FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (7 - 13 JUNE 1971)
This week's 18 stories include the Pilkington wage claim, the Knowsley Safari Park auction, the illegal immigrant of Raglan Street, a profile of the Wizard's Cave of North Road, a threat to wreck Windle Hall and a potential railway disaster is averted at Rainhill.
We begin on the 8th when a Sutton woman's handbag was stolen – just seconds after being placed on the floor of a Warrington shop. Inside were items worth £222 (around £3,500 in today’s money), including a five-stone diamond ring. Kathleen Murphy of Leach Lane had been making a purchase from The Waysiders glassware and china shop in Horsemarket Street, which closed in 2014 after 70 years of trading.
Knowsley Safari Park was still on schedule to open on July 1st and Lord Derby was still raising the cash to pay for his grand 360-acre wildlife scheme. During this month Christie's in London was hosting two auctions of paintings and books that belonged to the 18th earl and the first was held on the 8th. In total the nine miniature Elizabethan artworks went under the hammer for £166,000 (over £2m in today's money) and it was believed that most would remain in Britain.
The National Portrait Gallery bought three paintings, including a Nicholas Hillard portrait of Sir Francis Drake. The gallery's director Dr. Roy Strong sounded quite chuffed with his acquisitions, saying: "This is the happiest moment in my four years at the gallery. Everyone is very proud to-day – it is one of the most thrilling days I have had." The Liverpool Echo said Dr Strong "described the Drake miniature as “a fantastic work of art,” as he cradled it lovingly in his hands."
In another article this week the Echo described how the cost of Knowsley Safari Park would likely prove a sound financial investment for Lord Derby. The 350-acre park at Woburn had opened a year earlier and had already received two million visitors, with profits in the region of £250,000 being forecast. It was confidently predicted that Knowsley would receive a similar number of visits in its first year and perform better than Woburn, Longleat and Windsor. As the Echo put it: "When the turnstiles start clicking at Knowsley at the beginning of next month, it could prove the biggest money spinner of them all."
The Wirral folk duo called The Leesiders performed at the Theatre Royal on the 9th, with Liverpool country band The Hillsiders making a return visit to Corporation Street on the 10th.
Joe Gormley (pictured above, signing in at Sutton Manor Colliery) had spent nearly thirty years of his working life down Lancashire mines having first gone down the pit at Haydock and later worked at Bold Colliery. On the 10th, Joe was elected President of the National Union of Mineworkers, after beating Mick McGahey.
In the Liverpool Echo on that day, nine-year-old Ian Powell and his younger brother Keith from Bleak Hill Road were pictured getting the autograph of Chris Lawler. The Liverpool FC defender was among a party of players being entertained at the Royal Oak on the East Lancs. They were celebrating what was described as the club's successful season, after finishing fifth in the league and runners-up in the FA Cup.
Last week a Merseyside train driver had written to the Echo about the dangers posed by vandalism – particularly during school holidays, saying: "The increasing spate of vandalism by young people to trains may well cause accidents of a magnitude comparable with the German disaster last week (which cost the lives of 40 children). I suffered stone-throwing, broken windows, damaged roofs of coaches and obstructions on the line on nearly every trip during the Easter school holidays.
"This day that I write, my guard was showered with broken glass along with two prams, as a large stone broke his window at Halewood and, at the same place on the previous evening at dusk, a 15-year-old boy danced between the rails and leapt away as I passed at 70 m.p.h. All my fellow drivers suffer these hundreds of incidents while children make a playground of the railway and adults walk on the line as of right."
On the 11th a potential disaster at Rainhill was averted with just minutes to spare, after vandals had damaged track fittings on the line. The damage was discovered at 1.35pm, just minutes before the arrival of the Glasgow to Liverpool Lime Street express. Swift action led to the train being diverted via St Helens and it reached Lime Street safe and sound but 39 minutes late.
The Guardian wrote on the 11th that Pilkingtons was facing a new pay claim from 8,000 production workers, mainly employed in St Helens. The claim was expected to be for at least a 10% increase and would be in addition to the £650,000 (around £10m in today's money) that it had cost the company to reorganise its wage structure since last year's strike.
However the glass giant was confident it would be able to come to an agreement with the unions, with David Pilkington, the personnel director, saying: "The restructuring of our industrial relations has been the most far reaching exercise of its kind we have ever undertaken. It has involved talks with many hundreds of people at all levels."
