FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (11 - 17 SEPTEMBER 1973)
This week's many stories include another chemical pollution scare in Sutton, why St Helens and Knowsley were to have a combined health authority, a call for juggernauts to be banned from St Helens roads, the Billinge bus that burst into flames, victory for the Chain Lane mothers' campaign for a lollipop man, the pit cage at Sutton Manor Colliery that got stuck and the bravery awards for three boys who saved their pal from serious burns.
We begin with the announcement that the complex of 186 council flats that was being built off Liverpool Road in St Helens could be ready for partial occupation by December of this year. That was more than two years later than planned and the actual completion of the scheme was not expected until April 1974. A combination of strikes and shortages of materials had caused huge delays to the project. It had been budgeted at £¾ million but the overrun could end up costing St Helens Corporation a further £150,000.
At the council's Works Committee meeting on the 12th Cllr Tony Harvey called for juggernaut lorries to be banned from St Helens roads. That was after residents in Dentons Green Lane had claimed that their homes were being slowly destroyed. Constant vibrations from heavy traffic were said to be causing cracks in walls and local people complained that their windows could not be opened because of fumes and noise.
Cllr Harvey remarked: "Let's look at ways to improve the dignity of human life in St Helens. The time has come when lorries should be kept out of urban centres." Alderman John Fenebery then said: "What a wonderful prospect a ban would be. I live on a main road and I sometimes have to speak above the noise to make myself heard." Cllr Harry Glover thought a ban would be impractical but the committee decided to investigate the matter further.
It was revealed this week that St Helens and Knowsley were to have a single, combined health authority, much to the anger of Cllr Pat Gill who said: "We are still going to fight this". In July he'd headed a deputation to London to try and persuade Ministry of Health bosses that the two areas should remain independent. But the Health Secretary, Sir Keith Joseph, had now rejected their protests. St Helens and Knowsley was going to be combined under the local government reorganisation planned for 1974 – the only two areas in the country forced to share health services.
In Billinge on the 13th a bus driver and his conductor helped seventy schoolchildren to safety just seconds before their vehicle burst into flames. Driver Bill Charnock and conductor Edward Frodsham had spotted smoke pouring from the back of the bus after its engine had cut out in Main Street. Mr Charnock said: "My only thought was to get the children off quickly, but we managed to get them all off just before the bus burst into flames." Most of the children were 5-year-olds who were able to walk the rest of the way to school, as the bus was near its turning point in Rainford Road.
On the same day fireman John Mercer from Ormskirk Road in Rainford was described as "comfortable" in Whiston Hospital. That was after suffering a head injury when he fell from a ladder at Holly Farm in Rainford while fighting a blaze in a barn belonging to Alan and Kathleen Grice.
This week three St Helens boys who saved their pal's life after fire had turned him into a human torch were presented with bravery awards. Christopher Cheshire and Gary Alecock from Woolacombe Avenue and John Cartwright of Sutton Park Drive were given framed certificates by the Society for the Protection of Life from Fire. The boys had been playing in the backyard of a house in Cleveland Street when a rubbish fire got out of control.
Twelve-year-old Steven Gallagher of Pollitt Street tried to extinguish the blaze by throwing a tin of water over it. However, the tin also contained petrol and Steven's clothing burst into flames. He ran out of the yard but his three friends chased after him and put out the flames. The boy received burns to his face, arms and legs – but it could have been far worse. The citation that his three friends received from Cllr Harry Williams, the Mayor of St Helens, on behalf of the Society said: "If the boys had not acted promptly and without regard for their own safety, Steven would have been injured far more seriously."
A hitch at Sutton Manor Colliery this week led to two days of lost production. A lift cage used to transport coal and equipment jammed in a shaft and had to be replaced. And then a thorough inspection of the new cage and shaft by management and union officials needed to take place. A Coal Board spokesman explained what occurred: "The cage was lowering some steel bars but one of them came loose and jammed the cage in the shaft. There are only two shafts at Sutton Manor so production had to stop – it couldn't operate with just one. The cage is not used for carrying men, and there was no danger to life or limb."
