FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (9th - 15th JANUARY 1973)
This week's many stories include the hunt for the Fleet Lane dog sadist, Whiston Council's rebel school milk scheme begins, the head of Central Secondary declares a new car park a danger to pupils, the muddy state of Monastery Road in Sutton and the Blackbrook club with modern facilities – but no gas, electricity or water supplies.
We begin in St Helens Juvenile Court on the 9th when a 12-year-old boy admitted starting a fire that had destroyed the former Lowe House youth club in Crab Street. Months earlier he and another 12-year-old had also started a fire inside Boundary Road Baptist Church that had damaged the building's main hall. The two lads were also charged with committing many burglaries and thefts in St Helens in company with ten others.
They were both ordered to attend Prescot Attendance Centre for a total of 24 hours and one was put in the care of the local authority. Also known as the Prescot Training Centre, the facility had opened in 1952 to provide discipline – as it was called – for young offenders on Saturdays.
Whiston Rural Council had been planning for some time to circumvent the Government's axing of free school milk to children aged over seven. That was a decision that Education Minister Margaret Thatcher had controversially taken in 1971. Whiston Council's jurisdiction then included Eccleston, Rainhill, Bold, Whiston, Hale and Cronton. And their intention was for the 8,000 children in the 36 junior schools within those areas to every morning receive a third of a pint of milk each. The scheme had been planned for some time but had faced resistance from Lancashire County Council and been delayed by a lack of volunteers.
But it began this week with limited success, as only a third of the schools could be supplied with milk due to an insufficient number of helpers. Part-time scheme supervisor Rita Underdown had spent many weeks recruiting parents to help out. As the County Council had banned the distribution of milk on school premises, the helpers were forced to stand at the school gates doling out milk cartons to the children as they arrived.
Only 46 volunteers in total had agreed to donate an hour of their time on milk monitor duty for two mornings a week. But Whiston Council said they had decided to go ahead with milk distribution at the 12 schools where sufficient volunteers were available and they hoped their scheme would subsequently snowball.
"Explore Britain by Train" was the headline to an ad in the Echo on the 9th which offered a mini-weekend in London on Saturday January 13th for just £6.50. The price included return rail fare and bed and breakfast in a Grand Metropolitan Hotel. A special train would leave from Southport and, as well as stopping at Wigan and Bank Quay, would pick up passengers at Shaw Street and St Helens Junction stations. The train with buffet car would then make for the capital and return early on the Sunday evening.
The Echo also reported that the RSPCA were hunting for some sadistic individual or individuals from the Fleet Lane area of Parr that had been pouring boiling water on dogs. Several animals had subsequently been put down, including Bimbo belonging to Audrey Molyneux of Inman Avenue. Her 12-year-old spaniel-type mongrel had been missing for three days and when he briefly returned home, Mrs Molyneux noticed some of his fur had been lost.
Bimbo then went missing again and after four days came back home in a worse state, unable to lie down and refusing to let anyone near him. "He seemed terrified of human beings", reported Mrs Molyneux. A local vet thought other dogs in the area could have been similarly attacked without their owners' knowledge because dogs' fur could mask scalds for a few days.
There was a nicer dog story in the St Helens Reporter on the 12th, which described the antics of Scoobie. The 18-month-old Great Dane helped licensee Jack Frodsham look after the Prince of Wales Hotel in Ormskirk Street in St Helens. And Scoobie liked his ale, with the Reporter writing: "When all the customers have gone home he rests his 6ft. 2in. form against the bar for a quiet pint or two."
A fed-up Harry Heaton was also pictured in the paper. The 60-year-old was the secretary of Blackbrook Recreation Club and last year their new pavilion had been opened to replace their old one that had burned down. Although the building was equipped with modern facilities, the gas, electricity and water supplies had yet to be connected.
And so for the three days of the week when football and rugby teams played, Harry was forced to carry three two-gallon buckets of hot water from his home in O’Sullivan Crescent to their playing field. And he was getting sick of it! "I'm 60 now, and I'm absolutely fed up with it all," he said. "I'm wondering if it's worth it, because I get an incredible backlash from visiting teams, who want to know when I'm going to get something done."
Mr Heaton blamed St Helens Corporation's Building Department for the delay but they explained that the problems had been caused by vandalism on the site. Last summer the toilet and shower areas in the new pavilion had been wrecked and they had been forced to rebuild almost from scratch. There'd been a delay in obtaining fittings and they said the water supplies needed sorting before other work could take place.
