FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (10th - 16th FEBRUARY 1970)
This week's 16 stories include the street in Parr that was labelled "squalor row", a profile of the telephonists in St Helens Telephone Exchange, the Clock Face couple in terror of a giant crane, the ABC Minors Club at the Capitol and the record-breaking Bold Colliery.
We begin on the 10th when the chairman of the County Highways and Bridges Committee opened the new Prescot Bypass. This was achieved by a convoy of official cars driving up one carriageway and then down the other. At a cost of £500,000 (£8m in today's money), the 24-ft wide dual carriageway took a year to build and would allow traffic to travel from Liverpool to St Helens while avoiding Prescot town centre. The St Helens Reporter described the by-pass as "picturesque" as it passed through part of the Knowsley Hall Estate.
It was not a great day to open a new road as heavy snow had fallen overnight, much to everyone's surprise. The St Helens Reporter wrote: "The roads were treacherous and icy. Snow ploughs and gritting and salting machines had been caught unawares. The roads were like skating rinks."
Also on the 10th the management at Stoves laid off all production workers in its cooker factory in Stoney Lane, Rainhill. This was as a result of an unofficial strike in its so-called press department, which had begun during the previous week. That was believed to have been the first strike in the factory's 50-year history, which affected 140 workers. However that number was swollen to nearly 1,000 with the laying off of production staff. The dispute was mainly about working conditions and the strikers met at Rainhill Labour Club later that day and voted to continue their strike.
The National Coal Board announced this week that Bold Colliery (pictured above) had smashed both its output and productivity records. Much of the increase was down to the new T-one coal face in the Trencherbone seam which was opening up new coal reserves. Recently a new tunnel had been driven to connect both pit shafts at the colliery and a 500-yard-long conveyor had been installed, enabling coal to be wound up both shafts.
It was also revealed this week that 156,000 calls had been made from St Helens to the GPO's Speaking Clock in the 3-month period up to December 1969. That was an increase of 31,000 over the previous year.
Throughout the week the South West Lancs Operatic Society presented 'Robinson Crusoe' at the Theatre Royal. They described it as their "annual pantomime for children of all ages".
The Reporter was published on the 13th and their front-page bore the headline "Rent Revolt in Squalor Row" and had this introduction: "Rats, dampness and overcrowding have turned a block of nine terraced houses into ‘Squalor Row’. Now tenants of the N.C.B. houses – in Southport Street, Parr – are refusing to pay rents in a campaign for improved living conditions." The two-bedroom houses had been built more than fifty years earlier for the families of miners at Southport Colliery. "Now they are all in a terrible state", said resident Malcolm Guest with rising damp affecting every home. Everyone is refusing to pay rents from this week. There is no other way of getting things done", added Mr Guest.
Rats were also proving a problem in Southport Street. "I found a big nest in my coal bunker last weekend", said Lily Brown. "In the mornings, or when it's quiet, you can see them at the back of the houses." The NCB said they sympathised with the residents and had offered the houses to St Helens Corporation but they were not interested. The Coal Board spokesman also said they would consider demolishing the houses if the local authority rehoused the tenants, adding: "It is not our pigeon to rehouse anyone".
Another front-page story bore the headline "Couple in Terror of Giant Crane" and described the fears of an "elderly" Clock Face couple (aged 55 and 57!). Frances and Charles Collins had been left frightened by the appearance of a tall crane in the garden next to their bungalow. This was shifting earth as part of a scheme to lay new drains. The couple were frightened that the workmen would lift up the huge concrete pipes and swing them over their home. "A wire on the crane could snap any minute", said Mr Collins, "and one of those pipes would come smashing down through the roof of our home." The Reporter described how he had been forced to stay away from work to comfort his terrified wife.
The newspaper told how another "giant crane" had towered over the grounds of Rainhill Hospital recently to lower into place a prefabricated building. Two more would be installed within the next fortnight to create new wards for the overcrowded hospital. The Reporter added that Rainhill was the only psychiatric hospital in the country to have such "wonder-wards".