On the same day it was reported that police with dogs were keeping a watch on Windle Hall – the home of Lord and Lady Pilkington and pictured above – after a telephone threat to ruin their luxury home had been made. A man with a St Helens accent had rung a Wigan newspaper claiming to represent the St Helens Underground Action Committee. The individual claimed there was a plan to smash windows and wreck Windle Hall while Lord and Lady Pilkington were on holiday. A St Helens police spokesman said: "Observations are being kept on the house and we are making enquiries". Lord Pilkington was away in Canada on a business trip and Lady Pilkington was in Bristol watching a tennis championship.
TT rider John Hudson from St Helens broke his right leg in a high-speed crash during the 125cc race in the Isle of Man on the 11th. He approached a bend too fast and was thrown off his machine into the roadway and was flown by helicopter to hospital in Douglas.
Raglan Street used to be near Kirkland Street, with the houses demolished during the 1970s. The St Helens magistrates told Tariq Murtaza of Raglan Street on the 11th that they were recommending to the Home Secretary that he be deported back to Pakistan. The 21-year-old had entered Britain as an illegal immigrant six months earlier after travelling through Germany and then crossing the Channel in a small boat with four others. The party had then landed on an unknown beach in the south of England in the early hours of the morning.
Mr Murtaza had initially paid a people smuggler £200 out of a £400 fare demanded from him and then paid a further £150 in instalments to some unknown Englishman who had promised him a passport. His solicitor said Mr Murtaza had not been a burden on the Welfare State but was a man of some educational background. He had a relative living in St Helens and had sent money home to his wife and child in Pakistan. Murtaza was fined £5 for landing in the United Kingdom as an illegal immigrant, however he would not be detained in custody while the Home Office considered his future.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 11th and ran a big feature on The Wizard's Cave in North Road. Harry Brough, aka "The Wiz", ran the "funhouse" and his prankster stock included "sophisticated shocking machines", such as a pack of cards, lipstick and an imitation radio. Practical jokers could also purchase an exploding half-crown that detonated as soon as the unsuspecting finder picked it up. Hours of fun!
Or you could place a tiny tablet in an ash-tray in, say, the public bar of a pub and lit dog-ends placed in the ash tray would trigger a snowfall. However "The Wiz" explained to the Reporter journalist that there was a down side to owning a fun emporium. "I can't offer a friend a fag, without him shrinking away expecting it to explode", said Harry, before adding: "The trouble with being a joker is that nobody takes you seriously."
There was also a feature on Whelan's Discount Stores, which had opened its doors in Baxters Lane inside the former Sutton Oak engine sheds. As well as groceries a wide range of electrical products were on sale with owner Dave Whelan saying: "We plan to be the Marks and Spencers of the discount world, with good quality stock in a good clean store." Morrison's supermarket now operates from the site.
Ellen Wharton from Sutton Manor angrily complained to the Reporter how three of her children – aged seven, eight and eleven – had been turfed off a bus after visiting Boundary Road baths. The trio had spent their bus fares on sweets and were chucked out at Thatto Heath and forced to walk home. The Corporation Transport Department admitted that the conductor should have taken the children's names and their address and issued unpaid fare slips.
I like to look at the names of the dogs listed as running at the St Helens Greyhound Track as they often reference television programmes, films and music of the time. On the 11th 'Rawhide' was running at Park Road, named, no doubt, after the American Western TV series and I expect 'Born Free' had its moniker derived from the 1966 film of the same name starring Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers. People don't seem to use the mild expletive 'Buzz Off' as often as they did in the ‘60s and ‘70s but that dog was on the card for the 8.15pm race.
The anger by many in Rainhill over the speeding cars in Warrington Road had not subsided. On a number of occasions during May, as many as 300 "militant mothers" had blocked the road as part of their campaign to get the speed limit reduced and zebra crossings installed. A Parents Action Committee had been set up led by Ray Ferguson and at noon on the 12th another "block the road" demonstration took place.
At a meeting that followed the protest, the residents agreed to demonstrate every night next week from 4.30pm. The locals were demanding that the speed limit on the A57 Warrington Road from St James Road to Norlands Lane be reduced from 40 mph to 30 mph following the death of a child.
During the afternoon of the 12th the eleventh annual Blessed Julie Gala and Donkey Derby was held on the UGB sports field at Bobbys Lane in Eccleston. The entertainment ranged from a children's fancy dress competition to donkey races, plus what was described as a "swinging teen beat pop session" with a group called Sincerely Yours. Brother Leonard, the headmaster of West Park Grammar, opened the event with money raised going to reduce the debt on the new church and school.
