FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (12th - 18th APRIL 1971)
This week's numerous stories include an update on the new Knowsley Safari Park, the nippy Tesco supermarket thief in Bridge Street, Pilkingtons breakthrough in space, an invitation to walk tall in Clock Face and Billinge maternity hospital's staffing problems.
We begin on the 13th with the inquest into Moyra Dawe and Margaret Cheetham. Both women had been killed at a bus stop in Liverpool Road in Great Sankey when a double-decker mounted the pavement. The Crosville bus was being driven from Warrington to Rainhill and the driver told the hearing that he had lost control when his nearside front wheel caught the kerb.
Also on the 13th was an update on the creation of Knowsley Safari Park – which the Guardian this week bizarrely claimed as designed to "lighten the darkness of a densely populated area"! The name of the new 360-acre wildlife scheme was continuing to fluctuate – having recently been referred to as Knowsley Zoo and Prescot Safari Park. The Liverpool Echo's progress report now dubbed it Lord Derby's Safari Park but whatever the moniker, the favourable weather of the past few months was helping to keep work to schedule.
A spokesman for Lord Derby said barring any unforeseen circumstance, the park would open as planned on July 1st. "Progress is going very well on all the buildings in the Safari Park," he added. "The restaurant is nearly completed and work is almost finished on the road system."
Although Lord Derby was stumping up the cash and the land, the venture was a partnership with Jimmy Chipperfield of the famous circus family, who had been in charge of developing wild animal schemes at Woburn Abbey and Longleat. The spokesman added: "At the moment, many of the animals which will be brought to the park are being kept in Mr. Chipperfield's quarantine centre. The work on the park should finish by the end of May and the animals will be brought to Knowsley shortly afterwards."
Also on the 13th it was reported that St Helens police were searching for a "nippy thief" who over the weekend had stolen £180 from the Tesco supermarket in Bridge Street. The cash in £5 and £1 notes had disappeared in a two-minute period between 1.45pm and 1.47pm from an open safe on the public side of the checkouts. Police were appealing to shoppers who may have seen the thief stealing the money to come forward. Just why the safe was left open for two minutes was not explained.
Coffey Haulage Contractors had also suffered thefts from several of their lorries while parked on an allotment site off Tickle Avenue. The swag included a gent's gold watch, worth £50, that had the initials "J. C." on the back and the name Joseph Coffey inside the back plate.
The Crewe Chronicle on the 15th featured a full-page ad devoted to Green Shield Stamps showing a timeline of their massive expansion since first being introduced in 1958. It was stated that in 1967 a 3¾ million cubic ft warehouse had been opened in Newton-le-Willows to service all the Green Shield gift shops in the North. I believe that was on the new Deacon Trading Estate off Earle Street, which had previously housed railway workshops.
The Echo described this week how a number of St Helens girls had performed well in the dancing sections of two festivals. In the Bromborough Festival (these days called the Wirral Festival of Music, Speech & Drama), Susan Jones had won first prize in all three of her entered classes despite a hitch halfway through one performance. The ten-year-old was described as "dancing a tarantella in a colourful orange, green and white Italian costume in the National Solo (9 - 11 years) class, when the cross-straps attached to her dancing pumps became undone. The music stopped to allow Susan a chance to put matters right, and she then carried on like a veteran trouper."
Hazel Prescott and Linda Brown took first and second place in the Tap dance solo for 11 - 14 years and other successful girls included Amanda Birchall, Kate Prescott, Michelle Kilgannon, Susan Seddon, Elizabeth Hill and Patricia Gregson. Five-year-old Patricia also did well in the Liverpool Festival of Dancing at St George's Hall, winning the Acrefield Trophy for the baby gaining the highest mark. Sharon Charnock also did well.
The Runcorn Weekly News published this ad on the 15th: "WALK TALL in a new home at St. Helens, Clock Face Rd. Where ‘ND Homes’ can fix you up NOW with a new property for occupation from October to February, ’72 from £200 deposit and weekly optional repayments of from £7/10/0 (£7.50)”. Two months after decimalisation, ND Homes still felt the need to put shillings and pence first.