As a caption to a photograph of two young women, the paper wrote: "The eyes of male shoppers at Helena House, St. Helens, lit up this week when they spotted these two dolly birds in gold lame mini-skirts, promoting a brand of cigarettes. "Our photographer caught them having a rest in the furniture department. On the left is Edwina Willis of Aughton, near Ormskirk, and her companion is Linda Holden of Prescot."
The Reporter revealed that work on a new £100,000 six-storey commercial block at St Helens Technical College was at a standstill because of a cock-up in a delivery. A large load of steel rods for reinforcing concrete had been delivered in January but two-thirds of them were too long and had been returned for alterations.
This week's subjects in the Reporter's 'Other People's Jobs' series were the female telephonists in the St Helens Telephone Exchange. Veronica Maddison from Langtree Street described it as a "job in a million" but which demanded a lot of patience. "It's an absorbing job", said the 20-year-old, "and you have to be on the alert every minute." Senior telephonist Jane Pennington from Boundary Road told the Reporter's Valerie Belshaw that she always tried to picture the person that she was talking to.
"It's exciting trying to put a face to the voice. But then the whole of the job is exciting", enthused Jane. "I enjoy answering fault enquiries. I feel a sense of satisfaction when I have helped a person." The St Helens Exchange employed 58 full-time day telephonists and 15 part-time night staff. Pay for 15-year-old recruits started at £8 2s 6d per week and increased to £18 9s., according to age. Being a telephonist was clearly considered women's work, with no suggestion in the lengthy article that men might be employed.
The Reporter also described how St Helens Corporation's efforts to vandal-proof the public toilets in Haresfinch had proved unsuccessful. The windows had been smashed so often that special "brick-glass" panes had recently been installed. However the Corporation's Building Manager, Joseph Appleton, told the paper that some of the new windows had now been broken.
The paper devoted a page and a half to discussing the staff shortages on the buses, which had curtailed services in St Helens and led to many grumbles from passengers. Transport Manager Alex Barlow described the situation to the Reporter: "Services have to be cut and sometimes run late. Buses admittedly are lying idle because there is no-one to operate them." Currently the Transport Department was short of 25 drivers and 14 conductors but there was hope on the horizon. Much of the longstanding problem had been through low pay, with many drivers quitting to take better-paid jobs in industry.
However a pay rise had been announced last week which would mean the average wage for drivers would now be £20 15s 3d. Conductors would earn £19 16s 7d and drivers of one-man buses would be on £22 4s 3d per week. In the meantime with long queues waiting a long time for late buses, tempers would get frayed. The Reporter interviewed bus inspector Arthur Monks, who said: "Sometimes, it's more or less a battle with the public. You get the odd ones who are abusive." However Arthur felt that most people accepted the situation and recent cuts to the frequency of services had made the buses more reliable.
Two blockbuster films started six-day runs at the town's two remaining cinemas from the 16th. The ABC Savoy in Bridge Street was screening 'Midnight Cowboy' and the Capitol was showing 'Doctor Zhivago'. This week the manager of the Capitol expressed his bewilderment at an explosion of interest in the ABC Minors Club at his Duke Street cinema. Paul Reynolds said membership of the club for five to fourteen-year-olds that screened Saturday matinees was at a thirteen-year-high. "We have now got a membership of 925, the highest since 1957, but I don't know why", said a puzzled Paul. "We show a serial but we have always had one so it can't be that. I just can't explain it."
Next week's stories will include more snow chaos in St Helens, the child gamblers of Crab Street, the troublesome teenagers leaving rugby dances at Moss Lane, the Transport Department's new social club and a councillor complains about a "sex by post" book.
We begin on the 10th when the chairman of the County Highways and Bridges Committee opened the new Prescot Bypass. This was achieved by a convoy of official cars driving up one carriageway and then down the other. At a cost of £500,000 (£8m in today's money), the 24-ft wide dual carriageway took a year to build and would allow traffic to travel from Liverpool to St Helens while avoiding Prescot town centre. The St Helens Reporter described the by-pass as "picturesque" as it passed through part of the Knowsley Hall Estate.
It was not a great day to open a new road as heavy snow had fallen overnight, much to everyone's surprise. The St Helens Reporter wrote: "The roads were treacherous and icy. Snow ploughs and gritting and salting machines had been caught unawares. The roads were like skating rinks."