Next week's stories will include a bus crash in Lancots Lane, the arrival of the giraffes at the new Knowsley Safari Park, an explosion rocks a Newton home, claims of work-dodging dustbinmen and the Cowley boys suspended after tying a prefect to a chair.
We begin on the 8th when a Sutton woman's handbag was stolen – just seconds after being placed on the floor of a Warrington shop. Inside were items worth £222 (around £3,500 in today’s money), including a five-stone diamond ring. Kathleen Murphy of Leach Lane had been making a purchase from The Waysiders glassware and china shop in Horsemarket Street, which closed in 2014 after 70 years of trading.
Knowsley Safari Park was still on schedule to open on July 1st and Lord Derby was still raising the cash to pay for his grand 360-acre wildlife scheme. During this month Christie's in London was hosting two auctions of paintings and books that belonged to the 18th earl and the first was held on the 8th. In total the nine miniature Elizabethan artworks went under the hammer for £166,000 (over £2m in today's money) and it was believed that most would remain in Britain.
The National Portrait Gallery bought three paintings, including a Nicholas Hillard portrait of Sir Francis Drake. The gallery's director Dr. Roy Strong sounded quite chuffed with his acquisitions, saying: "This is the happiest moment in my four years at the gallery. Everyone is very proud to-day – it is one of the most thrilling days I have had." The Liverpool Echo said Dr Strong "described the Drake miniature as “a fantastic work of art,” as he cradled it lovingly in his hands."
In another article this week the Echo described how the cost of Knowsley Safari Park would likely prove a sound financial investment for Lord Derby. The 350-acre park at Woburn had opened a year earlier and had already received two million visitors, with profits in the region of £250,000 being forecast. It was confidently predicted that Knowsley would receive a similar number of visits in its first year and perform better than Woburn, Longleat and Windsor. As the Echo put it: "When the turnstiles start clicking at Knowsley at the beginning of next month, it could prove the biggest money spinner of them all."
The Wirral folk duo called The Leesiders performed at the Theatre Royal on the 9th, with Liverpool country band The Hillsiders making a return visit to Corporation Street on the 10th.
In the Liverpool Echo on that day, nine-year-old Ian Powell and his younger brother Keith from Bleak Hill Road were pictured getting the autograph of Chris Lawler. The Liverpool FC defender was among a party of players being entertained at the Royal Oak on the East Lancs. They were celebrating what was described as the club's successful season, after finishing fifth in the league and runners-up in the FA Cup.
Last week a Merseyside train driver had written to the Echo about the dangers posed by vandalism – particularly during school holidays, saying: "The increasing spate of vandalism by young people to trains may well cause accidents of a magnitude comparable with the German disaster last week (which cost the lives of 40 children). I suffered stone-throwing, broken windows, damaged roofs of coaches and obstructions on the line on nearly every trip during the Easter school holidays.
"This day that I write, my guard was showered with broken glass along with two prams, as a large stone broke his window at Halewood and, at the same place on the previous evening at dusk, a 15-year-old boy danced between the rails and leapt away as I passed at 70 m.p.h. All my fellow drivers suffer these hundreds of incidents while children make a playground of the railway and adults walk on the line as of right."
On the 11th a potential disaster at Rainhill was averted with just minutes to spare, after vandals had damaged track fittings on the line. The damage was discovered at 1.35pm, just minutes before the arrival of the Glasgow to Liverpool Lime Street express. Swift action led to the train being diverted via St Helens and it reached Lime Street safe and sound but 39 minutes late.
The Guardian wrote on the 11th that Pilkingtons was facing a new pay claim from 8,000 production workers, mainly employed in St Helens. The claim was expected to be for at least a 10% increase and would be in addition to the £650,000 (around £10m in today's money) that it had cost the company to reorganise its wage structure since last year's strike.
However the glass giant was confident it would be able to come to an agreement with the unions, with David Pilkington, the personnel director, saying: "The restructuring of our industrial relations has been the most far reaching exercise of its kind we have ever undertaken. It has involved talks with many hundreds of people at all levels."
TT rider John Hudson from St Helens broke his right leg in a high-speed crash during the 125cc race in the Isle of Man on the 11th. He approached a bend too fast and was thrown off his machine into the roadway and was flown by helicopter to hospital in Douglas.
