FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (11th - 17th MAY 1970)
This week's stories include a claim of organised thuggery in the Pilkington dispute, the glass giant warns of massive redundancies, the dog collar strike ballot at Central Modern, the fly-away parrot from Birchley Street and the Carr Mill boy who got stuck up a tree.
Dawn broke over St Helens Town Hall on the morning of the 11th with 200 Pilkington strikers camped outside after spending an all-night vigil in Victoria Square. Four of the workers who said they were enduring hardship through the dispute then travelled to London, along with four members of the strike committee. As the dispute was unofficial no strike pay had been forthcoming from their union and social security payments were only being made to wives and children.
In the capital the delegation met the town's MP, Leslie Spriggs, and David Ennals, the Minister for Social Security, and they appealed for the setting up of hardship centres for strikers' families. This Mr Ennals refused to do but he did say that supplementary benefits could be paid in individual, assessed cases. Meanwhile the National Union of General and Municipal Workers offered one-off payments of £6 - £12 to ease hardship amongst those members who wanted to return to work but had been "very seriously intimidated".
In the afternoon the Liverpool Echo revealed that Professor John Wood would head the Court of Inquiry into the Pilkington dispute that Employment Minister Barbara Castle had ordered. Later that evening a Pilkington shop steward claimed that "professional agitators" were selling copies of Chairman Mao's thoughts to swell their strike funds. "This is organised thuggery by professionals", said Bill Bradburn, who added that it was an "organised onslaught on the national economy of the country."
On the 12th what was described as a "handful" of employees turned up to work at Pilkington factories in St Helens. During the same morning in Liverpool, the NUGMW trade union held a press conference and claimed that Pilks' stewards and their families had been threatened. A spokesman said they believed that the majority of workers wanted to return to their jobs but were being intimidated by violence or the threat of violence. However speaking from his Sutton Manor home, Gerry Caughey – the chairman of the unofficial rank and file strike committee – told the Echo that he'd also received menacing letters, with one threatening to "cut up" his sons.
Newspapers in the Midlands had been carefully following the strike, due to its knock-on effects on car production. The leader column of the Coventry Evening Telegraph on the 12th discussed the claims of outside infiltration at Pilkingtons:
"The allegation that professional agitators are behind the Pilkington glass strike comes as no surprise. It has become obvious that some of the militants have a vested interest in prolonging the dispute for their own ends. Right from the beginning this has been an odd dispute, although it follows a pattern of highly effective stoppages in firms supplying essential components to the motor industry.
"For years St. Helens has been peaceful and prosperous. Pilkingtons have provided well-paid employment for thousands and, in the best traditions of paternal management, have done much for the town. Unlike some other “company towns,” there was no history of industrial trouble. Now suddenly St. Helens is on strike. There is violence, people have been threatened and property damaged. What started as a minor dispute over a clerical error has developed into a highly organised strike which threatens thousands of jobs. It is easy to believe that there is more than meets the eye."
The Liverpool Echo revealed on the 12th that the families of Pilkington strikers in St Helens had so far been given £88,000 in state benefits. Payments were not normally made to the men on strike but to their wives and children. This was creating a problem for single men. Brian Woodward of the strike committee claimed that some were sleeping rough in parks and brick kilns after being thrown out of their lodgings for not paying rent.
On the 13th a mass meeting at Saints' Knowsley Road ground of 4,000 of the strikers voted overwhelmingly to stay out. Just thirty voted in favour of a return to work, although only half of Pilkingtons St Helens' workforce attended the meeting.
The company's response came in the Liverpool Echo later that day with a full-page notice to their striking workforce. Pilkingtons said their interim offer of £3 would not be improved and warned that if the strike continued many jobs would disappear through lost sales.
They also stated that the strike committee's claim that their Joint Industrial Council negotiating body had not improved pay was false – citing a near 25% increase in Plks' wage bill since last October. The company also sent out letters to staff urging them to immediately return to work and predicting massive redundancies if they failed to do so. The company claimed that exports worth £1 million a month (around £18m in today's money) had already been lost. Pilkingtons also sounded a warning to those that had left the NUGMW, saying they would be considered to have terminated their employment due to the glass giant's closed shop agreement with the union.