Also on the 10th the management at Stoves laid off all production workers in its cooker factory in Stoney Lane, Rainhill. This was as a result of an unofficial strike in its so-called press department, which had begun during the previous week. That was believed to have been the first strike in the factory's 50-year history, which affected 140 workers. However that number was swollen to nearly 1,000 with the laying off of production staff. The dispute was mainly about working conditions and the strikers met at Rainhill Labour Club later that day and voted to continue their strike.
It was also revealed this week that 156,000 calls had been made from St Helens to the GPO's Speaking Clock in the 3-month period up to December 1969. That was an increase of 31,000 over the previous year.
Throughout the week the South West Lancs Operatic Society presented 'Robinson Crusoe' at the Theatre Royal. They described it as their "annual pantomime for children of all ages".
The Reporter was published on the 13th and their front-page bore the headline "Rent Revolt in Squalor Row" and had this introduction: "Rats, dampness and overcrowding have turned a block of nine terraced houses into ‘Squalor Row’. Now tenants of the N.C.B. houses – in Southport Street, Parr – are refusing to pay rents in a campaign for improved living conditions." The two-bedroom houses had been built more than fifty years earlier for the families of miners at Southport Colliery. "Now they are all in a terrible state", said resident Malcolm Guest with rising damp affecting every home. Everyone is refusing to pay rents from this week. There is no other way of getting things done", added Mr Guest.
Rats were also proving a problem in Southport Street. "I found a big nest in my coal bunker last weekend", said Lily Brown. "In the mornings, or when it's quiet, you can see them at the back of the houses." The NCB said they sympathised with the residents and had offered the houses to St Helens Corporation but they were not interested. The Coal Board spokesman also said they would consider demolishing the houses if the local authority rehoused the tenants, adding: "It is not our pigeon to rehouse anyone".
Another front-page story bore the headline "Couple in Terror of Giant Crane" and described the fears of an "elderly" Clock Face couple (aged 55 and 57!). Frances and Charles Collins had been left frightened by the appearance of a tall crane in the garden next to their bungalow. This was shifting earth as part of a scheme to lay new drains. The couple were frightened that the workmen would lift up the huge concrete pipes and swing them over their home. "A wire on the crane could snap any minute", said Mr Collins, "and one of those pipes would come smashing down through the roof of our home." The Reporter described how he had been forced to stay away from work to comfort his terrified wife.
The newspaper told how another "giant crane" had towered over the grounds of Rainhill Hospital recently to lower into place a prefabricated building. Two more would be installed within the next fortnight to create new wards for the overcrowded hospital. The Reporter added that Rainhill was the only psychiatric hospital in the country to have such "wonder-wards".
As a caption to a photograph of two young women, the paper wrote: "The eyes of male shoppers at Helena House, St. Helens, lit up this week when they spotted these two dolly birds in gold lame mini-skirts, promoting a brand of cigarettes. "Our photographer caught them having a rest in the furniture department. On the left is Edwina Willis of Aughton, near Ormskirk, and her companion is Linda Holden of Prescot."
The Reporter revealed that work on a new £100,000 six-storey commercial block at St Helens Technical College was at a standstill because of a cock-up in a delivery. A large load of steel rods for reinforcing concrete had been delivered in January but two-thirds of them were too long and had been returned for alterations.
This week's subjects in the Reporter's 'Other People's Jobs' series were the female telephonists in the St Helens Telephone Exchange. Veronica Maddison from Langtree Street described it as a "job in a million" but which demanded a lot of patience. "It's an absorbing job", said the 20-year-old, "and you have to be on the alert every minute." Senior telephonist Jane Pennington from Boundary Road told the Reporter's Valerie Belshaw that she always tried to picture the person that she was talking to.
"It's exciting trying to put a face to the voice. But then the whole of the job is exciting", enthused Jane. "I enjoy answering fault enquiries. I feel a sense of satisfaction when I have helped a person." The St Helens Exchange employed 58 full-time day telephonists and 15 part-time night staff. Pay for 15-year-old recruits started at £8 2s 6d per week and increased to £18 9s., according to age. Being a telephonist was clearly considered women's work, with no suggestion in the lengthy article that men might be employed.
