and deaths, as well as marriages, in the larger area of the new St Helens District, which was set to place even more pressure on the cramped premises.
The Reporter described how plans were in the pipeline for a bus station for St Helens. Nothing definite had yet been agreed but Greenall Whitley would be handing over the site of its Hall Street brewery (pictured above) to the council next March. The paper said the selling price was currently secret, but as the site extended over four acres, it was expected to cost the local authority a "staggering amount". A portion of the land would be sold to Woolworths and Marks and Spencer to enable extensions to their stores and a bus station would also be created. The redevelopment area would include the White Hart Hotel in Church Street, which was set to be demolished.
In another article the Reporter wrote: "St. Helens has come bottom of the pile in a new ‘quality of life’ report. It is listed, along with several other Lancashire towns as having the most urgent social needs in the North-West." The Department of the Environment report had said the area contained the highest death and infant mortality rates in the country; the highest number of persons per doctor; the highest number of pupils per teacher; was the worst for air pollution and had the most derelict land.
A separate report published this week revealed that the St Helens district was one of the worst for the provision of dental practitioners. And the reason given for the dearth of dentists was that their wives did not want to live in an unfashionable place! Official statistics from the Dental Estimates Board showed that in 1972 St Helens came very near the bottom of a table of 60 towns listing the average population per dentist. The town had 19 dentists with 5,494 patients for each one. In comparison Wigan had 2,626 and Warrington 3,709. An unnamed St Helens dentist said: "I do 60 patients a day – and I have no time to do anything. I'm doing the work of three dentists."
And finally, on the 11th children from the Mount Pleasant area of St Helens turned out in force to march through the streets in fancy dress. Their May parade ended with a slap-up tea at Derbyshire Hill Labour Club provided by local mothers.
St Helens Reporter and Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the plans to convert the Capitol Cinema into a bingo hall, the boys who had their faces burned while cycling past Sidac, the increasing cost of a hair-cut and the Haydock child's little horse that was ridden into the ground.
We begin on the 7th with the St Helens Newspaper's lead story which began: "Militant mothers have vowed to try to stamp out teenage terror tactics which bring fear to old age pensioners and children. Now the mums, who live on the Four Acre Lane estate at Sutton, have attacked St. Helens District Council and the police." The parents' group was calling on the council to provide more play and social facilities for children and teenagers on the new estate and for the police to have a "beat bobby" in the area to combat vandalism.
Their leader was Joyce Williams who had recently called a meeting of pensioners from neighbouring Ley Close, who each night suffered from the activities of gangs of teenagers. However, only one resident had turned up and the woman that did, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Newspaper:
"The others were too frightened to come. They don't want to get involved. Some dreadful things have happened round here. The pensioners have received threatening letters and have rubbish pushed through their letter-boxes. One couple had their windows broken late at night." In response the council said several play schemes were in the pipeline and the police simply stated that all areas of the town were patrolled equally.
On the 10th a huge fire at Pilkington's Ravenhead Works caused over £100,000 worth of damage. Ten fire engines battled the mystery blaze, which gutted an historic warehouse, parts of which dated back to 1776. That was when the British Plate Glass Company had used the building to produce the first plate glass in Britain.
The fire destroyed thousands of television tubes and scorched the walls of nearby buildings, although no one was hurt. Ken Appleton, the managing director of Pilkington's Pressed Glass division, said: "Everyone – the fire brigade and our own people – did a magnificent job. The smoke was so thick that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face."
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 10th and for a second week running its lead story concerned the plans to demolish old houses in Ormskirk Road, Church Road and Bushey Lane in Rainford, as well as a couple of dozen in Crank. Although the 139 homes were over a hundred years old, one hundred of them had received improvement grants from the old Rainford Urban District Council with many still undergoing building work.
