FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (13th - 19th JANUARY 1970)
This week's stories include a raid on a Higher Parr Street post office, the flood of funerals in St Helens, the Reporter's new Spot Ball competition, two smash and grab raids, the Thatto Heath clinic riddled with air raid shelters and the "rocket gantry" towering over Sutton.
We begin with a brief piece in the 'Echoes & Gossip' column of the Liverpool Echo on the 13th about an overheard conservation in St Helens: "Two women were passing a butcher's shop and one remarked to the other: “I've never liked his meat. It always looks lifeless.”"
The Transport Department of St Helens Corporation had been short-staffed for quite some time and was presently 100 drivers and conductors under strength. At a Transport Committee meeting on the 13th Alex Barlow expressed fears that matters would worsen. That was because the Government planned to reduce the maximum number of driving hours within a 24-hour period to ten. This change was considered certain to lessen the amount of overtime being worked on the buses in St Helens. The town's Transport Manager told the committee: "We will be further restricted and it will affect pay packets. More drivers and conductors will leave. It will not help us at all."
Rockware announced on the 14th that its plant in Garston would be closing in the summer with the loss of 1,000 jobs. However some manufacture of glass for beer and wine bottles would be transferred to its St Helens' plant (shown above). That would likely lead to more workers being recruited to the Atlas Works site, although probably not for a couple of years.
Also on the 14th the St Helens Health Committee was told that a new clinic to be built in Thatto Heath was going to cost an extra £1,000. The chief architect Derek Billam said: "The site is absolutely riddled with air raid shelters. We just do not know what we are going to encounter. We may have to graft over them or dig beneath." Special foundations would have to be used and these would increase the cost of the clinic in Elephant Lane to £15,000.
Rainford Parish Church announced this week that it intended to revive the old village carnival, which had ended twenty years earlier. The event would not take place until August and a 20-strong organising committee had yet to finalise the attractions. However one certainty was the holding of a beauty queen contest, although it would only be open to local girls aged 16 to 18. The Carnival Queen would take part in a procession through the village and it was predicted that as many as 7,000 people could be drawn to the carnival. It was hoped that £1,000 would be raised for All Saints Church and Lord Derby had agreed to be the carnival's president.
"Fancy a new car, or a fur coat for your wife? Or how about a dream holiday in the sun for the whole family. Your dreams can soon become realities. Every single week – starting this week – you will have the chance to win yourself a small fortune." So began a piece on the front-page of the St Helens Reporter on the 16th promoting their new 'Spot - Ball' competition (presumably 'Spot The Ball' is / was a registered trade name), which had £5,000 as its top prize.
That's around £80,000 in today's money. Easy money for some. Alternatively you could rob a post office to get some cash without having to work for it. The Reporter described how a gang had broken into the post office in Higher Parr Street and blown a safe. The thieves made off with £16,000 in cash and Government stamps. Detectives were then based at Knowsley Hall and Number 3 Task Force was charged with investigating the robbery.
The Reporter also described how a flood of funerals had rushed local undertakers off their feet over the previous three weeks. This was through the dozens of extra deaths caused by the flu epidemic and the recent freezing weather. W. G. Dixon said they were treating the situation as an emergency, adding: "We are working all the hours God sends – and at the moment we could do with an eight-day week."
C. C. Oakham had a large advert in the Reporter. The Marshalls Cross Road garage was knocking a shilling off the cost of 3 gallons during the month of January. Helena House of Baldwin Street was advertising its 3-piece suites for 49½ guineas with full dividend paid and terms available. British American Typewriters was selling, well, typewriters, but targeting those having typing lessons that wanted to practice on a machine at home. The firm in Corporation Street said a typewriter would only cost "a few shillings weekly" on HP and added that they undertook repairs to all makes.