Raglan Street used to be near Kirkland Street, with the houses demolished during the 1970s. The St Helens magistrates told Tariq Murtaza of Raglan Street on the 11th that they were recommending to the Home Secretary that he be deported back to Pakistan. The 21-year-old had entered Britain as an illegal immigrant six months earlier after travelling through Germany and then crossing the Channel in a small boat with four others. The party had then landed on an unknown beach in the south of England in the early hours of the morning.
Mr Murtaza had initially paid a people smuggler £200 out of a £400 fare demanded from him and then paid a further £150 in instalments to some unknown Englishman who had promised him a passport. His solicitor said Mr Murtaza had not been a burden on the Welfare State but was a man of some educational background. He had a relative living in St Helens and had sent money home to his wife and child in Pakistan. Murtaza was fined £5 for landing in the United Kingdom as an illegal immigrant, however he would not be detained in custody while the Home Office considered his future.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 11th and ran a big feature on The Wizard's Cave in North Road. Harry Brough, aka "The Wiz", ran the "funhouse" and his prankster stock included "sophisticated shocking machines", such as a pack of cards, lipstick and an imitation radio. Practical jokers could also purchase an exploding half-crown that detonated as soon as the unsuspecting finder picked it up. Hours of fun!
Or you could place a tiny tablet in an ash-tray in, say, the public bar of a pub and lit dog-ends placed in the ash tray would trigger a snowfall. However "The Wiz" explained to the Reporter journalist that there was a down side to owning a fun emporium. "I can't offer a friend a fag, without him shrinking away expecting it to explode", said Harry, before adding: "The trouble with being a joker is that nobody takes you seriously."
There was also a feature on Whelan's Discount Stores, which had opened its doors in Baxters Lane inside the former Sutton Oak engine sheds. As well as groceries a wide range of electrical products were on sale with owner Dave Whelan saying: "We plan to be the Marks and Spencers of the discount world, with good quality stock in a good clean store." Morrison's supermarket now operates from the site.
Ellen Wharton from Sutton Manor angrily complained to the Reporter how three of her children – aged seven, eight and eleven – had been turfed off a bus after visiting Boundary Road baths. The trio had spent their bus fares on sweets and were chucked out at Thatto Heath and forced to walk home. The Corporation Transport Department admitted that the conductor should have taken the children's names and their address and issued unpaid fare slips.
I like to look at the names of the dogs listed as running at the St Helens Greyhound Track as they often reference television programmes, films and music of the time. On the 11th 'Rawhide' was running at Park Road, named, no doubt, after the American Western TV series and I expect 'Born Free' had its moniker derived from the 1966 film of the same name starring Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers. People don't seem to use the mild expletive 'Buzz Off' as often as they did in the ‘60s and ‘70s but that dog was on the card for the 8.15pm race.
The anger by many in Rainhill over the speeding cars in Warrington Road had not subsided. On a number of occasions during May, as many as 300 "militant mothers" had blocked the road as part of their campaign to get the speed limit reduced and zebra crossings installed. A Parents Action Committee had been set up led by Ray Ferguson and at noon on the 12th another "block the road" demonstration took place.
At a meeting that followed the protest, the residents agreed to demonstrate every night next week from 4.30pm. The locals were demanding that the speed limit on the A57 Warrington Road from St James Road to Norlands Lane be reduced from 40 mph to 30 mph following the death of a child.
During the afternoon of the 12th the eleventh annual Blessed Julie Gala and Donkey Derby was held on the UGB sports field at Bobbys Lane in Eccleston. The entertainment ranged from a children's fancy dress competition to donkey races, plus what was described as a "swinging teen beat pop session" with a group called Sincerely Yours. Brother Leonard, the headmaster of West Park Grammar, opened the event with money raised going to reduce the debt on the new church and school.
Next week's stories will include a bus crash in Lancots Lane, the arrival of the giraffes at the new Knowsley Safari Park, an explosion rocks a Newton home, claims of work-dodging dustbinmen and the Cowley boys suspended after tying a prefect to a chair.
This week's 18 stories include the Pilkington wage claim, the Knowsley Safari Park auction, the illegal immigrant of Raglan Street, a profile of the Wizard's Cave of North Road, a threat to wreck Windle Hall and a potential railway disaster is averted at Rainhill.
We begin on the 8th when a Sutton woman's handbag was stolen – just seconds after being placed on the floor of a Warrington shop.
