FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (9th - 15th MARCH 1970)
This week's stories include the Black Horse's ban on longhaired drinkers, a gipsy ban by the Wheatsheaf in Sutton, a claim of ghetto conditions in Parr, the ice-cream salesgirls at the Savoy and a profile of Jacobs clothing factory on the Parr Industrial Estate.
We begin on the 10th with a speech at a St Helens Chamber of Trade meeting by Chief Superintendent George Cairns. Recently William Barrow of the Chamber had criticised the new police Panda car system and called for more officers to be on the beat checking property. However Ch. Supt. Cairns pointed out that the days when policemen were employed to hang around shops had long gone, explaining that: "The criminal today has mobility and is prepared to travel great distances. They go to extremes to avoid detection and many are quite daring." He also said vandalism was "one of the serious problems of our time."
Two 11-year-old girls giggled and smiled in court on the 10th as magistrates were told how they'd threatened a partially blind woman with a milk bottle. The two children had rushed into 87-year-old Elizabeth Smith's home in Napier Street and dragged her out of a chair before stealing her purse containing £7 14s. The girls asked for a number of similar offences to be taken into consideration and were remanded for medical reports. Several of the thefts were carried out with an 11-year-old boy who faced three charges of stealing purses and asked for twelve similar ones to be considered. He was sent to an approved school.
St Helens Corporation announced this week that work had begun on a £796,000 housing estate at Bentley Street in Sutton Manor. The scheme would involve building 191 two-storey houses and 12 bungalows. It was expected that the first council tenants would be able to move in by the end of August 1971. It was also stated that work on constructing a three-storey shopping and office development in Barrow Street would start in three months time. The scheme would consist of seven shops and two floors of offices and Granada Rental had already snapped up two of the units.
The St Helens Chamber of Trade warned this week of price rises if the Town Council's planned rate increase went ahead. Householders were going to be asked to pay another shilling in the pound and businesses 1s 5d. Spokesman William Barrow said: "Food, clothing and all kinds of merchandise will go up because of the increased cost of running a business. Any suggestion that the cost can be absorbed is rubbish."
"Ghetto Conditions Leads To Petition From Housewives" was the headline to a story on the front page of the Reporter on the 13th. It concerned the open-plan lawns bordering the fronts of houses on the Cherry Tree Drive council estate in Parr. A group of female residents planned to present a petition to Leslie Spriggs, the MP for St Helens, as they claimed that during wet weather the lawns became mud baths. They were also unhappy about the lack of privacy because of the open fronts to their homes.
Margaret Marren of Barlow Grove said: "Estates like this one are turning into ghettos. It's time councillors started doing something for the people who put them where they are. People walk over the lawns to get to the front doors of houses. It makes you a nervous wreck, people walking right past the front window and looking into the house."
The saga of the so-called gipsies of Reginald Road never seems to end. This week's story in the Reporter concerned a ban by the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Sutton. Manager Fred Worrall said he'd been forced to stop them from drinking in his Mill Lane pub because of two incidents. In one the police had to be called when two gipsies began fighting outside his premises. The other incident concerned a woman who said a man from the caravan site had indecently assaulted her while she'd been in the off-licence section of the pub.
The 27-year-old from Porlock Avenuue told St Helens Magistrates Court that she had gone to buy some cigarettes when she felt a man slip his hand under her mini-skirt and caress her thigh. He then rubbed his hands together and said: "You are all right, aren't you love?" The 23-year-old Irishman claimed mistaken identity but was fined £10. Landlord Fred Worrall told the Reporter that he had no choice but to introduce a ban on gipsies as he was losing trade through their presence in his pub – even though most had not caused any trouble in the 18 months since they'd been in Sutton.
Another pub ban had been placed on Brian Cotter, who had been stopped from being served in the lounge of the Black Horse because his hair was too long. The landlord of the Moss Bank pub, Arthur Pridham, told the Reporter: "This is one of my own private rulings. I don't want customers with long hair in the lounge. If they want a drink they can go into the public bar."
Brian lived in Hammill Avenue in Dentons Green and was a student at St Helens College of Technology. The 20-year-old said he had been flabbergasted by the ban and had organised a boycott of the pub by his friends. He told the paper: "This is just a silly, old-fashioned ruling. I would like to see a long-haired member of the Royal Family go into the pub. I bet he would get served."