The Reporter had a regular column called 'Hobby Horse' in which they profiled individuals with unusual hobbies. This week it was the turn of Philip Holland of Windle Grove. The 19-year-old made puppets and elaborate stage costumes, wigs and costume jewellery. Along with his friend William Jaundrill of King Edward Road, Philip staged puppet shows for charity.
The paper also stated that the five-year-old Pilkington Glass Museum in Prescot Road had received 55,000 visitors in 1969. Curator Dan Hogan said: "Let people who like to see beautiful things in glass come here. We have some glass treasures and we are happy to let the public see them. We are expecting even more visitors this year."
A separate article described how water from the beautiful lake outside Pilks' head office in Prescot Road was piped into the main 12-storey tower block. Every hour 6,000 gallons were drawn off the lake – which was fed by the Alexandra Drive Reservoir – in order to heat and ventilate the offices where 1,500 people worked.
The Reporter also described how a 96-ft. high gantry-like structure that towered over Crone and Taylor's engineering yards in Sutton was causing much comment. With Apollo 11 still very much in people's minds, remarks were being made that it resembled a rocket gantry. It was in fact a £30,000 ship loader, which would be dismantled before being sent to Greece where the machine would be used in grain exports. The loader was one of several similar ones that the firm had sent abroad during the past twelve months, with two having been despatched to the West Indies.
The new Windle Labour Club was also profiled in the paper, having opened just five weeks earlier. The old club had been located in Cremona House since 1922 and the Reporter described the new version as "glittering like the proverbial new pin" and a "wood-panelled, foam-padded luxury club".
Ambulance driver Cyril Kerr was pictured in the paper. The 53-year-old from Cairo Street in Thatto Heath had taken a phone call from a man called John Lander. He had been driving his wife to a maternity hospital in Liverpool when she went into labour on the ice-bound East Lancs at Haydock. Mr Kerr described the husband as "panic-stricken" but he managed to calm Mr Lander down and within minutes his wife had given birth to a 7lb 7oz baby girl in the back seat of the car.
Tufty Clubs had been created in 1961 as a means of teaching road safety and named after an illustrated red squirrel called Tufty Fluffytail. The Reporter wrote that there were 70 "kiddies" in the Haydock club that met monthly and eight films had been booked for them to watch during 1970. Some were linked to road safety but others seemingly not. For example the two films that were to be screened in December were called 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' and 'Motor Mania'. Or perhaps Mary's lamb gets run down by a car!
During the evening of the 16th forty greyhounds raced on the 487-yard racetrack at Park Road with names such as: Gay Dog, Bunny Girl, Sputnik, Magpie, Candy Floss, Wee Girl, El Cid and Totty.
A dance was held on the 17th in Peasley Cross Congregational Church with the music provided by the popular Poachers (pictured above). The country dance band from St Helens was led by Roy Hordley on fiddle and accordion. For around forty years the group played all over the North West at countless barn dances, ceilidhs etc.
From the 18th for seven days the ABC Savoy in Bridge Street began screening 'Funny Girl' starring Barbra Streisand. And on the following day the 'Killing of Sister George' started a week-long run at the Capitol.
Also on the 19th six days of performances of 'Aladdin' began at the Theatre Royal. On the same day fifty years earlier the same panto had been staged at the Hippodrome. However the 1970 version featured puppets, which cost adults five shillings and children 3/6 to see.
During the early ‘70s many shops in St Helens had still to invest in security grills and roller shutters to protect their windows from being smashed. So when thieves wanted to steal some watches from Watkinson's jewellers during the night of the 19th, all they had to do was lob a brick through the shop window. Three watches were taken from the Church Street store but in their haste to get away, the robbers dropped one of the watches outside. It was the second smash and grab in two days, as during the previous night, raiders had taken two tape recorders from Stuart and Dortman's shop in Bridge Street.
And finally members of St Helens Housing Committee were told on the 19th that many council tenants had not paid their rents over Christmas – choosing instead to spend the cash on having a good time. As a result the total amount of arrears had increased by £2,000 to over £9,000, which Councillor Tom Harvey described as a "tremendous amount of money to be owing".