But St Helens Council's Housing and Building Committee now had responsibility for houses in Rainford and they had taken the decision to demolish the homes at what was described as a "secret meeting". The Reporter had been given details of what was referred to as "The List", although they did not know the actual addresses of the properties being condemned.
The news had caused great concern in the district, as householders did not know whether or not they were on The List. But the Reporter said they had a means of finding out: "If they pay 25p to St. Helens District Council – and if they wait for a week – the Council will condescend to tell them the worst, or reprieve them."
The story dated back to February when the Reporter had described how public health inspectors had conducted a secret survey, motoring around Rainford and elsewhere but only inspecting the exterior of houses to determine those that were potentially unfit. Their act had infuriated councillors in Rainford, who believed that the new St Helens District Council had secret plans to demolish large numbers of perfectly good homes in the village.
Councillor Tony Brown had said angrily: "If they demolish here – they will have to do it elsewhere. And they won't get away with it." Their worst fears had now been realised and the Reporter described how Rainford Parish Council had organised a protest meeting in the Village Hall. It was hoped that a massive show of opposition would lead to the demolition plan being vetoed at the next St Helens District Council meeting.
In October 1973 an advert in the Liverpool Echo had said: "Status Is Here! – New Discount Warehouse At Reginald Rd, St. Helens. Gigantic discounts on all the popular leading makes of paint, wallpaper, kitchens, carpets and furniture for your bedroom, living room and lounge." But they didn't last more than a few months before leaving Sutton and at the end of March 1974 Kwik Save opened a huge supermarket in the same premises.
However, St Helens Council claimed that the planning permission that Status had been awarded had limited their retail sales to DIY products. In opening their replacement store Kwik Save had not sought permission for the sale of groceries and the Reporter stated that Town Hall lawyers were considering shutting down the supermarket. The Mayor of St Helens was Paddy Gill and he told the paper: "We don't want to encourage a thriving honky-tonk trade on the outskirts of town." Last year the council had refused permission for a hypermarket in Reginald Road on the same planning grounds that it was now using against Kwik Save.
The Reporter also revealed that the St Helens' Labour MP, Leslie Spriggs, planned to tell a Parliamentary inquiry of three attempts to buy him off with £5,000 a year directorships. Each offer had been made during the 1960s, with the first attempt by a Conservative MP in 1961 on condition that Spriggs voted against any sort of nationalisation.
Paul Fiske, the new curate at St Nicholas Church, made an appeal in the Reporter for teenagers in his Sutton Parish to do their homework earlier over the weekend. Youth Christian fellowship meetings were held on Sunday evenings but Mr Fiske complained of youngsters regularly telling him that they couldn't attend because they had homework to complete for Monday morning.
These comments by Roland Kaig – the Superintendent Registrar at St Helens Registry Office – in describing his facilities, were not exactly encouraging for those thinking of getting wed at his Hardshaw Street centre:
"It is most inadequate for weddings. It's just a little single-storey brick place like an old air-raid shelter. It's pretty awful. We have two waiting rooms, and they're pretty grim. The marriage room is a lovely little room but you can only get about 15 people in at a time. We fill the marriage room at times, and the waiting room, and other people from the same party overflow on to the street."
Mr Kaig felt able to make those critical comments as new purpose-built premises were going to be built off College Street, although they were not expected to be ready for two years. The office was also now catering for the registration of births and deaths, as well as marriages, in the larger area of the new St Helens District, which was set to place even more pressure on the cramped premises.
In another article the Reporter wrote: "St. Helens has come bottom of the pile in a new ‘quality of life’ report. It is listed, along with several other Lancashire towns as having the most urgent social needs in the North-West." The Department of the Environment report had said the area contained the highest death and infant mortality rates in the country; the highest number of persons per doctor; the highest number of pupils per teacher; was the worst for air pollution and had the most derelict land.
