FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (14th - 20th MARCH 1972)
This week's many stories include the pain-crazed dog that ran along the East Lancs with a trap on its leg, Parr is dubbed the dustbin of the town, a modernisation scheme for council homes is announced, a Green Shield Stamps advertising feature is in the Reporter, the bizarre questions asked of job applicants at Linpac Plastics in Reginald Road and the lucky lad that fell off a Sutton railway bridge.
We begin with a fire at the home of Thomas Atherton of Hammill Avenue in St Helens in which the 78-year-old suffered severe burns to his legs after his pyjamas caught fire. His 72-year-old sister Monica Atherton pulled the blazing pyjamas off her brother and burnt her hands. While Thomas was receiving treatment in the Burns Unit of Whiston Hospital and Monica was recovering with relatives, thieves broke into their home. Their house in Dentons Green was rummaged through and £2 was taken.
St Helens Housing Committee met at the Town Hall on the 13th and discussed plans to modernise 3,000 pre-war council homes. Officials would visit all the families concerned to find out what improvements they would like – although the installation of a bathroom and central heating would be the scheme's chief focus. While the upgrading was being carried out, tenants would be moved into alternative accommodation – but they faced increased rents upon their return. The first council estate to benefit from the modernisation would be at Haresfinch, with work undertaken on batches of twenty houses at a time.
During Saints match against Hull Kingston Rovers on the 14th, thirty nurses were shaking their collecting tins at supporters. The £161 that was raised went towards the creation of a post-graduate medical school at Whiston Hospital.
Throughout this week, Rainhill Amateur Operatic Society performed the musical 'Song of Norway' at the Theatre Royal in St Helens. The troupe's 21st anniversary show was centred on the life of Edward Greig and included the singing of Norway's National Anthem in the Norwegian language.
The St Helens Reporter on the 17th featured the story of a "pain-crazed" dog that had bolted over two miles with its paw caught in what was described as a "steel-jawed gin trap". The brown and black mongrel was finally freed when it was too exhausted to run on. Rush-hour motorists first spotted the dog near Windle Island. Many of them got out of their cars to help – but the dog dashed off along the East Lancs still with the trap biting into its leg. An hour later the exhausted animal came to a stop two miles away in Washway Lane and a lorry driver removed the trap from its paw.
The dog was then taken to St Albans Secondary School nearby by schoolgirls Sheila Molyneux of Rivington Avenue and Lynn Houghton from City Gardens. The animal finally ended up at RSPCA kennels and inspector Patrick Colgan told the Reporter: "The dog must have been in a lot of pain. These gin traps are now illegal, but people put them down to catch rabbits." However, the dog's problems were not over. If no one claimed it within seven days, it would be destroyed.
The Reporter also ran a lengthy article on Parr under the headline "We All Live in the Dustbin of The Town". Student teacher Graham Mercer had taken journalist Alan Whalley on a tour of the district and was offering his services to others too. "I am available most week-ends for guided tours," said Graham. "Applicants should be in good physical condition, be in possession of a valid life insurance policy and carry anti-gas respirators."
The 31-year-old from Price Grove added: "The way Parr is earmarked for all the unpleasant features of modern living is absolutely disgusting. At times I am thoroughly ashamed of living here." Graham was particularly upset by an acid waste tip ("an evil sight"); the stinking brook; the Cement City coal board housing estate ("ugly and depressing") and the sewage works. He added:
"This area of St. Helens is taken for granted. And many of the people have grown apathetic. They have got used over the years, to having refuse tips and sewage works dumped on their doorsteps." However, the Mayor of St. Helens, Cllr. Charles Martin, firmly denied that the heavily populated Parr district was purposely earmarked as the dumping ground of the borough.
The sit-in by 32 men at the former St Helens Plastics factory on the Reginald Road Industrial Estate was continuing and completed its second week. The workers had barricaded themselves into their machine room upon learning they were being sacked. The dismissals had occurred after the firm had been sold to Linpac Plastics – and they wanted all the workers to re-apply for their old jobs. That was seemingly so they could pick and choose who they rehired. Clues to the firm's thinking were in the application forms that had been sent to the men's homes, with some of the questions being highly personal.