The Pilkington Players were a well-respected troupe that regularly performed at the Theatre Royal in St Helens. For three nights from the 13th, the Players presented the comedy 'The White Sheep Of The Family', in which a pair of criminal parents becomes distressed when their son announces he is going straight.
A major story in this week's Reporter concerned the hunt for the source of a new, mystery pollution in Sutton. Investigations had begun after two 13-year-old girls had walked through a cloud of chemical mist on their way to St Cuthbert's school in Berry's Lane. The Reporter wrote: "The youngsters fled in terror, as the fumes made them gasp for breath and they were later sent to hospital." However, the usual suspects in Leathers Chemicals and British Sidac of Lancots Lane had been ruled out.
Jaqueline Kenwright of Beth Avenue in Sutton said: "We were in Watery Lane when we saw this thing which looked like a bit of mist. "It smelt terrible. We just breathed in and we were gasping for breath. We ran and I pulled the hood of my parker coat around my face for protection. We were in it for only seconds but it affected us straight away." And her friend Philomena Spreadbury of Hoghton Road said: "I put my face down and ran. We were frightened." Both girls were sick when they got to school and teacher Eileen Nolan took them to the hospital for a check-up.
The many new housing estates that were being built in St Helens were being badly affected by vandalism, ranging from window smashing to arson. Nobody seems yet to have thought of the obvious deterrent. Completely fence off such sites as is done today to deprive unauthorised persons of access. However, the Reporter revealed how St Helens Corporation had come up with a simple solution of its own. That was to have some of their new properties occupied by tenants as soon as the houses were finished and to employ a watchman.
The Corporation's building site in Peasley Cross had been a prime target for the wreckers with more than thirty windows smashed there every week. But since a watchman had been appointed and some of the homes occupied, the destruction had stopped. Alderman Joseph Hughes, Chairman of the council's Building Committee, said:
"Now we've cut out the wholesale window smashing and as the site gets occupied we are winning the battle." Ald. Hughes also paid tribute to residents who had seen the vandals at work and left their homes to tackle them. He said: "I have had reports of them rushing from their homes and moving vandals on. I want to thank them for their courage in getting involved."
In July the St Helens Reporter's lead story had begun: "Defiant mothers struggled with police to make a human barricade across two roads in Blackbrook and bring traffic to a halt. "For nearly 20 minutes four policemen had to push and drag the furious women out of the way of waiting cars, buses, and heavy lorries." The demonstration took place outside St Mary's Infants in Chain Lane and the women were demanding a lollipop man to supervise their children going to and from school.
The mothers had been campaigning for a year but St Helens Corporation and the police argued that not enough traffic used Chain Lane and an insufficient number of children crossed it to justify implementing a crossing patrol. But on the 17th there was a change of heart and a lollipop man began his duties in Chain Lane.
Dorothy Devanney of Parbold Avenue in Blackbrook was one of the campaign leaders. When told of the U-turn she said: "This news has made my day. We never gave up the fight for a second." Supt. Harry Asher, head of St Helens Police, said: "There has been an increase in the number of children going to the school, and this is the main reason for the policy reversal."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the twopenny bus rides in St Helens, the Liver Birds' opening of Fine Fare in Church Street, the mugging threat to bank customers in Hardshaw Street and a last ditch bid to save Crank Post Office.
We begin with the announcement that the complex of 186 council flats that was being built off Liverpool Road in St Helens could be ready for partial occupation by December of this year. That was more than two years later than planned and the actual completion of the scheme was not expected until April 1974. A combination of strikes and shortages of materials had caused huge delays to the project. It had been budgeted at £¾ million but the overrun could end up costing St Helens Corporation a further £150,000.
At the council's Works Committee meeting on the 12th Cllr Tony Harvey called for juggernaut lorries to be banned from St Helens roads. That was after residents in Dentons Green Lane had claimed that their homes were being slowly destroyed. Constant vibrations from heavy traffic were said to be causing cracks in walls and local people complained that their windows could not be opened because of fumes and noise.