A separate report published this week revealed that the St Helens district was one of the worst for the provision of dental practitioners. And the reason given for the dearth of dentists was that their wives did not want to live in an unfashionable place! Official statistics from the Dental Estimates Board showed that in 1972 St Helens came very near the bottom of a table of 60 towns listing the average population per dentist. The town had 19 dentists with 5,494 patients for each one. In comparison Wigan had 2,626 and Warrington 3,709. An unnamed St Helens dentist said: "I do 60 patients a day – and I have no time to do anything. I'm doing the work of three dentists."
And finally, on the 11th children from the Mount Pleasant area of St Helens turned out in force to march through the streets in fancy dress. Their May parade ended with a slap-up tea at Derbyshire Hill Labour Club provided by local mothers.
St Helens Reporter and Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the plans to convert the Capitol Cinema into a bingo hall, the boys who had their faces burned while cycling past Sidac, the increasing cost of a hair-cut and the Haydock child's little horse that was ridden into the ground.
This week's many stories include teenage terror on the new Four Acre Lane estate, a huge fire hits Pilks' Ravenhead works, the dearth of dentists in St Helens, plans for a bus station are mooted, the council considers closing Kwik Save in Reginald Road, the overcrowded and grim registry office and a protest meeting is organised to fight plans to demolish old homes in Rainford and Crank.
We begin on the 7th with the St Helens Newspaper's lead story which began:
"Militant mothers have vowed to try to stamp out teenage terror tactics which bring fear to old age pensioners and children. Now the mums, who live on the Four Acre Lane estate at Sutton, have attacked St. Helens District Council and the police."
The parents' group was calling on the council to provide more play and social facilities for children and teenagers on the new estate and for the police to have a "beat bobby" in the area to combat vandalism.
Their leader was Joyce Williams who had recently called a meeting of pensioners from neighbouring Ley Close, who each night suffered from the activities of gangs of teenagers.
However, only one resident had turned up and the woman that did, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Newspaper:
"The others were too frightened to come. They don't want to get involved. Some dreadful things have happened round here.
"The pensioners have received threatening letters and have rubbish pushed through their letter-boxes. One couple had their windows broken late at night."
In response the council said several play schemes were in the pipeline and the police simply stated that all areas of the town were patrolled equally.
On the 10th a huge fire at Pilkington's Ravenhead Works caused over £100,000 worth of damage.
Ten fire engines battled the mystery blaze, which gutted an historic warehouse, parts of which dated back to 1776.
That was when the British Plate Glass Company had used the building to produce the first plate glass in Britain.
The fire destroyed thousands of television tubes and scorched the walls of nearby buildings, although no one was hurt.
Ken Appleton, the managing director of Pilkington's Pressed Glass division, said: "Everyone – the fire brigade and our own people – did a magnificent job. The smoke was so thick that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face."
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 10th and for a second week running its lead story concerned the plans to demolish old houses in Ormskirk Road, Church Road and Bushey Lane in Rainford, as well as a couple of dozen in Crank.
Although the 139 homes were over a hundred years old, one hundred of them had received improvement grants from the old Rainford Urban District Council with many still undergoing building work.
But St Helens Council's Housing and Building Committee now had responsibility for houses in Rainford and they had taken the decision to demolish the homes at what was described as a "secret meeting".
The Reporter had been given details of what was referred to as "The List", although they did not know the actual addresses of the properties being condemned.
The news had caused great concern in the district, as householders did not know whether or not they were on The List. But the Reporter said they had a means of finding out:
"If they pay 25p to St. Helens District Council – and if they wait for a week – the Council will condescend to tell them the worst, or reprieve them."
The story dated back to February when the Reporter had described how public health inspectors had conducted a secret survey, motoring around Rainford and elsewhere but only inspecting the exterior of houses to determine those that were potentially unfit.
Their act had infuriated councillors in Rainford, who believed that the new St Helens District Council had secret plans to demolish large numbers of perfectly good homes in the village.
Councillor Tony Brown had said angrily: "If they demolish here – they will have to do it elsewhere. And they won't get away with it."
