FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (11th - 17th OCTOBER 1971)
This week's many stories include the terrified widow driven from her home by Plaza strip night rowdies, an update on Faithful Fred the abandoned dog, the mysterious draining of the deadly canal at Haydock, the Pilkington Recs scrum collapse tragedy and 'Showboat' is performed at the Theatre Royal.
We begin on the 11th with a warning to householders by St Helens Police to keep their downstairs windows secure, especially at night. The advice followed a series of break-ins over the weekend at houses in the Windle area. Thieves had broken into homes in Lawrence Road, Coronation Road and The Grove, and got away each time with small amounts of cash. The canteen at the telephone exchange in St Mary's Street had also been entered and money and cigarettes stolen. The police were also seeking thieves who had broken into a car parked in Dilloway Street in St Helens and stolen a cassette tape recorder and five cassette tapes worth £33.
There was a four-vehicle pile-up in Vista Road in Newton on the 11th involving a coach, car, lorry and motorbike. As might be expected, the bike rider came off the worst, with 19-year-old John Doyle of Gaynor Avenue in Haydock detained in St Helens Hospital with a compound fracture of the right leg. The lorry driver, John Connolly – from Tennyson Street in Sutton Manor – received head injuries but was allowed home after hospital treatment. On the same day Janice Roberts fell off a bus in Clipsley Lane in Haydock. The 16-year-old was taken to St Helens Hospital with facial injuries but later allowed home.
A fortnight ago I described how Stan Gregg from Fairholme Avenue in Ashton-in-Makerfield had seen a dog being cruelly abandoned by its owner. The lorry driver had been removing waste from Parkside Colliery in Newton-le-Willows when he witnessed a man stop his van by the grass verge and let his dog out. The vehicle sped off but six hours later the dog was still on the verge waiting in vain for his master's return. Fred had been taken to RSPCA kennels in Leigh and two weeks ago I wrote: "I think it's a fair bet that many readers will get in touch with the home wanting Faithful Fred".
That was the nickname that kennel staff had given the dog and on the 11th the Echo revealed that 100 people had offered to take him in. Others had sent in donations to pay for Faithful Fred's care and treatment and so far the total had almost reached £40. Fred was thin and sick when RSPCA superintendent Norman Clements took him in but he was now much better. It was expected that Fred would be discharged into a new home by the end of the week.
At the end of last month Helen Sutcliffe of West End Road in Haydock had drowned in the nearby canal after the 5-year-old had taken her family's dog for a walk. Last week her father Ted Sutcliffe gave St Helens Corporation an ultimatum. Either fill in or fence off the slime-covered derelict waterway or he would sabotage it. Mr Sutcliffe told the newspapers: "If no action is taken by the authorities concerned, I'll drain it myself. I have the equipment at the ready if no one makes a decision by next Tuesday. And I won't hesitate to use it."
The 33-year-old scrap metal worker said he would use oxyacetylene equipment to cut through a weir in order to drain the canal. As we know the authorities tend to move slowly in such matters complicated by management responsibilities for infrastructure often being split between different bodies. St Helens Corporation did not own the canal – instead it was the British Waterways Board who would need to make it safe. At Helen's inquest Ronald Lloyd, the South West Lancashire coroner, supported Mr Sutcliffe's campaign, saying: "It is essential in the public interest that early steps should be taken to render the canal safe".
This week on the 13th it was reported that the water level on that particular stretch of the Blackbrook canal in Haydock had "mysteriously" been reduced. The reason for the drop was because someone had cut a hole in the weir gate and British Waterways believed oxyacetylene cutting equipment had been responsible. Mr Sutcliffe, of course, denied responsibility and police spokesman said: "We are inquiring into this occurrence." Officials from St Helens Corporation and the Central Electricity Generating Board would later introduce safety measures at the spot where Helen died, including the installation of a footbridge over the weir.
The St Helens Amateur Operatic Society presented the musical 'Showboat' at the Theatre Royal this week. When a professional production of the show had opened in London recently the copyright was withdrawn from amateur societies. However, the St Helens group were fortunate enough to have had their application approved before the deadline and staged the show on a lavish scale. The Echo's reviewer Hughie Ross said: "With over 80 on the stage during the big scenes it was given the treatment it deserved in this Carry Crossley production with lots of movement, colour and big ensembles making the most of the fine Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein numbers."
There has been much publicity over the last few years about the dangers of scrum collapses in rugby matches, after a number of players had been paralysed or killed. Changes to the rules of rugby league have reduced those dangers within that code – but they were still present in 1971. During the morning of the 13th, Jack Pimblett – the captain of Pilkington Recs amateur rugby league team – died in a Southport hospital.