On the 14th it was announced that a secret ballot of union members would take place in two days' time. Twenty clergymen led by Rev. Kenneth Coates, the Vicar of St Helens, would supervise the vote and as a result the poll was being nicknamed the "dog collar ballot"!
The St Helens Reporter on the 15th continued to focus on the nasty side of the strike and the effects of threats on the wives of shop stewards: "The glass strike's innocent victims, caught up in a turmoil of fear, spoke last night about their living nightmare. Four women are being haunted by frightening phone calls in the middle of the night, anonymous letters threatening violence and beatings and bricks being thrown through the windows of their homes." However I don't think the Reporter printing the full names and addresses of these women was a particularly good idea!
The dog collar ballot took place at Central Modern School in College Street and began with a row between the union and members of the unofficial strike committee. The latter was accused of breaking a promise to co-operate with the vote, as they held a rally of 2,000 strikers during the morning and had posted leaflets outside the polling station. The result was announced later that evening and revealed a slim majority of 274 in favour of ending the six-week stoppage and returning to work. This was out of 6,246 union members that had voted.
However at a mass meeting on Sunday the 17th, 3,500 workers voted to reject the result and remain on strike. Their leader Gerry Caughey claimed that the secret ballot had been rigged, as the NUGMW had signed men on during the past week in order to vote – something the union strenuously denied.
The question now was how many employees would turn up for work on the following Monday and would there be trouble? The police announced that they'd have 350 officers on standby – including twenty mounted men – in order to provide protection. To be continued next week…
And now the non-strike news. Some might say the Pilks' dispute was a right "carry-on". So appropriately from the 11th the Capitol began a double-bill of films from the carry-on franchise showing 'Carry On Nurse' and 'Carry On Cruising'.
Meanwhile the ABC Savoy did something unusual in retaining for a second week the action film 'The Adventurers', starring Candice Bergen and Charles Aznavour. For six days from the 11th Pat Phoenix appeared at the Theatre Royal in a production called 'The Miracle Worker', which told the story of Helen Keller. Before appearing on stage, the Coronation Street actress officially opened the new Brunch Bar at the theatre.
Brian Holmes from Dunmail Avenue in Carr Mill was pictured in the Reporter on the 15th after being rescued by the fire brigade. The 9-year-old was an avid egg collector and some teenage lads had encouraged Brian to climb a high tree to get to a nest. However the boy found he couldn't get down and after being trapped on a branch for 45 minutes, firemen brought Brian down using a telescopic ladder.
There was also an appeal in the Reporter to find a missing parrot called Little Joe, which had flown away from its Birchley Street home. Mary Mercer owned Little Joe and had trained the bird to walk at her feet and play on her rug. She told the Reporter:
"He's like a human being. He follows me round the house and talks all the time saying things like “I'm going now, but I'll be back soon”. He growls like a dog and can imitate a cat. He's a marvellous little bird. Why, he can even turn the television and transistor on and off." The parrot only went into its cage at night and escaped after the back door of the house had been left open.
Next week's stories will include more violence in the Pilkington strike and the 7-week dispute finally comes to an end creating "peace in town of fear". In other news the Reporter asks "Whatever Happened to the Carr Mill Dream?" and the paper profiles haulier Joe Pickavance.
Dawn broke over St Helens Town Hall on the morning of the 11th with 200 Pilkington strikers camped outside after spending an all-night vigil in Victoria Square. Four of the workers who said they were enduring hardship through the dispute then travelled to London, along with four members of the strike committee. As the dispute was unofficial no strike pay had been forthcoming from their union and social security payments were only being made to wives and children.
Strikers' representatives including Brian Woodward outside Parliament with Leslie Spriggs MP (left), pictured in the Birmingham Daily Post
Strikers' delegation including Brian Woodward outside Parliament with Leslie Spriggs MP (left)
Strikers' delegation with Leslie Spriggs MP
In the afternoon the Liverpool Echo revealed that Professor John Wood would head the Court of Inquiry into the Pilkington dispute that Employment Minister Barbara Castle had ordered. Later that evening a Pilkington shop steward claimed that "professional agitators" were selling copies of Chairman Mao's thoughts to swell their strike funds. "This is organised thuggery by professionals", said Bill Bradburn, who added that it was an "organised onslaught on the national economy of the country."
