FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (12th - 18th SEPTEMBER 1972)
This week's stories include the closure of a longstanding haulier, the militant mothers take their campaign against Leathers Chemicals to the town's MP, the "death crossing" at Rainford Junction, St Helens psychedelic gasometers and the Gower Street family left with no loo because of striking council workers.
This week it was announced that Fred Davies Haulage of St Helens was closing down with 60 workers set to lose their jobs. The family firm had begun in Abbey Road in St Helens just after the end of WW1 before relocating to Station Road in Sutton in 1954. Ten years ago the haulier had been taken over by a Blackpool company and it blamed increased costs for its closure.
William Barrow of Devon Street had worked for Fred Davies Haulage for almost 40 years and lamented the shut down: "It is very sad to see the firm go under after all these years but we could see it coming. There just has not been the work about. The closure means that I will go on the dole for the first time in my life."
The building workers strike in St Helens was now in its sixth week – although it was not exclusive to construction men putting up new homes. Last week I mentioned how a demolition gang had been stopped from working and the dispute also affected council maintenance men.
The St Helens Reporter on the 15th described how the Dodd family of Gower Street (off Sutton Road) had been left with no loo because of striking council workers. Their back garden toilet had become blocked with its waste flowing into their garden and out into a back alley before eventually disappearing down a drain in Emlyn Street. Barry and Dorothy Dodd had seven children aged from 2 to 10 and having to use an outside toilet must have been a nuisance.
But now they had no functioning loo at all and for some weeks had been forced to use the toilet of a relative five houses away. Mrs Dodd also considered the problem a health hazard for their kids and those of their neighbours, telling the Reporter: "It's not only my children I worry about. Next door there are three young children and a three-week-old baby. In the house across the alley, there are six more children and a baby four weeks old. It's a danger to their health. The Housing Department say they can't do anything because their building workers are on strike."
On the 16th the militant mothers in Sutton that were taking on Leathers Chemicals held a meeting with Leslie Spriggs. Barbara Fairhurst of Hoghton Road and Mary Smith and Gladys Hartness, both of Massey Street, handed the St Helens MP a petition bearing 560 names. Also in attendance was Ken Griffiths, chairman of the Marshalls Cross and East Sutton Action Group.
Mr Spriggs was asked to hand the petition to Eldon Griffiths, the Minister for pollution at the Department of the Environment. The petition came with an ultimatum that if no government action against Leathers took place within a month, then the campaigners would take direct action. Attempts would be made to sabotage the company's production of sulphuric acid by stopping trucks entering or leaving their premises in Lancots Lane.
This week St Helens Councillor Bill Shepherd gave his support to the campaign to close the works but felt that nothing would happen unless the courts were involved: "I am right behind the women. But eventually they will have to resort to law and that means private injunctions." However, Ald. Harold Rimmer, chairman of the council's Planning and Development Committee, insisted they were doing everything they could to reduce the pollution problem and shutting down the plant came with a heavy catch:
"We could not close down Leathers without paying them heavy compensation. The townspeople would never agree. We have the power to close anything if we are prepared to pay. Leathers are doing all they can to reduce pollution. Nevertheless, we don't just accept it – our men are down there every week."
Alan Whalley was in whimsical, tongue-in-cheek mood in this week's edition of 'Whalley's World' in the Reporter, writing: "From time to time, I may have given the mistaken impression that St. Helens' facelifting programmes are not fit for the dustbin – when, in fact, many of them are! Now, we can take heart from the breathtaking gasometer complex on the weary way to Sutton. Suddenly the gasholders have developed eye-appeal.
"A revolutionary scheme has led to their being painted an exquisite colour scheme of pink and pale grey. They stand like giant pieces of dumpy Blackpool rock, catching admiring glances from many a mile around. Full marks to St. Helens. This is the way to hit back at critics who claim that St. Helens is the bleakest, grimmest and dullest big town in the North. Our psychedelic gasometers are one in the eye for those nasty carpers."