"Other People's Jobs" was a regular feature in the paper and this week's focus was on the "ice-cream salesgirls" at the Savoy Cinema (pictured above). Marion Crooks of Loughrigg Avenue, Clinkham Wood, was one of the three "girls" that did the job at the Bridge Street venue. The 38-year-old described how she had trained herself to see in semi-darkness and possessed the ability to judge a coin's value with her eyes shut tight.
"Working in the dark comes easier with practice", said Marion. "But at first you think you will never get the hang of it." Her working hours were from 1:30pm until ten at night with two days off per week. "My pay, as a saleswoman is about £7 8s. per week. It is very good really.", added Marion. "It is always nice and warm and cosy inside the cinema, no matter what the weather is like outside. I enjoy the work mainly though because it is clean and respectable and gives me the chance to meet a lot of people."
As well as the ice-cream salesgirls, the cinema also employed four full-time and four part-time usherettes. "Some people think we are lucky to be working in a cinema because of all the films we see", remarked Marion. "But we only see snatches of film." However the staff did receive a pass, which entitled two members of their family to see a free film every week. Agnes Blackhurst from Liverpool Street had been an usherette at the Savoy for over twenty years. She described the pass as one of the perks of the job but added: "We get a great deal of satisfaction out of it as well."
The Reporter also described a court case in which a police inspector had caught two burglars red-handed inside a Park Street shop. Both men were from the Salvation Army Hostel in Salisbury Street and one used the line: "It's a fair cop, guv". I wonder if present-day burglars ever say that? The 51-year-old also admitted stealing some biscuits and a record player from Robins Lane School and was committed to Liverpool Quarter Sessions for sentence.
There was a heart-warming story in the Reporter about the Rigby family from Folds Road in Haydock. Their world turned upside down last week when fire swept through their living room, blackening walls, wrecking furniture and causing £300 worth of damage. That's around £5,000 in today's money and to make matters worse Ron and Ivy Rigby had no insurance.
But within hours of the blaze, the family's friends and neighbours had moved in to start clearing up the mess and by the following day the room had been redecorated. They also clubbed together to buy £200 of new furniture for the overwhelmed couple. "Everyone has been wonderful to us", remarked Ivy. "I don't know how I will ever be able to thank them all."
I've lost count of the number of people who've contacted me from Australia after emigrating from St Helens during the ‘60s and ‘70s. However Sandra Millard had travelled in the opposite direction, arriving in the town from South Australia last June and now living in Brookway Lane. The 23-year-old was profiled as part of an extensive write-up in the Reporter on J. & P. Jacobs on the Parr Industrial Estate. Sandra was halfway through her five-week training course at the clothing factory that employed almost 800 sewing machinists.
"I have always had a longing to come to England and live here," said Sandra. "And I am glad I did. I am having a wonderful training here at Jacobs." It was definitely a case of music as you work for the all-female machinists, as the Reporter commented: "Sewing machines hum incessantly in the workroom, and the Top Ten floats through the amplifiers. Everyone is busy, but there is a marvellous homely feeling about the place."
The St Helens College of Technology was also featured in the Reporter, in which it was described as a "virtual supermarket of education, catering for almost every vocational taste. It offers training from accounting to Russian and provides the facilities to match." Engineering then occupied half of the college with 2,500 students accommodated in 9 workshops and 16 laboratories.
Next week's stories will include anger over the ban on Sunday sport on council-owned pitches, a huge tobacco and spirits heist in Boundary Road, an update on the creation of the Duckeries in Parr and what Lord Pilkington had to say about the environment.
We begin on the 10th with a speech at a St Helens Chamber of Trade meeting by Chief Superintendent George Cairns. Recently William Barrow of the Chamber had criticised the new police Panda car system and called for more officers to be on the beat checking property. However Ch. Supt. Cairns pointed out that the days when policemen were employed to hang around shops had long gone, explaining that: "The criminal today has mobility and is prepared to travel great distances. They go to extremes to avoid detection and many are quite daring." He also said vandalism was "one of the serious problems of our time."
Two 11-year-old girls giggled and smiled in court on the 10th as magistrates were told how they'd threatened a partially blind woman with a milk bottle. The two children had rushed into 87-year-old Elizabeth Smith's home in Napier Street and dragged her out of a chair before stealing her purse containing £7 14s. The girls asked for a number of similar offences to be taken into consideration and were remanded for medical reports. Several of the thefts were carried out with an 11-year-old boy who faced three charges of stealing purses and asked for twelve similar ones to be considered. He was sent to an approved school.
