FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (9th - 15th MAY 1972)
This week's many stories include the unexploded bomb in St Helens Canal, the busman's holiday operation to take stranded Saints fans to Wembley, the ending of the Linpac Plastics sit-in, the three schoolboy crime fighters, victory for the residents of Green End Road and concern that coin-operated gas meters in St Helens were attracting robbers.
This week the Vicar of St Ann's at Rainhill, the Rev. Frank Ebbitt, asked for help from his local community to raise £6,000. The cash was needed to pay for extensions to the church school. These would include the building of four classrooms, an assembly hall and a kitchen. The cost to the parish would be £11,000 in total – but they already had £5,000 in their reserves.
St Helens-born Dora Levy was involved in a terrorist hijack in Israel this week in which Arab gunmen held 100 passengers and crew hostage in Tel Aviv. Explosive charges were set to blow up the Boeing 707 aircraft piloted by Dora's husband, if the gunmen's demands for the release of prisoners were not met. But Israeli soldiers dressed as aircraft maintenance workers made a dramatic rescue of the hostages, shooting dead the terrorists. Dora's mother, Amy Shawcross of Brynn Street in St Helens, was quoted as saying: "Thank God they are alive."
Coin-operated gas and electricity meters were largely phased out during the 1980s and ‘90s when prepayment meters using cards or keys replaced them. During the 1970s, coin meters – that required regular emptying by the electricity and gas boards – were widespread in St Helens and created fears of break-ins among the elderly. At least that was what an article published in the St Helens Reporter claimed on the 12th.
The piece described how burglars were finding meters full of silver to be "sitting targets", causing elderly folk to dread "the long wait" for the gas or electricity man to come and empty them. Agnes Tidder complained that the meter in her home had not been emptied for nine weeks and said she knew of a number of old people in St Helens concerned that the cash in their meter might get stolen – and then they'd be held responsible for payment.
Crane driver Ernie Taylor was praised in the Reporter after fishing a 500lb unexploded bomb out of the St Helens Canal. The 30-year-old from Mount Pleasant Avenue had been dredging the waterway at Pocket Nook when he realised he'd inadvertently collected the 4-foot long "slime-covered" bomb within the scoop of his crane. Ernie coolly winched it into the back of a tipper lorry that his workmate Sammy Platt was driving. The two men then drove the bomb clear of the canal and dumped it in a disused railway siding 200 yards away.
However, when an army bomb disposal team from Chatham Barracks arrived on the scene, they declared it harmless. A spokesman said: "It was a German bomb and must have been dropped during the Second World War. But the fuse had been taken out and the bomb made harmless. Someone must have pushed it into the canal after the fuse was taken out."
Geoffrey Lee (10) of Ewart Road, Ian Craven (11) of Hamblett Crescent and Carl Wilson (11) of Eldon Street were pictured in the Reporter after Supt. Tom Shepherd had given them a tour of St Helens police station. That was the three schoolboys' reward for helping the police catch a couple of thieves. The lads had been playing near the railway bridge at Islands Brow when they saw two men acting suspiciously. Ian explained:
"They were rolling some materials which looked like copper cable along the line and we heard one of them say “Hide it there”. We knew they were doing something wrong and we decided to tell the police. So Carl rang them and gave a description of the men and Geoffrey kept watch where they went." The men were subsequently caught by the police crossing Haresfinch Park and had since appeared in court.
The sit-in at the St Helens Plastics factory in Reginald Road in Sutton finally ended this week. Ten weeks earlier the men had barricaded themselves into a machine room upon learning they were being sacked from their £26 per week jobs. The dismissals occurred after the firm had been sold to Linpac Plastics, although the new owners stated that the workers could re-apply for their old jobs.
The men had originally stated that they would not leave the factory until the company gave them a guarantee of employment. However, the management of Linpac refused to negotiate and so over the two-month period of the sit-in, those occupying the factory started drifting away in search of new jobs. The eight that were left at the plant held a three-hour meeting this week and decided to give up. The police were called and the men handed over their keys and left. However, they were reported as being very bitter about Linpac's treatment of them.