On the 12th what was described as a "handful" of employees turned up to work at Pilkington factories in St Helens. During the same morning in Liverpool, the NUGMW trade union held a press conference and claimed that Pilks' stewards and their families had been threatened. A spokesman said they believed that the majority of workers wanted to return to their jobs but were being intimidated by violence or the threat of violence. However speaking from his Sutton Manor home, Gerry Caughey – the chairman of the unofficial rank and file strike committee – told the Echo that he'd also received menacing letters, with one threatening to "cut up" his sons.
Newspapers in the Midlands had been carefully following the strike, due to its knock-on effects on car production. The leader column of the Coventry Evening Telegraph on the 12th discussed the claims of outside infiltration at Pilkingtons:
"The allegation that professional agitators are behind the Pilkington glass strike comes as no surprise. It has become obvious that some of the militants have a vested interest in prolonging the dispute for their own ends. Right from the beginning this has been an odd dispute, although it follows a pattern of highly effective stoppages in firms supplying essential components to the motor industry.
"For years St. Helens has been peaceful and prosperous. Pilkingtons have provided well-paid employment for thousands and, in the best traditions of paternal management, have done much for the town. Unlike some other “company towns,” there was no history of industrial trouble. Now suddenly St. Helens is on strike. There is violence, people have been threatened and property damaged. What started as a minor dispute over a clerical error has developed into a highly organised strike which threatens thousands of jobs. It is easy to believe that there is more than meets the eye."
The Liverpool Echo revealed on the 12th that the families of Pilkington strikers in St Helens had so far been given £88,000 in state benefits. Payments were not normally made to the men on strike but to their wives and children. This was creating a problem for single men. Brian Woodward of the strike committee claimed that some were sleeping rough in parks and brick kilns after being thrown out of their lodgings for not paying rent.
On the 13th a mass meeting at Saints' Knowsley Road ground of 4,000 of the strikers voted overwhelmingly to stay out. Just thirty voted in favour of a return to work, although only half of Pilkingtons St Helens' workforce attended the meeting.
They also stated that the strike committee's claim that their Joint Industrial Council negotiating body had not improved pay was false – citing a near 25% increase in Plks' wage bill since last October. The company also sent out letters to staff urging them to immediately return to work and predicting massive redundancies if they failed to do so. The company claimed that exports worth £1 million a month (around £18m in today's money) had already been lost. Pilkingtons also sounded a warning to those that had left the NUGMW, saying they would be considered to have terminated their employment due to the glass giant's closed shop agreement with the union.
On the 14th it was announced that a secret ballot of union members would take place in two days' time. Twenty clergymen led by Rev. Kenneth Coates, the Vicar of St Helens, would supervise the vote and as a result the poll was being nicknamed the "dog collar ballot"!
The St Helens Reporter on the 15th continued to focus on the nasty side of the strike and the effects of threats on the wives of shop stewards: "The glass strike's innocent victims, caught up in a turmoil of fear, spoke last night about their living nightmare. Four women are being haunted by frightening phone calls in the middle of the night, anonymous letters threatening violence and beatings and bricks being thrown through the windows of their homes." However I don't think the Reporter printing the full names and addresses of these women was a particularly good idea!
The dog collar ballot took place at Central Modern School in College Street and began with a row between the union and members of the unofficial strike committee. The latter was accused of breaking a promise to co-operate with the vote, as they held a rally of 2,000 strikers during the morning and had posted leaflets outside the polling station. The result was announced later that evening and revealed a slim majority of 274 in favour of ending the six-week stoppage and returning to work. This was out of 6,246 union members that had voted.
However at a mass meeting on Sunday the 17th, 3,500 workers voted to reject the result and remain on strike. Their leader Gerry Caughey claimed that the secret ballot had been rigged, as the NUGMW had signed men on during the past week in order to vote – something the union strenuously denied.