In The Stage newspaper on the same day there was this notice published: "I ALAN LAW intend to apply to the St. Helens County Council for a licence to carry on an Employment Agency for all persons in the entertainment industry at 60 Hardshaw Street, St. Helens, Lancs, such Agency to be known as Stylemaster Theatrical Agency. ALL OBJECTIONS and the grounds therefore, must be submitted in writing to the Town Clerk, St. Helens County Council, Town Hall, St. Helens, Lancs., within 14 days from the date of the publication of this advertisement."
On the 16th three men from Sutton were each sent to prison for between four and six months for inflicting grievous bodily on George Pearson. The 29-year-old from Joseph Street suffered severe facial injuries in the attack in St Helens and a doctor told the court that Mr Pearson might have to lose one of his eyes in order to preserve the sight of the other.
The Echo reported on the 16th that special glass just a few thousandths of an inch thick made by subsidiary firms of Pilkingtons was going to be launched into space next year. The new glass would cover the solar cells on satellites and boost their lifespan by providing increased protection from harmful radiation and what was described as micro-meteorites. Six years of experiments by Pilkington scientists had paved the way for the space breakthrough. The company's products were also protecting artefacts from the past. Eighteen months earlier 10mm thick, armour-plated glass made at Cowley Hill had been placed on the sarcophagus of King Tutankhamun in Egypt.
Another Echo story on the 17th was that the new captain of Haydock Park Golf Club would be John Gibson of Victoria Road in Newton-le-Willows.
The Sunday People was conducting what they called a "crusade" against the inequality of maternity services throughout the country and on the 18th singled out Billinge as an example of both good and bad practice:
"A new multi-million pound maternity unit is just fine for patients. Each ward has only four beds and each has bathroom, lavatory, and television. But, ironically, it is so understaffed, it provides extra work and headaches for the staff. As Miss Phyllis Standish, principal midwifery officer for Wigan and Leigh, explained: “From a nurse's point of view, it's far easier to keep an eye on everyone in a large ward than in small wards.” No wonder the staffs sometimes get short tempered with their patients."
Also on the 18th there was yet another accident on the East Lancs, when two cars collided near Haydock traffic lights. As a result a Liverpool family of four received treatment at Providence Hospital but were later discharged.
And finally the non-St Helens article in the Echo this week that made me smile went under the headline "Tiddlers On The Roof Stop A Town's Traffic":
"Four little boys hunting pigeons stopped the traffic in Warrington town centre last night. A landlady telephoned the police when she heard they were on the roof of her public house, they in turn eventually had to call the help of the fire brigade with a turntable ladder. But in the end the boys climbed down from the 50ft. high, three storey building by the same route they had taken to get up – via drainpipes. Their escapade ended with all four sitting huddled – and frightened for the first time – in the back of a police car. “They were given a strict talking to but there will be no further action,” said a police spokesman to-day.
"Mrs. Ethel Smith, landlady of the Packet House Hotel, at Bridge Foot, said the boys had been climbing on to the roof of her premises and adjoining buildings since last week. “Pigeons are let loose under nearby Warrington Bridge but they often fly on to the roofs of the buildings around here and the boys have recently started going after them,” she said. “Last Thursday a man ran into the pub and asked if I knew whether there were some little boys on the roof. I telephoned the police, but the lads must have seen them coming. They ran on to a nearby building, went through a loft and left through the front door.”
"Last night, at about 6.45, Mrs. Smith again learned that boys were on the roof. She telephoned the police who spent nearly an hour trying to talk the youngsters into climbing down. When they refused the police called the fire brigade and the fire officer went up on a turntable ladder. He found the boys hiding in a dip on the roof. “Are you afraid?” he asked. The boys shook their heads and tried to escape by climbing down the drainpipes at the rear of the building, but police were waiting.
"“It caused a real commotion,” said Mrs. Smith. “The lads must have been up on the roof for about two hours and crowds of people were standing in Bridge Street and Mersey Street watching. Traffic was stopped.” Mrs. Smith added: “Workmen who come to carry out repairs here are terrified of going on to the roof, yet these little beggars who are only about 10 years old, were running about like monkeys.”"