St Helens Corporation announced this week that work had begun on a £796,000 housing estate at Bentley Street in Sutton Manor. The scheme would involve building 191 two-storey houses and 12 bungalows. It was expected that the first council tenants would be able to move in by the end of August 1971. It was also stated that work on constructing a three-storey shopping and office development in Barrow Street would start in three months time. The scheme would consist of seven shops and two floors of offices and Granada Rental had already snapped up two of the units.
The St Helens Chamber of Trade warned this week of price rises if the Town Council's planned rate increase went ahead. Householders were going to be asked to pay another shilling in the pound and businesses 1s 5d. Spokesman William Barrow said: "Food, clothing and all kinds of merchandise will go up because of the increased cost of running a business. Any suggestion that the cost can be absorbed is rubbish."
"Ghetto Conditions Leads To Petition From Housewives" was the headline to a story on the front page of the Reporter on the 13th. It concerned the open-plan lawns bordering the fronts of houses on the Cherry Tree Drive council estate in Parr. A group of female residents planned to present a petition to Leslie Spriggs, the MP for St Helens, as they claimed that during wet weather the lawns became mud baths. They were also unhappy about the lack of privacy because of the open fronts to their homes.
Margaret Marren of Barlow Grove said: "Estates like this one are turning into ghettos. It's time councillors started doing something for the people who put them where they are. People walk over the lawns to get to the front doors of houses. It makes you a nervous wreck, people walking right past the front window and looking into the house."
The saga of the so-called gipsies of Reginald Road never seems to end. This week's story in the Reporter concerned a ban by the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Sutton. Manager Fred Worrall said he'd been forced to stop them from drinking in his Mill Lane pub because of two incidents. In one the police had to be called when two gipsies began fighting outside his premises. The other incident concerned a woman who said a man from the caravan site had indecently assaulted her while she'd been in the off-licence section of the pub.
The 27-year-old from Porlock Avenuue told St Helens Magistrates Court that she had gone to buy some cigarettes when she felt a man slip his hand under her mini-skirt and caress her thigh. He then rubbed his hands together and said: "You are all right, aren't you love?" The 23-year-old Irishman claimed mistaken identity but was fined £10. Landlord Fred Worrall told the Reporter that he had no choice but to introduce a ban on gipsies as he was losing trade through their presence in his pub – even though most had not caused any trouble in the 18 months since they'd been in Sutton.
Another pub ban had been placed on Brian Cotter, who had been stopped from being served in the lounge of the Black Horse because his hair was too long. The landlord of the Moss Bank pub, Arthur Pridham, told the Reporter: "This is one of my own private rulings. I don't want customers with long hair in the lounge. If they want a drink they can go into the public bar."
Brian lived in Hammill Avenue in Dentons Green and was a student at St Helens College of Technology. The 20-year-old said he had been flabbergasted by the ban and had organised a boycott of the pub by his friends. He told the paper: "This is just a silly, old-fashioned ruling. I would like to see a long-haired member of the Royal Family go into the pub. I bet he would get served."
"Working in the dark comes easier with practice", said Marion. "But at first you think you will never get the hang of it." Her working hours were from 1:30pm until ten at night with two days off per week. "My pay, as a saleswoman is about £7 8s. per week. It is very good really.", added Marion. "It is always nice and warm and cosy inside the cinema, no matter what the weather is like outside. I enjoy the work mainly though because it is clean and respectable and gives me the chance to meet a lot of people."
As well as the ice-cream salesgirls, the cinema also employed four full-time and four part-time usherettes. "Some people think we are lucky to be working in a cinema because of all the films we see", remarked Marion. "But we only see snatches of film." However the staff did receive a pass, which entitled two members of their family to see a free film every week. Agnes Blackhurst from Liverpool Street had been an usherette at the Savoy for over twenty years. She described the pass as one of the perks of the job but added: "We get a great deal of satisfaction out of it as well."
The Reporter also described a court case in which a police inspector had caught two burglars red-handed inside a Park Street shop. Both men were from the Salvation Army Hostel in Salisbury Street and one used the line: "It's a fair cop, guv". I wonder if present-day burglars ever say that? The 51-year-old also admitted stealing some biscuits and a record player from Robins Lane School and was committed to Liverpool Quarter Sessions for sentence.