The question now was how many employees would turn up for work on the following Monday and would there be trouble? The police announced that they'd have 350 officers on standby – including twenty mounted men – in order to provide protection. To be continued next week…
And now the non-strike news. Some might say the Pilks' dispute was a right "carry-on". So appropriately from the 11th the Capitol began a double-bill of films from the carry-on franchise showing 'Carry On Nurse' and 'Carry On Cruising'.
Meanwhile the ABC Savoy did something unusual in retaining for a second week the action film 'The Adventurers', starring Candice Bergen and Charles Aznavour. For six days from the 11th Pat Phoenix appeared at the Theatre Royal in a production called 'The Miracle Worker', which told the story of Helen Keller. Before appearing on stage, the Coronation Street actress officially opened the new Brunch Bar at the theatre.
Brian Holmes from Dunmail Avenue in Carr Mill was pictured in the Reporter on the 15th after being rescued by the fire brigade. The 9-year-old was an avid egg collector and some teenage lads had encouraged Brian to climb a high tree to get to a nest. However the boy found he couldn't get down and after being trapped on a branch for 45 minutes, firemen brought Brian down using a telescopic ladder.
There was also an appeal in the Reporter to find a missing parrot called Little Joe, which had flown away from its Birchley Street home. Mary Mercer owned Little Joe and had trained the bird to walk at her feet and play on her rug. She told the Reporter:
"He's like a human being. He follows me round the house and talks all the time saying things like “I'm going now, but I'll be back soon”. He growls like a dog and can imitate a cat. He's a marvellous little bird. Why, he can even turn the television and transistor on and off." The parrot only went into its cage at night and escaped after the back door of the house had been left open.
Next week's stories will include more violence in the Pilkington strike and the 7-week dispute finally comes to an end creating "peace in town of fear". In other news the Reporter asks "Whatever Happened to the Carr Mill Dream?" and the paper profiles haulier Joe Pickavance.
This week's stories include a claim of organised thuggery in the Pilkington dispute, the glass giant warns of massive redundancies, the dog collar strike ballot at Central Modern, the fly-away parrot from Birchley Street and the Carr Mill boy who got stuck up a tree.
Dawn broke over St Helens Town Hall on the morning of the 11th with 200 Pilkington strikers camped outside after spending an all-night vigil in Victoria Square.
Four of the workers who said they were enduring hardship through the dispute then travelled to London, along with four members of the strike committee.
As the dispute was unofficial no strike pay had been forthcoming from their union and social security payments were only being made to wives and children.
In the capital the delegation met the town's MP, Leslie Spriggs, and David Ennals, the Minister for Social Security, and they appealed for the setting up of hardship centres for strikers' families.
This Mr Ennals refused to do but he did say that supplementary benefits could be paid in individual, assessed cases.
Meanwhile the National Union of General and Municipal Workers offered one-off payments of £6 - £12 to ease hardship amongst those members who wanted to return to work but had been "very seriously intimidated".
In the afternoon the Liverpool Echo revealed that Professor John Wood would head the Court of Inquiry into the Pilkington dispute that Employment Minister Barbara Castle had ordered.
Later that evening a Pilkington shop steward claimed that "professional agitators" were selling copies of Chairman Mao's thoughts to swell their strike funds.
"This is organised thuggery by professionals", said Bill Bradburn, who added that it was an "organised onslaught on the national economy of the country."
On the 12th what was described as a "handful" of employees turned up to work at Pilkington factories in St Helens.
During the same morning in Liverpool, the NUGMW trade union held a press conference and claimed that Pilks' stewards and their families had been threatened.
A spokesman said they believed that the majority of workers wanted to return to their jobs but were being intimidated by violence or the threat of violence.
However speaking from his Sutton Manor home, Gerry Caughey – the chairman of the unofficial rank and file strike committee – told the Echo that he'd also received menacing letters, with one threatening to "cut up" his sons.
Newspapers in the Midlands had been carefully following the strike, due to its knock-on effects on car production.
The leader column of the Coventry Evening Telegraph on the 12th discussed the claims of outside infiltration at Pilkingtons:
"The allegation that professional agitators are behind the Pilkington glass strike comes as no surprise. It has become obvious that some of the militants have a vested interest in prolonging the dispute for their own ends. Right from the beginning this has been an odd dispute, although it follows a pattern of highly effective stoppages in firms supplying essential components to the motor industry.
