FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (10th - 16th June 1969)
This week's stories include the killer pits near Walkers Lane, a visit by Princess Alexandra to Haydock, a reprieve for Victoria Park's Mansion House, the golf "firing range" in Bishop Road, Redgate Boys Silver Band's German success and why Harold Wilson refused to sponsor a Rivington Road pupil's sponsored walk to Ormskirk.
We begin on the 10th when fifty foremen and chargehands at Stoves of Rainhill decided to work to rule and ban overtime. The men were unhappy with their £19 per week basic pay and felt they deserved to be paid in the region of £30. The management had offered them an increase of £1 per week but they said that wasn't enough.
On the 11th the members of the Town Council's Amenities Committee considered whether the historic Mansion House in Victoria Park (pictured above) should be demolished or more cash spent on modernising it. A similar dilemma is currently being faced by the present council with regards to the Gamble Building / Central Library.
However the sums required in 1969 were much more modest than the couple of million required today for the Gamble. £7,000 had already been spent on what had originally been known as Cowley House to create a café and flat for the park-keeper. However the builders had discovered dry rot, which would cost another £2,000 to put right (around £35,000 in today's money).
The council's Deputy Building Manager told the meeting: "You have to decide whether to go ahead and spend more to cure the dry rot or demolish the house and write off the £7,000 you have spent so far." Undertaking the work would lead to other expenditure having to be reduced in order to find the £2,000. However the committee voted to proceed and save the building that had been built in 1851 for wealthy solicitor John Ansdell.
The Maud Commission report on local government reorganisation was released on the 11th and proposed a new Metropolitan Merseyside. This area would have a population of two million and extend from Southport to Chester and contain St Helens.
The Guardian said the report was received in the North with a mixture of "forthright opposition, anxiety, confusion, and a little praise". The main complaints were a potential loss of identity and absence of strong government at local level. In the actual 1974 re-organisation Merseyside became a metropolitan county (and not a metropolitan area) with a reduced size but Lord Redcliffe-Maud's report was the start of St Helens's departure from Lancashire.
On the 12th Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Mrs Angus Ogilvy – to state her full title – visited Haydock to open what was described as a giant oil terminal. This she achieved by pressing a button that changed the traffic lights on the terminal's traffic control bridge to green. Waiting road tankers then moved forward to be loaded with oil products.
Hundreds of onlookers cheered as the largest island oil distribution centre in Europe – that cost Shell-Mex and BP £3 million to build – was officially opened. About 100 members of the British Red Cross Society had formed a guard of honour when the princess arrived, as Alexandra was the president of the Red Cross cadets. The Queen's first cousin would return to St Helens in 1989 when in her capacity of Vice-Patron of the YWCA, she inspected the Nunn Street community centre in Parr after it had been given a £100,000 makeover.
Pictured on the front page of the St Helens Reporter on the 13th was Rita Knowles sunbathing in Sherdley Park during her lunch-break. The "pretty" 17-year-old worked at Jacob's clothing factory on the Parr Trading Estate and was wearing one of their bikinis – hence the interest by the Reporter's male photographer!
"Fence Off Killer Pits Pleads Parents" was the headline to an alarming front-page article in the paper. In March the Reporter had written about the fury over a river of mud in Walkers Lane. For two years residents had been complaining to the Corporation about the state of the road since the building of a new housing estate had begun.
Now worried residents were forming patrols to save youngsters from drowning in the clay pits nearby. These days the area is a pleasant woodland called Brickfields but in the 1960s it was a dangerous place. Over the years a number of children had died in the 100 ft. deep pits and recently there had been several narrow escapes. Floundering children had been pulled to safety just in the nick of time and the building of the new estate had focussed minds on the danger.
With the support of councillors Peggy McNamara and Harry Williams a petition had been organised by local people. This demanded that the two pits be fenced off and in the meantime men from the estate were organising safety patrols. The Reporter wrote that mothers were "terrified" of their youngsters slipping out of the house to play and Elizabeth McNamara from Farndon Avenue said she was kept busy chasing them off: "I am not very popular with children on the estate. The lane at the back of our house leads up to the pits, and whenever I see children walking along it I send them away."