There was a heart-warming story in the Reporter about the Rigby family from Folds Road in Haydock. Their world turned upside down last week when fire swept through their living room, blackening walls, wrecking furniture and causing £300 worth of damage. That's around £5,000 in today's money and to make matters worse Ron and Ivy Rigby had no insurance.
But within hours of the blaze, the family's friends and neighbours had moved in to start clearing up the mess and by the following day the room had been redecorated. They also clubbed together to buy £200 of new furniture for the overwhelmed couple. "Everyone has been wonderful to us", remarked Ivy. "I don't know how I will ever be able to thank them all."
I've lost count of the number of people who've contacted me from Australia after emigrating from St Helens during the ‘60s and ‘70s. However Sandra Millard had travelled in the opposite direction, arriving in the town from South Australia last June and now living in Brookway Lane. The 23-year-old was profiled as part of an extensive write-up in the Reporter on J. & P. Jacobs on the Parr Industrial Estate. Sandra was halfway through her five-week training course at the clothing factory that employed almost 800 sewing machinists.
"I have always had a longing to come to England and live here," said Sandra. "And I am glad I did. I am having a wonderful training here at Jacobs." It was definitely a case of music as you work for the all-female machinists, as the Reporter commented: "Sewing machines hum incessantly in the workroom, and the Top Ten floats through the amplifiers. Everyone is busy, but there is a marvellous homely feeling about the place."
The St Helens College of Technology was also featured in the Reporter, in which it was described as a "virtual supermarket of education, catering for almost every vocational taste. It offers training from accounting to Russian and provides the facilities to match." Engineering then occupied half of the college with 2,500 students accommodated in 9 workshops and 16 laboratories.
Next week's stories will include anger over the ban on Sunday sport on council-owned pitches, a huge tobacco and spirits heist in Boundary Road, an update on the creation of the Duckeries in Parr and what Lord Pilkington had to say about the environment.
This week's stories include the Black Horse's ban on longhaired drinkers, a gipsy ban by the Wheatsheaf in Sutton, a claim of ghetto conditions in Parr, the ice-cream salesgirls at the Savoy and a profile of Jacobs clothing factory on the Parr Industrial Estate.
We begin on the 10th with a speech at a St Helens Chamber of Trade meeting by Chief Superintendent George Cairns.
Recently William Barrow of the Chamber had criticised the new police Panda car system and called for more officers to be on the beat checking property.
However Ch. Supt. Cairns pointed out that the days when policemen were employed to hang around shops had long gone, explaining that:
"The criminal today has mobility and is prepared to travel great distances. They go to extremes to avoid detection and many are quite daring."
He also described vandalism as "one of the serious problems of our time."
Two 11-year-old girls giggled and smiled in court on the 10th as magistrates were told how they'd threatened a partially blind woman with a milk bottle.
The two children had rushed into 87-year-old Elizabeth Smith's home in Napier Street and dragged her out of a chair before stealing her purse containing £7 14s.
The girls asked for a number of similar offences to be taken into consideration and were remanded for medical reports.
Several of the thefts were carried out with an 11-year-old boy who faced three charges of stealing purses and asked for twelve similar ones to be considered. He was sent to an approved school.
St Helens Corporation announced this week that work had begun on a £796,000 housing estate at Bentley Street in Sutton Manor.
The scheme would involve building 191 two-storey houses and 12 bungalows. It was expected that the first council tenants would be able to move in by the end of August 1971.
It was also stated that work on constructing a three-storey shopping and office development in Barrow Street would start in three months time.
The scheme would consist of seven shops and two floors of offices and Granada Rental had already snapped up two of the units.
The St Helens Chamber of Trade warned this week of price rises if the Town Council's planned rate increase went ahead.
Householders were going to be asked to pay another shilling in the pound and businesses 1s 5d. Spokesman William Barrow said:
"Food, clothing and all kinds of merchandise will go up because of the increased cost of running a business. Any suggestion that the cost can be absorbed is rubbish."
"Ghetto Conditions Leads To Petition From Housewives" was the headline to a story on the front page of the Reporter on the 13th.
It concerned the open-plan lawns bordering the fronts of houses on the Cherry Tree Drive council estate in Parr.
A group of female residents planned to present a petition to Leslie Spriggs, the MP for St Helens, as they claimed that during wet weather the lawns became mud baths.