The 26-year-old had fractured the top of his spine during a scrum collapse in a match against United Glass at the City Road ground. Jack was married with two children and lived in St Teresa's Road in St Helens and worked as a glasscutter at Pikingtons. The tragedy would touch many people within the rugby league community and within the town itself – and a fundraising campaign for the family would soon be set up.
A year ago the St Helens Reporter described how women in Oxford Street had sent a petition to the council complaining about a "trail of havoc left by stag-night revellers" attending the striptease nights at the Plaza (pictured above). When leaving the premises, the men were accused of banging on doors, jumping on the tops of vehicles and shouting and swearing. Lily Traverse told the Reporter: "Thursday is the worst night when it is men only night at the club. The noise in the early hours of the morning is terrible. They are up to all sorts of tricks. It is really terrifying some nights".
The owner of the Plaza, Alf Wood, said he would hire security guards to deal with any future problems. However, this week the Reporter wrote: "A terrified widow is escaping a strip-night siege by quitting her cosy terraced home. She's silver-haired grannie, Mrs. Mary Bennett, 89, who has lived in fear of Thursday night “stag shows” at the Plaza Theatre Club, St. Helens. Now violence and hooliganism by out-of-town rowdies have led up to her decision to go."
Mrs Bennett had lived in Oxford Street, less than 100 yards from the club, for 11 years and told the paper: "I'm terrified of living here. It used to be a quiet street. Now I'm too frightened to go to bed because gangs from the club are roaming the streets until the early hours of the morning. I'm an old woman and I need peace and quiet and I won't get any if I stay here."
Four pupils of St Cuthbert’s Secondary School were also pictured in the Reporter after winning a competition organised by St Helens Photographic Society. They were Gerard Davey of Moss Lane, Philip Mather of Douglas Avenue, David Turley of Alice Street and Stephen Mulcahy of Derbyshire Hill Road. The boys spent a day shooting the activities of the school and used its darkroom facilities to develop the pictures themselves.
I spotted this curious advert in the classified section of the Echo on the 15th: "PRESCOT MINI MARKET: The management regrets that although we advertise to buy, sell or exchange anything useful, due to lack of space we cannot accept any more elephants at present. – John Heatherington, 36 High Street, Prescot."
The paper also profiled Merseysiders who had travelled to Brighton for the Conservative Party conference – including Marlene Whitfield from Thatto Heath, or more accurately, her husband Edward who was a pioneering modern man: "Edward Whitfield of St. Helens has been left holding the baby literally. While his wife, Marlene, is at the conference, he is at home in Canberra Avenue, Thatto Heath, looking after their two young children, Susan and lain. “He's very good. He did the same when I went to the conference two years ago,” says Marlene, a member of the executive committee of the St. Helens Conservative Association."
It was reported on the 16th that since St Helens Corporation had started running a bus tour to Knowsley Safari Park last July, 5,700 people had used the service. As a result, the Transport Department's coffers had been boosted by £1,200. Also on the 16th, the Echo profiled Alan Davies from Carr Mill who was the leader of the Delmonts. The vocal harmony group had originally backed Freddie Starr until he left to go solo and now they had their first disc released called 'A-Ra-Chicera'.
And finally, now we are out of the EU, it's interesting reading about the controversy over the country entering the Common Market in the first place. I think many readers will recall George Brown – the at times controversial Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Foreign Secretary of the 1960s. The main controversy since Brown had been made a peer was that he favoured joining the Common Market – but the Labour party was then largely against membership, as this article published in the Daily Mirror this week demonstrates:
"Lord George Brown tried selling shirts yesterday – and got rather hot under the collar. His sales pitch was not proving an unqualified success when it was ruined for good – by a heckler. The Labour peer, now adviser to a textile firm, was in a London store promoting nothing more controversial than body shirts for women. But it was his other love – for the Common Market – that got railway worker John Hoskin really shirty.
"“You are some salesman, you are, George,” he yelled. “You are selling the British people down the river. By supporting entry into Europe, you have sold out your own union, the TUC and the Labour Party.” George clung determinedly to his shirt tale but Mr. Hoskin, brandishing his union card, roared: “That's the trouble with you, George, you always avoid the issue.” Mr. Hoskin was then hustled from the store. As Lord George Brown announced: “I'm here dealing with ladies' fashions, not the Common Market. Write to me if you want to talk about politics.”
"Outside in Oxford-street, 50-year-old Mr. Hoskin, of Acton, said: “Lord George Brown should be helping the Labour movement, not selling bloody shirts. He avoided us at the Labour Party conference in Brighton. Now he has done it again. He should be ashamed.” Inside the store, the demo had drawn a large crowd – all potential customers for the shirt salesman. But he still didn't have much luck. “Are you buying?” he asked a crowd of housewives. “No.” replied one. “We only came to see you….”"