They were asked to state if they had ever contracted VD, how much savings they had in the bank and how much alcohol they consumed on a daily basis. A spokesman said: "They have no right to ask such questions. They are an insult to us, and our wives." The men had come across a separate application form for office staff, which omitted the intrusive questions that they'd been asked. Their spokesman added: "Does it mean because you are on the shop floor, that you're more likely to drink and get VD?"
The 'Whalley's World' column in the Reporter featured a man with an unusual hobby. He was 61-year-old Norman Lightfoot, a St Helens man who had returned to the town after serving as a fire chief in Somerset. Mr Lightfoot now resided in Villiers Crescent in Eccleston and collected fire marks – metal identification plaques that were put on buildings by insurance companies during the 18th and 19th centuries.
In those days the companies ran private fire brigades and Norman said that if there was no insurance plaque on a blazing house, the firemen would pack up and go home! Once municipal fire brigades began, the private brigades died out but some old houses still bore their fire mark. Norman had collected 36, with the earliest issued in 1725 by the Sun Insurance Company.
Due to declining membership, the Reporter stated that the 60-year-old St Helens Military Band had changed its name to the St Helens Concert Band. Secretary Ron Feeney told the paper: "Many of our adult members had been in the band for a long time – and they had begun literally to die off. We felt that many youngsters were put off by the military title. They thought it involved square-bashing, marches and so on."
At its peak the band had forty members but it had dropped to twenty before fourteen children aged eleven and twelve had been recruited from the schools. "Any child taking brass music at school, who wants to join a band, is sent to us", added Mr Feeney.
An advertising feature on Green Shield Stamps was in the Reporter. The Green Shield Trading Stamp Company had been founded in Holloway in 1958 and now boasted over 80 gift houses and 4,000 staff. In 1967 a 3¾ million cubic ft. warehouse had opened in Newton-le-Willows to service all the Green Shield gift shops in the North. Advertisers in the feature included:
Cowley Service Station, Dentons Green Lane ("Self service petrol with quad Green Shield stamps"); Walter Hughes, Westfield Street ("For a new radio or TV"); Southworth Service Station, Southworth Road, Newton ("Quad stamps on petrol and service sales") and Reynolds, Warrington Road, Rainhill ("Food savings – double stamps on Mondays – Easter eggs galore").
Also: Rowlands Florist, Bold Hall Nurseries, Clock Face ("Established their flower shop in 1948 opposite the chemist"); L. McClymont, Market Street, Newton ("Paint and wallpaper supplies – we give Green Shield stamps") and Roberts Bros., Wigan Road, Ashton ("High class butchers – poultry for the Easter weekend").
On the 17th the Liverpool Echo wrote: "St. Helens singing star Holly Day will be appearing in the Val Doonican show with Dick Emery and “Mother of Mine” boy singer Neil Reid at the Empire Theatre on Sunday. Her pink dress for the evening has been made by Holly's mother, Mrs. Margaret Ashcroft, who is responsible for all her daughter's wardrobe. Holly, whose home is at Cowley Hill Lane, St. Helens is a former pupil of Cowley Girls Grammar School. She has made rapid strides in her singing career within a short time, having appeared at many leading night spots in the country and abroad including Turkey and Germany."
Then on the following day, the Echo wrote: "Extensions and alterations at Rainford Comprehensive Secondary School, costing more than £347,000, are expected to be completed this year. A two-storey extension has been added to the school's main building, comprising 13 classrooms, two dining rooms and a kitchen."
There was good news for Rockware Glass (pictured above) when they released their financial results for 1971 this week. The St Helens-based firm almost doubled their profits from the previous year to £1.77m.
And finally Steven Graves had an unfortunate accident during the weekend. The 16-year-old was returning to his home in Walkers Lane in Sutton Manor after a night out with a friend. Somehow, Steven fell off the railway bridge in New Street in Sutton and, for over an hour, lay helpless on the track with a broken leg and other injuries. Fortunately, it was so late at night that no trains were due and eventually he was heard crying for help by three men crossing the bridge. Steven's mother, Joyce Graves, said: "We are grateful to the three men who saved our son's life, but we don't know who they were."