Allan Smart, head of Central Secondary School, told the Reporter that a new town centre car park was a danger to his pupils. For the access road to the car park's entrance in Water Street ran by the side of the Windle Pilkington School, which Central used for gym and technical drawing classes.
Only a narrow footpath separated the road from the building and motorists had to pass the school gates at the top of the access road. "It's very dangerous," said Mr Smart, "and I think a matter of great urgency that something be done. The access is on a dangerous bend. Cars sweep round off the roundabout and there is no indication to motorists that there is a school entrance there."
There was a long article in the Reporter on the state of Monastery Road in Sutton. Just before Christmas lorries taking earth and clay from a new council estate to a dump had begun travelling along Monastery Road. Some were losing part of their loads and as a result the street had become very muddy.
Children attending St Anne's had been forced to walk to and from school through inches of sludge and the Rector of the Sutton Monastery was demanding a clean up. After intervention from the police, the contractor involved had now agreed to stop dumping for a week while Monastery Road was cleaned up and the firm also said they would try to find another site to use for dumping purposes.
As we know things can change quickly in business. In February 1968 the Reporter’s main story on its front page was devoted to Crone & Taylor, who had achieved record sales over the previous year and planned to increase its workforce by 15%. They were a firm for whom the phrase "where there's muck there's brass" might have been invented! Founded in 1886, the Sutton Oak firm specialised in fertiliser for many decades before moving into engineering. "Their crying need is for turners, platers, welders and fitters", said the Reporter just five years ago.
However, this week the firm announced they were halving their workforce by making 60 more redundancies on top of the 25 that had been laid off last autumn. The firm's managing director, Arthur Walker, said: "We regret the redundancies but we had to do this to continue. We have trimmed the ship. We are now a fully viable economic unit."
Clinkard's Shoe Shop in Westfield Street in St Helens began their annual January sale on the 12th, with their sale of children's shoes beginning a few days later. The staggered sales were a tradition that went back some years, I believe.
On the 14th the Dooley Family performed again at St Helens Town Social Club in Hoghton Road. The group was still several years away from having their first hit record under their shortened name of the Dooleys.
And finally, on the 15th Ted Cook was chosen to be the last chairman of Rainford Urban District Council. In 1974 a parish council that was little more than an advisory body would replace the 15-person assembly that for 80 years had real decision-making powers over village affairs.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the sibling kidney transplant, the storm over a war hero's medals, the noisy lorries on the Birchley Street car park, the binmen struck down by sickness and the Lorne Hotel prepares for last orders.
We begin in St Helens Juvenile Court on the 9th when a 12-year-old boy admitted starting a fire that had destroyed the former Lowe House youth club in Crab Street. Months earlier he and another 12-year-old had also started a fire inside Boundary Road Baptist Church that had damaged the building's main hall. The two lads were also charged with committing many burglaries and thefts in St Helens in company with ten others.
They were both ordered to attend Prescot Attendance Centre for a total of 24 hours and one was put in the care of the local authority. Also known as the Prescot Training Centre, the facility had opened in 1952 to provide discipline – as it was called – for young offenders on Saturdays.
Whiston Rural Council had been planning for some time to circumvent the Government's axing of free school milk to children aged over seven. That was a decision that Education Minister Margaret Thatcher had controversially taken in 1971. Whiston Council's jurisdiction then included Eccleston, Rainhill, Bold, Whiston, Hale and Cronton. And their intention was for the 8,000 children in the 36 junior schools within those areas to every morning receive a third of a pint of milk each. The scheme had been planned for some time but had faced resistance from Lancashire County Council and been delayed by a lack of volunteers.
But it began this week with limited success, as only a third of the schools could be supplied with milk due to an insufficient number of helpers. Part-time scheme supervisor Rita Underdown had spent many weeks recruiting parents to help out. As the County Council had banned the distribution of milk on school premises, the helpers were forced to stand at the school gates doling out milk cartons to the children as they arrived.
Only 46 volunteers in total had agreed to donate an hour of their time on milk monitor duty for two mornings a week. But Whiston Council said they had decided to go ahead with milk distribution at the 12 schools where sufficient volunteers were available and they hoped their scheme would subsequently snowball.