Next week's stories will include the trainee engineer dolly girls at Pilks, the abusive phone calls over bin collections, the wall of silence in St Helens Road, the new industrial estate in Rainford and a dispute over the building of new homes on green space in Parr.
We begin with a brief piece in the 'Echoes & Gossip' column of the Liverpool Echo on the 13th about an overheard conservation in St Helens: "Two women were passing a butcher's shop and one remarked to the other: “I've never liked his meat. It always looks lifeless.”"
The Transport Department of St Helens Corporation had been short-staffed for quite some time and was presently 100 drivers and conductors under strength. At a Transport Committee meeting on the 13th Alex Barlow expressed fears that matters would worsen. That was because the Government planned to reduce the maximum number of driving hours within a 24-hour period to ten. This change was considered certain to lessen the amount of overtime being worked on the buses in St Helens. The town's Transport Manager told the committee: "We will be further restricted and it will affect pay packets. More drivers and conductors will leave. It will not help us at all."
Also on the 14th the St Helens Health Committee was told that a new clinic to be built in Thatto Heath was going to cost an extra £1,000. The chief architect Derek Billam said: "The site is absolutely riddled with air raid shelters. We just do not know what we are going to encounter. We may have to graft over them or dig beneath." Special foundations would have to be used and these would increase the cost of the clinic in Elephant Lane to £15,000.
Rainford Parish Church announced this week that it intended to revive the old village carnival, which had ended twenty years earlier. The event would not take place until August and a 20-strong organising committee had yet to finalise the attractions. However one certainty was the holding of a beauty queen contest, although it would only be open to local girls aged 16 to 18. The Carnival Queen would take part in a procession through the village and it was predicted that as many as 7,000 people could be drawn to the carnival. It was hoped that £1,000 would be raised for All Saints Church and Lord Derby had agreed to be the carnival's president.
"Fancy a new car, or a fur coat for your wife? Or how about a dream holiday in the sun for the whole family. Your dreams can soon become realities. Every single week – starting this week – you will have the chance to win yourself a small fortune." So began a piece on the front-page of the St Helens Reporter on the 16th promoting their new 'Spot - Ball' competition (presumably 'Spot The Ball' is / was a registered trade name), which had £5,000 as its top prize.
That's around £80,000 in today's money. Easy money for some. Alternatively you could rob a post office to get some cash without having to work for it. The Reporter described how a gang had broken into the post office in Higher Parr Street and blown a safe. The thieves made off with £16,000 in cash and Government stamps. Detectives were then based at Knowsley Hall and Number 3 Task Force was charged with investigating the robbery.
The Reporter also described how a flood of funerals had rushed local undertakers off their feet over the previous three weeks. This was through the dozens of extra deaths caused by the flu epidemic and the recent freezing weather. W. G. Dixon said they were treating the situation as an emergency, adding: "We are working all the hours God sends – and at the moment we could do with an eight-day week."
C. C. Oakham had a large advert in the Reporter. The Marshalls Cross Road garage was knocking a shilling off the cost of 3 gallons during the month of January. Helena House of Baldwin Street was advertising its 3-piece suites for 49½ guineas with full dividend paid and terms available. British American Typewriters was selling, well, typewriters, but targeting those having typing lessons that wanted to practice on a machine at home. The firm in Corporation Street said a typewriter would only cost "a few shillings weekly" on HP and added that they undertook repairs to all makes.
The Reporter had a regular column called 'Hobby Horse' in which they profiled individuals with unusual hobbies. This week it was the turn of Philip Holland of Windle Grove. The 19-year-old made puppets and elaborate stage costumes, wigs and costume jewellery. Along with his friend William Jaundrill of King Edward Road, Philip staged puppet shows for charity.