The Reporter also described the dangerous railway line near the Springfield housing estate at Rainford Junction that locals dubbed "death crossing". Resident Christine Coy explained how her two-year-old son had wandered onto the unmanned crossing only a short time before a 70 mph express train had thundered through:
"Children are going on to the line every day and they are in great danger. I was just lucky to catch my son Peter a minute before an express went through. Who knows what could have happened. I dread to think. The crossing is not safe. It is made of wood and any child can open the gate. Only the other day a train driver stopped his train to clear children off the line."
The Reporter also described how at long last the chemical waste heaps off Jackson Street were going to be bulldozed – fifty years after the alkali industry had departed St Helens. The plan was for the 15 to 20 acres of land to be landscaped and used as public open space and possibly host a small industrial estate. But before the work could start, the council needed to buy an old quarry in the area to bury the waste, which was estimated as totalling just under a million cubic yards. The project was described as expensive but it was hoped that the Department of the Environment would provide a grant.
An extensive advert in the Reporter for the "Helena House Autumn Shopping Festival" in which many bonus "divis" were on offer contained this nugget of information: "If all the dividend stamps issued to customers by the St. Helens Industrial Co-operative Society during the year were released from a helicopter over the town centre, they would produce a “snowstorm” which would quickly carpet the area to a depth of several inches. Last year the Co-op issued 100 million dividend stamps to customers and another 25,000,000 have been ordered for the next 13 weeks."
There was also an advertising feature commemorating the 40th anniversary of Lowe House Boxing Club that had been founded by Fr. Robert Finnemore. Advertisers wishing the club all the best included Bill and Rita Connor of the Travellers Rest in Crab Street; Pat and Jack of the Prince of Wales in Ormskirk Street; John and Margaret at the Clarendon Hotel of College Street; T. Ashcroft & Co of Haydock Street; Eric Bromilow ("radio, TV & electrical") of Church Street, Park Road and Baldwin Street and P. A. White of North Road who described themselves as "surgical and toilet preparations & photographic requisites".
The new Marshalls Cross telephone exchange became operational two months ago with 1,900 local subscribers transferred over and allocated new numbers. The exchange in Chester Lane had been created as part of plans to alleviate the lengthy waiting list for telephones in St Helens. However, the Liverpool Echo described on the 16th how that was going to take some time to complete. Their 'Helping Hand' column said they had recently received a letter from a St. Helens reader complaining about the delay in getting a telephone. The man wrote:
"My wife suffers from acute nervous attacks and as I am on permanent night work I cannot ring her up to make sure that she and the children are all right. Her parents live in Belfast, which is no help to her condition. I obtained a doctors' note to say we needed a telephone, but this didn't help our case. Can you please tell me if there is anything else I can do to have a telephone installed as soon as possible?"
The answer essentially was "No". After speaking to the Post Office, the Echo concluded that it was unlikely that their reader would have his telephone put into his home before the end of the year, adding: "At all events, they're working flat out to reduce this enormous waiting list as quickly as they can."
And finally a St Helens "what's on" guide. Folk singer Julie Felix performed at the Theatre Royal on the 17th and on the same evening the Capitol began a four-day double-header. The cinema on the corner of North Road and Duke Street began screenings of 'Burke and Hare' starring Derren Nesbitt, along with Clint Eastwood in 'For A Few Dollars More'. Meanwhile, the ABC Savoy in Bridge Street started a week's showing of 'Fritz The Cat', the X-rated, animated black comedy.
Next week's stories will include the pedestrianisation of Church Street, why the name Alma Street in Peasley Cross could cost 150 jobs, plans to receive expelled Ugandan Asians and new facilities are planned for Rainford's young people.
This week it was announced that Fred Davies Haulage of St Helens was closing down with 60 workers set to lose their jobs. The family firm had begun in Abbey Road in St Helens just after the end of WW1 before relocating to Station Road in Sutton in 1954. Ten years ago the haulier had been taken over by a Blackpool company and it blamed increased costs for its closure.
William Barrow of Devon Street had worked for Fred Davies Haulage for almost 40 years and lamented the shut down: "It is very sad to see the firm go under after all these years but we could see it coming. There just has not been the work about. The closure means that I will go on the dole for the first time in my life."
The building workers strike in St Helens was now in its sixth week – although it was not exclusive to construction men putting up new homes. Last week I mentioned how a demolition gang had been stopped from working and the dispute also affected council maintenance men.
