FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (11th - 17th NOVEMBER 1969)
This week's many stories include the roving gangs in Haydock that were looking for mischief, the foul stench of the stinky brook, police are called to a Sutton Manor playing field over a row over Sunday football, criticism of fashion stores in St Helens, the death of the founder of Barton's pickles and the town's newsagents advertise in a Reporter feature.
We begin with an inquest on the 11th in which it was revealed that a lorry driver had tried to drive under a bridge in Warrington New Road with a load seven inches too high. As a result part of the load was displaced and as it fell down it ripped off the roof of a passing car, killing two of its occupants. The jury called for local firms to learn the precise height of bridges under which their drivers would travel when transporting high loads and ensure that they knew the safest routes.
A three-day auction of the contents of Haydock Lodge ended on the 12th. Until recently the building on Warrington Road had been a private mental hospital and these days the Holiday Inn occupies the site. Antique experts from all over the country came for the sale with a set of dining room chairs in Chippendale style selling for £1,480 (about £25,000 in today's money).
An article in the Guardian on the 12th described how Pilkington's were now selling glass blocks – as opposed to window panes – in a choice of white, amber, blue, scarlet and emerald glass. Useful for privacy, the article stated that glass blocks also reduced heat loss and came in four designs. Panels of coloured glass blocks were proving popular in factories as they screened an ugly environment and helped to provide more light to workers "in an interesting way".
The Drifters – "direct from America" appeared at the Plaza Theatre Club in Duke Street on the 12th. The group are still touring today and since they were founded in 1953 they have used 60 vocalists, including those in splinter groups.
The funeral of Edmund Barton, the founder of Barton's Pickles and Kerrs Minerals, took place on the 14th. Born in 1888 Edmund founded the family firm about 1910 and had retired as managing director twenty years earlier. His daughter Doris Fairhurst was now in charge, with the pickle firm based in Lascelles Street and the minerals business in Barrow Street. In the 1939 Register Edmund described his occupation as "Botanical Brewer Sauce & Pickle Manufacturer".
The Reporter was published on the 14th and described how Florence Spear of Cooper Lane had handed in a petition to Haydock Council. It was on behalf of the residents of her street who were unhappy about plans to convert a disused Gospel Hall into a shop and snack bar.
The petition said the snack bar would "attract the undesirable element of young people". It would also be an "attraction and rendezvous for the roving gangs which can be seen each night, aimlessly wandering round the streets of Haydock, looking for, and often finding mischief to occupy themselves."
The Reporter had a special feature on the golden jubilee of the National Federation of Newsagents. Advertisers included Bullens of 27 Baldwin Street ("Books are most acceptable children’s gifts"); The Gift Shop, 17 Corporation Street, Props. Pat and Jack Nelson ("Look! Save 2/- in the £ on branded lines of chocolates") and N. Frith of Baldwin Street ("Up to 3d. off 20 cigarettes. Toys – Matchbox, Airfix, Corgi stockists, dolls").
Also advertising were Dearden's of 132 College Street (“Cut price cigarettes, chocolates, sweets and all confectionery") and A & E. Friar of 6 Junction Lane ("Large selection of toys for Christmas"). There was also Dillons of 10 Concourse Way, Parr; T. M. Davies of 92 Eccleston Street; C. Creevey of 43 Pocket Nook Street, Parr; Robinson's of 12 Nutgrove Road and Myers of Walmsley Road in Eccleston.
The paper also described how a "massive scheme" was being prepared by the council to relieve the overload on the Parr sewage works. This could mean a "slight lessening" of the smell from the works that stopped residents nearby from sleeping. However the Reporter said the council had no immediate plans to deal with the town's stinking brooks, apart from monitoring pollution levels and discharges. They said large sums had been spent in recent years in culverting brooks but the council and the River Authority liked to keep some brooks open as open brooks coped better with bigger water flows.
A separate article described what it was like to live near the polluted brooks and streams. William Dowling of Parr Stocks Road (pictured above) complained that: "The smell gets inside the house and becomes unbearable". An unhappy Alec Critchley from Gaskell Street said: "You can taste the stink here. You can leave a half-crown on the mantelpiece and it will be black within a week. I think it is shocking. I've been living here 17 years and it's about time something was done."