"Explore Britain by Train" was the headline to an ad in the Echo on the 9th which offered a mini-weekend in London on Saturday January 13th for just £6.50. The price included return rail fare and bed and breakfast in a Grand Metropolitan Hotel. A special train would leave from Southport and, as well as stopping at Wigan and Bank Quay, would pick up passengers at Shaw Street and St Helens Junction stations. The train with buffet car would then make for the capital and return early on the Sunday evening.
The Echo also reported that the RSPCA were hunting for some sadistic individual or individuals from the Fleet Lane area of Parr that had been pouring boiling water on dogs. Several animals had subsequently been put down, including Bimbo belonging to Audrey Molyneux of Inman Avenue. Her 12-year-old spaniel-type mongrel had been missing for three days and when he briefly returned home, Mrs Molyneux noticed some of his fur had been lost.
Bimbo then went missing again and after four days came back home in a worse state, unable to lie down and refusing to let anyone near him. "He seemed terrified of human beings", reported Mrs Molyneux. A local vet thought other dogs in the area could have been similarly attacked without their owners' knowledge because dogs' fur could mask scalds for a few days.
A fed-up Harry Heaton was also pictured in the paper. The 60-year-old was the secretary of Blackbrook Recreation Club and last year their new pavilion had been opened to replace their old one that had burned down. Although the building was equipped with modern facilities, the gas, electricity and water supplies had yet to be connected.
And so for the three days of the week when football and rugby teams played, Harry was forced to carry three two-gallon buckets of hot water from his home in O’Sullivan Crescent to their playing field. And he was getting sick of it! "I'm 60 now, and I'm absolutely fed up with it all," he said. "I'm wondering if it's worth it, because I get an incredible backlash from visiting teams, who want to know when I'm going to get something done."
Mr Heaton blamed St Helens Corporation's Building Department for the delay but they explained that the problems had been caused by vandalism on the site. Last summer the toilet and shower areas in the new pavilion had been wrecked and they had been forced to rebuild almost from scratch. There'd been a delay in obtaining fittings and they said the water supplies needed sorting before other work could take place.
Allan Smart, head of Central Secondary School, told the Reporter that a new town centre car park was a danger to his pupils. For the access road to the car park's entrance in Water Street ran by the side of the Windle Pilkington School, which Central used for gym and technical drawing classes.
Only a narrow footpath separated the road from the building and motorists had to pass the school gates at the top of the access road. "It's very dangerous," said Mr Smart, "and I think a matter of great urgency that something be done. The access is on a dangerous bend. Cars sweep round off the roundabout and there is no indication to motorists that there is a school entrance there."
There was a long article in the Reporter on the state of Monastery Road in Sutton. Just before Christmas lorries taking earth and clay from a new council estate to a dump had begun travelling along Monastery Road. Some were losing part of their loads and as a result the street had become very muddy.
Children attending St Anne's had been forced to walk to and from school through inches of sludge and the Rector of the Sutton Monastery was demanding a clean up. After intervention from the police, the contractor involved had now agreed to stop dumping for a week while Monastery Road was cleaned up and the firm also said they would try to find another site to use for dumping purposes.
However, this week the firm announced they were halving their workforce by making 60 more redundancies on top of the 25 that had been laid off last autumn. The firm's managing director, Arthur Walker, said: "We regret the redundancies but we had to do this to continue. We have trimmed the ship. We are now a fully viable economic unit."
Clinkard's Shoe Shop in Westfield Street in St Helens began their annual January sale on the 12th, with their sale of children's shoes beginning a few days later. The staggered sales were a tradition that went back some years, I believe.
On the 14th the Dooley Family performed again at St Helens Town Social Club in Hoghton Road. The group was still several years away from having their first hit record under their shortened name of the Dooleys.
And finally, on the 15th Ted Cook was chosen to be the last chairman of Rainford Urban District Council. In 1974 a parish council that was little more than an advisory body would replace the 15-person assembly that for 80 years had real decision-making powers over village affairs.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the sibling kidney transplant, the storm over a war hero's medals, the noisy lorries on the Birchley Street car park, the binmen struck down by sickness and the Lorne Hotel prepares for last orders.
This week's many stories include the hunt for the Fleet Lane dog sadist, Whiston Council's rebel school milk scheme begins, the head of Central Secondary declares a new car park a danger to pupils, the muddy state of Monastery Road in Sutton and the Blackbrook club with modern facilities – but no gas, electricity or water supplies.