One of the last to quit the sit-in was Eddie Johnson of Newton Road in St Helens, who was quoted as saying: "I'm just sick about the way the management have treated us. I've got another job now and I gave up the sit-in because after ten weeks you decide it's just not worth working for a firm like that. You can't blame people for drifting away. The dole isn't much and we've all got bills to pay." A spokesman for Linpac said they had no comment to make.
I recently described an advertising feature in the Reporter in which a variety of means of being transported to Wembley to watch Saints play Leeds in the final of the Challenge Cup were promoted. Many supporters would, of course, have made their own way to London. But the alternatives for the rest included travelling by coach, hiring a car, flying by chartered plane or boarding a British Rail special. As far as I know, everything went smoothly with the first three options.
But 6,000 fans that had train seats booked on one of the eleven Shaw Street specials were forced to make other arrangements – almost at the last minute. That was because railway workers decided to work-to-rule and all the trains set to leave St Helens for Wembley packed with rugby supporters had to be cancelled. And so coach operators in St Helens were bombarded with calls from those left without transport to take them to the match. St Helens Corporation offered the beleaguered coach firms a dozen single-decker buses – but they were of no use without drivers.
And so on the 12th, the Reporter described how a "busman's holiday" operation had been launched to get the stranded cup final fans to Wembley. Many Corporation bus drivers were believed to be driving to London in their own private vehicles. And so they were being asked to take a bus – and a load of passengers – instead. Gavin Murray and Ellison’s Travel were already sending 40 coaches to London and were attempting to obtain more. "It's been chaos," said a spokesman. "We have taken hundreds of calls from people let down by the railways." Phythians Travel was also attempting to get seven extra coaches.
Saints beat Leeds 16 - 13 in the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley on the 13th and, on the following day, a 10,000-strong crowd in Victoria Square welcomed the team home. There was no tour of the town, however, as Saints were also hoping to win the league title and had an important game to play at the weekend.
"Start Living, Start Dancing", was the headline to a short ad in the Reporter from Neil and Sandra McMahon. Describing themselves as "ex amateur champions" and "Come Dancing representatives", the pair had turned professional and were starting dancing classes in Prescot Road.
For 7 days from the 14th, the Ken Russell film 'The Boyfriend' starring Twiggy was screened at the ABC Savoy, with the Capitol showing 'Waterloo' starring Rod Steiger. Then on the 15th in Rainhill Village Hall, the Garrick Society began a week's performances of 'Hobson's Choice'. As the play is about a Salford boot-making family, members of the cast had been to Foster's cobblers in Parr Stocks Road to learn the tricks of the trade. These included the correct way to hold a pair of pincers and how to hammer away with a mouthful of nails without swallowing any!
And finally, there was good news for the residents of Green End Road in Marshalls Cross after they'd won their 10-month legal battle with St Helens Corporation. That had begun after being told they'd have to pay a total of £1,882 towards the cost of a new road surface because the Corporation considered Green End to be a private street. However, at Liverpool Crown Court on the 15th, Judge Bingham ruled that the road had been a public highway since 1835.
Jubilant pensioner Wilf Halewood said: "We are cock-a-hoop that we have laced the Corporation." However, the ruling was not all good news for the residents. The judge also decided that they would have to pay two-fifths of the legal costs incurred in their fight.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include another arson attack on the Four Acre estate, a senior Labour alderman is sacked as leader for being too old, the St Helens MP claims VAT would kill off rugby league and the Haydock zebra crossing dubbed a safety hazard.
This week the Vicar of St Ann's at Rainhill, the Rev. Frank Ebbitt, asked for help from his local community to raise £6,000. The cash was needed to pay for extensions to the church school. These would include the building of four classrooms, an assembly hall and a kitchen. The cost to the parish would be £11,000 in total – but they already had £5,000 in their reserves.
Coin-operated gas and electricity meters were largely phased out during the 1980s and ‘90s when prepayment meters using cards or keys replaced them. During the 1970s, coin meters – that required regular emptying by the electricity and gas boards – were widespread in St Helens and created fears of break-ins among the elderly. At least that was what an article published in the St Helens Reporter claimed on the 12th.