The paper also stated that the five-year-old Pilkington Glass Museum in Prescot Road had received 55,000 visitors in 1969. Curator Dan Hogan said: "Let people who like to see beautiful things in glass come here. We have some glass treasures and we are happy to let the public see them. We are expecting even more visitors this year."
A separate article described how water from the beautiful lake outside Pilks' head office in Prescot Road was piped into the main 12-storey tower block. Every hour 6,000 gallons were drawn off the lake – which was fed by the Alexandra Drive Reservoir – in order to heat and ventilate the offices where 1,500 people worked.
The Reporter also described how a 96-ft. high gantry-like structure that towered over Crone and Taylor's engineering yards in Sutton was causing much comment. With Apollo 11 still very much in people's minds, remarks were being made that it resembled a rocket gantry. It was in fact a £30,000 ship loader, which would be dismantled before being sent to Greece where the machine would be used in grain exports. The loader was one of several similar ones that the firm had sent abroad during the past twelve months, with two having been despatched to the West Indies.
The new Windle Labour Club was also profiled in the paper, having opened just five weeks earlier. The old club had been located in Cremona House since 1922 and the Reporter described the new version as "glittering like the proverbial new pin" and a "wood-panelled, foam-padded luxury club".
Ambulance driver Cyril Kerr was pictured in the paper. The 53-year-old from Cairo Street in Thatto Heath had taken a phone call from a man called John Lander. He had been driving his wife to a maternity hospital in Liverpool when she went into labour on the ice-bound East Lancs at Haydock. Mr Kerr described the husband as "panic-stricken" but he managed to calm Mr Lander down and within minutes his wife had given birth to a 7lb 7oz baby girl in the back seat of the car.
Tufty Clubs had been created in 1961 as a means of teaching road safety and named after an illustrated red squirrel called Tufty Fluffytail. The Reporter wrote that there were 70 "kiddies" in the Haydock club that met monthly and eight films had been booked for them to watch during 1970. Some were linked to road safety but others seemingly not. For example the two films that were to be screened in December were called 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' and 'Motor Mania'. Or perhaps Mary's lamb gets run down by a car!
During the evening of the 16th forty greyhounds raced on the 487-yard racetrack at Park Road with names such as: Gay Dog, Bunny Girl, Sputnik, Magpie, Candy Floss, Wee Girl, El Cid and Totty.
From the 18th for seven days the ABC Savoy in Bridge Street began screening 'Funny Girl' starring Barbra Streisand. And on the following day the 'Killing of Sister George' started a week-long run at the Capitol.
Also on the 19th six days of performances of 'Aladdin' began at the Theatre Royal. On the same day fifty years earlier the same panto had been staged at the Hippodrome. However the 1970 version featured puppets, which cost adults five shillings and children 3/6 to see.
During the early ‘70s many shops in St Helens had still to invest in security grills and roller shutters to protect their windows from being smashed. So when thieves wanted to steal some watches from Watkinson's jewellers during the night of the 19th, all they had to do was lob a brick through the shop window. Three watches were taken from the Church Street store but in their haste to get away, the robbers dropped one of the watches outside. It was the second smash and grab in two days, as during the previous night, raiders had taken two tape recorders from Stuart and Dortman's shop in Bridge Street.
And finally members of St Helens Housing Committee were told on the 19th that many council tenants had not paid their rents over Christmas – choosing instead to spend the cash on having a good time. As a result the total amount of arrears had increased by £2,000 to over £9,000, which Councillor Tom Harvey described as a "tremendous amount of money to be owing".
Next week's stories will include the trainee engineer dolly girls at Pilks, the abusive phone calls over bin collections, the wall of silence in St Helens Road, the new industrial estate in Rainford and a dispute over the building of new homes on green space in Parr.
This week's stories include a raid on a Higher Parr Street post office, the flood of funerals in St Helens, the Reporter's new Spot Ball competition, two smash and grab raids, the Thatto Heath clinic riddled with air raid shelters and the "rocket gantry" towering over Sutton.