The Reporter also described how St Helens Corporation's efforts to vandal-proof the public toilets in Haresfinch had proved unsuccessful. The windows had been smashed so often that special "brick-glass" panes had recently been installed. However the Corporation's Building Manager, Joseph Appleton, told the paper that some of the new windows had now been broken.
However a pay rise had been announced last week which would mean the average wage for drivers would now be £20 15s 3d. Conductors would earn £19 16s 7d and drivers of one-man buses would be on £22 4s 3d per week. In the meantime with long queues waiting a long time for late buses, tempers would get frayed. The Reporter interviewed bus inspector Arthur Monks, who said: "Sometimes, it's more or less a battle with the public. You get the odd ones who are abusive." However Arthur felt that most people accepted the situation and recent cuts to the frequency of services had made the buses more reliable.
Two blockbuster films started six-day runs at the town's two remaining cinemas from the 16th. The ABC Savoy in Bridge Street was screening 'Midnight Cowboy' and the Capitol was showing 'Doctor Zhivago'. This week the manager of the Capitol expressed his bewilderment at an explosion of interest in the ABC Minors Club at his Duke Street cinema. Paul Reynolds said membership of the club for five to fourteen-year-olds that screened Saturday matinees was at a thirteen-year-high. "We have now got a membership of 925, the highest since 1957, but I don't know why", said a puzzled Paul. "We show a serial but we have always had one so it can't be that. I just can't explain it."
Next week's stories will include more snow chaos in St Helens, the child gamblers of Crab Street, the troublesome teenagers leaving rugby dances at Moss Lane, the Transport Department's new social club and a councillor complains about a "sex by post" book.
This week's 16 stories include the street in Parr that was labelled "squalor row", a profile of the telephonists in St Helens Telephone Exchange, the Clock Face couple in terror of a giant crane, the ABC Minors Club at the Capitol and the record-breaking Bold Colliery.
We begin on the 10th when the chairman of the County Highways and Bridges Committee opened the new Prescot Bypass.
This was achieved by a convoy of official cars driving up one carriageway and then down the other.
At a cost of £500,000 (£8m in today's money), the 24-ft wide dual carriageway took a year to build and would allow traffic to travel from Liverpool to St Helens while avoiding Prescot town centre.
The St Helens Reporter described the by-pass as "picturesque" as it passed through part of the Knowsley Hall Estate.
It was not a great day to open a new road as heavy snow had fallen overnight, much to everyone's surprise.
The St Helens Reporter wrote: "The roads were treacherous and icy. Snow ploughs and gritting and salting machines had been caught unawares. The roads were like skating rinks."
Also on the 10th the management at Stoves laid off all production workers in its cooker factory in Stoney Lane, Rainhill.
This was as a result of an unofficial strike in its so-called press department, which had begun during the previous week.
That was believed to have been the first strike in the factory's 50-year history, which affected 140 workers.
However that number was swollen to nearly 1,000 with the laying off of production staff.
The dispute was mainly about working conditions and the strikers met at Rainhill Labour Club later that day and voted to continue their strike.
The National Coal Board announced this week that Bold Colliery (pictured above) had smashed both its output and productivity records.
Much of the increase was down to the new T-one coal face in the Trencherbone seam which was opening up new coal reserves.
Recently a new tunnel had been driven to connect both pit shafts and a 500-yard-long conveyor had been installed in the tunnel, enabling coal to be wound up both shafts.
It was also revealed this week that 156,000 calls had been made from St Helens to the GPO's Speaking Clock in the 3-month period up to December 1969.
That was an increase of 31,000 calls over the previous year.
Throughout the week the South West Lancs Operatic Society presented 'Robinson Crusoe' at the Theatre Royal.
They described it as their "annual pantomime for children of all ages".
The Reporter was published on the 13th and their front-page bore the headline "Rent Revolt in Squalor Row" and had this introduction:
"Rats, dampness and overcrowding have turned a block of nine terraced houses into ‘Squalor Row’. Now tenants of the N.C.B. houses – in Southport Street, Parr – are refusing to pay rents in a campaign for improved living conditions."