Cllr Harvey remarked: "Let's look at ways to improve the dignity of human life in St Helens. The time has come when lorries should be kept out of urban centres." Alderman John Fenebery then said: "What a wonderful prospect a ban would be. I live on a main road and I sometimes have to speak above the noise to make myself heard." Cllr Harry Glover thought a ban would be impractical but the committee decided to investigate the matter further.
It was revealed this week that St Helens and Knowsley were to have a single, combined health authority, much to the anger of Cllr Pat Gill who said: "We are still going to fight this". In July he'd headed a deputation to London to try and persuade Ministry of Health bosses that the two areas should remain independent. But the Health Secretary, Sir Keith Joseph, had now rejected their protests. St Helens and Knowsley was going to be combined under the local government reorganisation planned for 1974 – the only two areas in the country forced to share health services.
In Billinge on the 13th a bus driver and his conductor helped seventy schoolchildren to safety just seconds before their vehicle burst into flames. Driver Bill Charnock and conductor Edward Frodsham had spotted smoke pouring from the back of the bus after its engine had cut out in Main Street. Mr Charnock said: "My only thought was to get the children off quickly, but we managed to get them all off just before the bus burst into flames." Most of the children were 5-year-olds who were able to walk the rest of the way to school, as the bus was near its turning point in Rainford Road.
On the same day fireman John Mercer from Ormskirk Road in Rainford was described as "comfortable" in Whiston Hospital. That was after suffering a head injury when he fell from a ladder at Holly Farm in Rainford while fighting a blaze in a barn belonging to Alan and Kathleen Grice.
This week three St Helens boys who saved their pal's life after fire had turned him into a human torch were presented with bravery awards. Christopher Cheshire and Gary Alecock from Woolacombe Avenue and John Cartwright of Sutton Park Drive were given framed certificates by the Society for the Protection of Life from Fire. The boys had been playing in the backyard of a house in Cleveland Street when a rubbish fire got out of control.
Twelve-year-old Steven Gallagher of Pollitt Street tried to extinguish the blaze by throwing a tin of water over it. However, the tin also contained petrol and Steven's clothing burst into flames. He ran out of the yard but his three friends chased after him and put out the flames. The boy received burns to his face, arms and legs – but it could have been far worse. The citation that his three friends received from Cllr Harry Williams, the Mayor of St Helens, on behalf of the Society said: "If the boys had not acted promptly and without regard for their own safety, Steven would have been injured far more seriously."
The Pilkington Players were a well-respected troupe that regularly performed at the Theatre Royal in St Helens. For three nights from the 13th, the Players presented the comedy 'The White Sheep Of The Family', in which a pair of criminal parents becomes distressed when their son announces he is going straight.
A major story in this week's Reporter concerned the hunt for the source of a new, mystery pollution in Sutton. Investigations had begun after two 13-year-old girls had walked through a cloud of chemical mist on their way to St Cuthbert's school in Berry's Lane. The Reporter wrote: "The youngsters fled in terror, as the fumes made them gasp for breath and they were later sent to hospital." However, the usual suspects in Leathers Chemicals and British Sidac of Lancots Lane had been ruled out.
Jaqueline Kenwright of Beth Avenue in Sutton said: "We were in Watery Lane when we saw this thing which looked like a bit of mist. "It smelt terrible. We just breathed in and we were gasping for breath. We ran and I pulled the hood of my parker coat around my face for protection. We were in it for only seconds but it affected us straight away." And her friend Philomena Spreadbury of Hoghton Road said: "I put my face down and ran. We were frightened." Both girls were sick when they got to school and teacher Eileen Nolan took them to the hospital for a check-up.
The many new housing estates that were being built in St Helens were being badly affected by vandalism, ranging from window smashing to arson. Nobody seems yet to have thought of the obvious deterrent. Completely fence off such sites as is done today to deprive unauthorised persons of access. However, the Reporter revealed how St Helens Corporation had come up with a simple solution of its own. That was to have some of their new properties occupied by tenants as soon as the houses were finished and to employ a watchman.