We begin with a brief piece in the 'Echoes & Gossip' column of the Liverpool Echo on the 13th about an overheard conservation in St Helens:
"Two women were passing a butcher's shop and one remarked to the other: “I've never liked his meat. It always looks lifeless.”"
The Transport Department of St Helens Corporation had been short-staffed for quite some time and was presently 100 drivers and conductors under strength.
At a Transport Committee meeting on the 13th Alex Barlow expressed fears that matters would worsen.
That was because the Government planned to reduce the maximum number of driving hours within a 24-hour period to ten, which was expected to adversely affect overtime in St Helens.
The Transport Manager told the committee: "We will be further restricted and it will affect pay packets. More drivers and conductors will leave. It will not help us at all."
Rockware announced on the 14th that its plant in Garston would be closing in the summer with the loss of 1,000 jobs.
However some manufacture of glass for beer and wine bottles would be transferred to its St Helens' plant (shown above).
That would likely lead to more workers being recruited to the Atlas Works site, although probably not for a couple of years.
Also on the 14th the St Helens Health Committee was told that a new clinic to be built in Thatto Heath was going to cost an extra £1,000.
The chief architect Derek Billam said: "The site is absolutely riddled with air raid shelters. We just do not know what we are going to encounter. We may have to graft over them or dig beneath."
Special foundations would have to be used and these would increase the cost of the clinic in Elephant Lane to £15,000.
Rainford Parish Church announced this week that it intended to revive the old village carnival, which had ended twenty years earlier.
The event would not take place until August and a 20-strong organising committee had yet to finalise the attractions.
However one certainty was the holding of a beauty queen contest, although it would only be open to local girls aged 16 to 18.
The Carnival Queen would take part in a procession through the village and it was predicted that as many as 7,000 people could be drawn to the carnival.
It was hoped that £1,000 would be raised for All Saints Church and Lord Derby had agreed to be the carnival's president.
"Fancy a new car, or a fur coat for your wife? Or how about a dream holiday in the sun for the whole family. Your dreams can soon become realities. Every single week – starting this week – you will have the chance to win yourself a small fortune."
So began a piece on the front-page of the St Helens Reporter on the 16th promoting their new 'Spot - Ball' competition (presumably 'Spot The Ball' is / was a registered trade name), which had £5,000 as its top prize.
That's around £80,000 in today's money. Easy money for some. Alternatively you could rob a post office to get some cash without having to work for it.
The Reporter described how a gang had broken into the post office in Higher Parr Street and blown a safe.
The thieves made off with £16,000 in cash and Government stamps. Detectives were then based at Knowsley Hall and Number 3 Task Force was charged with investigating the robbery.
The Reporter also described how a flood of funerals had rushed local undertakers off their feet over the previous three weeks.
This was through the dozens of extra deaths caused by the flu epidemic and the recent freezing weather.
W. G. Dixon said they were treating the situation as an emergency, adding: "We are working all the hours God sends – and at the moment we could do with an eight-day week."
C. C. Oakham had a large advert in the Reporter. The Marshalls Cross Road garage was knocking a shilling off the cost of 3 gallons during the month of January.
Helena House of Baldwin Street was advertising its 3-piece suites for 49½ guineas with full dividend paid and terms available.
British American Typewriters was selling, well, typewriters, but targeting those having typing lessons that wanted to practice on a machine at home.
The firm in Corporation Street said a typewriter would only cost "a few shillings weekly" on HP and added that they undertook repairs to all makes.
The Reporter had a regular column called 'Hobby Horse' in which they profiled individuals with unusual hobbies. This week it was the turn of Philip Holland of Windle Grove.
The 19-year-old made puppets and elaborate stage costumes, wigs and costume jewellery. Along with his friend William Jaundrill of King Edward Road, Philip staged puppet shows for charity.