They were also unhappy about the lack of privacy because of the open fronts to their homes.
Margaret Marren of Barlow Grove said: "Estates like this one are turning into ghettos. It's time councillors started doing something for the people who put them where they are.
"People walk over the lawns to get to the front doors of houses. It makes you a nervous wreck, people walking right past the front window and looking into the house."
The saga of the so-called gipsies of Reginald Road never seems to end. This week's story in the Reporter concerned a ban by the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Sutton.
Manager Fred Worrall said he'd been forced to stop them from drinking in his Mill Lane pub because of two incidents.
In one the police had to be called when two gipsies began fighting outside his premises.
The other incident concerned a woman who said a man from the caravan site had indecently assaulted her while she'd been in the off-licence section of the pub.
The 27-year-old from Porlock Avenuue told St Helens Magistrates Court that she had gone to buy some cigarettes when she felt a man slip his hand under her mini-skirt and caress her thigh.
He then rubbed his hands together and said: "You are all right, aren't you love?" The 23-year-old Irishman claimed mistaken identity but was fined £10.
Landlord Fred Worrall told the Reporter that he had no choice but to introduce a ban on gipsies as he was losing trade through their presence in his pub.
Even though most had not caused any trouble in the 18 months since they'd been in Sutton.
Another pub ban had been placed on Brian Cotter, who had been stopped from being served in the lounge of the Black Horse because his hair was too long.
The landlord of the Moss Bank pub, Arthur Pridham, told the Reporter:
"This is one of my own private rulings. I don't want customers with long hair in the lounge. If they want a drink they can go into the public bar."
Brian lived in Hammill Avenue in Dentons Green and was a student at St Helens College of Technology.
The 20-year-old said he had been flabbergasted by the ban and had organised a boycott of the pub by his friends. He told the paper:
"This is just a silly, old-fashioned ruling. I would like to see a long-haired member of the Royal Family go into the pub. I bet he would get served."
"Other People's Jobs" was a regular feature in the paper and this week's focus was on the "ice-cream salesgirls" at the Savoy Cinema (pictured above).
Marion Crooks of Loughrigg Avenue, Clinkham Wood, was one of the three "girls" that did the job at the Bridge Street venue.
The 38-year-old described how she had trained herself to see in semi-darkness and possessed the ability to judge a coin's value with her eyes shut tight.
"Working in the dark comes easier with practice", said Marion. "But at first you think you will never get the hang of it."
Her working hours were from 1:30pm until ten at night with two days off per week.
"My pay, as a saleswoman is about £7 8s. per week. It is very good really.", added Marion.
"It is always nice and warm and cosy inside the cinema, no matter what the weather is like outside.
"I enjoy the work mainly though because it is clean and respectable and gives me the chance to meet a lot of people."
As well as the ice-cream salesgirls, the cinema also employed four full-time and four part-time usherettes.
"Some people think we are lucky to be working in a cinema because of all the films we see", remarked Marion. "But we only see snatches of film."
However the staff did receive a pass, which entitled two members of their family to see a free film every week.
Agnes Blackhurst from Liverpool Street had been an usherette at the Savoy for over twenty years.
She described the pass as one of the perks of the job but added: "We get a great deal of satisfaction out of it as well."
The Reporter also described a court case in which a police inspector had caught two burglars red-handed inside a Park Street shop.
Both men were from the Salvation Army Hostel in Salisbury Street and one used the line: "It's a fair cop, guv". I wonder if present-day burglars ever say that?
The 51-year-old also admitted stealing some biscuits and a record player from Robins Lane School and was committed to Liverpool Quarter Sessions for sentence.
There was a heart-warming story in the Reporter about the Rigby family from Folds Road in Haydock.
Their world turned upside down last week when fire swept through their living room, blackening walls, wrecking furniture and causing £300 worth of damage.
That's around £5,000 in today's money and to make matters worse Ron and Ivy Rigby had no insurance.
But within hours of the blaze, the family's friends and neighbours had moved in to start clearing up the mess and by the following day the room had been redecorated.
They also clubbed together to buy £200 of new furniture for the overwhelmed couple.
"Everyone has been wonderful to us", remarked Ivy. "I don't know how I will ever be able to thank them all."
I've lost count of the number of people who've contacted me from Australia after emigrating from St Helens during the ‘60s and ‘70s.