"For years St. Helens has been peaceful and prosperous. Pilkingtons have provided well-paid employment for thousands and, in the best traditions of paternal management, have done much for the town. Unlike some other “company towns,” there was no history of industrial trouble.
"Now suddenly St. Helens is on strike. There is violence, people have been threatened and property damaged. What started as a minor dispute over a clerical error has developed into a highly organised strike which threatens thousands of jobs. It is easy to believe that there is more than meets the eye."
The Liverpool Echo revealed on the 12th that the families of Pilkington strikers in St Helens had so far been given £88,000 in state benefits.
Payments were not normally made to the men on strike but to their wives and children. This was creating a problem for single men.
Brian Woodward of the strike committee claimed that some were sleeping rough in parks and brick kilns after being thrown out of their lodgings for not paying rent.
On the 13th a mass meeting at Saints' Knowsley Road ground of 4,000 of the strikers voted overwhelmingly to stay out. Just thirty voted in favour of a return to work, although only half of Pilkingtons St Helens' workforce attended the meeting.
The company's response came in the Liverpool Echo later that day with a full-page notice to their striking workforce.
Pilkingtons said their interim offer of £3 would not be improved and warned that if the strike continued many jobs would disappear through lost sales.
They also stated that the strike committee's claim that their Joint Industrial Council negotiating body had not improved pay was false – citing a near 25% increase in Plks' wage bill since last October.
The company also sent out letters to staff urging them to immediately return to work and predicting massive redundancies if they failed to do so.
The company claimed that exports worth £1 million a month (around £18m in today's money) had already been lost.
Pilkingtons also sounded a warning to those that had left the NUGMW, saying they would be considered to have terminated their employment due to the glass giant's closed shop agreement with the union.
On the 14th it was announced that a secret ballot of union members would take place in two days' time.
Twenty clergymen led by Rev. Kenneth Coates, the Vicar of St Helens, would supervise the vote and as a result the poll was being nicknamed the "dog collar ballot"!
The St Helens Reporter on the 15th continued to focus on the nasty side of the strike and the effects of threats on the wives of shop stewards:
"The glass strike's innocent victims, caught up in a turmoil of fear, spoke last night about their living nightmare. Four women are being haunted by frightening phone calls in the middle of the night, anonymous letters threatening violence and beatings and bricks being thrown through the windows of their homes."
However I don't think the Reporter printing the full names and addresses of these women was a particularly good idea!
The dog collar ballot took place at Central Modern School in College Street and began with a row between the union and members of the unofficial strike committee.
The latter was accused of breaking a promise to co-operate with the vote, as they held a rally of 2,000 strikers during the morning and had posted leaflets outside the polling station.
The result was announced later that evening and revealed a slim majority of 274 in favour of ending the six-week stoppage and returning to work. This was out of 6,246 union members that had voted.
However at a mass meeting on Sunday the 17th, 3,500 workers voted to reject the result and remain on strike.
Their leader Gerry Caughey claimed that the secret ballot had been rigged, as the NUGMW had signed men on during the past week in order to vote – something the union strenuously denied.
The question now was how many employees would turn up for work on the following Monday and would there be trouble?
The police announced that they'd have 350 officers on standby – including twenty mounted men – in order to provide protection. To be continued next week…
And now the non-strike news. Some might say the Pilks' dispute was a right "carry-on".
So appropriately from the 11th the Capitol began a double-bill of films from the carry-on franchise showing 'Carry On Nurse' and 'Carry On Cruising'.
Meanwhile the ABC Savoy did something unusual in retaining for a second week the action film 'The Adventurers', starring Candice Bergen and Charles Aznavour.
For six days from the 11th Pat Phoenix appeared at the Theatre Royal in a production called 'The Miracle Worker', which told the story of Helen Keller.
Before appearing on stage, the Coronation Street actress officially opened the new Brunch Bar at the theatre.
Brian Holmes from Dunmail Avenue in Carr Mill was pictured in the Reporter on the 15th after being rescued by the fire brigade.