The piece described how burglars were finding meters full of silver to be "sitting targets", causing elderly folk to dread "the long wait" for the gas or electricity man to come and empty them. Agnes Tidder complained that the meter in her home had not been emptied for nine weeks and said she knew of a number of old people in St Helens concerned that the cash in their meter might get stolen – and then they'd be held responsible for payment.
Crane driver Ernie Taylor was praised in the Reporter after fishing a 500lb unexploded bomb out of the St Helens Canal. The 30-year-old from Mount Pleasant Avenue had been dredging the waterway at Pocket Nook when he realised he'd inadvertently collected the 4-foot long "slime-covered" bomb within the scoop of his crane. Ernie coolly winched it into the back of a tipper lorry that his workmate Sammy Platt was driving. The two men then drove the bomb clear of the canal and dumped it in a disused railway siding 200 yards away.
However, when an army bomb disposal team from Chatham Barracks arrived on the scene, they declared it harmless. A spokesman said: "It was a German bomb and must have been dropped during the Second World War. But the fuse had been taken out and the bomb made harmless. Someone must have pushed it into the canal after the fuse was taken out."
Geoffrey Lee (10) of Ewart Road, Ian Craven (11) of Hamblett Crescent and Carl Wilson (11) of Eldon Street were pictured in the Reporter after Supt. Tom Shepherd had given them a tour of St Helens police station. That was the three schoolboys' reward for helping the police catch a couple of thieves. The lads had been playing near the railway bridge at Islands Brow when they saw two men acting suspiciously. Ian explained:
"They were rolling some materials which looked like copper cable along the line and we heard one of them say “Hide it there”. We knew they were doing something wrong and we decided to tell the police. So Carl rang them and gave a description of the men and Geoffrey kept watch where they went." The men were subsequently caught by the police crossing Haresfinch Park and had since appeared in court.
The sit-in at the St Helens Plastics factory in Reginald Road in Sutton finally ended this week. Ten weeks earlier the men had barricaded themselves into a machine room upon learning they were being sacked from their £26 per week jobs. The dismissals occurred after the firm had been sold to Linpac Plastics, although the new owners stated that the workers could re-apply for their old jobs.
The men had originally stated that they would not leave the factory until the company gave them a guarantee of employment. However, the management of Linpac refused to negotiate and so over the two-month period of the sit-in, those occupying the factory started drifting away in search of new jobs. The eight that were left at the plant held a three-hour meeting this week and decided to give up. The police were called and the men handed over their keys and left. However, they were reported as being very bitter about Linpac's treatment of them.
One of the last to quit the sit-in was Eddie Johnson of Newton Road in St Helens, who was quoted as saying: "I'm just sick about the way the management have treated us. I've got another job now and I gave up the sit-in because after ten weeks you decide it's just not worth working for a firm like that. You can't blame people for drifting away. The dole isn't much and we've all got bills to pay." A spokesman for Linpac said they had no comment to make.
I recently described an advertising feature in the Reporter in which a variety of means of being transported to Wembley to watch Saints play Leeds in the final of the Challenge Cup were promoted. Many supporters would, of course, have made their own way to London. But the alternatives for the rest included travelling by coach, hiring a car, flying by chartered plane or boarding a British Rail special. As far as I know, everything went smoothly with the first three options.
But 6,000 fans that had train seats booked on one of the eleven Shaw Street specials were forced to make other arrangements – almost at the last minute. That was because railway workers decided to work-to-rule and all the trains set to leave St Helens for Wembley packed with rugby supporters had to be cancelled. And so coach operators in St Helens were bombarded with calls from those left without transport to take them to the match. St Helens Corporation offered the beleaguered coach firms a dozen single-decker buses – but they were of no use without drivers.
And so on the 12th, the Reporter described how a "busman's holiday" operation had been launched to get the stranded cup final fans to Wembley. Many Corporation bus drivers were believed to be driving to London in their own private vehicles. And so they were being asked to take a bus – and a load of passengers – instead. Gavin Murray and Ellison’s Travel were already sending 40 coaches to London and were attempting to obtain more. "It's been chaos," said a spokesman. "We have taken hundreds of calls from people let down by the railways." Phythians Travel was also attempting to get seven extra coaches.