The paper also stated that the five-year-old Pilkington Glass Museum in Prescot Road had received 55,000 visitors in 1969.
Curator Dan Hogan said: "Let people who like to see beautiful things in glass come here. We have some glass treasures and we are happy to let the public see them. We are expecting even more visitors this year."
A separate article described how water from the beautiful lake outside Pilks' head office in Prescot Road was piped into the main 12-storey tower block.
Every hour 6,000 gallons were drawn off the lake – which was fed by the Alexandra Drive Reservoir – in order to heat and ventilate the offices where 1,500 people worked.
The Reporter also described how a 96-ft. high gantry-like structure that towered over Crone and Taylor's engineering yards in Sutton was causing much comment.
With Apollo 11 still very much in people's minds, remarks were being made that it resembled a rocket gantry.
It was in fact a £30,000 ship loader, which would be dismantled before being sent to Greece where the machine would be used in grain exports.
The loader was one of several similar ones that the firm had sent abroad during the past twelve months, with two having been despatched to the West Indies.
The new Windle Labour Club was also profiled in the paper, having opened just five weeks earlier.
The old club had been located in Cremona House since 1922 and the Reporter described the new version as "glittering like the proverbial new pin" and a "wood-panelled, foam-padded luxury club".
Ambulance driver Cyril Kerr was pictured in the paper. The 53-year-old from Cairo Street in Thatto Heath had taken a phone call from a man called John Lander.
He had been driving his wife to a maternity hospital in Liverpool when she went into labour on the ice-bound East Lancs at Haydock.
Mr Kerr described the husband as "panic-stricken" but he managed to calm Mr Lander down and within minutes his wife had given birth to a 7lb 7oz baby girl in the back seat of the car.
Tufty Clubs had been created in 1961 as a means of teaching road safety and named after an illustrated red squirrel called Tufty Fluffytail.
The Reporter wrote that there were 70 "kiddies" in the Haydock club that met monthly and eight films had been booked for them to watch during 1970. Some were linked to road safety but others seemingly not.
For example the two films that were to be screened in December were called 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' and 'Motor Mania'. Or perhaps Mary's lamb gets run down by a car!
During the evening of the 16th forty greyhounds raced on the 487-yard racetrack at Park Road with names such as: Gay Dog, Bunny Girl, Sputnik, Magpie, Candy Floss, Wee Girl, El Cid and Totty.
A dance was held on the 17th in Peasley Cross Congregational Church with the music provided by the popular Poachers (pictured above).
The country dance band from St Helens was led by Roy Hordley on fiddle and accordion.
For around forty years the group played all over the North West at countless barn dances, ceilidhs etc.
From the 18th for seven days the ABC Savoy in Bridge Street began screening 'Funny Girl' starring Barbra Streisand.
And on the following day the 'Killing of Sister George' started a week-long run at the Capitol.
Also on the 19th six days of performances of 'Aladdin' began at the Theatre Royal.
On the same day fifty years earlier the same panto had been staged at the Hippodrome.
However the 1970 version featured puppets, which cost adults five shillings and children 3/6 to see.
During the early ‘70s many shops in St Helens had still to invest in security grills and roller shutters to protect their windows from being smashed.
So when thieves wanted to steal some watches from Watkinson's jewellers during the night of the 19th, all they had to do was lob a brick through the shop window.
Three watches were taken from the Church Street store but in their haste to get away, the robbers dropped one of the watches outside.
It was the second smash and grab in two days, as during the previous night, raiders had taken two tape recorders from Stuart and Dortman's shop in Bridge Street.
And finally members of St Helens Housing Committee were told on the 19th that many council tenants had not paid their rents over Christmas – choosing instead to spend the cash on having a good time.
As a result the total amount of arrears had increased by £2,000 to over £9,000, which Councillor Tom Harvey described as a "tremendous amount of money to be owing".