Next Week's stories will include the planned redundancies at UGB, the big Thatto Heath family reunion, St Helens' World Cup football referee is injured in a car crash and the 1971 census forms arrive in St Helens.
We begin on the 13th with the inquest into Moyra Dawe and Margaret Cheetham. Both women had been killed at a bus stop in Liverpool Road in Great Sankey when a double-decker mounted the pavement. The Crosville bus was being driven from Warrington to Rainhill and the driver told the hearing that he had lost control when his nearside front wheel caught the kerb.
Also on the 13th was an update on the creation of Knowsley Safari Park – which the Guardian this week bizarrely claimed as designed to "lighten the darkness of a densely populated area"! The name of the new 360-acre wildlife scheme was continuing to fluctuate – having recently been referred to as Knowsley Zoo and Prescot Safari Park. The Liverpool Echo's progress report now dubbed it Lord Derby's Safari Park but whatever the moniker, the favourable weather of the past few months was helping to keep work to schedule.
A spokesman for Lord Derby said barring any unforeseen circumstance, the park would open as planned on July 1st. "Progress is going very well on all the buildings in the Safari Park," he added. "The restaurant is nearly completed and work is almost finished on the road system."
Although Lord Derby was stumping up the cash and the land, the venture was a partnership with Jimmy Chipperfield of the famous circus family, who had been in charge of developing wild animal schemes at Woburn Abbey and Longleat. The spokesman added: "At the moment, many of the animals which will be brought to the park are being kept in Mr. Chipperfield's quarantine centre. The work on the park should finish by the end of May and the animals will be brought to Knowsley shortly afterwards."
Also on the 13th it was reported that St Helens police were searching for a "nippy thief" who over the weekend had stolen £180 from the Tesco supermarket in Bridge Street. The cash in £5 and £1 notes had disappeared in a two-minute period between 1.45pm and 1.47pm from an open safe on the public side of the checkouts. Police were appealing to shoppers who may have seen the thief stealing the money to come forward. Just why the safe was left open for two minutes was not explained.
Coffey Haulage Contractors had also suffered thefts from several of their lorries while parked on an allotment site off Tickle Avenue. The swag included a gent's gold watch, worth £50, that had the initials "J. C." on the back and the name Joseph Coffey inside the back plate.
The Echo described this week how a number of St Helens girls had performed well in the dancing sections of two festivals. In the Bromborough Festival (these days called the Wirral Festival of Music, Speech & Drama), Susan Jones had won first prize in all three of her entered classes despite a hitch halfway through one performance. The ten-year-old was described as "dancing a tarantella in a colourful orange, green and white Italian costume in the National Solo (9 - 11 years) class, when the cross-straps attached to her dancing pumps became undone. The music stopped to allow Susan a chance to put matters right, and she then carried on like a veteran trouper."
Hazel Prescott and Linda Brown took first and second place in the Tap dance solo for 11 - 14 years and other successful girls included Amanda Birchall, Kate Prescott, Michelle Kilgannon, Susan Seddon, Elizabeth Hill and Patricia Gregson. Five-year-old Patricia also did well in the Liverpool Festival of Dancing at St George's Hall, winning the Acrefield Trophy for the baby gaining the highest mark. Sharon Charnock also did well.
The Runcorn Weekly News published this ad on the 15th: "WALK TALL in a new home at St. Helens, Clock Face Rd. Where ‘ND Homes’ can fix you up NOW with a new property for occupation from October to February, ’72 from £200 deposit and weekly optional repayments of from £7/10/0 (£7.50)”. Two months after decimalisation, ND Homes still felt the need to put shillings and pence first.
In The Stage newspaper on the same day there was this notice published: "I ALAN LAW intend to apply to the St. Helens County Council for a licence to carry on an Employment Agency for all persons in the entertainment industry at 60 Hardshaw Street, St. Helens, Lancs, such Agency to be known as Stylemaster Theatrical Agency. ALL OBJECTIONS and the grounds therefore, must be submitted in writing to the Town Clerk, St. Helens County Council, Town Hall, St. Helens, Lancs., within 14 days from the date of the publication of this advertisement."