Their worst fears had now been realised and the Reporter described how Rainford Parish Council had organised a protest meeting in the Village Hall.
It was hoped that a massive show of opposition would lead to the demolition plan being vetoed at the next St Helens District Council meeting.
In October 1973 an advert in the Liverpool Echo had said: "Status Is Here! – New Discount Warehouse At Reginald Rd, St. Helens. Gigantic discounts on all the popular leading makes of paint, wallpaper, kitchens, carpets and furniture for your bedroom, living room and lounge."
But they didn't last more than a few months before leaving Sutton and at the end of March 1974 Kwik Save opened a huge supermarket in the same premises.
However, St Helens Council claimed that the planning permission that Status had been awarded had limited their retail sales to DIY products.
In opening their replacement store Kwik Save had not sought permission for the sale of groceries and the Reporter stated that as a consequence Town Hall lawyers were considering shutting down the supermarket.
The Mayor of St Helens was Paddy Gill and he told the paper: "We don't want to encourage a thriving honky-tonk trade on the outskirts of town."
Last year the council had refused permission for a hypermarket in Reginald Road on the same planning grounds that it was now using against Kwik Save.
The Reporter also revealed that the St Helens' Labour MP, Leslie Spriggs, planned to tell a Parliamentary inquiry of three attempts to buy him off with £5,000 a year directorships.
Each offer had been made during the 1960s, with the first attempt by a Conservative MP in 1961 on condition that Spriggs voted against any sort of nationalisation.
Paul Fiske, the new curate at St Nicholas Church, made an appeal in the Reporter for teenagers in his Sutton Parish to do their homework earlier over the weekend.
Youth Christian fellowship meetings were held on Sunday evenings but Mr Fiske complained of youngsters regularly telling him that they couldn't attend because they had homework to complete for Monday morning.
These comments by Roland Kaig – the Superintendent Registrar at St Helens Registry Office – in describing his facilities, were not exactly encouraging for those thinking of getting wed at his Hardshaw Street centre:
"It is most inadequate for weddings. It's just a little single-storey brick place like an old air-raid shelter. It's pretty awful. We have two waiting rooms, and they're pretty grim.
"The marriage room is a lovely little room but you can only get about 15 people in at a time. We fill the marriage room at times, and the waiting room, and other people from the same party overflow on to the street."
Mr Kaig felt able to make those critical comments as new purpose-built premises were going to be built off College Street, although they were not expected to be ready for two years.
The office was also now catering for the registration of births and deaths, as well as marriages, in the larger area of the new St Helens District, which was set to place even more pressure on the cramped premises.
The Reporter described how plans were in the pipeline for a bus station for St Helens.
Nothing definite had yet been agreed but Greenall Whitley would be handing over the site of its Hall Street brewery (pictured above) to the council next March.
The paper said the selling price was currently secret, but as the site extended over four acres, it was expected to cost the local authority a "staggering amount".
A portion of the land would be sold to Woolworths and Marks and Spencer to enable extensions to their stores and a bus station would also be created.
The redevelopment area would include the White Hart Hotel in Church Street, which was set to be demolished.
In another article the Reporter wrote: "St. Helens has come bottom of the pile in a new ‘quality of life’ report. It is listed, along with several other Lancashire towns as having the most urgent social needs in the North-West."
The Department of the Environment report had said the area contained the highest death and infant mortality rates in the country; the highest number of persons per doctor; the highest number of pupils per teacher; was the worst for air pollution and had the most derelict land.
A separate report published this week revealed that the St Helens district was one of the worst for the provision of dental practitioners.
And the reason given for the dearth of dentists was that their wives did not want to live in an unfashionable place!
Official statistics from the Dental Estimates Board showed that in 1972 St Helens came very near the bottom of a table of 60 towns listing the average population per dentist.