We begin in St Helens Juvenile Court on the 9th when a 12-year-old boy admitted starting a fire that had also destroyed the former Lowe House youth club in Crab Street.
Months earlier he and another 12-year-old had started a fire inside Boundary Road Baptist Church that had damaged the building's main hall.
The two lads were also charged with committing many burglaries and thefts in St Helens in company with ten others.
They were both ordered to attend Prescot Attendance Centre for a total of 24 hours and one was put in the care of the local authority.
Also known as the Prescot Training Centre, the facility had opened in 1952 to provide discipline – as it was called – for young offenders on Saturdays.
Whiston Rural Council had been planning for some time to circumvent the Government's axing of free school milk to children aged over seven.
That was a decision that Education Minister Margaret Thatcher had controversially taken in 1971.
Whiston Council's jurisdiction then included Eccleston, Rainhill, Bold, Whiston, Hale and Cronton.
And their intention was for the 8,000 children in the 36 junior schools within those areas to every morning receive a third of a pint of milk each.
The scheme had been planned for some time but had faced resistance from Lancashire County Council and been delayed by a lack of volunteers.
But it began this week with limited success, as only a third of the schools could be supplied with milk due to an insufficient number of helpers.
Part-time scheme supervisor Rita Underdown had spent many weeks recruiting parents to help out.
As the County Council had banned the distribution of milk on school premises, the helpers were forced to stand at the school gates doling out milk cartons to the children as they arrived.
Only 46 volunteers in total had agreed to donate an hour of their time on milk monitor duty for two mornings a week.
But Whiston Council said they had decided to go ahead with milk distribution at the 12 schools where sufficient volunteers were available and they hoped their scheme would subsequently snowball.
"Explore Britain by Train" was the headline to an ad in the Echo on the 9th which offered a mini-weekend in London on Saturday January 13th for just £6.50. The price included return rail fare and bed and breakfast in a Grand Metropolitan Hotel.
A special train would leave from Southport and, as well as stopping at Wigan and Bank Quay, would pick up passengers at Shaw Street and St Helens Junction stations.
The train with buffet car would then make for the capital and return early on the Sunday evening.
The Echo also reported that the RSPCA were hunting for some sadistic individual or individuals from the Fleet Lane area of Parr that had been pouring boiling water on dogs.
Several animals had subsequently been put down, including Bimbo belonging to Audrey Molyneux of Inman Avenue.
Her 12-year-old spaniel-type mongrel had been missing for three days and when he briefly returned home, Mrs Molyneux noticed some of his fur had been lost.
Bimbo then went missing again and after four days came back home in a worse state, unable to lie down and refusing to let anyone near him. "He seemed terrified of human beings", reported Mrs Molyneux.
A local vet thought other dogs in the area could have been similarly attacked without their owners' knowledge because dogs' fur could mask scalds for a few days.
There was a nicer dog story in the St Helens Reporter on the 12th, which described the antics of Scoobie.
The 18-month-old Great Dane helped licensee Jack Frodsham look after the Prince of Wales Hotel in Ormskirk Street in St Helens.
And Scoobie liked his ale, with the Reporter writing: "When all the customers have gone home he rests his 6ft. 2in. form against the bar for a quiet pint or two."
A fed-up Harry Heaton was also pictured in the paper. The 60-year-old was the secretary of Blackbrook Recreation Club and last year their new pavilion had been opened to replace their old one that had burned down.
Although the building was equipped with modern facilities, the gas, electricity and water supplies had yet to be connected.
And so for the three days of the week when football and rugby teams played, Harry was forced to carry three two-gallon buckets of hot water from his home in O’Sullivan Crescent to their playing field. And he was getting sick of it!
"I'm 60 now, and I'm absolutely fed up with it all," he said. "I'm wondering if it's worth it, because I get an incredible backlash from visiting teams, who want to know when I'm going to get something done."
Mr Heaton blamed St Helens Corporation's Building Department for the delay but they explained that the problems had been caused by vandalism on the site.
Last summer the toilet and shower areas in the new pavilion had been wrecked and they had been forced to rebuild almost from scratch.
There'd been a delay in obtaining fittings and they said the water supplies needed sorting before other work could take place.
Allan Smart, head of Central Secondary School, told the Reporter that a new town centre car park was a danger to his pupils.
For the access road to the car park's entrance in Water Street ran by the side of the Windle Pilkington School, which Central used for gym and technical drawing classes.