On the 16th three men from Sutton were each sent to prison for between four and six months for inflicting grievous bodily on George Pearson. The 29-year-old from Joseph Street suffered severe facial injuries in the attack in St Helens and a doctor told the court that Mr Pearson might have to lose one of his eyes in order to preserve the sight of the other.
The Echo reported on the 16th that special glass just a few thousandths of an inch thick made by subsidiary firms of Pilkingtons was going to be launched into space next year. The new glass would cover the solar cells on satellites and boost their lifespan by providing increased protection from harmful radiation and what was described as micro-meteorites. Six years of experiments by Pilkington scientists had paved the way for the space breakthrough. The company's products were also protecting artefacts from the past. Eighteen months earlier 10mm thick, armour-plated glass made at Cowley Hill had been placed on the sarcophagus of King Tutankhamun in Egypt.
Another Echo story on the 17th was that the new captain of Haydock Park Golf Club would be John Gibson of Victoria Road in Newton-le-Willows.
The Sunday People was conducting what they called a "crusade" against the inequality of maternity services throughout the country and on the 18th singled out Billinge as an example of both good and bad practice:
"A new multi-million pound maternity unit is just fine for patients. Each ward has only four beds and each has bathroom, lavatory, and television. But, ironically, it is so understaffed, it provides extra work and headaches for the staff. As Miss Phyllis Standish, principal midwifery officer for Wigan and Leigh, explained: “From a nurse's point of view, it's far easier to keep an eye on everyone in a large ward than in small wards.” No wonder the staffs sometimes get short tempered with their patients."
Also on the 18th there was yet another accident on the East Lancs, when two cars collided near Haydock traffic lights. As a result a Liverpool family of four received treatment at Providence Hospital but were later discharged.
And finally the non-St Helens article in the Echo this week that made me smile went under the headline "Tiddlers On The Roof Stop A Town's Traffic":
"Four little boys hunting pigeons stopped the traffic in Warrington town centre last night. A landlady telephoned the police when she heard they were on the roof of her public house, they in turn eventually had to call the help of the fire brigade with a turntable ladder. But in the end the boys climbed down from the 50ft. high, three storey building by the same route they had taken to get up – via drainpipes. Their escapade ended with all four sitting huddled – and frightened for the first time – in the back of a police car. “They were given a strict talking to but there will be no further action,” said a police spokesman to-day.
"Mrs. Ethel Smith, landlady of the Packet House Hotel, at Bridge Foot, said the boys had been climbing on to the roof of her premises and adjoining buildings since last week. “Pigeons are let loose under nearby Warrington Bridge but they often fly on to the roofs of the buildings around here and the boys have recently started going after them,” she said. “Last Thursday a man ran into the pub and asked if I knew whether there were some little boys on the roof. I telephoned the police, but the lads must have seen them coming. They ran on to a nearby building, went through a loft and left through the front door.”
"Last night, at about 6.45, Mrs. Smith again learned that boys were on the roof. She telephoned the police who spent nearly an hour trying to talk the youngsters into climbing down. When they refused the police called the fire brigade and the fire officer went up on a turntable ladder. He found the boys hiding in a dip on the roof. “Are you afraid?” he asked. The boys shook their heads and tried to escape by climbing down the drainpipes at the rear of the building, but police were waiting.
"“It caused a real commotion,” said Mrs. Smith. “The lads must have been up on the roof for about two hours and crowds of people were standing in Bridge Street and Mersey Street watching. Traffic was stopped.” Mrs. Smith added: “Workmen who come to carry out repairs here are terrified of going on to the roof, yet these little beggars who are only about 10 years old, were running about like monkeys.”"
Next Week's stories will include the planned redundancies at UGB, the big Thatto Heath family reunion, St Helens' World Cup football referee is injured in a car crash and the 1971 census forms arrive in St Helens.
This week's numerous stories include an update on the new Knowsley Safari Park, the nippy Tesco supermarket thief in Bridge Street, Pilkingtons breakthrough in space, an invitation to walk tall in Clock Face and Billinge maternity hospital's staffing problems.