The Corporation's building site in Peasley Cross had been a prime target for the wreckers with more than thirty windows smashed there every week. But since a watchman had been appointed and some of the homes occupied, the destruction had stopped. Alderman Joseph Hughes, Chairman of the council's Building Committee, said:
"Now we've cut out the wholesale window smashing and as the site gets occupied we are winning the battle." Ald. Hughes also paid tribute to residents who had seen the vandals at work and left their homes to tackle them. He said: "I have had reports of them rushing from their homes and moving vandals on. I want to thank them for their courage in getting involved."
In July the St Helens Reporter's lead story had begun: "Defiant mothers struggled with police to make a human barricade across two roads in Blackbrook and bring traffic to a halt. "For nearly 20 minutes four policemen had to push and drag the furious women out of the way of waiting cars, buses, and heavy lorries." The demonstration took place outside St Mary's Infants in Chain Lane and the women were demanding a lollipop man to supervise their children going to and from school.
The mothers had been campaigning for a year but St Helens Corporation and the police argued that not enough traffic used Chain Lane and an insufficient number of children crossed it to justify implementing a crossing patrol. But on the 17th there was a change of heart and a lollipop man began his duties in Chain Lane.
Dorothy Devanney of Parbold Avenue in Blackbrook was one of the campaign leaders. When told of the U-turn she said: "This news has made my day. We never gave up the fight for a second." Supt. Harry Asher, head of St Helens Police, said: "There has been an increase in the number of children going to the school, and this is the main reason for the policy reversal."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the twopenny bus rides in St Helens, the Liver Birds' opening of Fine Fare in Church Street, the mugging threat to bank customers in Hardshaw Street and a last ditch bid to save Crank Post Office.
This week's many stories include another chemical pollution scare in Sutton, why St Helens and Knowsley were to have a combined health authority, a call for juggernauts to be banned from St Helens roads, the Billinge bus that burst into flames, victory for the Chain Lane mothers' campaign for a lollipop man, the pit cage at Sutton Manor Colliery that got stuck and the bravery awards for three boys who saved their pal from serious burns.
We begin with the announcement that the complex of 186 council flats that was being built off Liverpool Road in St Helens could be ready for partial occupation by December of this year.
That was more than two years later than planned and the actual completion of the scheme was not expected until April 1974.
A combination of strikes and shortages of materials had caused huge delays to the project.
It had been budgeted at £¾ million but the overrun could end up costing St Helens Corporation a further £150,000.
At the council's Works Committee meeting on the 12th Cllr Tony Harvey called for juggernaut lorries to be banned from St Helens roads.
That was after residents in Dentons Green Lane had claimed that their homes were being slowly destroyed.
Constant vibrations from heavy traffic were said to be causing cracks in walls and local people complained that their windows could not be opened because of fumes and noise.
Cllr Harvey remarked: "Let's look at ways to improve the dignity of human life in St Helens. The time has come when lorries should be kept out of urban centres."
Alderman John Fenebery then said: "What a wonderful prospect a ban would be. I live on a main road and I sometimes have to speak above the noise to make myself heard."
Cllr Harry Glover thought a ban would be impractical but the committee decided to investigate the matter further.
It was revealed this week that St Helens and Knowsley were to have a single, combined health authority, much to the anger of Cllr Pat Gill who said: "We are still going to fight this".
In July he'd headed a deputation to London to try and persuade Ministry of Health bosses that the two areas should remain independent. But the Health Secretary, Sir Keith Joseph, had now rejected their protests.
St Helens and Knowsley was going to be combined under the local government reorganisation planned for 1974 – the only two areas in the country forced to share health services.
In Billinge on the 13th a bus driver and his conductor helped seventy schoolchildren to safety just seconds before their vehicle burst into flames.
Driver Bill Charnock and conductor Edward Frodsham had spotted smoke pouring from the back of the bus after its engine had cut out in Main Street.
Mr Charnock said: "My only thought was to get the children off quickly, but we managed to get them all off just before the bus burst into flames."