The 9-year-old was an avid egg collector and some teenage lads had encouraged Brian to climb a high tree to get to a nest.
However the boy found he couldn't get down and after being trapped on a branch for 45 minutes, firemen brought Brian down using a telescopic ladder.
There was also an appeal in the Reporter to find a missing parrot called Little Joe, which had flown away from its Birchley Street home.
Mary Mercer owned Little Joe and had trained the bird to walk at her feet and play on her rug. She told the Reporter:
"He's like a human being. He follows me round the house and talks all the time saying things like “I'm going now, but I'll be back soon”. He growls like a dog and can imitate a cat. He's a marvellous little bird. Why, he can even turn the television and transistor on and off."
The parrot only went into its cage at night and escaped after the back door of the house had been left open.
Next week's stories will include more violence in the Pilkington strike and the 7-week dispute finally comes to an end creating "peace in town of fear". In other news the Reporter asks "Whatever Happened to the Carr Mill Dream?" and the paper profiles haulier Joe Pickavance.
Dawn broke over St Helens Town Hall on the morning of the 11th with 200 Pilkington strikers camped outside after spending an all-night vigil in Victoria Square.
Four of the workers who said they were enduring hardship through the dispute then travelled to London, along with four members of the strike committee.
As the dispute was unofficial no strike pay had been forthcoming from their union and social security payments were only being made to wives and children.
Strikers' representatives including Brian Woodward outside Parliament with Leslie Spriggs MP (left), pictured in the Birmingham Daily Post
Strikers' delegation including Brian Woodward outside Parliament with Leslie Spriggs MP (left)
Strikers' delegation with Leslie Spriggs MP
This Mr Ennals refused to do but he did say that supplementary benefits could be paid in individual, assessed cases.
Meanwhile the National Union of General and Municipal Workers offered one-off payments of £6 - £12 to ease hardship amongst those members who wanted to return to work but had been "very seriously intimidated".
In the afternoon the Liverpool Echo revealed that Professor John Wood would head the Court of Inquiry into the Pilkington dispute that Employment Minister Barbara Castle had ordered.
Later that evening a Pilkington shop steward claimed that "professional agitators" were selling copies of Chairman Mao's thoughts to swell their strike funds.
"This is organised thuggery by professionals", said Bill Bradburn, who added that it was an "organised onslaught on the national economy of the country."
On the 12th what was described as a "handful" of employees turned up to work at Pilkington factories in St Helens.
During the same morning in Liverpool, the NUGMW trade union held a press conference and claimed that Pilks' stewards and their families had been threatened.
A spokesman said they believed that the majority of workers wanted to return to their jobs but were being intimidated by violence or the threat of violence.
However speaking from his Sutton Manor home, Gerry Caughey – the chairman of the unofficial rank and file strike committee – told the Echo that he'd also received menacing letters, with one threatening to "cut up" his sons.
Newspapers in the Midlands had been carefully following the strike, due to its knock-on effects on car production.
The leader column of the Coventry Evening Telegraph on the 12th discussed the claims of outside infiltration at Pilkingtons:
"The allegation that professional agitators are behind the Pilkington glass strike comes as no surprise. It has become obvious that some of the militants have a vested interest in prolonging the dispute for their own ends. Right from the beginning this has been an odd dispute, although it follows a pattern of highly effective stoppages in firms supplying essential components to the motor industry.
"For years St. Helens has been peaceful and prosperous. Pilkingtons have provided well-paid employment for thousands and, in the best traditions of paternal management, have done much for the town. Unlike some other “company towns,” there was no history of industrial trouble.
"Now suddenly St. Helens is on strike. There is violence, people have been threatened and property damaged. What started as a minor dispute over a clerical error has developed into a highly organised strike which threatens thousands of jobs. It is easy to believe that there is more than meets the eye."
The Liverpool Echo revealed on the 12th that the families of Pilkington strikers in St Helens had so far been given £88,000 in state benefits.
Payments were not normally made to the men on strike but to their wives and children. This was creating a problem for single men.
Brian Woodward of the strike committee claimed that some were sleeping rough in parks and brick kilns after being thrown out of their lodgings for not paying rent.