Next week's stories will include the Boardman's furniture shop fire, the Duke Street newsagent charged with possessing obscene literature, the Rainhill school inspired by Knowsley Safari Park, the monkey dog on guard in the animal reserve and the growth of female football teams in St Helens.
We begin on the 11th with a warning to householders by St Helens Police to keep their downstairs windows secure, especially at night. The advice followed a series of break-ins over the weekend at houses in the Windle area. Thieves had broken into homes in Lawrence Road, Coronation Road and The Grove, and got away each time with small amounts of cash. The canteen at the telephone exchange in St Mary's Street had also been entered and money and cigarettes stolen. The police were also seeking thieves who had broken into a car parked in Dilloway Street in St Helens and stolen a cassette tape recorder and five cassette tapes worth £33.
There was a four-vehicle pile-up in Vista Road in Newton on the 11th involving a coach, car, lorry and motorbike. As might be expected, the bike rider came off the worst, with 19-year-old John Doyle of Gaynor Avenue in Haydock detained in St Helens Hospital with a compound fracture of the right leg. The lorry driver, John Connolly – from Tennyson Street in Sutton Manor – received head injuries but was allowed home after hospital treatment. On the same day Janice Roberts fell off a bus in Clipsley Lane in Haydock. The 16-year-old was taken to St Helens Hospital with facial injuries but later allowed home.
A fortnight ago I described how Stan Gregg from Fairholme Avenue in Ashton-in-Makerfield had seen a dog being cruelly abandoned by its owner. The lorry driver had been removing waste from Parkside Colliery in Newton-le-Willows when he witnessed a man stop his van by the grass verge and let his dog out. The vehicle sped off but six hours later the dog was still on the verge waiting in vain for his master's return. Fred had been taken to RSPCA kennels in Leigh and two weeks ago I wrote: "I think it's a fair bet that many readers will get in touch with the home wanting Faithful Fred".
That was the nickname that kennel staff had given the dog and on the 11th the Echo revealed that 100 people had offered to take him in. Others had sent in donations to pay for Faithful Fred's care and treatment and so far the total had almost reached £40. Fred was thin and sick when RSPCA superintendent Norman Clements took him in but he was now much better. It was expected that Fred would be discharged into a new home by the end of the week.
At the end of last month Helen Sutcliffe of West End Road in Haydock had drowned in the nearby canal after the 5-year-old had taken her family's dog for a walk. Last week her father Ted Sutcliffe gave St Helens Corporation an ultimatum. Either fill in or fence off the slime-covered derelict waterway or he would sabotage it. Mr Sutcliffe told the newspapers: "If no action is taken by the authorities concerned, I'll drain it myself. I have the equipment at the ready if no one makes a decision by next Tuesday. And I won't hesitate to use it."
The 33-year-old scrap metal worker said he would use oxyacetylene equipment to cut through a weir in order to drain the canal. As we know the authorities tend to move slowly in such matters complicated by management responsibilities for infrastructure often being split between different bodies. St Helens Corporation did not own the canal – instead it was the British Waterways Board who would need to make it safe. At Helen's inquest Ronald Lloyd, the South West Lancashire coroner, supported Mr Sutcliffe's campaign, saying: "It is essential in the public interest that early steps should be taken to render the canal safe".
This week on the 13th it was reported that the water level on that particular stretch of the Blackbrook canal in Haydock had "mysteriously" been reduced. The reason for the drop was because someone had cut a hole in the weir gate and British Waterways believed oxyacetylene cutting equipment had been responsible. Mr Sutcliffe, of course, denied responsibility and police spokesman said: "We are inquiring into this occurrence." Officials from St Helens Corporation and the Central Electricity Generating Board would later introduce safety measures at the spot where Helen died, including the installation of a footbridge over the weir.
The St Helens Amateur Operatic Society presented the musical 'Showboat' at the Theatre Royal this week. When a professional production of the show had opened in London recently the copyright was withdrawn from amateur societies. However, the St Helens group were fortunate enough to have had their application approved before the deadline and staged the show on a lavish scale. The Echo's reviewer Hughie Ross said: "With over 80 on the stage during the big scenes it was given the treatment it deserved in this Carry Crossley production with lots of movement, colour and big ensembles making the most of the fine Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein numbers."
There has been much publicity over the last few years about the dangers of scrum collapses in rugby matches, after a number of players had been paralysed or killed. Changes to the rules of rugby league have reduced those dangers within that code – but they were still present in 1971. During the morning of the 13th, Jack Pimblett – the captain of Pilkington Recs amateur rugby league team – died in a Southport hospital.
