FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 11 - 17 NOVEMBER 1974
This week's many stories include the drastic cuts in public services that were forecast for next year, the death of a Sutton boy while hitching a lift on a lorry, the campaign to recruit more nurses through a nursing chat shop, the storm over the council's housing death list, the death of a well-known men's outfitter and the murky water from a Pilkington's chemicals tip that cascaded through business premises.
We begin on the 11th in St Helens Magistrates Court when a father of two from West End Road in Haydock was fined £50 for indecently assaulting two 18-year-old women on the street. The incidents had taken place within half-an-hour of each other in George Street and Barrow Street in St Helens.
Throughout this week the 'Good Old Days' was performed at the Theatre Royal, which was described as a "Music hall revue to take you back down memory lane".
On the 15th Rainhill Ex-Services Club in Warrington Road had what they called a "sensational scoop" with a performance by "the fabulous" Bobby Vee. "Direct from the U.S.A." said the ad, although I doubt the singer had flown over especially to play Rainhill.
My mother had a phobia of birds – in particular the flapping of their wings. And so one place she most definitely would have avoided on the afternoon of the 16th was St Helens Town Hall. That was because the Fur and Feather Section of the Pilkington Recreation Club held their Open Pigeons and Cage Birds Show. It was advertised that there would be nearly 900 birds on show, including some of the best pigeons in the country. Admission was 10p.
Like today there was a shortage of nurses and the St Helens Reporter described how a nursing "chat shop" was being set up as part of a major recruitment drive. What they meant was those interested in a career in nursing could attend advice sessions and ask questions of those already in the job. It was hoped that the campaign would recruit 100 extra full-time staff for hospital work, district nursing, health visiting and midwifery.
The St Helens and Knowsley Health Authority also sought to persuade fully trained nurses that had left the NHS, perhaps to have children, to return by taking a refresher course. It was felt that some who had been out of nursing for a long time might be concerned that they'd lost their skills or be worried about a lack of knowledge of the latest medical developments.
On the 12th the St Helens Charity Ball Committee handed over a cheque to Providence Hospital (pictured above) for £1,500. The money was being used to purchase a second heart machine for the Tolver Street hospital and was the proceeds of their annual dance held at Eccleston Convent.
Also on the 12th the inquest on a 15-year-old Sutton schoolboy heard that the lad had met his death after sneaking on to the back of a lorry. Trevor Lewis had been one of a group of lads who had hitched a lift in Sutton Road without the driver's knowledge. Fearing he had been seen, Trevor decided to jump off but was run over by a rear wheel of the vehicle and died from a fractured skull.
The 12th was also Budget day and what the Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey had to announce did not please Douglas Pennington. The St Helens Borough Treasurer forecast drastic cuts in public services next year and warned the town's ratepayers that they could not expect the same standard of service that they were receiving now.
In Healey's budget local authorities were told to reduce their spending to an average 2.75% increase over the next four years – but with high levels of inflation that meant huge cuts in their real income. The 1970s, as many will remember, were a time of high levels of price inflation. In 1974 the rate stood at 16% and it would rise to 24% in 1975.
On the 14th a well-known retired St Helens businessman died at his home in Crank at the age of 74. Tom Knowles had opened his men's outfitters shop in Ormskirk Street during the early 1930s and had only retired from the business in 1967. The son of a St Helens doctor's chauffeur, Tom had developed a love of vintage cars and was the proud owner of a Daimler that was said to have belonged to George V.
Also on the 14th the men at Sutton Manor Colliery cast their votes in a ballot on a productivity deal proposed by the National Coal Board. But their union expected it would be turned down by a majority of 3 to 1 with Albert Hill of Balmer Street in Thatto Heath telling the Reporter prior to going down the pit: "No danger – we're voting to reject the deal."
On the same day it was announced that nine new government factories were going to be built in the North West in a bid to bring work quickly to the crisis-hit building industry. One measuring 15,000 square feet would be constructed in St Helens and four others in Knowsley. But there was bad news for Windleshaw RC Primary School. Their building was considered old and inadequate but the Department of Education had rejected its application for a new school.
On the 15th the Liverpool Echo described how Pilkingtons had won an award for a new product that they had developed. But the St Helens glass giant's accolade had come from an unusual source – the Concrete Society, after Pilks had been awarded their 1974 Award for Innovation.