The St Helens Reporter on the 15th described how the Dodd family of Gower Street (off Sutton Road) had been left with no loo because of striking council workers. Their back garden toilet had become blocked with its waste flowing into their garden and out into a back alley before eventually disappearing down a drain in Emlyn Street. Barry and Dorothy Dodd had seven children aged from 2 to 10 and having to use an outside toilet must have been a nuisance.
But now they had no functioning loo at all and for some weeks had been forced to use the toilet of a relative five houses away. Mrs Dodd also considered the problem a health hazard for their kids and those of their neighbours, telling the Reporter: "It's not only my children I worry about. Next door there are three young children and a three-week-old baby. In the house across the alley, there are six more children and a baby four weeks old. It's a danger to their health. The Housing Department say they can't do anything because their building workers are on strike."
On the 16th the militant mothers in Sutton that were taking on Leathers Chemicals held a meeting with Leslie Spriggs. Barbara Fairhurst of Hoghton Road and Mary Smith and Gladys Hartness, both of Massey Street, handed the St Helens MP a petition bearing 560 names. Also in attendance was Ken Griffiths, chairman of the Marshalls Cross and East Sutton Action Group.
Mr Spriggs was asked to hand the petition to Eldon Griffiths, the Minister for pollution at the Department of the Environment. The petition came with an ultimatum that if no government action against Leathers took place within a month, then the campaigners would take direct action. Attempts would be made to sabotage the company's production of sulphuric acid by stopping trucks entering or leaving their premises in Lancots Lane.
This week St Helens Councillor Bill Shepherd gave his support to the campaign to close the works but felt that nothing would happen unless the courts were involved: "I am right behind the women. But eventually they will have to resort to law and that means private injunctions." However, Ald. Harold Rimmer, chairman of the council's Planning and Development Committee, insisted they were doing everything they could to reduce the pollution problem and shutting down the plant came with a heavy catch:
"We could not close down Leathers without paying them heavy compensation. The townspeople would never agree. We have the power to close anything if we are prepared to pay. Leathers are doing all they can to reduce pollution. Nevertheless, we don't just accept it – our men are down there every week."
"A revolutionary scheme has led to their being painted an exquisite colour scheme of pink and pale grey. They stand like giant pieces of dumpy Blackpool rock, catching admiring glances from many a mile around. Full marks to St. Helens. This is the way to hit back at critics who claim that St. Helens is the bleakest, grimmest and dullest big town in the North. Our psychedelic gasometers are one in the eye for those nasty carpers."
The Reporter also described the dangerous railway line near the Springfield housing estate at Rainford Junction that locals dubbed "death crossing". Resident Christine Coy explained how her two-year-old son had wandered onto the unmanned crossing only a short time before a 70 mph express train had thundered through:
"Children are going on to the line every day and they are in great danger. I was just lucky to catch my son Peter a minute before an express went through. Who knows what could have happened. I dread to think. The crossing is not safe. It is made of wood and any child can open the gate. Only the other day a train driver stopped his train to clear children off the line."
The Reporter also described how at long last the chemical waste heaps off Jackson Street were going to be bulldozed – fifty years after the alkali industry had departed St Helens. The plan was for the 15 to 20 acres of land to be landscaped and used as public open space and possibly host a small industrial estate. But before the work could start, the council needed to buy an old quarry in the area to bury the waste, which was estimated as totalling just under a million cubic yards. The project was described as expensive but it was hoped that the Department of the Environment would provide a grant.
An extensive advert in the Reporter for the "Helena House Autumn Shopping Festival" in which many bonus "divis" were on offer contained this nugget of information: "If all the dividend stamps issued to customers by the St. Helens Industrial Co-operative Society during the year were released from a helicopter over the town centre, they would produce a “snowstorm” which would quickly carpet the area to a depth of several inches. Last year the Co-op issued 100 million dividend stamps to customers and another 25,000,000 have been ordered for the next 13 weeks."
There was also an advertising feature commemorating the 40th anniversary of Lowe House Boxing Club that had been founded by Fr. Robert Finnemore. Advertisers wishing the club all the best included Bill and Rita Connor of the Travellers Rest in Crab Street; Pat and Jack of the Prince of Wales in Ormskirk Street; John and Margaret at the Clarendon Hotel of College Street; T. Ashcroft & Co of Haydock Street; Eric Bromilow ("radio, TV & electrical") of Church Street, Park Road and Baldwin Street and P. A. White of North Road who described themselves as "surgical and toilet preparations & photographic requisites".