Most of the children were 5-year-olds who were able to walk the rest of the way to school, as the bus was near its turning point in Rainford Road.
On the same day fireman John Mercer from Ormskirk Road in Rainford was described as "comfortable" in Whiston Hospital.
That was after suffering a head injury when he fell from a ladder at Holly Farm in Rainford while fighting a blaze in a barn belonging to Alan and Kathleen Grice.
This week three St Helens boys who saved their pal's life after fire had turned him into a human torch were presented with bravery awards.
Christopher Cheshire and Gary Alecock from Woolacombe Avenue and John Cartwright of Sutton Park Drive were given framed certificates by the Society for the Protection of Life from Fire.
The boys had been playing in the backyard of a house in Cleveland Street when a rubbish fire got out of control.
Twelve-year-old Steven Gallagher of Pollitt Street tried to extinguish the blaze by throwing a tin of water over it.
However, the tin also contained petrol and Steven's clothing burst into flames. He ran out of the yard but his three friends chased after him and put out the flames. The boy received burns to his face, arms and legs – but it could have been far worse.
The citation that his three friends received from Cllr Harry Williams, the Mayor of St Helens, on behalf of the Society said: "If the boys had not acted promptly and without regard for their own safety, Steven would have been injured far more seriously."
A hitch at Sutton Manor Colliery this week led to two days of lost production.
A lift cage used to transport coal and equipment jammed in a shaft and had to be replaced.
And then a thorough inspection of the new cage and shaft by management and union officials needed to take place. A Coal Board spokesman explained what occurred:
"The cage was lowering some steel bars but one of them came loose and jammed the cage in the shaft. There are only two shafts at Sutton Manor so production had to stop – it couldn't operate with just one. The cage is not used for carrying men, and there was no danger to life or limb."
The Pilkington Players were a well-respected troupe that regularly performed at the Theatre Royal in St Helens.
For three nights from the 13th, the Players presented the comedy 'The White Sheep Of The Family', in which a pair of criminal parents becomes distressed when their son announces he is going straight.
A major story in this week's Reporter concerned the hunt for the source of a new, mystery pollution in Sutton.
Investigations had begun after two 13-year-old girls had walked through a cloud of chemical mist on their way to St Cuthbert's school in Berry's Lane. The Reporter wrote:
"The youngsters fled in terror, as the fumes made them gasp for breath and they were later sent to hospital."
However, the usual suspects in Leathers Chemicals and British Sidac of Lancots Lane had been ruled out.
Jaqueline Kenwright of Beth Avenue in Sutton said: "We were in Watery Lane when we saw this thing which looked like a bit of mist.
"It smelt terrible. We just breathed in and we were gasping for breath. We ran and I pulled the hood of my parker coat around my face for protection. We were in it for only seconds but it affected us straight away."
And her friend Philomena Spreadbury of Hoghton Road said: "I put my face down and ran. We were frightened."
Both girls were sick when they got to school and teacher Eileen Nolan took them to the hospital for a check-up.
The many new housing estates that were being built in St Helens were being badly affected by vandalism, ranging from window smashing to arson.
Nobody seems yet to have thought of the obvious deterrent. Completely fence off such sites as is done today to deprive unauthorised persons of access.
However, the Reporter revealed how St Helens Corporation had come up with a simple solution of its own.
That was to have some of their new properties occupied by tenants as soon as the houses were finished and to employ a watchman.
The Corporation's building site in Peasley Cross had been a prime target for the wreckers with more than thirty windows smashed there every week.
But since a watchman had been appointed and some of the homes occupied, the destruction had stopped.
Alderman Joseph Hughes, Chairman of the council's Building Committee, said: "Now we've cut out the wholesale window smashing and as the site gets occupied we are winning the battle."
Ald. Hughes also paid tribute to residents who had seen the vandals at work and left their homes to tackle them.
He said: "I have had reports of them rushing from their homes and moving vandals on. I want to thank them for their courage in getting involved."