We begin on the 13th with the inquest into Moyra Dawe and Margaret Cheetham. Both women had been killed at a bus stop in Liverpool Road in Great Sankey when a double-decker mounted the pavement.
The Crosville bus was being driven from Warrington to Rainhill and the driver told the hearing that he had lost control when his nearside front wheel caught the kerb.
Also on the 13th was an update on the creation of Knowsley Safari Park – which the Guardian this week bizarrely claimed as designed to "lighten the darkness of a densely populated area"!
The name of the new 360-acre wildlife scheme was continuing to fluctuate – having recently been referred to as Knowsley Zoo and Prescot Safari Park.
The Liverpool Echo's progress report now dubbed it Lord Derby's Safari Park but whatever the moniker, the favourable weather of the past few months was helping to keep work to schedule.
A spokesman for Lord Derby said barring any unforeseen circumstance, the park would open as planned on July 1st.
"Progress is going very well on all the buildings in the Safari Park," he added. "The restaurant is nearly completed and work is almost finished on the road system."
Although Lord Derby was stumping up the cash and the land, the venture was a partnership with Jimmy Chipperfield of the famous circus family, who had been in charge of developing wild animal schemes at Woburn Abbey and Longleat.
The spokesman added: "At the moment, many of the animals which will be brought to the park are being kept in Mr. Chipperfield's quarantine centre.
"The work on the park should finish by the end of May and the animals will be brought to Knowsley shortly afterwards."
Also on the 13th it was reported that St Helens police were searching for a "nippy thief" who over the weekend had stolen £180 from the Tesco supermarket in Bridge Street.
The cash in £5 and £1 notes had disappeared in a two-minute period between 1.45pm and 1.47pm from an open safe on the public side of the checkouts.
Police were appealing to shoppers who may have seen the thief stealing the money to come forward. Just why the safe was left open for two minutes was not explained.
Coffey Haulage Contractors had also suffered thefts from several of their lorries while parked on an allotment site off Tickle Avenue.
The swag included a gent's gold watch, worth £50, that had the initials "J. C." on the back and the name Joseph Coffey inside the back plate.
The Crewe Chronicle on the 15th featured a full-page ad devoted to Green Shield Stamps showing a timeline of their massive expansion since first being introduced in 1958.
It was stated that in 1967 a 3¾ million cubic ft warehouse had been opened in Newton-le-Willows to service all the Green Shield gift shops in the North.
I believe that was on the new Deacon Trading Estate off Earle Street, which had previously housed railway workshops.
The Echo described this week how a number of St Helens girls had performed well in the dancing sections of two festivals.
In the Bromborough Festival (these days called the Wirral Festival of Music, Speech & Drama), Susan Jones had won first prize in all three of her entered classes despite a hitch halfway through one performance.
The ten-year-old was described as "dancing a tarantella in a colourful orange, green and white Italian costume in the National Solo (9 - 11 years) class, when the cross-straps attached to her dancing pumps became undone. The music stopped to allow Susan a chance to put matters right, and she then carried on like a veteran trouper."
Hazel Prescott and Linda Brown took first and second place in the Tap dance solo for 11 - 14 years and other successful girls included Amanda Birchall, Kate Prescott, Michelle Kilgannon, Susan Seddon, Elizabeth Hill and Patricia Gregson.
Five-year-old Patricia also did well in the Liverpool Festival of Dancing at St George's Hall, winning the Acrefield Trophy for the baby gaining the highest mark. Sharon Charnock also did well.
The Runcorn Weekly News published this ad on the 15th:
"WALK TALL in a new home at St. Helens, Clock Face Rd. Where ‘ND Homes’ can fix you up NOW with a new property for occupation from October to February, ’72 from £200 deposit and weekly optional repayments of from £7/10/0 (£7.50)”.
Two months after decimalisation, ND Homes still felt the need to put shillings and pence first.
In The Stage newspaper on the same day there was this notice published:
"I ALAN LAW intend to apply to the St. Helens County Council for a licence to carry on an Employment Agency for all persons in the entertainment industry at 60 Hardshaw Street, St. Helens, Lancs, such Agency to be known as Stylemaster Theatrical Agency.