The Reporter contacted Roughdales Brickworks who said they were building a fence around the pits, as well as installing a gate on the access road and putting up warning notices. "We are doing everything that is reasonably possible", said a spokesman. Some might say that it was a shame that it took a campaign for them to spring into action.
The newspaper also reported how residents of a stretch of Bishop Road were claiming that they had been turned into a firing range. This was through golfers on a nearby field taking practice swings and sending balls "soaring 150 yards over a 5ft. fence and peppering houses along the road."
One unnamed couple said they had returned from holiday to find a window shattered and a golf ball on the carpet. "Over the past two years", one said, "I have collected seven golf balls from gardens along this road. We are scared stiff living here. We are afraid to use our lounges because of the danger."
However golf balls were not the only missiles aimed at their windows. Panes of glass were also reported as being regularly shattered by children firing pellet guns or throwing stones. "They are always breaking windows at the back of our houses", said one woman. "They come round here playing cowboys and Indians. What with the golf balls as well, it's like living on a firing range. It wouldn't be so bad, but the local police social club is just down the road."
The Reporter also wrote that 41 members of East Sutton Darby and Joan Club had returned from a 7-day break in the Isle of Man. The paper described a high spot of the holiday being a fancy dress ball, which was won by the "terrible twins" of Florence Dodd and Lilly Galliver. The hotel management presented Bill and Ann Glover from Junction Lane with a bottle of vintage champagne when they heard they were celebrating their 38th wedding anniversary.
I wonder if schools still undertake sponsored walks with all those risk assessment forms that need filling in? Rivington Road Secondary School held such a walk on the 13th in which 180 children went to Ormskirk and back to raise money for a school minibus.
Pupil Mary Levin showed some initiative by writing to Harold Wilson at 10 Downing Street for sponsorship but the prime minister declined. His office told the 12-year-old from Dentons Green Lane that the PM was sorry but if he sponsored every walker that approached him he wouldn't have any money left!
It was talent night on the 13th at the Plaza Theatre Club in Duke Street with cash prizes for the winners, who would compete in a final at the end of the month. On the following day Ashton Carnival was held, which caused a problem for Carol Dowd from Glebe Avenue as she journeyed to St Thomas's in Warrington Road to get wed.
As the 22-year-old shop assistant's wedding car arrived at Heath Road, she found her way blocked by the carnival procession. Carol thought she would have to walk to the church but instead was offered a lift and so became part of the parade, only arriving for her nuptials ten minutes late.
On the 15th a group of teenagers from Peter Street youth club went on a 15-mile walk round St Helens, taking them to Haydock, Blackbrook, Parr and Peasley Cross. Club leader M. G. Jones said: "The walk is sponsored, but its main purpose is to test my members' reactions and spirit towards the club."
Redgate Boys Silver Band played in Taylor Park on the 15th having just returned from Europe where they had been competing in the World Music Festival. In front of a German audience of over 15,000, Redgate had won first prize in the selected music contest and they came second in the marching competition.
When the news of their win was announced, deputy conductor T. Collins was carried shoulder high on a victory parade. The ensemble had been travelling abroad for ten years but this was the youngest band they had ever had.
Rainford Council's Management and General Purposes Committee was told on the 16th that there was confusion over who owned the rights to fish at Siding Lane. The Golden Lion Angling Club wanted to obtain permission and had been told to apply to a company in St Helens called British Oxygen.
However the Rainford branch of the British Legion was also believed to own the rights and the committee decided to write to the Legion to determine the position. These days there is a pleasant nature reserve at Siding Lane but fifty years ago it was a dump – literally, as the council tip was located there!
I tend not to cover cricket very much in these articles but here for a change is a quote from the Liverpool Echo on the 16th: "One of the great mysteries of the Liverpool Competition this season has been the change in the St. Helens Recs. wicket. The Ruskin Drive pitch, which was always good for 200 runs, has suddenly become a batsman's nightmare." In Saturday's match against Bootle, the away team lost half its wickets for just six runs and only made 76 through some hard grafting, with the Recs easily winning by nine wickets.