Next week's stories will include the new public super-loos in St Helens, Alan Whalley dubs Beth Avenue houses "Downtown Morocco", the danger of crossing Elton Head Road and the terrified lady of Somerset Street that kids called Old Nanny Grunt.
We begin with a fire at the home of Thomas Atherton of Hammill Avenue in St Helens in which the 78-year-old suffered severe burns to his legs after his pyjamas caught fire. His 72-year-old sister Monica Atherton pulled the blazing pyjamas off her brother and burnt her hands. While Thomas was receiving treatment in the Burns Unit of Whiston Hospital and Monica was recovering with relatives, thieves broke into their home. Their house in Dentons Green was rummaged through and £2 was taken.
St Helens Housing Committee met at the Town Hall on the 13th and discussed plans to modernise 3,000 pre-war council homes. Officials would visit all the families concerned to find out what improvements they would like – although the installation of a bathroom and central heating would be the scheme's chief focus. While the upgrading was being carried out, tenants would be moved into alternative accommodation – but they faced increased rents upon their return. The first council estate to benefit from the modernisation would be at Haresfinch, with work undertaken on batches of twenty houses at a time.
During Saints match against Hull Kingston Rovers on the 14th, thirty nurses were shaking their collecting tins at supporters. The £161 that was raised went towards the creation of a post-graduate medical school at Whiston Hospital.
Throughout this week, Rainhill Amateur Operatic Society performed the musical 'Song of Norway' at the Theatre Royal in St Helens. The troupe's 21st anniversary show was centred on the life of Edward Greig and included the singing of Norway's National Anthem in the Norwegian language.
The St Helens Reporter on the 17th featured the story of a "pain-crazed" dog that had bolted over two miles with its paw caught in what was described as a "steel-jawed gin trap". The brown and black mongrel was finally freed when it was too exhausted to run on. Rush-hour motorists first spotted the dog near Windle Island. Many of them got out of their cars to help – but the dog dashed off along the East Lancs still with the trap biting into its leg. An hour later the exhausted animal came to a stop two miles away in Washway Lane and a lorry driver removed the trap from its paw.
The dog was then taken to St Albans Secondary School nearby by schoolgirls Sheila Molyneux of Rivington Avenue and Lynn Houghton from City Gardens. The animal finally ended up at RSPCA kennels and inspector Patrick Colgan told the Reporter: "The dog must have been in a lot of pain. These gin traps are now illegal, but people put them down to catch rabbits." However, the dog's problems were not over. If no one claimed it within seven days, it would be destroyed.
The Reporter also ran a lengthy article on Parr under the headline "We All Live in the Dustbin of The Town". Student teacher Graham Mercer had taken journalist Alan Whalley on a tour of the district and was offering his services to others too. "I am available most week-ends for guided tours," said Graham. "Applicants should be in good physical condition, be in possession of a valid life insurance policy and carry anti-gas respirators."
The 31-year-old from Price Grove added: "The way Parr is earmarked for all the unpleasant features of modern living is absolutely disgusting. At times I am thoroughly ashamed of living here." Graham was particularly upset by an acid waste tip ("an evil sight"); the stinking brook; the Cement City coal board housing estate ("ugly and depressing") and the sewage works. He added:
"This area of St. Helens is taken for granted. And many of the people have grown apathetic. They have got used over the years, to having refuse tips and sewage works dumped on their doorsteps." However, the Mayor of St. Helens, Cllr. Charles Martin, firmly denied that the heavily populated Parr district was purposely earmarked as the dumping ground of the borough.
The sit-in by 32 men at the former St Helens Plastics factory on the Reginald Road Industrial Estate was continuing and completed its second week. The workers had barricaded themselves into their machine room upon learning they were being sacked. The dismissals had occurred after the firm had been sold to Linpac Plastics – and they wanted all the workers to re-apply for their old jobs. That was seemingly so they could pick and choose who they rehired. Clues to the firm's thinking were in the application forms that had been sent to the men's homes, with some of the questions being highly personal.