Jack Pye from Parr Stocks Road admitted that the smell – which tended to be worse at night – often woke him up, although he saw the positive: "The old folks round Parr reckon that if you get a smell of the brook it will do you a power of good." That was highly debatable, although the health authorities did insist that the smell was not detrimental to health.
The St Helens Water Engineer's Department estimated that one third of the town's brooks and streams were either bad or very poor. British Sidac was one of the firms in Sutton allowed to discharge industrial effluent into the Sankey Brook. The article pointed out that the cellulose wrappings manufacturer kept daily checks on the amount of pollution generated – both in the brook and the atmosphere – and planned an improvement scheme. Not much consolation for the dozens of families in Parr and Sutton that – as the paper pointed out – nightly shut their windows against the foul stench from the brook.
The Reporter's 'What The People Think' column chose the town's shops as this week's subject. They found that the majority of women were satisfied with the food shops in St Helens but disappointed with the town centre fashion stores. Pauline Burrell of Parbold Avenue in Blackbrook described St Helens as being "terribly old fashioned" when it came to fashion. The sixteen-year-old copy typist added:
"There's absolutely nothing for the fashion conscious woman here. All my friends have to go into Wigan or to Liverpool for anything, decent. I really think it's disgraceful. St. Helens is a big town with a big population. It should cater for everyone. We don't want to buy way-out gear. We just want nice, modern clothes that are well-made and not thrown together."
Kathleen Flanagan of Hinckley Road had recently moved to St Helens from Liverpool and found the difference in shops "shocking". The 24-year-old said: "I miss the big stores and the abundance of shops but the shops here aren't really too bad. I don't think there are enough big stores here. Wigan is quite good for shopping, better than here anyway."
However Kathleen Mather from Two Butt Lane in Rainhill thought St Helens was a "very good little shopping centre". The 50-year-old added: "Prices are keen and competitive when it comes to groceries and the like. I also think the clothes are good. I know you have to search the shops for them – but they are there."
Pictured in the paper was Kathryn Pennington who turned 98 this week. Born in Rainford and presently living in Adelaide Avenue in Thatto Heath, Kathryn's recipe for long life was "hard work and no money to go jaunting".
The Reporter also described how work on building four council estates had recently had to be stopped because of shortages of materials. The estates were at Ashurst Drive in Blackbrook, Fleet Lane in Parr, Kendal Drive and in Peasley Cross. The shortages included reinforcing bars to strengthen walls and floors and a type of red facing brick.
Playmates Bingo and Amusements of Crab Street was officially opened on the 14th. They were offering free membership and over £100 worth of prizes every week.
Also on the 14th Margaret Kennedy and Margaret Johnson won for Notre Dame School the St Helens & District Junior Chamber of Commerce Cup for Public Speaking at an event held at West Park Grammar School.
Those interested in singing in the choirs of Sutton Parish were invited to attend choir practice and receive an audition during the evening of the 14th (and any subsequent Friday). The choirmasters had vacancies for "all types of voices" at St Nicholas, All Saints and St Michael's churches and were keen to recruit new members.
On the 15th St Helens Parish Church held a coffee morning in their Parochial Hall in Ormskirk Street. The event was part of its campaign to raise £8,000 to modernise their Hardshaw day schools and undertake work on other school buildings.
On the following day police were called to the King George V Playing Fields in Sutton Manor after a row blew up over the playing of organised football on a Sunday. That was against a local by-law and when a parks official told a number of footballers to stop playing, they refused. One of the players then brought Councillor Harry Williams to the scene to sort out the trouble but he backed up the official and eventually the police were summoned.
Harold Ashurst from Recreation Street insisted it was not an organised game, just a kick-about between workmates of banana firm Geest Industries. Another player, Alan Bennett from Scott Avenue in Sutton Manor, told the Reporter that they'd been playing on the pitch for the past seven Sundays and had not been causing any harm.
From the 17th there was what was billed as 'Old Time Music Hall' at the Theatre Royal, featuring Sandy Powell and George Lacy, amongst others. Sandy was hugely popular from the 1930s to the ‘50s appearing on stage, radio and in films. The comic is best remembered for his catchphrase "Can you hear me, mother?"