The new Marshalls Cross telephone exchange became operational two months ago with 1,900 local subscribers transferred over and allocated new numbers. The exchange in Chester Lane had been created as part of plans to alleviate the lengthy waiting list for telephones in St Helens. However, the Liverpool Echo described on the 16th how that was going to take some time to complete. Their 'Helping Hand' column said they had recently received a letter from a St. Helens reader complaining about the delay in getting a telephone. The man wrote:
"My wife suffers from acute nervous attacks and as I am on permanent night work I cannot ring her up to make sure that she and the children are all right. Her parents live in Belfast, which is no help to her condition. I obtained a doctors' note to say we needed a telephone, but this didn't help our case. Can you please tell me if there is anything else I can do to have a telephone installed as soon as possible?"
The answer essentially was "No". After speaking to the Post Office, the Echo concluded that it was unlikely that their reader would have his telephone put into his home before the end of the year, adding: "At all events, they're working flat out to reduce this enormous waiting list as quickly as they can."
And finally a St Helens "what's on" guide. Folk singer Julie Felix performed at the Theatre Royal on the 17th and on the same evening the Capitol began a four-day double-header. The cinema on the corner of North Road and Duke Street began screenings of 'Burke and Hare' starring Derren Nesbitt, along with Clint Eastwood in 'For A Few Dollars More'. Meanwhile, the ABC Savoy in Bridge Street started a week's showing of 'Fritz The Cat', the X-rated, animated black comedy.
Next week's stories will include the pedestrianisation of Church Street, why the name Alma Street in Peasley Cross could cost 150 jobs, plans to receive expelled Ugandan Asians and new facilities are planned for Rainford's young people.
This week's stories include the closure of a longstanding haulier, the militant mothers take their campaign against Leathers Chemicals to the town's MP, the "death crossing" at Rainford Junction, St Helens psychedelic gasometers and the Gower Street family left with no loo because of striking council workers.
This week it was announced that Fred Davies Haulage of St Helens was closing down with 60 workers set to lose their jobs.
The family firm had begun in Abbey Road in St Helens just after the end of WW1 before relocating to Station Road in Sutton in 1954.
Ten years ago the haulier had been taken over by a Blackpool company and it blamed increased costs for its closure.
William Barrow of Devon Street had worked for Fred Davies Haulage for almost 40 years and lamented the shut down:
"It is very sad to see the firm go under after all these years but we could see it coming. There just has not been the work about. The closure means that I will go on the dole for the first time in my life."
The building workers strike in St Helens was now in its sixth week – although it was not exclusive to construction men putting up new homes.
Last week I mentioned how a demolition gang had been stopped from working and the dispute also affected council maintenance men.
The St Helens Reporter on the 15th described how the Dodd family of Gower Street (off Sutton Road) had been left with no loo because of striking council workers.
Their back garden toilet had become blocked with its waste flowing into their garden and out into a back alley before eventually disappearing down a drain in Emlyn Street.
Barry and Dorothy Dodd had seven children aged from 2 to 10 and having to use an outside toilet must have been a nuisance.
But now they had no functioning loo at all and for some weeks had been forced to use the toilet of a relative five houses away.
Mrs Dodd also considered the problem a health hazard for their kids and those of their neighbours, telling the Reporter:
"It's not only my children I worry about. Next door there are three young children and a three-week-old baby. In the house across the alley, there are six more children and a baby four weeks old. It's a danger to their health. The Housing Department say they can't do anything because their building workers are on strike."
On the 16th the militant mothers in Sutton that were taking on Leathers Chemicals held a meeting with Leslie Spriggs.
Barbara Fairhurst of Hoghton Road and Mary Smith and Gladys Hartness, both of Massey Street, handed the St Helens MP a petition bearing 560 names.
Also in attendance was Ken Griffiths, chairman of the Marshalls Cross and East Sutton Action Group.
Mr Spriggs was asked to hand the petition to Eldon Griffiths, the Minister for pollution at the Department of the Environment.