Inside were items worth £222 (around £3,500 in today’s money), including a five-stone diamond ring.
Kathleen Murphy of Leach Lane had been making a purchase from The Waysiders glassware and china shop in Horsemarket Street, which closed in 2014 after 70 years of trading.
Knowsley Safari Park was still on schedule to open on July 1st and Lord Derby was still raising the cash to pay for his grand 360-acre wildlife scheme.
During this month Christie's in London was hosting two auctions of paintings and books that belonged to the 18th earl and the first was held on the 8th.
In total the nine miniature Elizabethan artworks went under the hammer for £166,000 (over £2m in today's money) and it was believed that most would remain in Britain.
The National Portrait Gallery bought three paintings, including a Nicholas Hillard portrait of Sir Francis Drake.
The gallery's director Dr. Roy Strong sounded quite chuffed with his acquisitions, saying:
"This is the happiest moment in my four years at the gallery. Everyone is very proud to-day – it is one of the most thrilling days I have had."
The Liverpool Echo said Dr Strong "described the Drake miniature as “a fantastic work of art,” as he cradled it lovingly in his hands."
In another article this week the Echo described how the cost of Knowsley Safari Park would likely prove a sound financial investment for Lord Derby.
The 350-acre park at Woburn had opened a year earlier and had already received two million visitors, with profits in the region of £250,000 being forecast.
It was confidently predicted that Knowsley would receive a similar number of visits in its first year and perform better than Woburn, Longleat and Windsor. As the Echo put it:
"When the turnstiles start clicking at Knowsley at the beginning of next month, it could prove the biggest money spinner of them all."
The Wirral folk duo called The Leesiders performed at the Theatre Royal on the 9th, with Liverpool country band The Hillsiders making a return visit to Corporation Street on the 10th.
Joe Gormley (pictured above, signing in at Sutton Manor Colliery) had spent nearly thirty years of his working life down Lancashire mines having first gone down the pit at Haydock and later worked at Bold Colliery.
On the 10th, Joe was elected President of the National Union of Mineworkers, after beating Mick McGahey.
In the Liverpool Echo on that day, nine-year-old Ian Powell and his younger brother Keith from Bleak Hill Road were pictured getting the autograph of Chris Lawler.
The Liverpool FC defender was among a party of players being entertained at the Royal Oak on the East Lancs.
They were celebrating what was described as the club's successful season, after finishing fifth in the league and runners-up in the FA Cup.
Last week a Merseyside train driver had written to the Echo about the dangers posed by vandalism – particularly during school holidays, saying:
"The increasing spate of vandalism by young people to trains may well cause accidents of a magnitude comparable with the German disaster last week (which cost the lives of 40 children).
"I suffered stone-throwing, broken windows, damaged roofs of coaches and obstructions on the line on nearly every trip during the Easter school holidays.
"This day that I write, my guard was showered with broken glass along with two prams, as a large stone broke his window at Halewood and, at the same place on the previous evening at dusk, a 15-year-old boy danced between the rails and leapt away as I passed at 70 m.p.h.
"All my fellow drivers suffer these hundreds of incidents while children make a playground of the railway and adults walk on the line as of right."
On the 11th a potential disaster at Rainhill was averted with just minutes to spare, after vandals had damaged track fittings on the line.
The damage was discovered at 1.35pm, just minutes before the arrival of the Glasgow to Liverpool Lime Street express.
Swift action led to the train being diverted via St Helens and it reached Lime Street safe and sound but 39 minutes late.
The Guardian wrote on the 11th that Pilkingtons was facing a new pay claim from 8,000 production workers, mainly employed in St Helens.
The claim was expected to be for at least a 10% increase and would be in addition to the £650,000 (around £10m in today's money) that it had cost the company to reorganise its wage structure since last year's strike.
However the glass giant was confident it would be able to come to an agreement with the unions, with David Pilkington, the personnel director, saying:
"The restructuring of our industrial relations has been the most far reaching exercise of its kind we have ever undertaken. It has involved talks with many hundreds of people at all levels."
On the same day it was reported that police with dogs were keeping a watch on Windle Hall – the home of Lord and Lady Pilkington and pictured above – after a telephone threat to ruin their luxury home had been made.
A man with a St Helens accent had rung a Wigan newspaper claiming to represent the St Helens Underground Action Committee.
The individual claimed there was a plan to smash windows and wreck Windle Hall while Lord and Lady Pilkington were on holiday.