They were asked to state if they had ever contracted VD, how much savings they had in the bank and how much alcohol they consumed on a daily basis. A spokesman said: "They have no right to ask such questions. They are an insult to us, and our wives." The men had come across a separate application form for office staff, which omitted the intrusive questions that they'd been asked. Their spokesman added: "Does it mean because you are on the shop floor, that you're more likely to drink and get VD?"
The 'Whalley's World' column in the Reporter featured a man with an unusual hobby. He was 61-year-old Norman Lightfoot, a St Helens man who had returned to the town after serving as a fire chief in Somerset. Mr Lightfoot now resided in Villiers Crescent in Eccleston and collected fire marks – metal identification plaques that were put on buildings by insurance companies during the 18th and 19th centuries.
In those days the companies ran private fire brigades and Norman said that if there was no insurance plaque on a blazing house, the firemen would pack up and go home! Once municipal fire brigades began, the private brigades died out but some old houses still bore their fire mark. Norman had collected 36, with the earliest issued in 1725 by the Sun Insurance Company.
Due to declining membership, the Reporter stated that the 60-year-old St Helens Military Band had changed its name to the St Helens Concert Band. Secretary Ron Feeney told the paper: "Many of our adult members had been in the band for a long time – and they had begun literally to die off. We felt that many youngsters were put off by the military title. They thought it involved square-bashing, marches and so on."
At its peak the band had forty members but it had dropped to twenty before fourteen children aged eleven and twelve had been recruited from the schools. "Any child taking brass music at school, who wants to join a band, is sent to us", added Mr Feeney.
Cowley Service Station, Dentons Green Lane ("Self service petrol with quad Green Shield stamps"); Walter Hughes, Westfield Street ("For a new radio or TV"); Southworth Service Station, Southworth Road, Newton ("Quad stamps on petrol and service sales") and Reynolds, Warrington Road, Rainhill ("Food savings – double stamps on Mondays – Easter eggs galore").
Also: Rowlands Florist, Bold Hall Nurseries, Clock Face ("Established their flower shop in 1948 opposite the chemist"); L. McClymont, Market Street, Newton ("Paint and wallpaper supplies – we give Green Shield stamps") and Roberts Bros., Wigan Road, Ashton ("High class butchers – poultry for the Easter weekend").
On the 17th the Liverpool Echo wrote: "St. Helens singing star Holly Day will be appearing in the Val Doonican show with Dick Emery and “Mother of Mine” boy singer Neil Reid at the Empire Theatre on Sunday. Her pink dress for the evening has been made by Holly's mother, Mrs. Margaret Ashcroft, who is responsible for all her daughter's wardrobe. Holly, whose home is at Cowley Hill Lane, St. Helens is a former pupil of Cowley Girls Grammar School. She has made rapid strides in her singing career within a short time, having appeared at many leading night spots in the country and abroad including Turkey and Germany."
Then on the following day, the Echo wrote: "Extensions and alterations at Rainford Comprehensive Secondary School, costing more than £347,000, are expected to be completed this year. A two-storey extension has been added to the school's main building, comprising 13 classrooms, two dining rooms and a kitchen."
And finally Steven Graves had an unfortunate accident during the weekend. The 16-year-old was returning to his home in Walkers Lane in Sutton Manor after a night out with a friend. Somehow, Steven fell off the railway bridge in New Street in Sutton and, for over an hour, lay helpless on the track with a broken leg and other injuries. Fortunately, it was so late at night that no trains were due and eventually he was heard crying for help by three men crossing the bridge. Steven's mother, Joyce Graves, said: "We are grateful to the three men who saved our son's life, but we don't know who they were."
Next week's stories will include the new public super-loos in St Helens, Alan Whalley dubs Beth Avenue houses "Downtown Morocco", the danger of crossing Elton Head Road and the terrified lady of Somerset Street that kids called Old Nanny Grunt.
This week's many stories include the pain-crazed dog that ran along the East Lancs with a trap on its leg, Parr is dubbed the dustbin of the town, a modernisation scheme for council homes is announced, a Green Shield Stamps advertising feature is in the Reporter, the bizarre questions asked of job applicants at Linpac Plastics in Reginald Road and the lucky lad that fell off a Sutton railway bridge.