The 26-year-old had fractured the top of his spine during a scrum collapse in a match against United Glass at the City Road ground. Jack was married with two children and lived in St Teresa's Road in St Helens and worked as a glasscutter at Pikingtons. The tragedy would touch many people within the rugby league community and within the town itself – and a fundraising campaign for the family would soon be set up.
The owner of the Plaza, Alf Wood, said he would hire security guards to deal with any future problems. However, this week the Reporter wrote: "A terrified widow is escaping a strip-night siege by quitting her cosy terraced home. She's silver-haired grannie, Mrs. Mary Bennett, 89, who has lived in fear of Thursday night “stag shows” at the Plaza Theatre Club, St. Helens. Now violence and hooliganism by out-of-town rowdies have led up to her decision to go."
Mrs Bennett had lived in Oxford Street, less than 100 yards from the club, for 11 years and told the paper: "I'm terrified of living here. It used to be a quiet street. Now I'm too frightened to go to bed because gangs from the club are roaming the streets until the early hours of the morning. I'm an old woman and I need peace and quiet and I won't get any if I stay here."
Four pupils of St Cuthbert’s Secondary School were also pictured in the Reporter after winning a competition organised by St Helens Photographic Society. They were Gerard Davey of Moss Lane, Philip Mather of Douglas Avenue, David Turley of Alice Street and Stephen Mulcahy of Derbyshire Hill Road. The boys spent a day shooting the activities of the school and used its darkroom facilities to develop the pictures themselves.
I spotted this curious advert in the classified section of the Echo on the 15th: "PRESCOT MINI MARKET: The management regrets that although we advertise to buy, sell or exchange anything useful, due to lack of space we cannot accept any more elephants at present. – John Heatherington, 36 High Street, Prescot."
The paper also profiled Merseysiders who had travelled to Brighton for the Conservative Party conference – including Marlene Whitfield from Thatto Heath, or more accurately, her husband Edward who was a pioneering modern man: "Edward Whitfield of St. Helens has been left holding the baby literally. While his wife, Marlene, is at the conference, he is at home in Canberra Avenue, Thatto Heath, looking after their two young children, Susan and lain. “He's very good. He did the same when I went to the conference two years ago,” says Marlene, a member of the executive committee of the St. Helens Conservative Association."
And finally, now we are out of the EU, it's interesting reading about the controversy over the country entering the Common Market in the first place. I think many readers will recall George Brown – the at times controversial Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Foreign Secretary of the 1960s. The main controversy since Brown had been made a peer was that he favoured joining the Common Market – but the Labour party was then largely against membership, as this article published in the Daily Mirror this week demonstrates:
"Lord George Brown tried selling shirts yesterday – and got rather hot under the collar. His sales pitch was not proving an unqualified success when it was ruined for good – by a heckler. The Labour peer, now adviser to a textile firm, was in a London store promoting nothing more controversial than body shirts for women. But it was his other love – for the Common Market – that got railway worker John Hoskin really shirty.
"“You are some salesman, you are, George,” he yelled. “You are selling the British people down the river. By supporting entry into Europe, you have sold out your own union, the TUC and the Labour Party.” George clung determinedly to his shirt tale but Mr. Hoskin, brandishing his union card, roared: “That's the trouble with you, George, you always avoid the issue.” Mr. Hoskin was then hustled from the store. As Lord George Brown announced: “I'm here dealing with ladies' fashions, not the Common Market. Write to me if you want to talk about politics.”
"Outside in Oxford-street, 50-year-old Mr. Hoskin, of Acton, said: “Lord George Brown should be helping the Labour movement, not selling bloody shirts. He avoided us at the Labour Party conference in Brighton. Now he has done it again. He should be ashamed.” Inside the store, the demo had drawn a large crowd – all potential customers for the shirt salesman. But he still didn't have much luck. “Are you buying?” he asked a crowd of housewives. “No.” replied one. “We only came to see you….”"
Next week's stories will include the Boardman's furniture shop fire, the Duke Street newsagent charged with possessing obscene literature, the Rainhill school inspired by Knowsley Safari Park, the monkey dog on guard in the animal reserve and the growth of female football teams in St Helens.
This week's many stories include the terrified widow driven from her home by Plaza strip night rowdies, an update on Faithful Fred the abandoned dog, the mysterious draining of the deadly canal at Haydock, the Pilkington Recs scrum collapse tragedy and 'Showboat' is performed at the Theatre Royal.
We begin on the 11th with a warning to householders by St Helens Police to keep their downstairs windows secure, especially at night.