Saints beat Leeds 16 - 13 in the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley on the 13th and, on the following day, a 10,000-strong crowd in Victoria Square welcomed the team home. There was no tour of the town, however, as Saints were also hoping to win the league title and had an important game to play at the weekend.
"Start Living, Start Dancing", was the headline to a short ad in the Reporter from Neil and Sandra McMahon. Describing themselves as "ex amateur champions" and "Come Dancing representatives", the pair had turned professional and were starting dancing classes in Prescot Road.
For 7 days from the 14th, the Ken Russell film 'The Boyfriend' starring Twiggy was screened at the ABC Savoy, with the Capitol showing 'Waterloo' starring Rod Steiger. Then on the 15th in Rainhill Village Hall, the Garrick Society began a week's performances of 'Hobson's Choice'. As the play is about a Salford boot-making family, members of the cast had been to Foster's cobblers in Parr Stocks Road to learn the tricks of the trade. These included the correct way to hold a pair of pincers and how to hammer away with a mouthful of nails without swallowing any!
And finally, there was good news for the residents of Green End Road in Marshalls Cross after they'd won their 10-month legal battle with St Helens Corporation. That had begun after being told they'd have to pay a total of £1,882 towards the cost of a new road surface because the Corporation considered Green End to be a private street. However, at Liverpool Crown Court on the 15th, Judge Bingham ruled that the road had been a public highway since 1835.
Jubilant pensioner Wilf Halewood said: "We are cock-a-hoop that we have laced the Corporation." However, the ruling was not all good news for the residents. The judge also decided that they would have to pay two-fifths of the legal costs incurred in their fight.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include another arson attack on the Four Acre estate, a senior Labour alderman is sacked as leader for being too old, the St Helens MP claims VAT would kill off rugby league and the Haydock zebra crossing dubbed a safety hazard.
This week's many stories include the unexploded bomb in St Helens Canal, the busman's holiday operation to take stranded Saints fans to Wembley, the ending of the Linpac Plastics sit-in, the three schoolboy crime fighters, victory for the residents of Green End Road and concern that coin-operated gas meters in St Helens were attracting robbers.
This week the Vicar of St Ann's at Rainhill, the Rev. Frank Ebbitt, asked for help from his local community to raise £6,000.
The cash was needed to pay for extensions to the church school. These would include the building of four classrooms, an assembly hall and a kitchen.
The cost to the parish would be £11,000 in total – but they already had £5,000 in their reserves.
St Helens-born Dora Levy was involved in a terrorist hijack in Israel this week in which Arab gunmen held 100 passengers and crew hostage in Tel Aviv.
Explosive charges were set to blow up the Boeing 707 aircraft piloted by Dora's husband, if the gunmen's demands for the release of prisoners were not met.
But Israeli soldiers dressed as aircraft maintenance workers made a dramatic rescue of the hostages, shooting dead the terrorists.
Dora's mother, Amy Shawcross of Brynn Street in St Helens, was quoted as saying: "Thank God they are alive."
Coin-operated gas and electricity meters were largely phased out during the 1980s and ‘90s when prepayment meters using cards or keys replaced them.
During the 1970s, coin meters – that required regular emptying by the electricity and gas boards – were widespread in St Helens and created fears of break-ins among the elderly.
At least that was what an article published in the St Helens Reporter claimed on the 12th.
The piece described how burglars were finding meters full of silver to be "sitting targets", causing elderly folk to dread "the long wait" for the gas or electricity man to come and empty them.
Agnes Tidder complained that the meter in her home had not been emptied for nine weeks and said she knew of a number of old people in St Helens concerned that the cash in their meter might get stolen – and then they'd be held responsible for payment.
Crane driver Ernie Taylor was praised in the Reporter after fishing a 500lb unexploded bomb out of the St Helens Canal.
The 30-year-old from Mount Pleasant Avenue had been dredging the waterway at Pocket Nook when he realised he'd inadvertently collected the 4-foot long "slime-covered" bomb within the scoop of his crane.
Ernie coolly winched it into the back of a tipper lorry that his workmate Sammy Platt was driving.
The two men then drove the bomb clear of the canal and dumped it in a disused railway siding 200 yards away.