Next week's stories include the dog that got stuck in a grid in Fleet Lane, claims that a Haydock tip was making children ill, complaints of teenage hooligans on Sutton Heath play areas, St. Anne's church in Sutton is "torn apart" by subsidence and the award-winning swimmers at Crank School.
We begin on the 10th when fifty foremen and chargehands at Stoves of Rainhill decided to work to rule and ban overtime. The men were unhappy with their £19 per week basic pay and felt they deserved to be paid in the region of £30. The management had offered them an increase of £1 per week but they said that wasn't enough.
However the sums required in 1969 were much more modest than the couple of million required today for the Gamble. £7,000 had already been spent on what had originally been known as Cowley House to create a café and flat for the park-keeper. However the builders had discovered dry rot, which would cost another £2,000 to put right (around £35,000 in today's money).
The council's Deputy Building Manager told the meeting: "You have to decide whether to go ahead and spend more to cure the dry rot or demolish the house and write off the £7,000 you have spent so far." Undertaking the work would lead to other expenditure having to be reduced in order to find the £2,000. However the committee voted to proceed and save the building that had been built in 1851 for wealthy solicitor John Ansdell.
The Maud Commission report on local government reorganisation was released on the 11th and proposed a new Metropolitan Merseyside. This area would have a population of two million and extend from Southport to Chester and contain St Helens.
The Guardian said the report was received in the North with a mixture of "forthright opposition, anxiety, confusion, and a little praise". The main complaints were a potential loss of identity and absence of strong government at local level. In the actual 1974 re-organisation Merseyside became a metropolitan county (and not a metropolitan area) with a reduced size but Lord Redcliffe-Maud's report was the start of St Helens's departure from Lancashire.
On the 12th Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Mrs Angus Ogilvy – to state her full title – visited Haydock to open what was described as a giant oil terminal. This she achieved by pressing a button that changed the traffic lights on the terminal's traffic control bridge to green. Waiting road tankers then moved forward to be loaded with oil products.
Hundreds of onlookers cheered as the largest island oil distribution centre in Europe – that cost Shell-Mex and BP £3 million to build – was officially opened. About 100 members of the British Red Cross Society had formed a guard of honour when the princess arrived, as Alexandra was the president of the Red Cross cadets. The Queen's first cousin would return to St Helens in 1989 when in her capacity of Vice-Patron of the YWCA, she inspected the Nunn Street community centre in Parr after it had been given a £100,000 makeover.
Pictured on the front page of the St Helens Reporter on the 13th was Rita Knowles sunbathing in Sherdley Park during her lunch-break. The "pretty" 17-year-old worked at Jacob's clothing factory on the Parr Trading Estate and was wearing one of their bikinis – hence the interest by the Reporter's male photographer!
"Fence Off Killer Pits Pleads Parents" was the headline to an alarming front-page article in the paper. In March the Reporter had written about the fury over a river of mud in Walkers Lane. For two years residents had been complaining to the Corporation about the state of the road since the building of a new housing estate had begun.
Now worried residents were forming patrols to save youngsters from drowning in the clay pits nearby. These days the area is a pleasant woodland called Brickfields but in the 1960s it was a dangerous place. Over the years a number of children had died in the 100 ft. deep pits and recently there had been several narrow escapes. Floundering children had been pulled to safety just in the nick of time and the building of the new estate had focussed minds on the danger.
With the support of councillors Peggy McNamara and Harry Williams a petition had been organised by local people. This demanded that the two pits be fenced off and in the meantime men from the estate were organising safety patrols. The Reporter wrote that mothers were "terrified" of their youngsters slipping out of the house to play and Elizabeth McNamara from Farndon Avenue said she was kept busy chasing them off: "I am not very popular with children on the estate. The lane at the back of our house leads up to the pits, and whenever I see children walking along it I send them away."
The Reporter contacted Roughdales Brickworks who said they were building a fence around the pits, as well as installing a gate on the access road and putting up warning notices. "We are doing everything that is reasonably possible", said a spokesman. Some might say that it was a shame that it took a campaign for them to spring into action.