The advice followed a series of break-ins over the weekend at houses in the Windle area.
Thieves had broken into homes in Lawrence Road, Coronation Road and The Grove, and got away each time with small amounts of cash.
The canteen at the telephone exchange in St Mary's Street had also been entered and money and cigarettes stolen.
The police were also seeking thieves who had broken into a car parked in Dilloway Street in St Helens and stolen a cassette tape recorder and five cassette tapes worth £33.
There was a four-vehicle pile-up in Vista Road in Newton on the 11th involving a coach, car, lorry and motorbike.
As might be expected, the bike rider came off the worst, with 19-year-old John Doyle of Gaynor Avenue in Haydock detained in St Helens Hospital with a compound fracture of the right leg.
The lorry driver, John Connolly – from Tennyson Street in Sutton Manor – received head injuries but was allowed home after hospital treatment.
On the same day Janice Roberts fell off a bus in Clipsley Lane in Haydock. The 16-year-old was taken to St Helens Hospital with facial injuries but later allowed home.
A fortnight ago I described how Stan Gregg from Fairholme Avenue in Ashton-in-Makerfield had seen a dog being cruelly abandoned by its owner.
The lorry driver had been removing waste from Parkside Colliery in Newton-le-Willows when he witnessed a man stop his van by the grass verge and let his dog out.
The vehicle sped off but six hours later the dog was still on the verge waiting in vain for his master's return.
Fred had been taken to RSPCA kennels in Leigh and two weeks ago I wrote: "I think it's a fair bet that many readers will get in touch with the home wanting Faithful Fred".
That was the nickname that kennel staff had given the dog and on the 11th the Echo revealed that 100 people had offered to take him in.
Others had sent in donations to pay for Faithful Fred's care and treatment and so far the total had almost reached £40.
Fred was thin and sick when RSPCA superintendent Norman Clements took him in but he was now much better.
It was expected that Fred would be discharged into a new home by the end of the week.
At the end of last month Helen Sutcliffe of West End Road in Haydock had drowned in the nearby canal after the 5-year-old had taken her family's dog for a walk.
Last week her father Ted Sutcliffe gave St Helens Corporation an ultimatum. Either fill in or fence off the slime-covered derelict waterway or he would sabotage it.
Mr Sutcliffe told the newspapers: "If no action is taken by the authorities concerned, I'll drain it myself. I have the equipment at the ready if no one makes a decision by next Tuesday. And I won't hesitate to use it."
The 33-year-old scrap metal worker said he would use oxyacetylene equipment to cut through a weir in order to drain the canal.
As we know the authorities tend to move slowly in such matters complicated by management responsibilities for infrastructure often being split between different bodies.
St Helens Corporation did not own the canal – instead it was the British Waterways Board who would need to make it safe.
At Helen's inquest Ronald Lloyd, the South West Lancashire coroner, supported Mr Sutcliffe's campaign, saying:
"It is essential in the public interest that early steps should be taken to render the canal safe".
This week on the 13th it was reported that the water level on that particular stretch of the Blackbrook canal in Haydock had "mysteriously" been reduced.
The reason for the drop was because someone had cut a hole in the weir gate and British Waterways believed oxyacetylene cutting equipment had been responsible.
Mr Sutcliffe, of course, denied responsibility and police spokesman said: "We are inquiring into this occurrence."
Officials from St Helens Corporation and the Central Electricity Generating Board would later introduce safety measures at the spot where Helen died, including the installation of a footbridge over the weir.
The St Helens Amateur Operatic Society presented the musical 'Showboat' at the Theatre Royal this week.
When a professional production of the show had opened in London recently the copyright was withdrawn from amateur societies.
However, the St Helens group were fortunate enough to have had their application approved before the deadline and staged the show on a lavish scale. The Echo's reviewer Hughie Ross said:
"With over 80 on the stage during the big scenes it was given the treatment it deserved in this Carry Crossley production with lots of movement, colour and big ensembles making the most of the fine Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein numbers."
There has been much publicity over the last few years about the dangers of scrum collapses in rugby matches, after a number of players had been paralysed or killed.
Changes to the rules of rugby league have reduced those dangers within that code – but they were still present in 1971.
During the morning of the 13th, Jack Pimblett – the captain of Pilkington Recs amateur rugby league team – died in a Southport hospital.
The 26-year-old had fractured the top of his spine during a scrum collapse in a match against United Glass at the City Road ground.
Jack was married with two children and lived in St Teresa's Road in St Helens and worked as a glasscutter at Pikingtons.
The tragedy would touch many people within the rugby league community and within the town itself – and a fundraising campaign for the family would soon be set up.