Meanwhile at the Capitol for six days from the 17th, the war film 'The Bridge at Remagen' – starring George Segal, Ben Gazzara and Robert Vaughn – was screened. And at the ABC Savoy the British comedy film 'The Best House in London' was shown, starring David Hemmings, George Sanders and Warren Mitchell.
Next week's stories will include fears that St Helens could be flooded with forged 50p coins, the 18th century condition of houses in Haydock, the thumbs up for road improvement works in St Helens, a hairdressing feature is in the Reporter and the little boy from Birchley Street who got a cake tin stuck on his head!
We begin with an inquest on the 11th in which it was revealed that a lorry driver had tried to drive under a bridge in Warrington New Road with a load seven inches too high. As a result part of the load was displaced and as it fell down it ripped off the roof of a passing car, killing two of its occupants. The jury called for local firms to learn the precise height of bridges under which their drivers would travel when transporting high loads and ensure that they knew the safest routes.
A three-day auction of the contents of Haydock Lodge ended on the 12th. Until recently the building on Warrington Road had been a private mental hospital and these days the Holiday Inn occupies the site. Antique experts from all over the country came for the sale with a set of dining room chairs in Chippendale style selling for £1,480 (about £25,000 in today's money).
An article in the Guardian on the 12th described how Pilkington's were now selling glass blocks – as opposed to window panes – in a choice of white, amber, blue, scarlet and emerald glass. Useful for privacy, the article stated that glass blocks also reduced heat loss and came in four designs. Panels of coloured glass blocks were proving popular in factories as they screened an ugly environment and helped to provide more light to workers "in an interesting way".
The funeral of Edmund Barton, the founder of Barton's Pickles and Kerrs Minerals, took place on the 14th. Born in 1888 Edmund founded the family firm about 1910 and had retired as managing director twenty years earlier. His daughter Doris Fairhurst was now in charge, with the pickle firm based in Lascelles Street and the minerals business in Barrow Street. In the 1939 Register Edmund described his occupation as "Botanical Brewer Sauce & Pickle Manufacturer".
The Reporter was published on the 14th and described how Florence Spear of Cooper Lane had handed in a petition to Haydock Council. It was on behalf of the residents of her street who were unhappy about plans to convert a disused Gospel Hall into a shop and snack bar.
The petition said the snack bar would "attract the undesirable element of young people". It would also be an "attraction and rendezvous for the roving gangs which can be seen each night, aimlessly wandering round the streets of Haydock, looking for, and often finding mischief to occupy themselves."
The Reporter had a special feature on the golden jubilee of the National Federation of Newsagents. Advertisers included Bullens of 27 Baldwin Street ("Books are most acceptable children’s gifts"); The Gift Shop, 17 Corporation Street, Props. Pat and Jack Nelson ("Look! Save 2/- in the £ on branded lines of chocolates") and N. Frith of Baldwin Street ("Up to 3d. off 20 cigarettes. Toys – Matchbox, Airfix, Corgi stockists, dolls").
Also advertising were Dearden's of 132 College Street (“Cut price cigarettes, chocolates, sweets and all confectionery") and A & E. Friar of 6 Junction Lane ("Large selection of toys for Christmas"). There was also Dillons of 10 Concourse Way, Parr; T. M. Davies of 92 Eccleston Street; C. Creevey of 43 Pocket Nook Street, Parr; Robinson's of 12 Nutgrove Road and Myers of Walmsley Road in Eccleston.
The paper also described how a "massive scheme" was being prepared by the council to relieve the overload on the Parr sewage works. This could mean a "slight lessening" of the smell from the works that stopped residents nearby from sleeping. However the Reporter said the council had no immediate plans to deal with the town's stinking brooks, apart from monitoring pollution levels and discharges. They said large sums had been spent in recent years in culverting brooks but the council and the River Authority liked to keep some brooks open as open brooks coped better with bigger water flows.
Jack Pye from Parr Stocks Road admitted that the smell – which tended to be worse at night – often woke him up, although he saw the positive: "The old folks round Parr reckon that if you get a smell of the brook it will do you a power of good." That was highly debatable, although the health authorities did insist that the smell was not detrimental to health.