Only a narrow footpath separated the road from the building and motorists had to pass the school gates at the top of the access road.
"It's very dangerous," said Mr Smart, "and I think a matter of great urgency that something be done. The access is on a dangerous bend. Cars sweep round off the roundabout and there is no indication to motorists that there is a school entrance there."
There was a long article in the Reporter on the state of Monastery Road in Sutton. Just before Christmas lorries taking earth and clay from a new council estate to a dump had begun travelling along Monastery Road.
Some were losing part of their loads and as a result the street had become very muddy.
Children attending St Anne's had been forced to walk to and from school through inches of sludge and the Rector of the Sutton Monastery was demanding a clean up.
After intervention from the police, the contractor involved had now agreed to stop dumping for a week while Monastery Road was cleaned up and the firm also said they would try to find another site to use for dumping purposes.
As we know things can change quickly in business. In February 1968 the Reporter’s main story on its front page was devoted to Crone & Taylor, who had achieved record sales over the previous year and planned to increase its workforce by 15%.
They were a firm for whom the phrase "where there's muck there's brass" might have been invented!
Founded in 1886, the Sutton Oak firm specialised in fertiliser for many decades before moving into engineering. "Their crying need is for turners, platers, welders and fitters", said the Reporter just five years ago.
However, this week the firm announced they were halving their workforce by making 60 more redundancies on top of the 25 that had been laid off last autumn.
The firm's managing director, Arthur Walker, said: "We regret the redundancies but we had to do this to continue. We have trimmed the ship. We are now a fully viable economic unit."
Clinkard's Shoe Shop in Westfield Street in St Helens began their annual January sale on the 12th, with their sale of children's shoes beginning a few days later. The staggered sales were a tradition that went back some years, I believe.
On the 14th the Dooley Family performed again at St Helens Town Social Club in Hoghton Road.
The group was still several years away from having their first hit record under their shortened name of the Dooleys.
And finally, on the 15th Ted Cook was chosen to be the last chairman of Rainford Urban District Council.
In 1974 a parish council that was little more than an advisory body would replace the 15-person assembly that for 80 years had real decision-making powers over village affairs.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the sibling kidney transplant, the storm over a war hero's medals, the noisy lorries on the Birchley Street car park, the binmen struck down by sickness and the Lorne Hotel prepares for last orders.
We begin in St Helens Juvenile Court on the 9th when a 12-year-old boy admitted starting a fire that had also destroyed the former Lowe House youth club in Crab Street.
Months earlier he and another 12-year-old had started a fire inside Boundary Road Baptist Church that had damaged the building's main hall.
The two lads were also charged with committing many burglaries and thefts in St Helens in company with ten others.
They were both ordered to attend Prescot Attendance Centre for a total of 24 hours and one was put in the care of the local authority.
Also known as the Prescot Training Centre, the facility had opened in 1952 to provide discipline – as it was called – for young offenders on Saturdays.
Whiston Rural Council had been planning for some time to circumvent the Government's axing of free school milk to children aged over seven.
That was a decision that Education Minister Margaret Thatcher had controversially taken in 1971.
Whiston Council's jurisdiction then included Eccleston, Rainhill, Bold, Whiston, Hale and Cronton.
And their intention was for the 8,000 children in the 36 junior schools within those areas to every morning receive a third of a pint of milk each.
The scheme had been planned for some time but had faced resistance from Lancashire County Council and been delayed by a lack of volunteers.
But it began this week with limited success, as only a third of the schools could be supplied with milk due to an insufficient number of helpers.
Part-time scheme supervisor Rita Underdown had spent many weeks recruiting parents to help out.
As the County Council had banned the distribution of milk on school premises, the helpers were forced to stand at the school gates doling out milk cartons to the children as they arrived.
Only 46 volunteers in total had agreed to donate an hour of their time on milk monitor duty for two mornings a week.
But Whiston Council said they had decided to go ahead with milk distribution at the 12 schools where sufficient volunteers were available and they hoped their scheme would subsequently snowball.
"Explore Britain by Train" was the headline to an ad in the Echo on the 9th which offered a mini-weekend in London on Saturday January 13th for just £6.50. The price included return rail fare and bed and breakfast in a Grand Metropolitan Hotel.
A special train would leave from Southport and, as well as stopping at Wigan and Bank Quay, would pick up passengers at Shaw Street and St Helens Junction stations.