"ALL OBJECTIONS and the grounds therefore, must be submitted in writing to the Town Clerk, St. Helens County Council, Town Hall, St. Helens, Lancs., within 14 days from the date of the publication of this advertisement."
On the 16th three men from Sutton were each sent to prison for between four and six months for inflicting grievous bodily on George Pearson.
The 29-year-old from Joseph Street suffered severe facial injuries in the attack in St Helens and a doctor told the court that Mr Pearson might have to lose one of his eyes in order to preserve the sight of the other.
The Echo reported on the 16th that special glass just a few thousandths of an inch thick made by subsidiary firms of Pilkingtons was going to be launched into space next year.
The new glass would cover the solar cells on satellites and boost their lifespan by providing increased protection from harmful radiation and what was described as micro-meteorites.
Six years of experiments by Pilkington scientists had paved the way for the space breakthrough.
The company's products were also protecting artefacts from the past.
Eighteen months earlier 10mm thick, armour-plated glass made at Cowley Hill had been placed on the sarcophagus of King Tutankhamun in Egypt.
Another Echo story on the 17th was that the new captain of Haydock Park Golf Club would be John Gibson of Victoria Road in Newton-le-Willows.
The Sunday People was conducting what they called a "crusade" against the inequality of maternity services throughout the country and on the 18th singled out Billinge as an example of both good and bad practice:
"A new multi-million pound maternity unit is just fine for patients. Each ward has only four beds and each has bathroom, lavatory, and television.
"But, ironically, it is so understaffed, it provides extra work and headaches for the staff. As Miss Phyllis Standish, principal midwifery officer for Wigan and Leigh, explained:
"“From a nurse's point of view, it's far easier to keep an eye on everyone in a large ward than in small wards.”
"No wonder the staffs sometimes get short tempered with their patients."
Also on the 18th there was yet another accident on the East Lancs, when two cars collided near Haydock traffic lights.
As a result a Liverpool family of four received treatment at Providence Hospital but were later discharged.
And finally the non-St Helens article in the Echo this week that made me smile went under the headline "Tiddlers On The Roof Stop A Town's Traffic":
"Four little boys hunting pigeons stopped the traffic in Warrington town centre last night.
"A landlady telephoned the police when she heard they were on the roof of her public house, they in turn eventually had to call the help of the fire brigade with a turntable ladder.
"But in the end the boys climbed down from the 50ft. high, three storey building by the same route they had taken to get up – via drainpipes.
"Their escapade ended with all four sitting huddled – and frightened for the first time – in the back of a police car.
"“They were given a strict talking to but there will be no further action,” said a police spokesman to-day.
"Mrs. Ethel Smith, landlady of the Packet House Hotel, at Bridge Foot, said the boys had been climbing on to the roof of her premises and adjoining buildings since last week.
"“Pigeons are let loose under nearby Warrington Bridge but they often fly on to the roofs of the buildings around here and the boys have recently started going after them,” she said.
"“Last Thursday a man ran into the pub and asked if I knew whether there were some little boys on the roof. I telephoned the police, but the lads must have seen them coming. They ran on to a nearby building, went through a loft and left through the front door.”
"Last night, at about 6.45, Mrs. Smith again learned that boys were on the roof. She telephoned the police who spent nearly an hour trying to talk the youngsters into climbing down.
"When they refused the police called the fire brigade and the fire officer went up on a turntable ladder.
"He found the boys hiding in a dip on the roof. “Are you afraid?” he asked. The boys shook their heads and tried to escape by climbing down the drainpipes at the rear of the building, but police were waiting.
"“It caused a real commotion,” said Mrs. Smith. “The lads must have been up on the roof for about two hours and crowds of people were standing in Bridge Street and Mersey Street watching. Traffic was stopped.”
"Mrs. Smith added: “Workmen who come to carry out repairs here are terrified of going on to the roof, yet these little beggars who are only about 10 years old, were running about like monkeys.”"
Next Week's stories will include the planned redundancies at UGB, the big Thatto Heath family reunion, St Helens' World Cup football referee is injured in a car crash and the 1971 census forms arrive in St Helens.