The two-bedroom houses had been built more than fifty years earlier for the families of miners at Southport Colliery.
"Now they are all in a terrible state", said resident Malcolm Guest with rising damp affecting every home. Everyone is refusing to pay rents from this week. There is no other way of getting things done", added Mr Guest.
Rats were also proving a problem in Southport Street. "I found a big nest in my coal bunker last weekend", said Lily Brown. "In the mornings, or when it's quiet, you can see them at the back of the houses."
The NCB said they sympathised with the residents and had offered the houses to St Helens Corporation but they were not interested.
The Coal Board spokesman also said they would consider demolishing the houses if the local authority rehoused the tenants, adding: "It is not our pigeon to rehouse anyone".
Another front-page story bore the headline "Couple in Terror of Giant Crane" and described the fears of an "elderly" Clock Face couple (aged 55 and 57!).
Frances and Charles Collins had been left frightened by the appearance of a tall crane in the garden next to their bungalow.
This was shifting earth as part of a scheme to lay new drains. The couple were frightened that the workmen would lift up the huge concrete pipes and swing them over their home.
"A wire on the crane could snap any minute", said Mr Collins, "and one of those pipes would come smashing down through the roof of our home."
The Reporter described how he had been forced to stay away from work to comfort his terrified wife.
The newspaper told how another "giant crane" had towered over the grounds of Rainhill Hospital recently to lower into place a prefabricated building.
Two more would be installed within the next fortnight to create new wards for the overcrowded hospital.
The Reporter added that Rainhill was the only psychiatric hospital in the country to have such "wonder-wards".
As a caption to a photograph of two young women, the paper wrote: "The eyes of male shoppers at Helena House, St. Helens, lit up this week when they spotted these two dolly birds in gold lame mini-skirts, promoting a brand of cigarettes.
"Our photographer caught them having a rest in the furniture department. On the left is Edwina Willis of Aughton, near Ormskirk, and her companion is Linda Holden of Prescot."
The Reporter revealed that work on a new £100,000 six-storey commercial block at St Helens Technical College was at a standstill because of a cock-up in a delivery.
A large load of steel rods for reinforcing concrete had been delivered in January but two-thirds of them were too long and had been returned for alterations.
This week's subjects in the Reporter's 'Other People's Jobs' series were the female telephonists in the St Helens Telephone Exchange.
Veronica Maddison from Langtree Street described it as a "job in a million" but which demanded a lot of patience.
"It's an absorbing job", said the 20-year-old, "and you have to be on the alert every minute."
Senior telephonist Jane Pennington from Boundary Road told the Reporter's Valerie Belshaw that she always tried to picture the person that she was talking to.
"It's exciting trying to put a face to the voice. But then the whole of the job is exciting", enthused Jane. "I enjoy answering fault enquiries. I feel a sense of satisfaction when I have helped a person."
The St Helens Exchange employed 58 full-time day telephonists and 15 part-time night staff.
Pay for 15-year-old recruits started at £8 2s 6d per week and increased to £18 9s., according to age.
Being a telephonist was clearly considered women's work, with no suggestion in the lengthy article that men might be employed.
The Reporter also described how St Helens Corporation's efforts to vandal-proof the public toilets in Haresfinch had proved unsuccessful.
The windows had been smashed so often that special "brick-glass" panes had recently been installed.
However the Corporation's Building Manager, Joseph Appleton, told the paper that some of the new windows had now been broken.
The paper devoted a page and a half to discussing the staff shortages on the buses, which had curtailed services in St Helens and led to many grumbles from passengers.
Transport Manager Alex Barlow described the situation to the Reporter: "Services have to be cut and sometimes run late. Buses admittedly are lying idle because there is no-one to operate them."
Currently the Transport Department was short of 25 drivers and 14 conductors but there was hope on the horizon.
Much of the longstanding problem had been through low pay, with many drivers quitting to take better-paid jobs in industry.
However a pay rise had been announced last week which would mean the average wage for drivers would now be £20 15s 3d.
Conductors would earn £19 16s 7d and drivers of one-man buses would be on £22 4s 3d per week.
In the meantime with long queues waiting a long time for late buses, tempers would get frayed.