The petition came with an ultimatum that if no government action against Leathers took place within a month, then the campaigners would take direct action.
Attempts would be made to sabotage the company's production of sulphuric acid by stopping trucks entering or leaving their premises in Lancots Lane.
This week St Helens Councillor Bill Shepherd gave his support to the campaign to close the works but felt that nothing would happen unless the courts were involved:
"I am right behind the women. But eventually they will have to resort to law and that means private injunctions."
However, Ald. Harold Rimmer, chairman of the council's Planning and Development Committee, insisted they were doing everything they could to reduce the pollution problem and shutting down the plant came with a heavy catch:
"We could not close down Leathers without paying them heavy compensation. The townspeople would never agree. We have the power to close anything if we are prepared to pay. Leathers are doing all they can to reduce pollution. Nevertheless, we don't just accept it – our men are down there every week."
Alan Whalley was in whimsical, tongue-in-cheek mood in this week's edition of 'Whalley's World' in the Reporter, writing:
"From time to time, I may have given the mistaken impression that St. Helens' facelifting programmes are not fit for the dustbin – when, in fact, many of them are!
"Now, we can take heart from the breathtaking gasometer complex on the weary way to Sutton. Suddenly the gasholders have developed eye-appeal.
"A revolutionary scheme has led to their being painted an exquisite colour scheme of pink and pale grey. They stand like giant pieces of dumpy Blackpool rock, catching admiring glances from many a mile around.
"Full marks to St. Helens. This is the way to hit back at critics who claim that St. Helens is the bleakest, grimmest and dullest big town in the North. Our psychedelic gasometers are one in the eye for those nasty carpers."
The Reporter also described the dangerous railway line near the Springfield housing estate at Rainford Junction that locals dubbed "death crossing".
Resident Christine Coy explained how her two-year-old son had wandered onto the unmanned crossing only a short time before a 70 mph express train had thundered through:
"Children are going on to the line every day and they are in great danger. I was just lucky to catch my son Peter a minute before an express went through. Who knows what could have happened. I dread to think.
"The crossing is not safe. It is made of wood and any child can open the gate. Only the other day a train driver stopped his train to clear children off the line."
The Reporter also described how at long last the chemical waste heaps off Jackson Street were going to be bulldozed – fifty years after the alkali industry had departed St Helens.
The plan was for the 15 to 20 acres of land to be landscaped and used as public open space and possibly host a small industrial estate.
But before the work could start, the council needed to buy an old quarry in the area to bury the waste, which was estimated as totalling just under a million cubic yards.
The project was described as expensive but it was hoped that the Department of the Environment would provide a grant.
An extensive advert in the Reporter for the "Helena House Autumn Shopping Festival" in which many bonus "divis" were on offer contained this nugget of information:
"If all the dividend stamps issued to customers by the St. Helens Industrial Co-operative Society during the year were released from a helicopter over the town centre, they would produce a “snowstorm” which would quickly carpet the area to a depth of several inches. Last year the Co-op issued 100 million dividend stamps to customers and another 25,000,000 have been ordered for the next 13 weeks."
There was also an advertising feature commemorating the 40th anniversary of Lowe House Boxing Club that had been founded by Fr. Robert Finnemore.
Advertisers wishing the club all the best included Bill and Rita Connor of the Travellers Rest in Crab Street; Pat and Jack of the Prince of Wales in Ormskirk Street; John and Margaret at the Clarendon Hotel of College Street; T. Ashcroft & Co of Haydock Street; Eric Bromilow ("radio, TV & electrical") of Church Street, Park Road and Baldwin Street and P. A. White of North Road who described themselves as "surgical and toilet preparations & photographic requisites".
The new Marshalls Cross telephone exchange became operational two months ago with 1,900 local subscribers transferred over and allocated new numbers.
The exchange in Chester Lane had been created as part of plans to alleviate the lengthy waiting list for telephones in St Helens.
However, the Liverpool Echo described on the 16th how that was going to take some time to complete.