We begin on the 13th with the inquest into Moyra Dawe and Margaret Cheetham. Both women had been killed at a bus stop in Liverpool Road in Great Sankey when a double-decker mounted the pavement.
The Crosville bus was being driven from Warrington to Rainhill and the driver told the hearing that he had lost control when his nearside front wheel caught the kerb.
Also on the 13th was an update on the creation of Knowsley Safari Park – which the Guardian this week bizarrely claimed as designed to "lighten the darkness of a densely populated area"!
The name of the new 360-acre wildlife scheme was continuing to fluctuate – having recently been referred to as Knowsley Zoo and Prescot Safari Park.
The Liverpool Echo's progress report now dubbed it Lord Derby's Safari Park but whatever the moniker, the favourable weather of the past few months was helping to keep work to schedule.
A spokesman for Lord Derby said barring any unforeseen circumstance, the park would open as planned on July 1st.
"Progress is going very well on all the buildings in the Safari Park," he added. "The restaurant is nearly completed and work is almost finished on the road system."
Although Lord Derby was stumping up the cash and the land, the venture was a partnership with Jimmy Chipperfield of the famous circus family, who had been in charge of developing wild animal schemes at Woburn Abbey and Longleat.
The spokesman added: "At the moment, many of the animals which will be brought to the park are being kept in Mr. Chipperfield's quarantine centre.
"The work on the park should finish by the end of May and the animals will be brought to Knowsley shortly afterwards."
Also on the 13th it was reported that St Helens police were searching for a "nippy thief" who over the weekend had stolen £180 from the Tesco supermarket in Bridge Street.
The cash in £5 and £1 notes had disappeared in a two-minute period between 1.45pm and 1.47pm from an open safe on the public side of the checkouts.
Police were appealing to shoppers who may have seen the thief stealing the money to come forward. Just why the safe was left open for two minutes was not explained.
Coffey Haulage Contractors had also suffered thefts from several of their lorries while parked on an allotment site off Tickle Avenue.
The swag included a gent's gold watch, worth £50, that had the initials "J. C." on the back and the name Joseph Coffey inside the back plate.
It was stated that in 1967 a 3¾ million cubic ft warehouse had been opened in Newton-le-Willows to service all the Green Shield gift shops in the North.
I believe that was on the new Deacon Trading Estate off Earle Street, which had previously housed railway workshops.
The Echo described this week how a number of St Helens girls had performed well in the dancing sections of two festivals.
In the Bromborough Festival (these days called the Wirral Festival of Music, Speech & Drama), Susan Jones had won first prize in all three of her entered classes despite a hitch halfway through one performance.
The ten-year-old was described as "dancing a tarantella in a colourful orange, green and white Italian costume in the National Solo (9 - 11 years) class, when the cross-straps attached to her dancing pumps became undone. The music stopped to allow Susan a chance to put matters right, and she then carried on like a veteran trouper."
Hazel Prescott and Linda Brown took first and second place in the Tap dance solo for 11 - 14 years and other successful girls included Amanda Birchall, Kate Prescott, Michelle Kilgannon, Susan Seddon, Elizabeth Hill and Patricia Gregson.
Five-year-old Patricia also did well in the Liverpool Festival of Dancing at St George's Hall, winning the Acrefield Trophy for the baby gaining the highest mark. Sharon Charnock also did well.
The Runcorn Weekly News published this ad on the 15th:
"WALK TALL in a new home at St. Helens, Clock Face Rd. Where ‘ND Homes’ can fix you up NOW with a new property for occupation from October to February, ’72 from £200 deposit and weekly optional repayments of from £7/10/0 (£7.50)”.
Two months after decimalisation, ND Homes still felt the need to put shillings and pence first.
In The Stage newspaper on the same day there was this notice published:
"I ALAN LAW intend to apply to the St. Helens County Council for a licence to carry on an Employment Agency for all persons in the entertainment industry at 60 Hardshaw Street, St. Helens, Lancs, such Agency to be known as Stylemaster Theatrical Agency.