In July the St Helens Reporter's lead story had begun: "Defiant mothers struggled with police to make a human barricade across two roads in Blackbrook and bring traffic to a halt.
"For nearly 20 minutes four policemen had to push and drag the furious women out of the way of waiting cars, buses, and heavy lorries."
The demonstration took place outside St Mary's Infants in Chain Lane and the women were demanding a lollipop man to supervise their children going to and from school.
The mothers had been campaigning for a year but St Helens Corporation and the police argued that not enough traffic used Chain Lane and an insufficient number of children crossed it to justify implementing a crossing patrol.
But on the 17th there was a change of heart and a lollipop man began his duties in Chain Lane.
Dorothy Devanney of Parbold Avenue in Blackbrook was one of the campaign leaders. When told of the U-turn she said: "This news has made my day. We never gave up the fight for a second."
Supt. Harry Asher, head of St Helens Police, said: "There has been an increase in the number of children going to the school, and this is the main reason for the policy reversal."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the twopenny bus rides in St Helens, the Liver Birds' opening of Fine Fare in Church Street, the mugging threat to bank customers in Hardshaw Street and a last ditch bid to save Crank Post Office.
We begin with the announcement that the complex of 186 council flats that was being built off Liverpool Road in St Helens could be ready for partial occupation by December of this year.
That was more than two years later than planned and the actual completion of the scheme was not expected until April 1974.
A combination of strikes and shortages of materials had caused huge delays to the project.
It had been budgeted at £¾ million but the overrun could end up costing St Helens Corporation a further £150,000.
At the council's Works Committee meeting on the 12th Cllr Tony Harvey called for juggernaut lorries to be banned from St Helens roads.
That was after residents in Dentons Green Lane had claimed that their homes were being slowly destroyed.
Constant vibrations from heavy traffic were said to be causing cracks in walls and local people complained that their windows could not be opened because of fumes and noise.
Cllr Harvey remarked: "Let's look at ways to improve the dignity of human life in St Helens. The time has come when lorries should be kept out of urban centres."
Alderman John Fenebery then said: "What a wonderful prospect a ban would be. I live on a main road and I sometimes have to speak above the noise to make myself heard."
Cllr Harry Glover thought a ban would be impractical but the committee decided to investigate the matter further.
It was revealed this week that St Helens and Knowsley were to have a single, combined health authority, much to the anger of Cllr Pat Gill who said: "We are still going to fight this".
In July he'd headed a deputation to London to try and persuade Ministry of Health bosses that the two areas should remain independent. But the Health Secretary, Sir Keith Joseph, had now rejected their protests.
St Helens and Knowsley was going to be combined under the local government reorganisation planned for 1974 – the only two areas in the country forced to share health services.
In Billinge on the 13th a bus driver and his conductor helped seventy schoolchildren to safety just seconds before their vehicle burst into flames.
Driver Bill Charnock and conductor Edward Frodsham had spotted smoke pouring from the back of the bus after its engine had cut out in Main Street.
Mr Charnock said: "My only thought was to get the children off quickly, but we managed to get them all off just before the bus burst into flames."
Most of the children were 5-year-olds who were able to walk the rest of the way to school, as the bus was near its turning point in Rainford Road.
On the same day fireman John Mercer from Ormskirk Road in Rainford was described as "comfortable" in Whiston Hospital.
That was after suffering a head injury when he fell from a ladder at Holly Farm in Rainford while fighting a blaze in a barn belonging to Alan and Kathleen Grice.
This week three St Helens boys who saved their pal's life after fire had turned him into a human torch were presented with bravery awards.
Christopher Cheshire and Gary Alecock from Woolacombe Avenue and John Cartwright of Sutton Park Drive were given framed certificates by the Society for the Protection of Life from Fire.
The boys had been playing in the backyard of a house in Cleveland Street when a rubbish fire got out of control.
Twelve-year-old Steven Gallagher of Pollitt Street tried to extinguish the blaze by throwing a tin of water over it.
However, the tin also contained petrol and Steven's clothing burst into flames. He ran out of the yard but his three friends chased after him and put out the flames. The boy received burns to his face, arms and legs – but it could have been far worse.