The product was called Cem-fil and consisted of short lengths of glass fibre that were mixed with cement to make the finished product very strong. Its use was reported as wide-ranging and building and civil engineering companies had been among the first to recognise Cem-fil's reinforcement properties. Already the invention has been licensed to 100 companies throughout the world, including 70 in this country.
The Echo also reported that nearly 100 St Helens workers would lose their jobs when Screentex of Reginald Road in Sutton ceased production at the beginning of December. The company had opened six years ago and made cylinders for textile printing and specialised in screen-printing.
The St Helens Reporter on the 15th described how the owners of works in Glover Street and Duncan Close in St Helens were angry over a deluge of water that they said was cascading through their premises. The murky, discoloured water emanated from a Pilkington's chemicals tip and it ran through a fruit warehouse belonging to Berry Brothers and Glover's rope works. They said the problem had been going on for three years but claimed it was getting worse as alterations were taking place on the chemicals mound.
The Reporter also explained how Barrie Bromilow of Leach Lane in Sutton and Cyril Booth of Mowbray Avenue in St Helens were setting up a new jazz club in the town. Meetings were going to be held at the Black Bull Hotel in Knowsley Road and the duo said they hoped to be able to revive interest in jazz in St Helens.
Abbey National had an advert in the Reporter in which they announced the opening of their new branch at 10 Bridge Street, near to Tyrers. They wrote: "Our policy is to open more local branches every year, because we've found that people prefer to do business in their home towns with a branch that knows them personally." How things change!
Ian Brandes wrote this introduction to another of his hard-hitting pieces in the Reporter: "Wrath, resentment and frustration built up in the districts of St. Helens – as more sensational details of the council's housing death list spilled into the open."
The creation of St Helens District Council earlier in the year had greatly expanded the areas that the Town Hall was responsible for. The officials were trying to get a handle on the state of the housing stock in Rainford, Haydock, Newton etc. and decide which should be demolished and replaced.
If demolition was to happen it would likely be years down the line and there was no certainty that any houses placed on their list of unsuitable stock would ultimately be knocked down. And so the council wanted to keep their proposals secret so as not to cause unnecessary alarm. But details were leaking out and residents and parish councillors in the districts were up in arms over being kept in the dark.
In Haydock Councillor Hughie Littler believed as many as 600 homes could eventually be flattened. In Newton-le-Willows it was believed that houses that had recently been awarded improvement grants had been placed on the list. And local MPs had stepped into the row with Robert Kilroy-Silk, whose constituency included Rainford, having tabled a written question in parliament.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the massive demand for petrol to beat the budget, anger after Suttons Transport deny anglers access to their fishing pond and the annual Christmas appeal for donations of toys and food parcels.
We begin on the 11th in St Helens Magistrates Court when a father of two from West End Road in Haydock was fined £50 for indecently assaulting two 18-year-old women on the street. The incidents had taken place within half-an-hour of each other in George Street and Barrow Street in St Helens.
Throughout this week the 'Good Old Days' was performed at the Theatre Royal, which was described as a "Music hall revue to take you back down memory lane".
On the 15th Rainhill Ex-Services Club in Warrington Road had what they called a "sensational scoop" with a performance by "the fabulous" Bobby Vee. "Direct from the U.S.A." said the ad, although I doubt the singer had flown over especially to play Rainhill.
My mother had a phobia of birds – in particular the flapping of their wings. And so one place she most definitely would have avoided on the afternoon of the 16th was St Helens Town Hall. That was because the Fur and Feather Section of the Pilkington Recreation Club held their Open Pigeons and Cage Birds Show. It was advertised that there would be nearly 900 birds on show, including some of the best pigeons in the country. Admission was 10p.
Like today there was a shortage of nurses and the St Helens Reporter described how a nursing "chat shop" was being set up as part of a major recruitment drive. What they meant was those interested in a career in nursing could attend advice sessions and ask questions of those already in the job. It was hoped that the campaign would recruit 100 extra full-time staff for hospital work, district nursing, health visiting and midwifery.
The St Helens and Knowsley Health Authority also sought to persuade fully trained nurses that had left the NHS, perhaps to have children, to return by taking a refresher course. It was felt that some who had been out of nursing for a long time might be concerned that they'd lost their skills or be worried about a lack of knowledge of the latest medical developments.
Also on the 12th the inquest on a 15-year-old Sutton schoolboy heard that the lad had met his death after sneaking on to the back of a lorry. Trevor Lewis had been one of a group of lads who had hitched a lift in Sutton Road without the driver's knowledge. Fearing he had been seen, Trevor decided to jump off but was run over by a rear wheel of the vehicle and died from a fractured skull.