"ALL OBJECTIONS and the grounds therefore, must be submitted in writing to the Town Clerk, St. Helens County Council, Town Hall, St. Helens, Lancs., within 14 days from the date of the publication of this advertisement."
On the 16th three men from Sutton were each sent to prison for between four and six months for inflicting grievous bodily on George Pearson.
The 29-year-old from Joseph Street suffered severe facial injuries in the attack in St Helens and a doctor told the court that Mr Pearson might have to lose one of his eyes in order to preserve the sight of the other.
The Echo reported on the 16th that special glass just a few thousandths of an inch thick made by subsidiary firms of Pilkingtons was going to be launched into space next year.
The new glass would cover the solar cells on satellites and boost their lifespan by providing increased protection from harmful radiation and what was described as micro-meteorites.
Six years of experiments by Pilkington scientists had paved the way for the space breakthrough.
The company's products were also protecting artefacts from the past.
Eighteen months earlier 10mm thick, armour-plated glass made at Cowley Hill had been placed on the sarcophagus of King Tutankhamun in Egypt.
Another Echo story on the 17th was that the new captain of Haydock Park Golf Club would be John Gibson of Victoria Road in Newton-le-Willows.
The Sunday People was conducting what they called a "crusade" against the inequality of maternity services throughout the country and on the 18th singled out Billinge as an example of both good and bad practice:
"A new multi-million pound maternity unit is just fine for patients. Each ward has only four beds and each has bathroom, lavatory, and television.
"But, ironically, it is so understaffed, it provides extra work and headaches for the staff. As Miss Phyllis Standish, principal midwifery officer for Wigan and Leigh, explained:
"“From a nurse's point of view, it's far easier to keep an eye on everyone in a large ward than in small wards.”
"No wonder the staffs sometimes get short tempered with their patients."
Also on the 18th there was yet another accident on the East Lancs, when two cars collided near Haydock traffic lights.
As a result a Liverpool family of four received treatment at Providence Hospital but were later discharged.
And finally the non-St Helens article in the Echo this week that made me smile went under the headline "Tiddlers On The Roof Stop A Town's Traffic":
"Four little boys hunting pigeons stopped the traffic in Warrington town centre last night.
"A landlady telephoned the police when she heard they were on the roof of her public house, they in turn eventually had to call the help of the fire brigade with a turntable ladder.
"But in the end the boys climbed down from the 50ft. high, three storey building by the same route they had taken to get up – via drainpipes.
"Their escapade ended with all four sitting huddled – and frightened for the first time – in the back of a police car.
"“They were given a strict talking to but there will be no further action,” said a police spokesman to-day.
"Mrs. Ethel Smith, landlady of the Packet House Hotel, at Bridge Foot, said the boys had been climbing on to the roof of her premises and adjoining buildings since last week.
"“Pigeons are let loose under nearby Warrington Bridge but they often fly on to the roofs of the buildings around here and the boys have recently started going after them,” she said.
"“Last Thursday a man ran into the pub and asked if I knew whether there were some little boys on the roof. I telephoned the police, but the lads must have seen them coming. They ran on to a nearby building, went through a loft and left through the front door.”
"Last night, at about 6.45, Mrs. Smith again learned that boys were on the roof. She telephoned the police who spent nearly an hour trying to talk the youngsters into climbing down.
"When they refused the police called the fire brigade and the fire officer went up on a turntable ladder.
"He found the boys hiding in a dip on the roof. “Are you afraid?” he asked. The boys shook their heads and tried to escape by climbing down the drainpipes at the rear of the building, but police were waiting.
"“It caused a real commotion,” said Mrs. Smith. “The lads must have been up on the roof for about two hours and crowds of people were standing in Bridge Street and Mersey Street watching. Traffic was stopped.”
"Mrs. Smith added: “Workmen who come to carry out repairs here are terrified of going on to the roof, yet these little beggars who are only about 10 years old, were running about like monkeys.”"
Next Week's stories will include the planned redundancies at UGB, the big Thatto Heath family reunion, St Helens' World Cup football referee is injured in a car crash and the 1971 census forms arrive in St Helens.