The Reporter interviewed bus inspector Arthur Monks, who said: "Sometimes, it's more or less a battle with the public. You get the odd ones who are abusive."
However Arthur felt that most people accepted the situation and recent cuts to the frequency of services had made the buses more reliable.
Two blockbuster films started six-day runs at the town's two remaining cinemas from the 16th.
The ABC Savoy in Bridge Street was screening 'Midnight Cowboy' and the Capitol was showing 'Doctor Zhivago'.
This week the manager of the Capitol expressed his bewilderment at an explosion of interest in the ABC Minors Club at his Duke Street cinema.
Paul Reynolds said membership of the club for five to fourteen-year-olds that screened Saturday matinees was at a thirteen-year-high.
"We have now got a membership of 925, the highest since 1957, but I don't know why", said a puzzled Paul.
"We show a serial but we have always had one so it can't be that. I just can't explain it."
Next week's stories will include more snow chaos in St Helens, the child gamblers of Crab Street, the troublesome teenagers leaving rugby dances at Moss Lane, the Transport Department's new social club and a councillor complains about a "sex by post" book.
We begin on the 10th when the chairman of the County Highways and Bridges Committee opened the new Prescot Bypass.
This was achieved by a convoy of official cars driving up one carriageway and then down the other.
At a cost of £500,000 (£8m in today's money), the 24-ft wide dual carriageway took a year to build and would allow traffic to travel from Liverpool to St Helens while avoiding Prescot town centre.
The St Helens Reporter described the by-pass as "picturesque" as it passed through part of the Knowsley Hall Estate.
It was not a great day to open a new road as heavy snow had fallen overnight, much to everyone's surprise.
The St Helens Reporter wrote: "The roads were treacherous and icy. Snow ploughs and gritting and salting machines had been caught unawares. The roads were like skating rinks."
Also on the 10th the management at Stoves laid off all production workers in its cooker factory in Stoney Lane, Rainhill.
This was as a result of an unofficial strike in its so-called press department, which had begun during the previous week.
That was believed to have been the first strike in the factory's 50-year history, which affected 140 workers.
However that number was swollen to nearly 1,000 with the laying off of production staff.
The dispute was mainly about working conditions and the strikers met at Rainhill Labour Club later that day and voted to continue their strike.
Much of the increase was down to the new T-one coal face in the Trencherbone seam which was opening up new coal reserves.
Recently a new tunnel had been driven to connect both pit shafts and a 500-yard-long conveyor had been installed in the tunnel, enabling coal to be wound up both shafts.
It was also revealed this week that 156,000 calls had been made from St Helens to the GPO's Speaking Clock in the 3-month period up to December 1969.
That was an increase of 31,000 calls over the previous year.
Throughout the week the South West Lancs Operatic Society presented 'Robinson Crusoe' at the Theatre Royal.
They described it as their "annual pantomime for children of all ages".
The Reporter was published on the 13th and their front-page bore the headline "Rent Revolt in Squalor Row" and had this introduction:
"Rats, dampness and overcrowding have turned a block of nine terraced houses into ‘Squalor Row’. Now tenants of the N.C.B. houses – in Southport Street, Parr – are refusing to pay rents in a campaign for improved living conditions."
The two-bedroom houses had been built more than fifty years earlier for the families of miners at Southport Colliery.
"Now they are all in a terrible state", said resident Malcolm Guest with rising damp affecting every home. Everyone is refusing to pay rents from this week. There is no other way of getting things done", added Mr Guest.
Rats were also proving a problem in Southport Street. "I found a big nest in my coal bunker last weekend", said Lily Brown. "In the mornings, or when it's quiet, you can see them at the back of the houses."
The NCB said they sympathised with the residents and had offered the houses to St Helens Corporation but they were not interested.
The Coal Board spokesman also said they would consider demolishing the houses if the local authority rehoused the tenants, adding: "It is not our pigeon to rehouse anyone".
Another front-page story bore the headline "Couple in Terror of Giant Crane" and described the fears of an "elderly" Clock Face couple (aged 55 and 57!).
Frances and Charles Collins had been left frightened by the appearance of a tall crane in the garden next to their bungalow.