The town had 19 dentists with 5,494 patients for each one. In comparison Wigan had 2,626 and Warrington 3,709.
An unnamed St Helens dentist said: "I do 60 patients a day – and I have no time to do anything. I'm doing the work of three dentists."
And finally, on the 11th children from the Mount Pleasant area of St Helens turned out in force to march through the streets in fancy dress.
Their May parade ended with a slap-up tea at Derbyshire Hill Labour Club provided by local mothers.
St Helens Reporter and Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the plans to convert the Capitol Cinema into a bingo hall, the boys who had their faces burned while cycling past Sidac, the increasing cost of a hair-cut and the Haydock child's little horse that was ridden into the ground.
We begin on the 7th with the St Helens Newspaper's lead story which began:
"Militant mothers have vowed to try to stamp out teenage terror tactics which bring fear to old age pensioners and children. Now the mums, who live on the Four Acre Lane estate at Sutton, have attacked St. Helens District Council and the police."
The parents' group was calling on the council to provide more play and social facilities for children and teenagers on the new estate and for the police to have a "beat bobby" in the area to combat vandalism.
Their leader was Joyce Williams who had recently called a meeting of pensioners from neighbouring Ley Close, who each night suffered from the activities of gangs of teenagers.
However, only one resident had turned up and the woman that did, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Newspaper:
"The others were too frightened to come. They don't want to get involved. Some dreadful things have happened round here.
"The pensioners have received threatening letters and have rubbish pushed through their letter-boxes. One couple had their windows broken late at night."
In response the council said several play schemes were in the pipeline and the police simply stated that all areas of the town were patrolled equally.
On the 10th a huge fire at Pilkington's Ravenhead Works caused over £100,000 worth of damage.
Ten fire engines battled the mystery blaze, which gutted an historic warehouse, parts of which dated back to 1776.
That was when the British Plate Glass Company had used the building to produce the first plate glass in Britain.
The fire destroyed thousands of television tubes and scorched the walls of nearby buildings, although no one was hurt.
Ken Appleton, the managing director of Pilkington's Pressed Glass division, said: "Everyone – the fire brigade and our own people – did a magnificent job. The smoke was so thick that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face."
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 10th and for a second week running its lead story concerned the plans to demolish old houses in Ormskirk Road, Church Road and Bushey Lane in Rainford, as well as a couple of dozen in Crank.
Although the 139 homes were over a hundred years old, one hundred of them had received improvement grants from the old Rainford Urban District Council with many still undergoing building work.
But St Helens Council's Housing and Building Committee now had responsibility for houses in Rainford and they had taken the decision to demolish the homes at what was described as a "secret meeting".
The Reporter had been given details of what was referred to as "The List", although they did not know the actual addresses of the properties being condemned.
The news had caused great concern in the district, as householders did not know whether or not they were on The List. But the Reporter said they had a means of finding out:
"If they pay 25p to St. Helens District Council – and if they wait for a week – the Council will condescend to tell them the worst, or reprieve them."
The story dated back to February when the Reporter had described how public health inspectors had conducted a secret survey, motoring around Rainford and elsewhere but only inspecting the exterior of houses to determine those that were potentially unfit.
Their act had infuriated councillors in Rainford, who believed that the new St Helens District Council had secret plans to demolish large numbers of perfectly good homes in the village.
Councillor Tony Brown had said angrily: "If they demolish here – they will have to do it elsewhere. And they won't get away with it."
Their worst fears had now been realised and the Reporter described how Rainford Parish Council had organised a protest meeting in the Village Hall.
It was hoped that a massive show of opposition would lead to the demolition plan being vetoed at the next St Helens District Council meeting.
In October 1973 an advert in the Liverpool Echo had said: "Status Is Here! – New Discount Warehouse At Reginald Rd, St. Helens. Gigantic discounts on all the popular leading makes of paint, wallpaper, kitchens, carpets and furniture for your bedroom, living room and lounge."