The 12th was also Budget day and what the Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey had to announce did not please Douglas Pennington. The St Helens Borough Treasurer forecast drastic cuts in public services next year and warned the town's ratepayers that they could not expect the same standard of service that they were receiving now.
In Healey's budget local authorities were told to reduce their spending to an average 2.75% increase over the next four years – but with high levels of inflation that meant huge cuts in their real income. The 1970s, as many will remember, were a time of high levels of price inflation. In 1974 the rate stood at 16% and it would rise to 24% in 1975.
On the 14th a well-known retired St Helens businessman died at his home in Crank at the age of 74. Tom Knowles had opened his men's outfitters shop in Ormskirk Street during the early 1930s and had only retired from the business in 1967. The son of a St Helens doctor's chauffeur, Tom had developed a love of vintage cars and was the proud owner of a Daimler that was said to have belonged to George V.
On the same day it was announced that nine new government factories were going to be built in the North West in a bid to bring work quickly to the crisis-hit building industry. One measuring 15,000 square feet would be constructed in St Helens and four others in Knowsley. But there was bad news for Windleshaw RC Primary School. Their building was considered old and inadequate but the Department of Education had rejected its application for a new school.
On the 15th the Liverpool Echo described how Pilkingtons had won an award for a new product that they had developed. But the St Helens glass giant's accolade had come from an unusual source – the Concrete Society, after Pilks had been awarded their 1974 Award for Innovation.
The product was called Cem-fil and consisted of short lengths of glass fibre that were mixed with cement to make the finished product very strong. Its use was reported as wide-ranging and building and civil engineering companies had been among the first to recognise Cem-fil's reinforcement properties. Already the invention has been licensed to 100 companies throughout the world, including 70 in this country.
The Echo also reported that nearly 100 St Helens workers would lose their jobs when Screentex of Reginald Road in Sutton ceased production at the beginning of December. The company had opened six years ago and made cylinders for textile printing and specialised in screen-printing.
The St Helens Reporter on the 15th described how the owners of works in Glover Street and Duncan Close in St Helens were angry over a deluge of water that they said was cascading through their premises. The murky, discoloured water emanated from a Pilkington's chemicals tip and it ran through a fruit warehouse belonging to Berry Brothers and Glover's rope works. They said the problem had been going on for three years but claimed it was getting worse as alterations were taking place on the chemicals mound.
The Reporter also explained how Barrie Bromilow of Leach Lane in Sutton and Cyril Booth of Mowbray Avenue in St Helens were setting up a new jazz club in the town. Meetings were going to be held at the Black Bull Hotel in Knowsley Road and the duo said they hoped to be able to revive interest in jazz in St Helens.
Abbey National had an advert in the Reporter in which they announced the opening of their new branch at 10 Bridge Street, near to Tyrers. They wrote: "Our policy is to open more local branches every year, because we've found that people prefer to do business in their home towns with a branch that knows them personally." How things change!
Ian Brandes wrote this introduction to another of his hard-hitting pieces in the Reporter: "Wrath, resentment and frustration built up in the districts of St. Helens – as more sensational details of the council's housing death list spilled into the open."
The creation of St Helens District Council earlier in the year had greatly expanded the areas that the Town Hall was responsible for. The officials were trying to get a handle on the state of the housing stock in Rainford, Haydock, Newton etc. and decide which should be demolished and replaced.
If demolition was to happen it would likely be years down the line and there was no certainty that any houses placed on their list of unsuitable stock would ultimately be knocked down. And so the council wanted to keep their proposals secret so as not to cause unnecessary alarm. But details were leaking out and residents and parish councillors in the districts were up in arms over being kept in the dark.
In Haydock Councillor Hughie Littler believed as many as 600 homes could eventually be flattened. In Newton-le-Willows it was believed that houses that had recently been awarded improvement grants had been placed on the list. And local MPs had stepped into the row with Robert Kilroy-Silk, whose constituency included Rainford, having tabled a written question in parliament.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the massive demand for petrol to beat the budget, anger after Suttons Transport deny anglers access to their fishing pond and the annual Christmas appeal for donations of toys and food parcels.
This week's many stories include the drastic cuts in public services that were forecast for next year, the death of a Sutton boy while hitching a lift on a lorry, the campaign to recruit more nurses through a nursing chat shop, the storm over the council's housing death list, the death of a well-known men's outfitter and the murky water from a Pilkington's chemicals tip that cascaded through business premises.