Next week's stories will include the trainee engineer dolly girls at Pilks, the abusive phone calls over bin collections, the wall of silence in St Helens Road, the new industrial estate in Rainford and a dispute over the building of new homes on green space in Parr.
We begin with a brief piece in the 'Echoes & Gossip' column of the Liverpool Echo on the 13th about an overheard conservation in St Helens:
"Two women were passing a butcher's shop and one remarked to the other: “I've never liked his meat. It always looks lifeless.”"
The Transport Department of St Helens Corporation had been short-staffed for quite some time and was presently 100 drivers and conductors under strength.
At a Transport Committee meeting on the 13th Alex Barlow expressed fears that matters would worsen.
That was because the Government planned to reduce the maximum number of driving hours within a 24-hour period to ten, which was expected to adversely affect overtime in St Helens.
The Transport Manager told the committee: "We will be further restricted and it will affect pay packets. More drivers and conductors will leave. It will not help us at all."
However some manufacture of glass for beer and wine bottles would be transferred to its St Helens' plant (shown above).
That would likely lead to more workers being recruited to the Atlas Works site, although probably not for a couple of years.
Also on the 14th the St Helens Health Committee was told that a new clinic to be built in Thatto Heath was going to cost an extra £1,000.
The chief architect Derek Billam said: "The site is absolutely riddled with air raid shelters. We just do not know what we are going to encounter. We may have to graft over them or dig beneath."
Special foundations would have to be used and these would increase the cost of the clinic in Elephant Lane to £15,000.
Rainford Parish Church announced this week that it intended to revive the old village carnival, which had ended twenty years earlier.
The event would not take place until August and a 20-strong organising committee had yet to finalise the attractions.
However one certainty was the holding of a beauty queen contest, although it would only be open to local girls aged 16 to 18.
The Carnival Queen would take part in a procession through the village and it was predicted that as many as 7,000 people could be drawn to the carnival.
It was hoped that £1,000 would be raised for All Saints Church and Lord Derby had agreed to be the carnival's president.
"Fancy a new car, or a fur coat for your wife? Or how about a dream holiday in the sun for the whole family. Your dreams can soon become realities. Every single week – starting this week – you will have the chance to win yourself a small fortune."
So began a piece on the front-page of the St Helens Reporter on the 16th promoting their new 'Spot - Ball' competition (presumably 'Spot The Ball' is / was a registered trade name), which had £5,000 as its top prize.
That's around £80,000 in today's money. Easy money for some. Alternatively you could rob a post office to get some cash without having to work for it.
The Reporter described how a gang had broken into the post office in Higher Parr Street and blown a safe.
The thieves made off with £16,000 in cash and Government stamps. Detectives were then based at Knowsley Hall and Number 3 Task Force was charged with investigating the robbery.
The Reporter also described how a flood of funerals had rushed local undertakers off their feet over the previous three weeks.
This was through the dozens of extra deaths caused by the flu epidemic and the recent freezing weather.
W. G. Dixon said they were treating the situation as an emergency, adding: "We are working all the hours God sends – and at the moment we could do with an eight-day week."
C. C. Oakham had a large advert in the Reporter. The Marshalls Cross Road garage was knocking a shilling off the cost of 3 gallons during the month of January.
Helena House of Baldwin Street was advertising its 3-piece suites for 49½ guineas with full dividend paid and terms available.
British American Typewriters was selling, well, typewriters, but targeting those having typing lessons that wanted to practice on a machine at home.
The firm in Corporation Street said a typewriter would only cost "a few shillings weekly" on HP and added that they undertook repairs to all makes.
The Reporter had a regular column called 'Hobby Horse' in which they profiled individuals with unusual hobbies. This week it was the turn of Philip Holland of Windle Grove.
The 19-year-old made puppets and elaborate stage costumes, wigs and costume jewellery. Along with his friend William Jaundrill of King Edward Road, Philip staged puppet shows for charity.
The paper also stated that the five-year-old Pilkington Glass Museum in Prescot Road had received 55,000 visitors in 1969.