Their 'Helping Hand' column said they had recently received a letter from a St. Helens reader complaining about the delay in getting a telephone. The man wrote:
"My wife suffers from acute nervous attacks and as I am on permanent night work I cannot ring her up to make sure that she and the children are all right. Her parents live in Belfast, which is no help to her condition. I obtained a doctors' note to say we needed a telephone, but this didn't help our case. Can you please tell me if there is anything else I can do to have a telephone installed as soon as possible?"
The answer essentially was "No". After speaking to the Post Office, the Echo concluded that it was unlikely that their reader would have his telephone put into his home before the end of the year, adding:
"At all events, they're working flat out to reduce this enormous waiting list as quickly as they can."
And finally a St Helens "what's on" guide. Folk singer Julie Felix performed at the Theatre Royal on the 17th and on the same evening the Capitol began a four-day double-header.
The cinema on the corner of North Road and Duke Street began screenings of 'Burke and Hare' starring Derren Nesbitt, along with Clint Eastwood in 'For A Few Dollars More'.
Meanwhile, the ABC Savoy in Bridge Street started a week's showing of 'Fritz The Cat', the X-rated, animated black comedy.
Next week's stories will include the pedestrianisation of Church Street, why the name Alma Street in Peasley Cross could cost 150 jobs, plans to receive expelled Ugandan Asians and new facilities are planned for Rainford's young people.
This week it was announced that Fred Davies Haulage of St Helens was closing down with 60 workers set to lose their jobs.
The family firm had begun in Abbey Road in St Helens just after the end of WW1 before relocating to Station Road in Sutton in 1954.
Ten years ago the haulier had been taken over by a Blackpool company and it blamed increased costs for its closure.
William Barrow of Devon Street had worked for Fred Davies Haulage for almost 40 years and lamented the shut down:
"It is very sad to see the firm go under after all these years but we could see it coming. There just has not been the work about. The closure means that I will go on the dole for the first time in my life."
The building workers strike in St Helens was now in its sixth week – although it was not exclusive to construction men putting up new homes.
Last week I mentioned how a demolition gang had been stopped from working and the dispute also affected council maintenance men.
The St Helens Reporter on the 15th described how the Dodd family of Gower Street (off Sutton Road) had been left with no loo because of striking council workers.
Their back garden toilet had become blocked with its waste flowing into their garden and out into a back alley before eventually disappearing down a drain in Emlyn Street.
Barry and Dorothy Dodd had seven children aged from 2 to 10 and having to use an outside toilet must have been a nuisance.
But now they had no functioning loo at all and for some weeks had been forced to use the toilet of a relative five houses away.
Mrs Dodd also considered the problem a health hazard for their kids and those of their neighbours, telling the Reporter:
"It's not only my children I worry about. Next door there are three young children and a three-week-old baby. In the house across the alley, there are six more children and a baby four weeks old. It's a danger to their health. The Housing Department say they can't do anything because their building workers are on strike."
On the 16th the militant mothers in Sutton that were taking on Leathers Chemicals held a meeting with Leslie Spriggs.
Barbara Fairhurst of Hoghton Road and Mary Smith and Gladys Hartness, both of Massey Street, handed the St Helens MP a petition bearing 560 names.
Also in attendance was Ken Griffiths, chairman of the Marshalls Cross and East Sutton Action Group.
Mr Spriggs was asked to hand the petition to Eldon Griffiths, the Minister for pollution at the Department of the Environment.
The petition came with an ultimatum that if no government action against Leathers took place within a month, then the campaigners would take direct action.
Attempts would be made to sabotage the company's production of sulphuric acid by stopping trucks entering or leaving their premises in Lancots Lane.
This week St Helens Councillor Bill Shepherd gave his support to the campaign to close the works but felt that nothing would happen unless the courts were involved:
"I am right behind the women. But eventually they will have to resort to law and that means private injunctions."
However, Ald. Harold Rimmer, chairman of the council's Planning and Development Committee, insisted they were doing everything they could to reduce the pollution problem and shutting down the plant came with a heavy catch:
"We could not close down Leathers without paying them heavy compensation. The townspeople would never agree. We have the power to close anything if we are prepared to pay. Leathers are doing all they can to reduce pollution. Nevertheless, we don't just accept it – our men are down there every week."
"From time to time, I may have given the mistaken impression that St. Helens' facelifting programmes are not fit for the dustbin – when, in fact, many of them are!