But they didn't last more than a few months before leaving Sutton and at the end of March 1974 Kwik Save opened a huge supermarket in the same premises.
However, St Helens Council claimed that the planning permission that Status had been awarded had limited their retail sales to DIY products.
In opening their replacement store Kwik Save had not sought permission for the sale of groceries and the Reporter stated that as a consequence Town Hall lawyers were considering shutting down the supermarket.
The Mayor of St Helens was Paddy Gill and he told the paper: "We don't want to encourage a thriving honky-tonk trade on the outskirts of town."
Last year the council had refused permission for a hypermarket in Reginald Road on the same planning grounds that it was now using against Kwik Save.
The Reporter also revealed that the St Helens' Labour MP, Leslie Spriggs, planned to tell a Parliamentary inquiry of three attempts to buy him off with £5,000 a year directorships.
Each offer had been made during the 1960s, with the first attempt by a Conservative MP in 1961 on condition that Spriggs voted against any sort of nationalisation.
Paul Fiske, the new curate at St Nicholas Church, made an appeal in the Reporter for teenagers in his Sutton Parish to do their homework earlier over the weekend.
Youth Christian fellowship meetings were held on Sunday evenings but Mr Fiske complained of youngsters regularly telling him that they couldn't attend because they had homework to complete for Monday morning.
These comments by Roland Kaig – the Superintendent Registrar at St Helens Registry Office – in describing his facilities, were not exactly encouraging for those thinking of getting wed at his Hardshaw Street centre:
"It is most inadequate for weddings. It's just a little single-storey brick place like an old air-raid shelter. It's pretty awful. We have two waiting rooms, and they're pretty grim.
"The marriage room is a lovely little room but you can only get about 15 people in at a time. We fill the marriage room at times, and the waiting room, and other people from the same party overflow on to the street."
Mr Kaig felt able to make those critical comments as new purpose-built premises were going to be built off College Street, although they were not expected to be ready for two years.
The office was also now catering for the registration of births and deaths, as well as marriages, in the larger area of the new St Helens District, which was set to place even more pressure on the cramped premises.
Nothing definite had yet been agreed but Greenall Whitley would be handing over the site of its Hall Street brewery (pictured above) to the council next March.
The paper said the selling price was currently secret, but as the site extended over four acres, it was expected to cost the local authority a "staggering amount".
A portion of the land would be sold to Woolworths and Marks and Spencer to enable extensions to their stores and a bus station would also be created.
The redevelopment area would include the White Hart Hotel in Church Street, which was set to be demolished.
In another article the Reporter wrote: "St. Helens has come bottom of the pile in a new ‘quality of life’ report. It is listed, along with several other Lancashire towns as having the most urgent social needs in the North-West."
The Department of the Environment report had said the area contained the highest death and infant mortality rates in the country; the highest number of persons per doctor; the highest number of pupils per teacher; was the worst for air pollution and had the most derelict land.
A separate report published this week revealed that the St Helens district was one of the worst for the provision of dental practitioners.
And the reason given for the dearth of dentists was that their wives did not want to live in an unfashionable place!
Official statistics from the Dental Estimates Board showed that in 1972 St Helens came very near the bottom of a table of 60 towns listing the average population per dentist.
The town had 19 dentists with 5,494 patients for each one. In comparison Wigan had 2,626 and Warrington 3,709.
An unnamed St Helens dentist said: "I do 60 patients a day – and I have no time to do anything. I'm doing the work of three dentists."
And finally, on the 11th children from the Mount Pleasant area of St Helens turned out in force to march through the streets in fancy dress.
Their May parade ended with a slap-up tea at Derbyshire Hill Labour Club provided by local mothers.
St Helens Reporter and Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the plans to convert the Capitol Cinema into a bingo hall, the boys who had their faces burned while cycling past Sidac, the increasing cost of a hair-cut and the Haydock child's little horse that was ridden into the ground.