This was shifting earth as part of a scheme to lay new drains. The couple were frightened that the workmen would lift up the huge concrete pipes and swing them over their home.
"A wire on the crane could snap any minute", said Mr Collins, "and one of those pipes would come smashing down through the roof of our home."
The Reporter described how he had been forced to stay away from work to comfort his terrified wife.
The newspaper told how another "giant crane" had towered over the grounds of Rainhill Hospital recently to lower into place a prefabricated building.
Two more would be installed within the next fortnight to create new wards for the overcrowded hospital.
The Reporter added that Rainhill was the only psychiatric hospital in the country to have such "wonder-wards".
As a caption to a photograph of two young women, the paper wrote: "The eyes of male shoppers at Helena House, St. Helens, lit up this week when they spotted these two dolly birds in gold lame mini-skirts, promoting a brand of cigarettes.
"Our photographer caught them having a rest in the furniture department. On the left is Edwina Willis of Aughton, near Ormskirk, and her companion is Linda Holden of Prescot."
The Reporter revealed that work on a new £100,000 six-storey commercial block at St Helens Technical College was at a standstill because of a cock-up in a delivery.
A large load of steel rods for reinforcing concrete had been delivered in January but two-thirds of them were too long and had been returned for alterations.
This week's subjects in the Reporter's 'Other People's Jobs' series were the female telephonists in the St Helens Telephone Exchange.
Veronica Maddison from Langtree Street described it as a "job in a million" but which demanded a lot of patience.
"It's an absorbing job", said the 20-year-old, "and you have to be on the alert every minute."
Senior telephonist Jane Pennington from Boundary Road told the Reporter's Valerie Belshaw that she always tried to picture the person that she was talking to.
"It's exciting trying to put a face to the voice. But then the whole of the job is exciting", enthused Jane. "I enjoy answering fault enquiries. I feel a sense of satisfaction when I have helped a person."
The St Helens Exchange employed 58 full-time day telephonists and 15 part-time night staff.
Pay for 15-year-old recruits started at £8 2s 6d per week and increased to £18 9s., according to age.
Being a telephonist was clearly considered women's work, with no suggestion in the lengthy article that men might be employed.
The Reporter also described how St Helens Corporation's efforts to vandal-proof the public toilets in Haresfinch had proved unsuccessful.
The windows had been smashed so often that special "brick-glass" panes had recently been installed.
However the Corporation's Building Manager, Joseph Appleton, told the paper that some of the new windows had now been broken.
Transport Manager Alex Barlow described the situation to the Reporter: "Services have to be cut and sometimes run late. Buses admittedly are lying idle because there is no-one to operate them."
Currently the Transport Department was short of 25 drivers and 14 conductors but there was hope on the horizon.
Much of the longstanding problem had been through low pay, with many drivers quitting to take better-paid jobs in industry.
However a pay rise had been announced last week which would mean the average wage for drivers would now be £20 15s 3d.
Conductors would earn £19 16s 7d and drivers of one-man buses would be on £22 4s 3d per week.
In the meantime with long queues waiting a long time for late buses, tempers would get frayed.
The Reporter interviewed bus inspector Arthur Monks, who said: "Sometimes, it's more or less a battle with the public. You get the odd ones who are abusive."
However Arthur felt that most people accepted the situation and recent cuts to the frequency of services had made the buses more reliable.
Two blockbuster films started six-day runs at the town's two remaining cinemas from the 16th.
The ABC Savoy in Bridge Street was screening 'Midnight Cowboy' and the Capitol was showing 'Doctor Zhivago'.
This week the manager of the Capitol expressed his bewilderment at an explosion of interest in the ABC Minors Club at his Duke Street cinema.
Paul Reynolds said membership of the club for five to fourteen-year-olds that screened Saturday matinees was at a thirteen-year-high.
"We have now got a membership of 925, the highest since 1957, but I don't know why", said a puzzled Paul.
"We show a serial but we have always had one so it can't be that. I just can't explain it."
Next week's stories will include more snow chaos in St Helens, the child gamblers of Crab Street, the troublesome teenagers leaving rugby dances at Moss Lane, the Transport Department's new social club and a councillor complains about a "sex by post" book.