We begin on the 11th in St Helens Magistrates Court when a father of two from West End Road in Haydock was fined £50 for indecently assaulting two 18-year-old women on the street.
The incidents had taken place within half-an-hour of each other in George Street and Barrow Street in St Helens.
Throughout this week the 'Good Old Days' was performed at the Theatre Royal, which was described as a "Music hall revue to take you back down memory lane".
On the 15th Rainhill Ex-Services Club in Warrington Road had what they called a "sensational scoop" with a performance by "the fabulous" Bobby Vee.
"Direct from the U.S.A." said the ad, although I doubt the singer had flown over especially to play Rainhill.
My mother had a phobia of birds – in particular the flapping of their wings.
And so one place she most definitely would have avoided on the afternoon of the 16th was St Helens Town Hall.
That was because the Fur and Feather Section of the Pilkington Recreation Club held their Open Pigeons and Cage Birds Show.
It was advertised that there would be nearly 900 birds on show, including some of the best pigeons in the country. Admission was 10p.
Like today there was a shortage of nurses and the St Helens Reporter described how a nursing "chat shop" was being set up as part of a major recruitment drive.
What they meant was those interested in a career in nursing could attend advice sessions and ask questions of those already in the job.
It was hoped that the campaign would recruit 100 extra full-time staff for hospital work, district nursing, health visiting and midwifery.
The St Helens and Knowsley Health Authority also sought to persuade fully trained nurses that had left the NHS, perhaps to have children, to return by taking a refresher course.
It was felt that some who had been out of nursing for a long time might be concerned that they'd lost their skills or be worried about a lack of knowledge of the latest medical developments.
On the 12th the St Helens Charity Ball Committee handed over a cheque to Providence Hospital (pictured above) for £1,500.
The money was being used to purchase a second heart machine for the Tolver Street hospital and was the proceeds of their annual dance held at Eccleston Convent.
Also on the 12th the inquest on a 15-year-old Sutton schoolboy heard that the lad had met his death after sneaking on to the back of a lorry.
Trevor Lewis had been one of a group of lads who had hitched a lift in Sutton Road without the driver's knowledge.
Fearing he had been seen, Trevor decided to jump off but was run over by a rear wheel of the vehicle and died from a fractured skull.
The 12th was also Budget day and what the Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey had to announce did not please Douglas Pennington.
The St Helens Borough Treasurer forecast drastic cuts in public services next year and warned the town's ratepayers that they could not expect the same standard of service that they were receiving now.
In Healey's budget local authorities were told to reduce their spending to an average 2.75% increase over the next four years – but with high levels of inflation that meant huge cuts in their real income.
The 1970s, as many will remember, were a time of high levels of price inflation. In 1974 the rate stood at 16% and it would rise to 24% in 1975.
On the 14th a well-known retired St Helens businessman died at his home in Crank at the age of 74.
Tom Knowles had opened his men's outfitters shop in Ormskirk Street during the early 1930s and had only retired from the business in 1967.
The son of a St Helens doctor's chauffeur, Tom had developed a love of vintage cars and was the proud owner of a Daimler that was said to have belonged to George V.
Also on the 14th the men at Sutton Manor Colliery cast their votes in a ballot on a productivity deal proposed by the National Coal Board.
But their union expected it would be turned down by a majority of 3 to 1 with Albert Hill of Balmer Street in Thatto Heath telling the Reporter prior to going down the pit: "No danger – we're voting to reject the deal."
On the same day it was announced that nine new government factories were going to be built in the North West in a bid to bring work quickly to the crisis-hit building industry.
One measuring 15,000 square feet would be constructed in St Helens and four others in Knowsley.
But there was bad news for Windleshaw RC Primary School. Their building was considered old and inadequate but the Department of Education had rejected its application for a new school.
On the 15th the Liverpool Echo described how Pilkingtons had won an award for a new product that they had developed.
But the St Helens glass giant's accolade had come from an unusual source – the Concrete Society, after Pilks had been awarded their 1974 Award for Innovation.
The product was called Cem-fil and consisted of short lengths of glass fibre that were mixed with cement to make the finished product very strong.
Its use was reported as wide-ranging and building and civil engineering companies had been among the first to recognise Cem-fil's reinforcement properties.
Already the invention has been licensed to 100 companies throughout the world, including 70 in this country.