However Sandra Millard had travelled in the opposite direction, arriving in the town from South Australia last June and now living in Brookway Lane.
The 23-year-old was profiled as part of an extensive write-up in the Reporter on J. & P. Jacobs on the Parr Industrial Estate.
Sandra was halfway through her five-week training course at the clothing factory that employed almost 800 sewing machinists.
"I have always had a longing to come to England and live here," said Sandra. "And I am glad I did. I am having a wonderful training here at Jacobs."
It was definitely a case of music as you work for the all-female machinists, as the Reporter commented:
"Sewing machines hum incessantly in the workroom, and the Top Ten floats through the amplifiers. Everyone is busy, but there is a marvellous homely feeling about the place."
The St Helens College of Technology was also featured in the Reporter, in which it was described as a:
”Virtual supermarket of education, catering for almost every vocational taste. It offers training from accounting to Russian and provides the facilities to match."
Engineering then occupied half of the college with 2,500 students accommodated in 9 workshops and 16 laboratories.
Next week's stories will include anger over the ban on Sunday sport on council-owned pitches, a huge tobacco and spirits heist in Boundary Road, an update on the creation of the Duckeries in Parr and what Lord Pilkington had to say about the environment.
We begin on the 10th with a speech at a St Helens Chamber of Trade meeting by Chief Superintendent George Cairns.
Recently William Barrow of the Chamber had criticised the new police Panda car system and called for more officers to be on the beat checking property.
However Ch. Supt. Cairns pointed out that the days when policemen were employed to hang around shops had long gone, explaining that:
"The criminal today has mobility and is prepared to travel great distances. They go to extremes to avoid detection and many are quite daring."
He also described vandalism as "one of the serious problems of our time."
Two 11-year-old girls giggled and smiled in court on the 10th as magistrates were told how they'd threatened a partially blind woman with a milk bottle.
The two children had rushed into 87-year-old Elizabeth Smith's home in Napier Street and dragged her out of a chair before stealing her purse containing £7 14s.
The girls asked for a number of similar offences to be taken into consideration and were remanded for medical reports.
Several of the thefts were carried out with an 11-year-old boy who faced three charges of stealing purses and asked for twelve similar ones to be considered. He was sent to an approved school.
St Helens Corporation announced this week that work had begun on a £796,000 housing estate at Bentley Street in Sutton Manor.
The scheme would involve building 191 two-storey houses and 12 bungalows. It was expected that the first council tenants would be able to move in by the end of August 1971.
It was also stated that work on constructing a three-storey shopping and office development in Barrow Street would start in three months time.
The scheme would consist of seven shops and two floors of offices and Granada Rental had already snapped up two of the units.
The St Helens Chamber of Trade warned this week of price rises if the Town Council's planned rate increase went ahead.
Householders were going to be asked to pay another shilling in the pound and businesses 1s 5d. Spokesman William Barrow said:
"Food, clothing and all kinds of merchandise will go up because of the increased cost of running a business. Any suggestion that the cost can be absorbed is rubbish."
"Ghetto Conditions Leads To Petition From Housewives" was the headline to a story on the front page of the Reporter on the 13th.
It concerned the open-plan lawns bordering the fronts of houses on the Cherry Tree Drive council estate in Parr.
A group of female residents planned to present a petition to Leslie Spriggs, the MP for St Helens, as they claimed that during wet weather the lawns became mud baths.
They were also unhappy about the lack of privacy because of the open fronts to their homes.
Margaret Marren of Barlow Grove said: "Estates like this one are turning into ghettos. It's time councillors started doing something for the people who put them where they are.
"People walk over the lawns to get to the front doors of houses. It makes you a nervous wreck, people walking right past the front window and looking into the house."
The saga of the so-called gipsies of Reginald Road never seems to end. This week's story in the Reporter concerned a ban by the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Sutton.
Manager Fred Worrall said he'd been forced to stop them from drinking in his Mill Lane pub because of two incidents.
In one the police had to be called when two gipsies began fighting outside his premises.
The other incident concerned a woman who said a man from the caravan site had indecently assaulted her while she'd been in the off-licence section of the pub.
The 27-year-old from Porlock Avenuue told St Helens Magistrates Court that she had gone to buy some cigarettes when she felt a man slip his hand under her mini-skirt and caress her thigh.
He then rubbed his hands together and said: "You are all right, aren't you love?" The 23-year-old Irishman claimed mistaken identity but was fined £10.