However, when an army bomb disposal team from Chatham Barracks arrived on the scene, they declared it harmless. A spokesman said:
"It was a German bomb and must have been dropped during the Second World War. But the fuse had been taken out and the bomb made harmless. Someone must have pushed it into the canal after the fuse was taken out."
Geoffrey Lee (10) of Ewart Road, Ian Craven (11) of Hamblett Crescent and Carl Wilson (11) of Eldon Street were pictured in the Reporter after Supt. Tom Shepherd had given them a tour of St Helens police station.
That was the three schoolboys' reward for helping the police catch a couple of thieves.
The lads had been playing near the railway bridge at Islands Brow when they saw two men acting suspiciously. Ian explained:
"They were rolling some materials which looked like copper cable along the line and we heard one of them say “Hide it there”. We knew they were doing something wrong and we decided to tell the police. So Carl rang them and gave a description of the men and Geoffrey kept watch where they went."
The men were subsequently caught by the police crossing Haresfinch Park and had since appeared in court.
The sit-in at the St Helens Plastics factory in Reginald Road in Sutton finally ended this week.
Ten weeks earlier the men had barricaded themselves into a machine room upon learning they were being sacked from their £26 per week jobs.
The dismissals occurred after the firm had been sold to Linpac Plastics, although the new owners stated that the workers could re-apply for their old jobs.
The men had originally stated that they would not leave the factory until the company gave them a guarantee of employment.
However, the management of Linpac refused to negotiate and so over the two-month period of the sit-in, those occupying the factory started drifting away in search of new jobs.
The eight that were left at the plant held a three-hour meeting this week and decided to give up. The police were called and the men handed over their keys and left.
However, they were reported as being very bitter about Linpac's treatment of them. One of the last to quit the sit-in was Eddie Johnson of Newton Road in St Helens, who was quoted as saying:
"I'm just sick about the way the management have treated us. I've got another job now and I gave up the sit-in because after ten weeks you decide it's just not worth working for a firm like that. You can't blame people for drifting away. The dole isn't much and we've all got bills to pay."
A spokesman for Linpac said they had no comment to make.
I recently described an advertising feature in the Reporter in which a variety of means of being transported to Wembley to watch Saints play Leeds in the final of the Challenge Cup were promoted.
Many supporters would, of course, have made their own way to London.
But the alternatives for the rest included travelling by coach, hiring a car, flying by chartered plane or boarding a British Rail special. As far as I know, everything went smoothly with the first three options.
But 6,000 fans that had train seats booked on one of the eleven Shaw Street specials were forced to make other arrangements – almost at the last minute.
That was because railway workers decided to work-to-rule and all the trains set to leave St Helens for Wembley packed with rugby supporters had to be cancelled.
And so coach operators in St Helens were bombarded with calls from those left without transport to take them to the match.
St Helens Corporation offered the beleaguered coach firms a dozen single-decker buses – but they were of no use without drivers.
And so on the 12th, the Reporter described how a "busman's holiday" operation had been launched to get the stranded cup final fans to Wembley.
Many Corporation bus drivers were believed to be driving to London in their own private vehicles. And so they were being asked to take a bus – and a load of passengers – instead.
Gavin Murray and Ellison’s Travel were already sending 40 coaches to London and were attempting to obtain more.
"It's been chaos," said a spokesman. "We have taken hundreds of calls from people let down by the railways." Phythians Travel was also attempting to get seven extra coaches.
Saints beat Leeds 16 - 13 in the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley on the 13th and, on the following day, a 10,000-strong crowd in Victoria Square welcomed the team home.
There was no tour of the town, however, as Saints were also hoping to win the league title and had an important game to play at the weekend.
"Start Living, Start Dancing", was the headline to a short ad in the Reporter from Neil and Sandra McMahon.
Describing themselves as "ex amateur champions" and "Come Dancing representatives", the pair had turned professional and were starting dancing classes in Prescot Road.
For 7 days from the 14th, the Ken Russell film 'The Boyfriend' starring Twiggy was screened at the ABC Savoy, with the Capitol showing 'Waterloo' starring Rod Steiger.