The newspaper also reported how residents of a stretch of Bishop Road were claiming that they had been turned into a firing range. This was through golfers on a nearby field taking practice swings and sending balls "soaring 150 yards over a 5ft. fence and peppering houses along the road."
One unnamed couple said they had returned from holiday to find a window shattered and a golf ball on the carpet. "Over the past two years", one said, "I have collected seven golf balls from gardens along this road. We are scared stiff living here. We are afraid to use our lounges because of the danger."
However golf balls were not the only missiles aimed at their windows. Panes of glass were also reported as being regularly shattered by children firing pellet guns or throwing stones. "They are always breaking windows at the back of our houses", said one woman. "They come round here playing cowboys and Indians. What with the golf balls as well, it's like living on a firing range. It wouldn't be so bad, but the local police social club is just down the road."
The Reporter also wrote that 41 members of East Sutton Darby and Joan Club had returned from a 7-day break in the Isle of Man. The paper described a high spot of the holiday being a fancy dress ball, which was won by the "terrible twins" of Florence Dodd and Lilly Galliver. The hotel management presented Bill and Ann Glover from Junction Lane with a bottle of vintage champagne when they heard they were celebrating their 38th wedding anniversary.
I wonder if schools still undertake sponsored walks with all those risk assessment forms that need filling in? Rivington Road Secondary School held such a walk on the 13th in which 180 children went to Ormskirk and back to raise money for a school minibus.
Pupil Mary Levin showed some initiative by writing to Harold Wilson at 10 Downing Street for sponsorship but the prime minister declined. His office told the 12-year-old from Dentons Green Lane that the PM was sorry but if he sponsored every walker that approached him he wouldn't have any money left!
It was talent night on the 13th at the Plaza Theatre Club in Duke Street with cash prizes for the winners, who would compete in a final at the end of the month. On the following day Ashton Carnival was held, which caused a problem for Carol Dowd from Glebe Avenue as she journeyed to St Thomas's in Warrington Road to get wed.
As the 22-year-old shop assistant's wedding car arrived at Heath Road, she found her way blocked by the carnival procession. Carol thought she would have to walk to the church but instead was offered a lift and so became part of the parade, only arriving for her nuptials ten minutes late.
On the 15th a group of teenagers from Peter Street youth club went on a 15-mile walk round St Helens, taking them to Haydock, Blackbrook, Parr and Peasley Cross. Club leader M. G. Jones said: "The walk is sponsored, but its main purpose is to test my members' reactions and spirit towards the club."
Redgate Boys Silver Band played in Taylor Park on the 15th having just returned from Europe where they had been competing in the World Music Festival. In front of a German audience of over 15,000, Redgate had won first prize in the selected music contest and they came second in the marching competition.
When the news of their win was announced, deputy conductor T. Collins was carried shoulder high on a victory parade. The ensemble had been travelling abroad for ten years but this was the youngest band they had ever had.
Rainford Council's Management and General Purposes Committee was told on the 16th that there was confusion over who owned the rights to fish at Siding Lane. The Golden Lion Angling Club wanted to obtain permission and had been told to apply to a company in St Helens called British Oxygen.
However the Rainford branch of the British Legion was also believed to own the rights and the committee decided to write to the Legion to determine the position. These days there is a pleasant nature reserve at Siding Lane but fifty years ago it was a dump – literally, as the council tip was located there!
I tend not to cover cricket very much in these articles but here for a change is a quote from the Liverpool Echo on the 16th: "One of the great mysteries of the Liverpool Competition this season has been the change in the St. Helens Recs. wicket. The Ruskin Drive pitch, which was always good for 200 runs, has suddenly become a batsman's nightmare." In Saturday's match against Bootle, the away team lost half its wickets for just six runs and only made 76 through some hard grafting, with the Recs easily winning by nine wickets.
Next week's stories include the dog that got stuck in a grid in Fleet Lane, claims that a Haydock tip was making children ill, complaints of teenage hooligans on Sutton Heath play areas, St. Anne's church in Sutton is "torn apart" by subsidence and the award-winning swimmers at Crank School.