A year ago the St Helens Reporter described how women in Oxford Street had sent a petition to the council complaining about a "trail of havoc left by stag-night revellers" attending the striptease nights at the Plaza (pictured above).
When leaving the premises, the men were accused of banging on doors, jumping on the tops of vehicles and shouting and swearing.
Lily Traverse told the Reporter: "Thursday is the worst night when it is men only night at the club. The noise in the early hours of the morning is terrible. They are up to all sorts of tricks. It is really terrifying some nights".
The owner of the Plaza, Alf Wood, said he would hire security guards to deal with any future problems. However, this week the Reporter wrote:
"A terrified widow is escaping a strip-night siege by quitting her cosy terraced home. She's silver-haired grannie, Mrs. Mary Bennett, 89, who has lived in fear of Thursday night “stag shows” at the Plaza Theatre Club, St. Helens. Now violence and hooliganism by out-of-town rowdies have led up to her decision to go."
Mrs Bennett had lived in Oxford Street, less than 100 yards from the club, for 11 years and told the paper:
"I'm terrified of living here. It used to be a quiet street. Now I'm too frightened to go to bed because gangs from the club are roaming the streets until the early hours of the morning. I'm an old woman and I need peace and quiet and I won't get any if I stay here."
Four pupils of St Cuthbert’s Secondary School were also pictured in the Reporter after winning a competition organised by St Helens Photographic Society.
They were Gerard Davey of Moss Lane, Philip Mather of Douglas Avenue, David Turley of Alice Street and Stephen Mulcahy of Derbyshire Hill Road.
The boys spent a day shooting the activities of the school and used its darkroom facilities to develop the pictures themselves.
I spotted this curious advert in the classified section of the Echo on the 15th:
"PRESCOT MINI MARKET: The management regrets that although we advertise to buy, sell or exchange anything useful, due to lack of space we cannot accept any more elephants at present. – John Heatherington, 36 High Street, Prescot."
The paper also profiled Merseysiders who had travelled to Brighton for the Conservative Party conference – including Marlene Whitfield from Thatto Heath, or more accurately, her husband Edward who was a pioneering modern man:
"Edward Whitfield of St. Helens has been left holding the baby literally. While his wife, Marlene, is at the conference, he is at home in Canberra Avenue, Thatto Heath, looking after their two young children, Susan and lain.
"“He's very good. He did the same when I went to the conference two years ago,” says Marlene, a member of the executive committee of the St. Helens Conservative Association."
It was reported on the 16th that since St Helens Corporation had started running a bus tour to Knowsley Safari Park last July, 5,700 people had used the service.
As a result, the Transport Department's coffers had been boosted by £1,200.
Also on the 16th, the Echo profiled Alan Davies from Carr Mill who was the leader of the Delmonts.
The vocal harmony group had originally backed Freddie Starr until he left to go solo and now they had their first disc released called 'A-Ra-Chicera'.
And finally, now we are out of the EU, it's interesting reading about the controversy over the country entering the Common Market in the first place.
I think many readers will recall George Brown – the at times controversial Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Foreign Secretary of the 1960s.
The main controversy since Brown had been made a peer was that he favoured joining the Common Market – but the Labour party was then largely against membership, as this article published in the Daily Mirror this week demonstrates:
"Lord George Brown tried selling shirts yesterday – and got rather hot under the collar. His sales pitch was not proving an unqualified success when it was ruined for good – by a heckler.
"The Labour peer, now adviser to a textile firm, was in a London store promoting nothing more controversial than body shirts for women.
"But it was his other love – for the Common Market – that got railway worker John Hoskin really shirty.
"“You are some salesman, you are, George,” he yelled. “You are selling the British people down the river. By supporting entry into Europe, you have sold out your own union, the TUC and the Labour Party.”
"George clung determinedly to his shirt tale but Mr. Hoskin, brandishing his union card, roared: “That's the trouble with you, George, you always avoid the issue.”
"Mr. Hoskin was then hustled from the store. As Lord George Brown announced: “I'm here dealing with ladies' fashions, not the Common Market. Write to me if you want to talk about politics.”
"Outside in Oxford-street, 50-year-old Mr. Hoskin, of Acton, said: “Lord George Brown should be helping the Labour movement, not selling bloody shirts. He avoided us at the Labour Party conference in Brighton. Now he has done it again. He should be ashamed.”
"Inside the store, the demo had drawn a large crowd – all potential customers for the shirt salesman. But he still didn't have much luck.
"“Are you buying?” he asked a crowd of housewives. “No.” replied one. “We only came to see you….”"
Next week's stories will include the Boardman's furniture shop fire, the Duke Street newsagent charged with possessing obscene literature, the Rainhill school inspired by Knowsley Safari Park, the monkey dog on guard in the animal reserve and the growth of female football teams in St Helens.