Then on the 15th in Rainhill Village Hall, the Garrick Society began a week's performances of 'Hobson's Choice'.
As the play is about a Salford boot-making family, members of the cast had been to Foster's cobblers in Parr Stocks Road to learn the tricks of the trade.
These included the correct way to hold a pair of pincers and how to hammer away with a mouthful of nails without swallowing any!
And finally, there was good news for the residents of Green End Road in Marshalls Cross after they'd won their 10-month legal battle with St Helens Corporation.
That had begun after being told they'd have to pay a total of £1,882 towards the cost of a new road surface because the Corporation considered Green End to be a private street.
However, at Liverpool Crown Court on the 15th, Judge Bingham ruled that the road had been a public highway since 1835.
Jubilant pensioner Wilf Halewood said: "We are cock-a-hoop that we have laced the Corporation."
However, the ruling was not all good news for the residents. The judge also decided that they would have to pay two-fifths of the legal costs incurred in their fight.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include another arson attack on the Four Acre estate, a senior Labour alderman is sacked as leader for being too old, the St Helens MP claims VAT would kill off rugby league and the Haydock zebra crossing dubbed a safety hazard.
This week the Vicar of St Ann's at Rainhill, the Rev. Frank Ebbitt, asked for help from his local community to raise £6,000.
The cash was needed to pay for extensions to the church school. These would include the building of four classrooms, an assembly hall and a kitchen.
The cost to the parish would be £11,000 in total – but they already had £5,000 in their reserves.
Explosive charges were set to blow up the Boeing 707 aircraft piloted by Dora's husband, if the gunmen's demands for the release of prisoners were not met.
But Israeli soldiers dressed as aircraft maintenance workers made a dramatic rescue of the hostages, shooting dead the terrorists.
Dora's mother, Amy Shawcross of Brynn Street in St Helens, was quoted as saying: "Thank God they are alive."
Coin-operated gas and electricity meters were largely phased out during the 1980s and ‘90s when prepayment meters using cards or keys replaced them.
During the 1970s, coin meters – that required regular emptying by the electricity and gas boards – were widespread in St Helens and created fears of break-ins among the elderly.
At least that was what an article published in the St Helens Reporter claimed on the 12th.
The piece described how burglars were finding meters full of silver to be "sitting targets", causing elderly folk to dread "the long wait" for the gas or electricity man to come and empty them.
Agnes Tidder complained that the meter in her home had not been emptied for nine weeks and said she knew of a number of old people in St Helens concerned that the cash in their meter might get stolen – and then they'd be held responsible for payment.
Crane driver Ernie Taylor was praised in the Reporter after fishing a 500lb unexploded bomb out of the St Helens Canal.
The 30-year-old from Mount Pleasant Avenue had been dredging the waterway at Pocket Nook when he realised he'd inadvertently collected the 4-foot long "slime-covered" bomb within the scoop of his crane.
Ernie coolly winched it into the back of a tipper lorry that his workmate Sammy Platt was driving.
The two men then drove the bomb clear of the canal and dumped it in a disused railway siding 200 yards away.
However, when an army bomb disposal team from Chatham Barracks arrived on the scene, they declared it harmless. A spokesman said:
"It was a German bomb and must have been dropped during the Second World War. But the fuse had been taken out and the bomb made harmless. Someone must have pushed it into the canal after the fuse was taken out."
Geoffrey Lee (10) of Ewart Road, Ian Craven (11) of Hamblett Crescent and Carl Wilson (11) of Eldon Street were pictured in the Reporter after Supt. Tom Shepherd had given them a tour of St Helens police station.
That was the three schoolboys' reward for helping the police catch a couple of thieves.
The lads had been playing near the railway bridge at Islands Brow when they saw two men acting suspiciously. Ian explained:
"They were rolling some materials which looked like copper cable along the line and we heard one of them say “Hide it there”. We knew they were doing something wrong and we decided to tell the police. So Carl rang them and gave a description of the men and Geoffrey kept watch where they went."
The men were subsequently caught by the police crossing Haresfinch Park and had since appeared in court.
The sit-in at the St Helens Plastics factory in Reginald Road in Sutton finally ended this week.