On the 13th a mass meeting at Saints' Knowsley Road ground of 4,000 of the strikers voted overwhelmingly to stay out. Just thirty voted in favour of a return to work, although only half of Pilkingtons St Helens' workforce attended the meeting.
Pilkingtons said their interim offer of £3 would not be improved and warned that if the strike continued many jobs would disappear through lost sales.
They also stated that the strike committee's claim that their Joint Industrial Council negotiating body had not improved pay was false – citing a near 25% increase in Plks' wage bill since last October.
The company also sent out letters to staff urging them to immediately return to work and predicting massive redundancies if they failed to do so.
The company claimed that exports worth £1 million a month (around £18m in today's money) had already been lost.
Pilkingtons also sounded a warning to those that had left the NUGMW, saying they would be considered to have terminated their employment due to the glass giant's closed shop agreement with the union.
On the 14th it was announced that a secret ballot of union members would take place in two days' time.
Twenty clergymen led by Rev. Kenneth Coates, the Vicar of St Helens, would supervise the vote and as a result the poll was being nicknamed the "dog collar ballot"!
The St Helens Reporter on the 15th continued to focus on the nasty side of the strike and the effects of threats on the wives of shop stewards:
"The glass strike's innocent victims, caught up in a turmoil of fear, spoke last night about their living nightmare. Four women are being haunted by frightening phone calls in the middle of the night, anonymous letters threatening violence and beatings and bricks being thrown through the windows of their homes."
However I don't think the Reporter printing the full names and addresses of these women was a particularly good idea!
The dog collar ballot took place at Central Modern School in College Street and began with a row between the union and members of the unofficial strike committee.
The latter was accused of breaking a promise to co-operate with the vote, as they held a rally of 2,000 strikers during the morning and had posted leaflets outside the polling station.
The result was announced later that evening and revealed a slim majority of 274 in favour of ending the six-week stoppage and returning to work. This was out of 6,246 union members that had voted.
However at a mass meeting on Sunday the 17th, 3,500 workers voted to reject the result and remain on strike.
Their leader Gerry Caughey claimed that the secret ballot had been rigged, as the NUGMW had signed men on during the past week in order to vote – something the union strenuously denied.
The question now was how many employees would turn up for work on the following Monday and would there be trouble?
The police announced that they'd have 350 officers on standby – including twenty mounted men – in order to provide protection. To be continued next week…
And now the non-strike news. Some might say the Pilks' dispute was a right "carry-on".
So appropriately from the 11th the Capitol began a double-bill of films from the carry-on franchise showing 'Carry On Nurse' and 'Carry On Cruising'.
Meanwhile the ABC Savoy did something unusual in retaining for a second week the action film 'The Adventurers', starring Candice Bergen and Charles Aznavour.
For six days from the 11th Pat Phoenix appeared at the Theatre Royal in a production called 'The Miracle Worker', which told the story of Helen Keller.
Before appearing on stage, the Coronation Street actress officially opened the new Brunch Bar at the theatre.
Brian Holmes from Dunmail Avenue in Carr Mill was pictured in the Reporter on the 15th after being rescued by the fire brigade.
The 9-year-old was an avid egg collector and some teenage lads had encouraged Brian to climb a high tree to get to a nest.
However the boy found he couldn't get down and after being trapped on a branch for 45 minutes, firemen brought Brian down using a telescopic ladder.
There was also an appeal in the Reporter to find a missing parrot called Little Joe, which had flown away from its Birchley Street home.
Mary Mercer owned Little Joe and had trained the bird to walk at her feet and play on her rug. She told the Reporter:
"He's like a human being. He follows me round the house and talks all the time saying things like “I'm going now, but I'll be back soon”. He growls like a dog and can imitate a cat. He's a marvellous little bird. Why, he can even turn the television and transistor on and off."
The parrot only went into its cage at night and escaped after the back door of the house had been left open.
Next week's stories will include more violence in the Pilkington strike and the 7-week dispute finally comes to an end creating "peace in town of fear". In other news the Reporter asks "Whatever Happened to the Carr Mill Dream?" and the paper profiles haulier Joe Pickavance.