The Echo also reported that nearly 100 St Helens workers would lose their jobs when Screentex of Reginald Road in Sutton ceased production at the beginning of December.
The company had opened six years ago and made cylinders for textile printing and specialised in screen-printing.
The St Helens Reporter on the 15th described how the owners of works in Glover Street and Duncan Close in St Helens were angry over a deluge of water that they said was cascading through their premises.
The murky, discoloured water emanated from a Pilkington's chemicals tip and it ran through a fruit warehouse belonging to Berry Brothers and Glover's rope works.
They said the problem had been going on for three years but claimed it was getting worse as alterations were taking place on the chemicals mound.
The Reporter also explained how Barrie Bromilow of Leach Lane in Sutton and Cyril Booth of Mowbray Avenue in St Helens were setting up a new jazz club in the town.
Meetings were going to be held at the Black Bull Hotel in Knowsley Road and the duo said they hoped to be able to revive interest in jazz in St Helens.
Abbey National had an advert in the Reporter in which they announced the opening of their new branch at 10 Bridge Street, near to Tyrers.
They wrote: "Our policy is to open more local branches every year, because we've found that people prefer to do business in their home towns with a branch that knows them personally." How things change!
Ian Brandes wrote this introduction to another of his hard-hitting pieces in the Reporter:
"Wrath, resentment and frustration built up in the districts of St. Helens – as more sensational details of the council's housing death list spilled into the open."
The creation of St Helens District Council earlier in the year had greatly expanded the areas that the Town Hall was responsible for.
The officials were trying to get a handle on the state of the housing stock in Rainford, Haydock, Newton etc. and decide which should be demolished and replaced.
If demolition was to happen it would likely be years down the line and there was no certainty that any houses placed on their list of unsuitable stock would ultimately be knocked down.
And so the council wanted to keep their proposals secret so as not to cause unnecessary alarm.
But details were leaking out and residents and parish councillors in the districts were up in arms over being kept in the dark.
In Haydock Councillor Hughie Littler believed as many as 600 homes could eventually be flattened.
In Newton-le-Willows it was believed that houses that had recently been awarded improvement grants had been placed on the list.
And local MPs had stepped into the row with Robert Kilroy-Silk, whose constituency included Rainford, having tabled a written question in parliament.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the massive demand for petrol to beat the budget, anger after Suttons Transport deny anglers access to their fishing pond and the annual Christmas appeal for donations of toys and food parcels.
We begin on the 11th in St Helens Magistrates Court when a father of two from West End Road in Haydock was fined £50 for indecently assaulting two 18-year-old women on the street.
The incidents had taken place within half-an-hour of each other in George Street and Barrow Street in St Helens.
Throughout this week the 'Good Old Days' was performed at the Theatre Royal, which was described as a "Music hall revue to take you back down memory lane".
On the 15th Rainhill Ex-Services Club in Warrington Road had what they called a "sensational scoop" with a performance by "the fabulous" Bobby Vee.
"Direct from the U.S.A." said the ad, although I doubt the singer had flown over especially to play Rainhill.
My mother had a phobia of birds – in particular the flapping of their wings.
And so one place she most definitely would have avoided on the afternoon of the 16th was St Helens Town Hall.
That was because the Fur and Feather Section of the Pilkington Recreation Club held their Open Pigeons and Cage Birds Show.
It was advertised that there would be nearly 900 birds on show, including some of the best pigeons in the country. Admission was 10p.
Like today there was a shortage of nurses and the St Helens Reporter described how a nursing "chat shop" was being set up as part of a major recruitment drive.
What they meant was those interested in a career in nursing could attend advice sessions and ask questions of those already in the job.
It was hoped that the campaign would recruit 100 extra full-time staff for hospital work, district nursing, health visiting and midwifery.
The St Helens and Knowsley Health Authority also sought to persuade fully trained nurses that had left the NHS, perhaps to have children, to return by taking a refresher course.
It was felt that some who had been out of nursing for a long time might be concerned that they'd lost their skills or be worried about a lack of knowledge of the latest medical developments.
The money was being used to purchase a second heart machine for the Tolver Street hospital and was the proceeds of their annual dance held at Eccleston Convent.
Also on the 12th the inquest on a 15-year-old Sutton schoolboy heard that the lad had met his death after sneaking on to the back of a lorry.
Trevor Lewis had been one of a group of lads who had hitched a lift in Sutton Road without the driver's knowledge.