We begin on the 11th with a warning to householders by St Helens Police to keep their downstairs windows secure, especially at night.
The advice followed a series of break-ins over the weekend at houses in the Windle area.
Thieves had broken into homes in Lawrence Road, Coronation Road and The Grove, and got away each time with small amounts of cash.
The canteen at the telephone exchange in St Mary's Street had also been entered and money and cigarettes stolen.
The police were also seeking thieves who had broken into a car parked in Dilloway Street in St Helens and stolen a cassette tape recorder and five cassette tapes worth £33.
There was a four-vehicle pile-up in Vista Road in Newton on the 11th involving a coach, car, lorry and motorbike.
As might be expected, the bike rider came off the worst, with 19-year-old John Doyle of Gaynor Avenue in Haydock detained in St Helens Hospital with a compound fracture of the right leg.
The lorry driver, John Connolly – from Tennyson Street in Sutton Manor – received head injuries but was allowed home after hospital treatment.
On the same day Janice Roberts fell off a bus in Clipsley Lane in Haydock. The 16-year-old was taken to St Helens Hospital with facial injuries but later allowed home.
A fortnight ago I described how Stan Gregg from Fairholme Avenue in Ashton-in-Makerfield had seen a dog being cruelly abandoned by its owner.
The lorry driver had been removing waste from Parkside Colliery in Newton-le-Willows when he witnessed a man stop his van by the grass verge and let his dog out.
The vehicle sped off but six hours later the dog was still on the verge waiting in vain for his master's return.
Fred had been taken to RSPCA kennels in Leigh and two weeks ago I wrote: "I think it's a fair bet that many readers will get in touch with the home wanting Faithful Fred".
That was the nickname that kennel staff had given the dog and on the 11th the Echo revealed that 100 people had offered to take him in.
Others had sent in donations to pay for Faithful Fred's care and treatment and so far the total had almost reached £40.
Fred was thin and sick when RSPCA superintendent Norman Clements took him in but he was now much better.
It was expected that Fred would be discharged into a new home by the end of the week.
At the end of last month Helen Sutcliffe of West End Road in Haydock had drowned in the nearby canal after the 5-year-old had taken her family's dog for a walk.
Last week her father Ted Sutcliffe gave St Helens Corporation an ultimatum. Either fill in or fence off the slime-covered derelict waterway or he would sabotage it.
Mr Sutcliffe told the newspapers: "If no action is taken by the authorities concerned, I'll drain it myself. I have the equipment at the ready if no one makes a decision by next Tuesday. And I won't hesitate to use it."
The 33-year-old scrap metal worker said he would use oxyacetylene equipment to cut through a weir in order to drain the canal.
As we know the authorities tend to move slowly in such matters complicated by management responsibilities for infrastructure often being split between different bodies.
St Helens Corporation did not own the canal – instead it was the British Waterways Board who would need to make it safe.
At Helen's inquest Ronald Lloyd, the South West Lancashire coroner, supported Mr Sutcliffe's campaign, saying:
"It is essential in the public interest that early steps should be taken to render the canal safe".
This week on the 13th it was reported that the water level on that particular stretch of the Blackbrook canal in Haydock had "mysteriously" been reduced.
The reason for the drop was because someone had cut a hole in the weir gate and British Waterways believed oxyacetylene cutting equipment had been responsible.
Mr Sutcliffe, of course, denied responsibility and police spokesman said: "We are inquiring into this occurrence."
Officials from St Helens Corporation and the Central Electricity Generating Board would later introduce safety measures at the spot where Helen died, including the installation of a footbridge over the weir.
The St Helens Amateur Operatic Society presented the musical 'Showboat' at the Theatre Royal this week.
When a professional production of the show had opened in London recently the copyright was withdrawn from amateur societies.
However, the St Helens group were fortunate enough to have had their application approved before the deadline and staged the show on a lavish scale. The Echo's reviewer Hughie Ross said:
"With over 80 on the stage during the big scenes it was given the treatment it deserved in this Carry Crossley production with lots of movement, colour and big ensembles making the most of the fine Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein numbers."
There has been much publicity over the last few years about the dangers of scrum collapses in rugby matches, after a number of players had been paralysed or killed.
Changes to the rules of rugby league have reduced those dangers within that code – but they were still present in 1971.
During the morning of the 13th, Jack Pimblett – the captain of Pilkington Recs amateur rugby league team – died in a Southport hospital.
The 26-year-old had fractured the top of his spine during a scrum collapse in a match against United Glass at the City Road ground.