The St Helens Water Engineer's Department estimated that one third of the town's brooks and streams were either bad or very poor. British Sidac was one of the firms in Sutton allowed to discharge industrial effluent into the Sankey Brook. The article pointed out that the cellulose wrappings manufacturer kept daily checks on the amount of pollution generated – both in the brook and the atmosphere – and planned an improvement scheme. Not much consolation for the dozens of families in Parr and Sutton that – as the paper pointed out – nightly shut their windows against the foul stench from the brook.
The Reporter's 'What The People Think' column chose the town's shops as this week's subject. They found that the majority of women were satisfied with the food shops in St Helens but disappointed with the town centre fashion stores. Pauline Burrell of Parbold Avenue in Blackbrook described St Helens as being "terribly old fashioned" when it came to fashion. The sixteen-year-old copy typist added:
"There's absolutely nothing for the fashion conscious woman here. All my friends have to go into Wigan or to Liverpool for anything, decent. I really think it's disgraceful. St. Helens is a big town with a big population. It should cater for everyone. We don't want to buy way-out gear. We just want nice, modern clothes that are well-made and not thrown together."
Kathleen Flanagan of Hinckley Road had recently moved to St Helens from Liverpool and found the difference in shops "shocking". The 24-year-old said: "I miss the big stores and the abundance of shops but the shops here aren't really too bad. I don't think there are enough big stores here. Wigan is quite good for shopping, better than here anyway."
However Kathleen Mather from Two Butt Lane in Rainhill thought St Helens was a "very good little shopping centre". The 50-year-old added: "Prices are keen and competitive when it comes to groceries and the like. I also think the clothes are good. I know you have to search the shops for them – but they are there."
Pictured in the paper was Kathryn Pennington who turned 98 this week. Born in Rainford and presently living in Adelaide Avenue in Thatto Heath, Kathryn's recipe for long life was "hard work and no money to go jaunting".
The Reporter also described how work on building four council estates had recently had to be stopped because of shortages of materials. The estates were at Ashurst Drive in Blackbrook, Fleet Lane in Parr, Kendal Drive and in Peasley Cross. The shortages included reinforcing bars to strengthen walls and floors and a type of red facing brick.
Playmates Bingo and Amusements of Crab Street was officially opened on the 14th. They were offering free membership and over £100 worth of prizes every week.
Also on the 14th Margaret Kennedy and Margaret Johnson won for Notre Dame School the St Helens & District Junior Chamber of Commerce Cup for Public Speaking at an event held at West Park Grammar School.
Those interested in singing in the choirs of Sutton Parish were invited to attend choir practice and receive an audition during the evening of the 14th (and any subsequent Friday). The choirmasters had vacancies for "all types of voices" at St Nicholas, All Saints and St Michael's churches and were keen to recruit new members.
On the 15th St Helens Parish Church held a coffee morning in their Parochial Hall in Ormskirk Street. The event was part of its campaign to raise £8,000 to modernise their Hardshaw day schools and undertake work on other school buildings.
On the following day police were called to the King George V Playing Fields in Sutton Manor after a row blew up over the playing of organised football on a Sunday. That was against a local by-law and when a parks official told a number of footballers to stop playing, they refused. One of the players then brought Councillor Harry Williams to the scene to sort out the trouble but he backed up the official and eventually the police were summoned.
Harold Ashurst from Recreation Street insisted it was not an organised game, just a kick-about between workmates of banana firm Geest Industries. Another player, Alan Bennett from Scott Avenue in Sutton Manor, told the Reporter that they'd been playing on the pitch for the past seven Sundays and had not been causing any harm.
From the 17th there was what was billed as 'Old Time Music Hall' at the Theatre Royal, featuring Sandy Powell and George Lacy, amongst others. Sandy was hugely popular from the 1930s to the ‘50s appearing on stage, radio and in films. The comic is best remembered for his catchphrase "Can you hear me, mother?"
Meanwhile at the Capitol for six days from the 17th, the war film 'The Bridge at Remagen' – starring George Segal, Ben Gazzara and Robert Vaughn – was screened. And at the ABC Savoy the British comedy film 'The Best House in London' was shown, starring David Hemmings, George Sanders and Warren Mitchell.
Next week's stories will include fears that St Helens could be flooded with forged 50p coins, the 18th century condition of houses in Haydock, the thumbs up for road improvement works in St Helens, a hairdressing feature is in the Reporter and the little boy from Birchley Street who got a cake tin stuck on his head!