A St Helens police spokesman said: "Observations are being kept on the house and we are making enquiries".
Lord Pilkington was away in Canada on a business trip and Lady Pilkington was in Bristol watching a tennis championship.
TT rider John Hudson from St Helens broke his right leg in a high-speed crash during the 125cc race in the Isle of Man on the 11th.
He approached a bend too fast and was thrown off his machine into the roadway and was flown by helicopter to hospital in Douglas.
Raglan Street used to be near Kirkland Street, with the houses demolished during the 1970s.
The St Helens magistrates told Tariq Murtaza of Raglan Street on the 11th that they were recommending to the Home Secretary that he be deported back to Pakistan.
The 21-year-old had entered Britain as an illegal immigrant six months earlier after travelling through Germany and then crossing the Channel in a small boat with four others.
The party had then landed on an unknown beach in the south of England in the early hours of the morning.
Mr Murtaza had initially paid a people smuggler £200 out of a £400 fare demanded from him and then paid a further £150 in instalments to some unknown Englishman who had promised him a passport.
His solicitor said Mr Murtaza had not been a burden on the Welfare State but was a man of some educational background. He had a relative living in St Helens and had sent money home to his wife and child in Pakistan.
Murtaza was fined £5 for landing in the United Kingdom as an illegal immigrant, however he would not be detained in custody while the Home Office considered his future.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 11th and ran a big feature on The Wizard's Cave in North Road.
Harry Brough, aka "The Wiz", ran the "funhouse" and his prankster stock included "sophisticated shocking machines", such as a pack of cards, lipstick and an imitation radio.
Practical jokers could also purchase an exploding half-crown that detonated as soon as the unsuspecting finder picked it up. Hours of fun!
Or you could place a tiny tablet in an ash-tray in, say, the public bar of a pub and lit dog-ends placed in the ash tray would trigger a snowfall.
However "The Wiz" explained to the Reporter journalist that there was a down side to owning a fun emporium.
"I can't offer a friend a fag, without him shrinking away expecting it to explode", said Harry, before adding: "The trouble with being a joker is that nobody takes you seriously."
There was also a feature on Whelan's Discount Stores, which had opened its doors in Baxters Lane inside the former Sutton Oak engine sheds.
As well as groceries a wide range of electrical products were on sale with owner Dave Whelan saying:
"We plan to be the Marks and Spencers of the discount world, with good quality stock in a good clean store." Morrison's supermarket now operates from the site.
Ellen Wharton from Sutton Manor angrily complained to the Reporter how three of her children – aged seven, eight and eleven – had been turfed off a bus after visiting Boundary Road baths.
The trio had spent their bus fares on sweets and were chucked out at Thatto Heath and forced to walk home.
The Corporation Transport Department admitted that the conductor should have taken the children's names and their address and issued unpaid fare slips.
I like to look at the names of the dogs listed as running at the St Helens Greyhound Track as they often reference television programmes, films and music of the time.
On the 11th 'Rawhide' was running at Park Road, named, no doubt, after the American Western TV series and I expect 'Born Free' had its moniker derived from the 1966 film of the same name starring Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers.
People don't seem to use the mild expletive 'Buzz Off' as often as they did in the ‘60s and ‘70s but that dog was on the card for the 8.15pm race.
The anger by many in Rainhill over the speeding cars in Warrington Road had not subsided.
On a number of occasions during May, as many as 300 "militant mothers" had blocked the road as part of their campaign to get the speed limit reduced and zebra crossings installed.
A Parents Action Committee had been set up led by Ray Ferguson and at noon on the 12th another "block the road" demonstration took place.
At a meeting that followed the protest, the residents agreed to demonstrate every night next week from 4.30pm.
The locals were demanding that the speed limit on the A57 Warrington Road from St James Road to Norlands Lane be reduced from 40 mph to 30 mph following the death of a child.
During the afternoon of the 12th the eleventh annual Blessed Julie Gala and Donkey Derby was held on the UGB sports field at Bobbys Lane in Eccleston.
The entertainment ranged from a children's fancy dress competition to donkey races, plus what was described as a "swinging teen beat pop session" with a group called Sincerely Yours.
Brother Leonard, the headmaster of West Park Grammar, opened the event with money raised going to reduce the debt on the new church and school.