Jack was married with two children and lived in St Teresa's Road in St Helens and worked as a glasscutter at Pikingtons.
The tragedy would touch many people within the rugby league community and within the town itself – and a fundraising campaign for the family would soon be set up.
When leaving the premises, the men were accused of banging on doors, jumping on the tops of vehicles and shouting and swearing.
Lily Traverse told the Reporter: "Thursday is the worst night when it is men only night at the club. The noise in the early hours of the morning is terrible. They are up to all sorts of tricks. It is really terrifying some nights".
The owner of the Plaza, Alf Wood, said he would hire security guards to deal with any future problems. However, this week the Reporter wrote:
"A terrified widow is escaping a strip-night siege by quitting her cosy terraced home. She's silver-haired grannie, Mrs. Mary Bennett, 89, who has lived in fear of Thursday night “stag shows” at the Plaza Theatre Club, St. Helens. Now violence and hooliganism by out-of-town rowdies have led up to her decision to go."
Mrs Bennett had lived in Oxford Street, less than 100 yards from the club, for 11 years and told the paper:
"I'm terrified of living here. It used to be a quiet street. Now I'm too frightened to go to bed because gangs from the club are roaming the streets until the early hours of the morning. I'm an old woman and I need peace and quiet and I won't get any if I stay here."
Four pupils of St Cuthbert’s Secondary School were also pictured in the Reporter after winning a competition organised by St Helens Photographic Society.
They were Gerard Davey of Moss Lane, Philip Mather of Douglas Avenue, David Turley of Alice Street and Stephen Mulcahy of Derbyshire Hill Road.
The boys spent a day shooting the activities of the school and used its darkroom facilities to develop the pictures themselves.
I spotted this curious advert in the classified section of the Echo on the 15th:
"PRESCOT MINI MARKET: The management regrets that although we advertise to buy, sell or exchange anything useful, due to lack of space we cannot accept any more elephants at present. – John Heatherington, 36 High Street, Prescot."
The paper also profiled Merseysiders who had travelled to Brighton for the Conservative Party conference – including Marlene Whitfield from Thatto Heath, or more accurately, her husband Edward who was a pioneering modern man:
"Edward Whitfield of St. Helens has been left holding the baby literally. While his wife, Marlene, is at the conference, he is at home in Canberra Avenue, Thatto Heath, looking after their two young children, Susan and lain.
"“He's very good. He did the same when I went to the conference two years ago,” says Marlene, a member of the executive committee of the St. Helens Conservative Association."
As a result, the Transport Department's coffers had been boosted by £1,200.
Also on the 16th, the Echo profiled Alan Davies from Carr Mill who was the leader of the Delmonts.
The vocal harmony group had originally backed Freddie Starr until he left to go solo and now they had their first disc released called 'A-Ra-Chicera'.
And finally, now we are out of the EU, it's interesting reading about the controversy over the country entering the Common Market in the first place.
I think many readers will recall George Brown – the at times controversial Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Foreign Secretary of the 1960s.
The main controversy since Brown had been made a peer was that he favoured joining the Common Market – but the Labour party was then largely against membership, as this article published in the Daily Mirror this week demonstrates:
"Lord George Brown tried selling shirts yesterday – and got rather hot under the collar. His sales pitch was not proving an unqualified success when it was ruined for good – by a heckler.
"The Labour peer, now adviser to a textile firm, was in a London store promoting nothing more controversial than body shirts for women.
"But it was his other love – for the Common Market – that got railway worker John Hoskin really shirty.
"“You are some salesman, you are, George,” he yelled. “You are selling the British people down the river. By supporting entry into Europe, you have sold out your own union, the TUC and the Labour Party.”
"George clung determinedly to his shirt tale but Mr. Hoskin, brandishing his union card, roared: “That's the trouble with you, George, you always avoid the issue.”
"Mr. Hoskin was then hustled from the store. As Lord George Brown announced: “I'm here dealing with ladies' fashions, not the Common Market. Write to me if you want to talk about politics.”
"Outside in Oxford-street, 50-year-old Mr. Hoskin, of Acton, said: “Lord George Brown should be helping the Labour movement, not selling bloody shirts. He avoided us at the Labour Party conference in Brighton. Now he has done it again. He should be ashamed.”
"Inside the store, the demo had drawn a large crowd – all potential customers for the shirt salesman. But he still didn't have much luck.
"“Are you buying?” he asked a crowd of housewives. “No.” replied one. “We only came to see you….”"
Next week's stories will include the Boardman's furniture shop fire, the Duke Street newsagent charged with possessing obscene literature, the Rainhill school inspired by Knowsley Safari Park, the monkey dog on guard in the animal reserve and the growth of female football teams in St Helens.