"Now, we can take heart from the breathtaking gasometer complex on the weary way to Sutton. Suddenly the gasholders have developed eye-appeal.
"A revolutionary scheme has led to their being painted an exquisite colour scheme of pink and pale grey. They stand like giant pieces of dumpy Blackpool rock, catching admiring glances from many a mile around.
"Full marks to St. Helens. This is the way to hit back at critics who claim that St. Helens is the bleakest, grimmest and dullest big town in the North. Our psychedelic gasometers are one in the eye for those nasty carpers."
The Reporter also described the dangerous railway line near the Springfield housing estate at Rainford Junction that locals dubbed "death crossing".
Resident Christine Coy explained how her two-year-old son had wandered onto the unmanned crossing only a short time before a 70 mph express train had thundered through:
"Children are going on to the line every day and they are in great danger. I was just lucky to catch my son Peter a minute before an express went through. Who knows what could have happened. I dread to think.
"The crossing is not safe. It is made of wood and any child can open the gate. Only the other day a train driver stopped his train to clear children off the line."
The Reporter also described how at long last the chemical waste heaps off Jackson Street were going to be bulldozed – fifty years after the alkali industry had departed St Helens.
The plan was for the 15 to 20 acres of land to be landscaped and used as public open space and possibly host a small industrial estate.
But before the work could start, the council needed to buy an old quarry in the area to bury the waste, which was estimated as totalling just under a million cubic yards.
The project was described as expensive but it was hoped that the Department of the Environment would provide a grant.
An extensive advert in the Reporter for the "Helena House Autumn Shopping Festival" in which many bonus "divis" were on offer contained this nugget of information:
"If all the dividend stamps issued to customers by the St. Helens Industrial Co-operative Society during the year were released from a helicopter over the town centre, they would produce a “snowstorm” which would quickly carpet the area to a depth of several inches. Last year the Co-op issued 100 million dividend stamps to customers and another 25,000,000 have been ordered for the next 13 weeks."
There was also an advertising feature commemorating the 40th anniversary of Lowe House Boxing Club that had been founded by Fr. Robert Finnemore.
Advertisers wishing the club all the best included Bill and Rita Connor of the Travellers Rest in Crab Street; Pat and Jack of the Prince of Wales in Ormskirk Street; John and Margaret at the Clarendon Hotel of College Street; T. Ashcroft & Co of Haydock Street; Eric Bromilow ("radio, TV & electrical") of Church Street, Park Road and Baldwin Street and P. A. White of North Road who described themselves as "surgical and toilet preparations & photographic requisites".
The new Marshalls Cross telephone exchange became operational two months ago with 1,900 local subscribers transferred over and allocated new numbers.
The exchange in Chester Lane had been created as part of plans to alleviate the lengthy waiting list for telephones in St Helens.
However, the Liverpool Echo described on the 16th how that was going to take some time to complete.
Their 'Helping Hand' column said they had recently received a letter from a St. Helens reader complaining about the delay in getting a telephone. The man wrote:
"My wife suffers from acute nervous attacks and as I am on permanent night work I cannot ring her up to make sure that she and the children are all right. Her parents live in Belfast, which is no help to her condition. I obtained a doctors' note to say we needed a telephone, but this didn't help our case. Can you please tell me if there is anything else I can do to have a telephone installed as soon as possible?"
The answer essentially was "No". After speaking to the Post Office, the Echo concluded that it was unlikely that their reader would have his telephone put into his home before the end of the year, adding:
"At all events, they're working flat out to reduce this enormous waiting list as quickly as they can."
And finally a St Helens "what's on" guide. Folk singer Julie Felix performed at the Theatre Royal on the 17th and on the same evening the Capitol began a four-day double-header.
The cinema on the corner of North Road and Duke Street began screenings of 'Burke and Hare' starring Derren Nesbitt, along with Clint Eastwood in 'For A Few Dollars More'.
Meanwhile, the ABC Savoy in Bridge Street started a week's showing of 'Fritz The Cat', the X-rated, animated black comedy.
Next week's stories will include the pedestrianisation of Church Street, why the name Alma Street in Peasley Cross could cost 150 jobs, plans to receive expelled Ugandan Asians and new facilities are planned for Rainford's young people.