Next week's stories will include a bus crash in Lancots Lane, the arrival of the giraffes at the new Knowsley Safari Park, an explosion rocks a Newton home, claims of work-dodging dustbinmen and the Cowley boys suspended after tying a prefect to a chair.
We begin on the 8th when a Sutton woman's handbag was stolen – just seconds after being placed on the floor of a Warrington shop.
Inside were items worth £222 (around £3,500 in today’s money), including a five-stone diamond ring.
Kathleen Murphy of Leach Lane had been making a purchase from The Waysiders glassware and china shop in Horsemarket Street, which closed in 2014 after 70 years of trading.
Knowsley Safari Park was still on schedule to open on July 1st and Lord Derby was still raising the cash to pay for his grand 360-acre wildlife scheme.
During this month Christie's in London was hosting two auctions of paintings and books that belonged to the 18th earl and the first was held on the 8th.
In total the nine miniature Elizabethan artworks went under the hammer for £166,000 (over £2m in today's money) and it was believed that most would remain in Britain.
The National Portrait Gallery bought three paintings, including a Nicholas Hillard portrait of Sir Francis Drake.
The gallery's director Dr. Roy Strong sounded quite chuffed with his acquisitions, saying:
"This is the happiest moment in my four years at the gallery. Everyone is very proud to-day – it is one of the most thrilling days I have had."
The Liverpool Echo said Dr Strong "described the Drake miniature as “a fantastic work of art,” as he cradled it lovingly in his hands."
In another article this week the Echo described how the cost of Knowsley Safari Park would likely prove a sound financial investment for Lord Derby.
The 350-acre park at Woburn had opened a year earlier and had already received two million visitors, with profits in the region of £250,000 being forecast.
It was confidently predicted that Knowsley would receive a similar number of visits in its first year and perform better than Woburn, Longleat and Windsor. As the Echo put it:
"When the turnstiles start clicking at Knowsley at the beginning of next month, it could prove the biggest money spinner of them all."
The Wirral folk duo called The Leesiders performed at the Theatre Royal on the 9th, with Liverpool country band The Hillsiders making a return visit to Corporation Street on the 10th.
On the 10th, Joe was elected President of the National Union of Mineworkers, after beating Mick McGahey.
In the Liverpool Echo on that day, nine-year-old Ian Powell and his younger brother Keith from Bleak Hill Road were pictured getting the autograph of Chris Lawler.
The Liverpool FC defender was among a party of players being entertained at the Royal Oak on the East Lancs.
They were celebrating what was described as the club's successful season, after finishing fifth in the league and runners-up in the FA Cup.
Last week a Merseyside train driver had written to the Echo about the dangers posed by vandalism – particularly during school holidays, saying:
"The increasing spate of vandalism by young people to trains may well cause accidents of a magnitude comparable with the German disaster last week (which cost the lives of 40 children).
"I suffered stone-throwing, broken windows, damaged roofs of coaches and obstructions on the line on nearly every trip during the Easter school holidays.
"This day that I write, my guard was showered with broken glass along with two prams, as a large stone broke his window at Halewood and, at the same place on the previous evening at dusk, a 15-year-old boy danced between the rails and leapt away as I passed at 70 m.p.h.
"All my fellow drivers suffer these hundreds of incidents while children make a playground of the railway and adults walk on the line as of right."
On the 11th a potential disaster at Rainhill was averted with just minutes to spare, after vandals had damaged track fittings on the line.
The damage was discovered at 1.35pm, just minutes before the arrival of the Glasgow to Liverpool Lime Street express.
Swift action led to the train being diverted via St Helens and it reached Lime Street safe and sound but 39 minutes late.
The Guardian wrote on the 11th that Pilkingtons was facing a new pay claim from 8,000 production workers, mainly employed in St Helens.
The claim was expected to be for at least a 10% increase and would be in addition to the £650,000 (around £10m in today's money) that it had cost the company to reorganise its wage structure since last year's strike.
However the glass giant was confident it would be able to come to an agreement with the unions, with David Pilkington, the personnel director, saying:
"The restructuring of our industrial relations has been the most far reaching exercise of its kind we have ever undertaken. It has involved talks with many hundreds of people at all levels."
A man with a St Helens accent had rung a Wigan newspaper claiming to represent the St Helens Underground Action Committee.
The individual claimed there was a plan to smash windows and wreck Windle Hall while Lord and Lady Pilkington were on holiday.
A St Helens police spokesman said: "Observations are being kept on the house and we are making enquiries".