Fearing he had been seen, Trevor decided to jump off but was run over by a rear wheel of the vehicle and died from a fractured skull.
The 12th was also Budget day and what the Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey had to announce did not please Douglas Pennington.
The St Helens Borough Treasurer forecast drastic cuts in public services next year and warned the town's ratepayers that they could not expect the same standard of service that they were receiving now.
In Healey's budget local authorities were told to reduce their spending to an average 2.75% increase over the next four years – but with high levels of inflation that meant huge cuts in their real income.
The 1970s, as many will remember, were a time of high levels of price inflation. In 1974 the rate stood at 16% and it would rise to 24% in 1975.
On the 14th a well-known retired St Helens businessman died at his home in Crank at the age of 74.
Tom Knowles had opened his men's outfitters shop in Ormskirk Street during the early 1930s and had only retired from the business in 1967.
The son of a St Helens doctor's chauffeur, Tom had developed a love of vintage cars and was the proud owner of a Daimler that was said to have belonged to George V.
Also on the 14th the men at Sutton Manor Colliery cast their votes in a ballot on a productivity deal proposed by the National Coal Board.
On the same day it was announced that nine new government factories were going to be built in the North West in a bid to bring work quickly to the crisis-hit building industry.
One measuring 15,000 square feet would be constructed in St Helens and four others in Knowsley.
But there was bad news for Windleshaw RC Primary School. Their building was considered old and inadequate but the Department of Education had rejected its application for a new school.
On the 15th the Liverpool Echo described how Pilkingtons had won an award for a new product that they had developed.
But the St Helens glass giant's accolade had come from an unusual source – the Concrete Society, after Pilks had been awarded their 1974 Award for Innovation.
The product was called Cem-fil and consisted of short lengths of glass fibre that were mixed with cement to make the finished product very strong.
Its use was reported as wide-ranging and building and civil engineering companies had been among the first to recognise Cem-fil's reinforcement properties.
Already the invention has been licensed to 100 companies throughout the world, including 70 in this country.
The Echo also reported that nearly 100 St Helens workers would lose their jobs when Screentex of Reginald Road in Sutton ceased production at the beginning of December.
The company had opened six years ago and made cylinders for textile printing and specialised in screen-printing.
The St Helens Reporter on the 15th described how the owners of works in Glover Street and Duncan Close in St Helens were angry over a deluge of water that they said was cascading through their premises.
The murky, discoloured water emanated from a Pilkington's chemicals tip and it ran through a fruit warehouse belonging to Berry Brothers and Glover's rope works.
They said the problem had been going on for three years but claimed it was getting worse as alterations were taking place on the chemicals mound.
The Reporter also explained how Barrie Bromilow of Leach Lane in Sutton and Cyril Booth of Mowbray Avenue in St Helens were setting up a new jazz club in the town.
Meetings were going to be held at the Black Bull Hotel in Knowsley Road and the duo said they hoped to be able to revive interest in jazz in St Helens.
Abbey National had an advert in the Reporter in which they announced the opening of their new branch at 10 Bridge Street, near to Tyrers.
They wrote: "Our policy is to open more local branches every year, because we've found that people prefer to do business in their home towns with a branch that knows them personally." How things change!
Ian Brandes wrote this introduction to another of his hard-hitting pieces in the Reporter:
"Wrath, resentment and frustration built up in the districts of St. Helens – as more sensational details of the council's housing death list spilled into the open."
The creation of St Helens District Council earlier in the year had greatly expanded the areas that the Town Hall was responsible for.
The officials were trying to get a handle on the state of the housing stock in Rainford, Haydock, Newton etc. and decide which should be demolished and replaced.
If demolition was to happen it would likely be years down the line and there was no certainty that any houses placed on their list of unsuitable stock would ultimately be knocked down.
And so the council wanted to keep their proposals secret so as not to cause unnecessary alarm.
But details were leaking out and residents and parish councillors in the districts were up in arms over being kept in the dark.
In Haydock Councillor Hughie Littler believed as many as 600 homes could eventually be flattened.
In Newton-le-Willows it was believed that houses that had recently been awarded improvement grants had been placed on the list.
And local MPs had stepped into the row with Robert Kilroy-Silk, whose constituency included Rainford, having tabled a written question in parliament.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the massive demand for petrol to beat the budget, anger after Suttons Transport deny anglers access to their fishing pond and the annual Christmas appeal for donations of toys and food parcels.