Curator Dan Hogan said: "Let people who like to see beautiful things in glass come here. We have some glass treasures and we are happy to let the public see them. We are expecting even more visitors this year."
A separate article described how water from the beautiful lake outside Pilks' head office in Prescot Road was piped into the main 12-storey tower block.
Every hour 6,000 gallons were drawn off the lake – which was fed by the Alexandra Drive Reservoir – in order to heat and ventilate the offices where 1,500 people worked.
The Reporter also described how a 96-ft. high gantry-like structure that towered over Crone and Taylor's engineering yards in Sutton was causing much comment.
With Apollo 11 still very much in people's minds, remarks were being made that it resembled a rocket gantry.
It was in fact a £30,000 ship loader, which would be dismantled before being sent to Greece where the machine would be used in grain exports.
The loader was one of several similar ones that the firm had sent abroad during the past twelve months, with two having been despatched to the West Indies.
The new Windle Labour Club was also profiled in the paper, having opened just five weeks earlier.
The old club had been located in Cremona House since 1922 and the Reporter described the new version as "glittering like the proverbial new pin" and a "wood-panelled, foam-padded luxury club".
Ambulance driver Cyril Kerr was pictured in the paper. The 53-year-old from Cairo Street in Thatto Heath had taken a phone call from a man called John Lander.
He had been driving his wife to a maternity hospital in Liverpool when she went into labour on the ice-bound East Lancs at Haydock.
Mr Kerr described the husband as "panic-stricken" but he managed to calm Mr Lander down and within minutes his wife had given birth to a 7lb 7oz baby girl in the back seat of the car.
Tufty Clubs had been created in 1961 as a means of teaching road safety and named after an illustrated red squirrel called Tufty Fluffytail.
The Reporter wrote that there were 70 "kiddies" in the Haydock club that met monthly and eight films had been booked for them to watch during 1970. Some were linked to road safety but others seemingly not.
For example the two films that were to be screened in December were called 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' and 'Motor Mania'. Or perhaps Mary's lamb gets run down by a car!
During the evening of the 16th forty greyhounds raced on the 487-yard racetrack at Park Road with names such as: Gay Dog, Bunny Girl, Sputnik, Magpie, Candy Floss, Wee Girl, El Cid and Totty.
The country dance band from St Helens was led by Roy Hordley on fiddle and accordion.
For around forty years the group played all over the North West at countless barn dances, ceilidhs etc.
From the 18th for seven days the ABC Savoy in Bridge Street began screening 'Funny Girl' starring Barbra Streisand.
And on the following day the 'Killing of Sister George' started a week-long run at the Capitol.
Also on the 19th six days of performances of 'Aladdin' began at the Theatre Royal.
On the same day fifty years earlier the same panto had been staged at the Hippodrome.
However the 1970 version featured puppets, which cost adults five shillings and children 3/6 to see.
During the early ‘70s many shops in St Helens had still to invest in security grills and roller shutters to protect their windows from being smashed.
So when thieves wanted to steal some watches from Watkinson's jewellers during the night of the 19th, all they had to do was lob a brick through the shop window.
Three watches were taken from the Church Street store but in their haste to get away, the robbers dropped one of the watches outside.
It was the second smash and grab in two days, as during the previous night, raiders had taken two tape recorders from Stuart and Dortman's shop in Bridge Street.
And finally members of St Helens Housing Committee were told on the 19th that many council tenants had not paid their rents over Christmas – choosing instead to spend the cash on having a good time.
As a result the total amount of arrears had increased by £2,000 to over £9,000, which Councillor Tom Harvey described as a "tremendous amount of money to be owing".
Next week's stories will include the trainee engineer dolly girls at Pilks, the abusive phone calls over bin collections, the wall of silence in St Helens Road, the new industrial estate in Rainford and a dispute over the building of new homes on green space in Parr.