The train with buffet car would then make for the capital and return early on the Sunday evening.
The Echo also reported that the RSPCA were hunting for some sadistic individual or individuals from the Fleet Lane area of Parr that had been pouring boiling water on dogs.
Several animals had subsequently been put down, including Bimbo belonging to Audrey Molyneux of Inman Avenue.
Her 12-year-old spaniel-type mongrel had been missing for three days and when he briefly returned home, Mrs Molyneux noticed some of his fur had been lost.
Bimbo then went missing again and after four days came back home in a worse state, unable to lie down and refusing to let anyone near him. "He seemed terrified of human beings", reported Mrs Molyneux.
A local vet thought other dogs in the area could have been similarly attacked without their owners' knowledge because dogs' fur could mask scalds for a few days.
There was a nicer dog story in the St Helens Reporter on the 12th, which described the antics of Scoobie.
And Scoobie liked his ale, with the Reporter writing: "When all the customers have gone home he rests his 6ft. 2in. form against the bar for a quiet pint or two."
A fed-up Harry Heaton was also pictured in the paper. The 60-year-old was the secretary of Blackbrook Recreation Club and last year their new pavilion had been opened to replace their old one that had burned down.
Although the building was equipped with modern facilities, the gas, electricity and water supplies had yet to be connected.
And so for the three days of the week when football and rugby teams played, Harry was forced to carry three two-gallon buckets of hot water from his home in O’Sullivan Crescent to their playing field. And he was getting sick of it!
"I'm 60 now, and I'm absolutely fed up with it all," he said. "I'm wondering if it's worth it, because I get an incredible backlash from visiting teams, who want to know when I'm going to get something done."
Mr Heaton blamed St Helens Corporation's Building Department for the delay but they explained that the problems had been caused by vandalism on the site.
Last summer the toilet and shower areas in the new pavilion had been wrecked and they had been forced to rebuild almost from scratch.
There'd been a delay in obtaining fittings and they said the water supplies needed sorting before other work could take place.
Allan Smart, head of Central Secondary School, told the Reporter that a new town centre car park was a danger to his pupils.
For the access road to the car park's entrance in Water Street ran by the side of the Windle Pilkington School, which Central used for gym and technical drawing classes.
Only a narrow footpath separated the road from the building and motorists had to pass the school gates at the top of the access road.
"It's very dangerous," said Mr Smart, "and I think a matter of great urgency that something be done. The access is on a dangerous bend. Cars sweep round off the roundabout and there is no indication to motorists that there is a school entrance there."
There was a long article in the Reporter on the state of Monastery Road in Sutton. Just before Christmas lorries taking earth and clay from a new council estate to a dump had begun travelling along Monastery Road.
Some were losing part of their loads and as a result the street had become very muddy.
Children attending St Anne's had been forced to walk to and from school through inches of sludge and the Rector of the Sutton Monastery was demanding a clean up.
After intervention from the police, the contractor involved had now agreed to stop dumping for a week while Monastery Road was cleaned up and the firm also said they would try to find another site to use for dumping purposes.
They were a firm for whom the phrase "where there's muck there's brass" might have been invented!
Founded in 1886, the Sutton Oak firm specialised in fertiliser for many decades before moving into engineering. "Their crying need is for turners, platers, welders and fitters", said the Reporter just five years ago.
However, this week the firm announced they were halving their workforce by making 60 more redundancies on top of the 25 that had been laid off last autumn.
The firm's managing director, Arthur Walker, said: "We regret the redundancies but we had to do this to continue. We have trimmed the ship. We are now a fully viable economic unit."
Clinkard's Shoe Shop in Westfield Street in St Helens began their annual January sale on the 12th, with their sale of children's shoes beginning a few days later. The staggered sales were a tradition that went back some years, I believe.
On the 14th the Dooley Family performed again at St Helens Town Social Club in Hoghton Road.
The group was still several years away from having their first hit record under their shortened name of the Dooleys.
And finally, on the 15th Ted Cook was chosen to be the last chairman of Rainford Urban District Council.
In 1974 a parish council that was little more than an advisory body would replace the 15-person assembly that for 80 years had real decision-making powers over village affairs.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the sibling kidney transplant, the storm over a war hero's medals, the noisy lorries on the Birchley Street car park, the binmen struck down by sickness and the Lorne Hotel prepares for last orders.