Landlord Fred Worrall told the Reporter that he had no choice but to introduce a ban on gipsies as he was losing trade through their presence in his pub.
Even though most had not caused any trouble in the 18 months since they'd been in Sutton.
Another pub ban had been placed on Brian Cotter, who had been stopped from being served in the lounge of the Black Horse because his hair was too long.
The landlord of the Moss Bank pub, Arthur Pridham, told the Reporter:
"This is one of my own private rulings. I don't want customers with long hair in the lounge. If they want a drink they can go into the public bar."
Brian lived in Hammill Avenue in Dentons Green and was a student at St Helens College of Technology.
The 20-year-old said he had been flabbergasted by the ban and had organised a boycott of the pub by his friends. He told the paper:
"This is just a silly, old-fashioned ruling. I would like to see a long-haired member of the Royal Family go into the pub. I bet he would get served."
Marion Crooks of Loughrigg Avenue, Clinkham Wood, was one of the three "girls" that did the job at the Bridge Street venue.
The 38-year-old described how she had trained herself to see in semi-darkness and possessed the ability to judge a coin's value with her eyes shut tight.
"Working in the dark comes easier with practice", said Marion. "But at first you think you will never get the hang of it."
Her working hours were from 1:30pm until ten at night with two days off per week.
"My pay, as a saleswoman is about £7 8s. per week. It is very good really.", added Marion.
"It is always nice and warm and cosy inside the cinema, no matter what the weather is like outside.
"I enjoy the work mainly though because it is clean and respectable and gives me the chance to meet a lot of people."
As well as the ice-cream salesgirls, the cinema also employed four full-time and four part-time usherettes.
"Some people think we are lucky to be working in a cinema because of all the films we see", remarked Marion. "But we only see snatches of film."
However the staff did receive a pass, which entitled two members of their family to see a free film every week.
Agnes Blackhurst from Liverpool Street had been an usherette at the Savoy for over twenty years.
She described the pass as one of the perks of the job but added: "We get a great deal of satisfaction out of it as well."
The Reporter also described a court case in which a police inspector had caught two burglars red-handed inside a Park Street shop.
Both men were from the Salvation Army Hostel in Salisbury Street and one used the line: "It's a fair cop, guv". I wonder if present-day burglars ever say that?
The 51-year-old also admitted stealing some biscuits and a record player from Robins Lane School and was committed to Liverpool Quarter Sessions for sentence.
There was a heart-warming story in the Reporter about the Rigby family from Folds Road in Haydock.
Their world turned upside down last week when fire swept through their living room, blackening walls, wrecking furniture and causing £300 worth of damage.
That's around £5,000 in today's money and to make matters worse Ron and Ivy Rigby had no insurance.
But within hours of the blaze, the family's friends and neighbours had moved in to start clearing up the mess and by the following day the room had been redecorated.
They also clubbed together to buy £200 of new furniture for the overwhelmed couple.
"Everyone has been wonderful to us", remarked Ivy. "I don't know how I will ever be able to thank them all."
I've lost count of the number of people who've contacted me from Australia after emigrating from St Helens during the ‘60s and ‘70s.
However Sandra Millard had travelled in the opposite direction, arriving in the town from South Australia last June and now living in Brookway Lane.
The 23-year-old was profiled as part of an extensive write-up in the Reporter on J. & P. Jacobs on the Parr Industrial Estate.
Sandra was halfway through her five-week training course at the clothing factory that employed almost 800 sewing machinists.
"I have always had a longing to come to England and live here," said Sandra. "And I am glad I did. I am having a wonderful training here at Jacobs."
It was definitely a case of music as you work for the all-female machinists, as the Reporter commented:
"Sewing machines hum incessantly in the workroom, and the Top Ten floats through the amplifiers. Everyone is busy, but there is a marvellous homely feeling about the place."
The St Helens College of Technology was also featured in the Reporter, in which it was described as a:
”Virtual supermarket of education, catering for almost every vocational taste. It offers training from accounting to Russian and provides the facilities to match."
Engineering then occupied half of the college with 2,500 students accommodated in 9 workshops and 16 laboratories.
Next week's stories will include anger over the ban on Sunday sport on council-owned pitches, a huge tobacco and spirits heist in Boundary Road, an update on the creation of the Duckeries in Parr and what Lord Pilkington had to say about the environment.