Lord Pilkington was away in Canada on a business trip and Lady Pilkington was in Bristol watching a tennis championship.
TT rider John Hudson from St Helens broke his right leg in a high-speed crash during the 125cc race in the Isle of Man on the 11th.
He approached a bend too fast and was thrown off his machine into the roadway and was flown by helicopter to hospital in Douglas.
Raglan Street used to be near Kirkland Street, with the houses demolished during the 1970s.
The St Helens magistrates told Tariq Murtaza of Raglan Street on the 11th that they were recommending to the Home Secretary that he be deported back to Pakistan.
The 21-year-old had entered Britain as an illegal immigrant six months earlier after travelling through Germany and then crossing the Channel in a small boat with four others.
The party had then landed on an unknown beach in the south of England in the early hours of the morning.
Mr Murtaza had initially paid a people smuggler £200 out of a £400 fare demanded from him and then paid a further £150 in instalments to some unknown Englishman who had promised him a passport.
His solicitor said Mr Murtaza had not been a burden on the Welfare State but was a man of some educational background. He had a relative living in St Helens and had sent money home to his wife and child in Pakistan.
Murtaza was fined £5 for landing in the United Kingdom as an illegal immigrant, however he would not be detained in custody while the Home Office considered his future.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 11th and ran a big feature on The Wizard's Cave in North Road.
Harry Brough, aka "The Wiz", ran the "funhouse" and his prankster stock included "sophisticated shocking machines", such as a pack of cards, lipstick and an imitation radio.
Practical jokers could also purchase an exploding half-crown that detonated as soon as the unsuspecting finder picked it up. Hours of fun!
Or you could place a tiny tablet in an ash-tray in, say, the public bar of a pub and lit dog-ends placed in the ash tray would trigger a snowfall.
However "The Wiz" explained to the Reporter journalist that there was a down side to owning a fun emporium.
"I can't offer a friend a fag, without him shrinking away expecting it to explode", said Harry, before adding: "The trouble with being a joker is that nobody takes you seriously."
There was also a feature on Whelan's Discount Stores, which had opened its doors in Baxters Lane inside the former Sutton Oak engine sheds.
As well as groceries a wide range of electrical products were on sale with owner Dave Whelan saying:
"We plan to be the Marks and Spencers of the discount world, with good quality stock in a good clean store." Morrison's supermarket now operates from the site.
Ellen Wharton from Sutton Manor angrily complained to the Reporter how three of her children – aged seven, eight and eleven – had been turfed off a bus after visiting Boundary Road baths.
The trio had spent their bus fares on sweets and were chucked out at Thatto Heath and forced to walk home.
The Corporation Transport Department admitted that the conductor should have taken the children's names and their address and issued unpaid fare slips.
I like to look at the names of the dogs listed as running at the St Helens Greyhound Track as they often reference television programmes, films and music of the time.
On the 11th 'Rawhide' was running at Park Road, named, no doubt, after the American Western TV series and I expect 'Born Free' had its moniker derived from the 1966 film of the same name starring Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers.
People don't seem to use the mild expletive 'Buzz Off' as often as they did in the ‘60s and ‘70s but that dog was on the card for the 8.15pm race.
The anger by many in Rainhill over the speeding cars in Warrington Road had not subsided.
On a number of occasions during May, as many as 300 "militant mothers" had blocked the road as part of their campaign to get the speed limit reduced and zebra crossings installed.
A Parents Action Committee had been set up led by Ray Ferguson and at noon on the 12th another "block the road" demonstration took place.
At a meeting that followed the protest, the residents agreed to demonstrate every night next week from 4.30pm.
The locals were demanding that the speed limit on the A57 Warrington Road from St James Road to Norlands Lane be reduced from 40 mph to 30 mph following the death of a child.
During the afternoon of the 12th the eleventh annual Blessed Julie Gala and Donkey Derby was held on the UGB sports field at Bobbys Lane in Eccleston.
The entertainment ranged from a children's fancy dress competition to donkey races, plus what was described as a "swinging teen beat pop session" with a group called Sincerely Yours.
Brother Leonard, the headmaster of West Park Grammar, opened the event with money raised going to reduce the debt on the new church and school.
Next week's stories will include a bus crash in Lancots Lane, the arrival of the giraffes at the new Knowsley Safari Park, an explosion rocks a Newton home, claims of work-dodging dustbinmen and the Cowley boys suspended after tying a prefect to a chair.