The citation that his three friends received from Cllr Harry Williams, the Mayor of St Helens, on behalf of the Society said: "If the boys had not acted promptly and without regard for their own safety, Steven would have been injured far more seriously."
A lift cage used to transport coal and equipment jammed in a shaft and had to be replaced.
And then a thorough inspection of the new cage and shaft by management and union officials needed to take place. A Coal Board spokesman explained what occurred:
"The cage was lowering some steel bars but one of them came loose and jammed the cage in the shaft. There are only two shafts at Sutton Manor so production had to stop – it couldn't operate with just one. The cage is not used for carrying men, and there was no danger to life or limb."
The Pilkington Players were a well-respected troupe that regularly performed at the Theatre Royal in St Helens.
For three nights from the 13th, the Players presented the comedy 'The White Sheep Of The Family', in which a pair of criminal parents becomes distressed when their son announces he is going straight.
A major story in this week's Reporter concerned the hunt for the source of a new, mystery pollution in Sutton.
Investigations had begun after two 13-year-old girls had walked through a cloud of chemical mist on their way to St Cuthbert's school in Berry's Lane. The Reporter wrote:
"The youngsters fled in terror, as the fumes made them gasp for breath and they were later sent to hospital."
However, the usual suspects in Leathers Chemicals and British Sidac of Lancots Lane had been ruled out.
Jaqueline Kenwright of Beth Avenue in Sutton said: "We were in Watery Lane when we saw this thing which looked like a bit of mist.
"It smelt terrible. We just breathed in and we were gasping for breath. We ran and I pulled the hood of my parker coat around my face for protection. We were in it for only seconds but it affected us straight away."
And her friend Philomena Spreadbury of Hoghton Road said: "I put my face down and ran. We were frightened."
Both girls were sick when they got to school and teacher Eileen Nolan took them to the hospital for a check-up.
The many new housing estates that were being built in St Helens were being badly affected by vandalism, ranging from window smashing to arson.
Nobody seems yet to have thought of the obvious deterrent. Completely fence off such sites as is done today to deprive unauthorised persons of access.
However, the Reporter revealed how St Helens Corporation had come up with a simple solution of its own.
That was to have some of their new properties occupied by tenants as soon as the houses were finished and to employ a watchman.
The Corporation's building site in Peasley Cross had been a prime target for the wreckers with more than thirty windows smashed there every week.
But since a watchman had been appointed and some of the homes occupied, the destruction had stopped.
Alderman Joseph Hughes, Chairman of the council's Building Committee, said: "Now we've cut out the wholesale window smashing and as the site gets occupied we are winning the battle."
Ald. Hughes also paid tribute to residents who had seen the vandals at work and left their homes to tackle them.
He said: "I have had reports of them rushing from their homes and moving vandals on. I want to thank them for their courage in getting involved."
In July the St Helens Reporter's lead story had begun: "Defiant mothers struggled with police to make a human barricade across two roads in Blackbrook and bring traffic to a halt.
"For nearly 20 minutes four policemen had to push and drag the furious women out of the way of waiting cars, buses, and heavy lorries."
The demonstration took place outside St Mary's Infants in Chain Lane and the women were demanding a lollipop man to supervise their children going to and from school.
The mothers had been campaigning for a year but St Helens Corporation and the police argued that not enough traffic used Chain Lane and an insufficient number of children crossed it to justify implementing a crossing patrol.
But on the 17th there was a change of heart and a lollipop man began his duties in Chain Lane.
Dorothy Devanney of Parbold Avenue in Blackbrook was one of the campaign leaders. When told of the U-turn she said: "This news has made my day. We never gave up the fight for a second."
Supt. Harry Asher, head of St Helens Police, said: "There has been an increase in the number of children going to the school, and this is the main reason for the policy reversal."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the twopenny bus rides in St Helens, the Liver Birds' opening of Fine Fare in Church Street, the mugging threat to bank customers in Hardshaw Street and a last ditch bid to save Crank Post Office.