Ten weeks earlier the men had barricaded themselves into a machine room upon learning they were being sacked from their £26 per week jobs.
The dismissals occurred after the firm had been sold to Linpac Plastics, although the new owners stated that the workers could re-apply for their old jobs.
The men had originally stated that they would not leave the factory until the company gave them a guarantee of employment.
However, the management of Linpac refused to negotiate and so over the two-month period of the sit-in, those occupying the factory started drifting away in search of new jobs.
The eight that were left at the plant held a three-hour meeting this week and decided to give up. The police were called and the men handed over their keys and left.
However, they were reported as being very bitter about Linpac's treatment of them. One of the last to quit the sit-in was Eddie Johnson of Newton Road in St Helens, who was quoted as saying:
"I'm just sick about the way the management have treated us. I've got another job now and I gave up the sit-in because after ten weeks you decide it's just not worth working for a firm like that. You can't blame people for drifting away. The dole isn't much and we've all got bills to pay."
A spokesman for Linpac said they had no comment to make.
I recently described an advertising feature in the Reporter in which a variety of means of being transported to Wembley to watch Saints play Leeds in the final of the Challenge Cup were promoted.
Many supporters would, of course, have made their own way to London.
But the alternatives for the rest included travelling by coach, hiring a car, flying by chartered plane or boarding a British Rail special. As far as I know, everything went smoothly with the first three options.
But 6,000 fans that had train seats booked on one of the eleven Shaw Street specials were forced to make other arrangements – almost at the last minute.
That was because railway workers decided to work-to-rule and all the trains set to leave St Helens for Wembley packed with rugby supporters had to be cancelled.
And so coach operators in St Helens were bombarded with calls from those left without transport to take them to the match.
St Helens Corporation offered the beleaguered coach firms a dozen single-decker buses – but they were of no use without drivers.
And so on the 12th, the Reporter described how a "busman's holiday" operation had been launched to get the stranded cup final fans to Wembley.
Many Corporation bus drivers were believed to be driving to London in their own private vehicles. And so they were being asked to take a bus – and a load of passengers – instead.
Gavin Murray and Ellison’s Travel were already sending 40 coaches to London and were attempting to obtain more.
"It's been chaos," said a spokesman. "We have taken hundreds of calls from people let down by the railways." Phythians Travel was also attempting to get seven extra coaches.
Saints beat Leeds 16 - 13 in the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley on the 13th and, on the following day, a 10,000-strong crowd in Victoria Square welcomed the team home.
There was no tour of the town, however, as Saints were also hoping to win the league title and had an important game to play at the weekend.
"Start Living, Start Dancing", was the headline to a short ad in the Reporter from Neil and Sandra McMahon.
Describing themselves as "ex amateur champions" and "Come Dancing representatives", the pair had turned professional and were starting dancing classes in Prescot Road.
For 7 days from the 14th, the Ken Russell film 'The Boyfriend' starring Twiggy was screened at the ABC Savoy, with the Capitol showing 'Waterloo' starring Rod Steiger.
Then on the 15th in Rainhill Village Hall, the Garrick Society began a week's performances of 'Hobson's Choice'.
As the play is about a Salford boot-making family, members of the cast had been to Foster's cobblers in Parr Stocks Road to learn the tricks of the trade.
These included the correct way to hold a pair of pincers and how to hammer away with a mouthful of nails without swallowing any!
And finally, there was good news for the residents of Green End Road in Marshalls Cross after they'd won their 10-month legal battle with St Helens Corporation.
That had begun after being told they'd have to pay a total of £1,882 towards the cost of a new road surface because the Corporation considered Green End to be a private street.
However, at Liverpool Crown Court on the 15th, Judge Bingham ruled that the road had been a public highway since 1835.
Jubilant pensioner Wilf Halewood said: "We are cock-a-hoop that we have laced the Corporation."
However, the ruling was not all good news for the residents. The judge also decided that they would have to pay two-fifths of the legal costs incurred in their fight.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include another arson attack on the Four Acre estate, a senior Labour alderman is sacked as leader for being too old, the St Helens MP claims VAT would kill off rugby league and the Haydock zebra crossing dubbed a safety hazard.