We begin with a fire at the home of Thomas Atherton of Hammill Avenue in St Helens in which the 78-year-old suffered severe burns to his legs after his pyjamas caught fire.
His 72-year-old sister Monica Atherton pulled the blazing pyjamas off her brother and burnt her hands.
While Thomas was receiving treatment in the Burns Unit of Whiston Hospital and Monica was recovering with relatives, thieves broke into their home.
Their house in Dentons Green was rummaged through and £2 was taken.
St Helens Housing Committee met at the Town Hall on the 13th and discussed plans to modernise 3,000 pre-war council homes.
Officials would visit all the families concerned to find out what improvements they would like – although the installation of a bathroom and central heating would be the scheme's chief focus.
While the upgrading was being carried out, tenants would be moved into alternative accommodation – but they faced increased rents upon their return.
The first council estate to benefit from the modernisation would be at Haresfinch, with work undertaken on batches of twenty houses at a time.
During Saints match against Hull Kingston Rovers on the 14th, thirty nurses were shaking their collecting tins at supporters.
The £161 that was raised went towards the creation of a post-graduate medical school at Whiston Hospital.
Throughout this week, Rainhill Amateur Operatic Society performed the musical 'Song of Norway' at the Theatre Royal in St Helens.
The troupe's 21st anniversary show was centred on the life of Edward Greig and included the singing of Norway's National Anthem in the Norwegian language.
The St Helens Reporter on the 17th featured the story of a "pain-crazed" dog that had bolted over two miles with its paw caught in what was described as a "steel-jawed gin trap".
The brown and black mongrel was finally freed when it was too exhausted to run on.
Rush-hour motorists first spotted the dog near Windle Island. Many of them got out of their cars to help – but the dog dashed off along the East Lancs still with the trap biting into its leg.
An hour later the exhausted animal came to a stop two miles away in Washway Lane and a lorry driver removed the trap from its paw.
The dog was then taken to St Albans Secondary School nearby by schoolgirls Sheila Molyneux of Rivington Avenue and Lynn Houghton from City Gardens.
The animal finally ended up at RSPCA kennels and inspector Patrick Colgan told the Reporter:
"The dog must have been in a lot of pain. These gin traps are now illegal, but people put them down to catch rabbits."
However, the dog's problems were not over. If no one claimed it within seven days, it would be destroyed.
The Reporter also ran a lengthy article on Parr under the headline "We All Live in the Dustbin of The Town".
Student teacher Graham Mercer had taken journalist Alan Whalley on a tour of the district and was offering his services to others too.
"I am available most week-ends for guided tours," said Graham. "Applicants should be in good physical condition, be in possession of a valid life insurance policy and carry anti-gas respirators."
The 31-year-old from Price Grove added: "The way Parr is earmarked for all the unpleasant features of modern living is absolutely disgusting. At times I am thoroughly ashamed of living here."
Graham was particularly upset by an acid waste tip ("an evil sight"); the stinking brook; the Cement City coal board housing estate ("ugly and depressing") and the sewage works. He added:
"This area of St. Helens is taken for granted. And many of the people have grown apathetic. They have got used over the years, to having refuse tips and sewage works dumped on their doorsteps."
However, the Mayor of St. Helens, Cllr. Charles Martin, firmly denied that the heavily populated Parr district was purposely earmarked as the dumping ground of the borough.
The sit-in by 32 men at the former St Helens Plastics factory on the Reginald Road Industrial Estate was continuing and completed its second week.
The workers had barricaded themselves into their machine room upon learning they were being sacked.
The dismissals had occurred after the firm had been sold to Linpac Plastics – and they wanted all the workers to re-apply for their old jobs.
That was seemingly so they could pick and choose who they rehired.
Clues to the firm's thinking were in the application forms that had been sent to the men's homes, with some of the questions being highly personal.
The men were asked to state if they had ever contracted VD, how much savings they had in the bank and how much alcohol they consumed on a daily basis.
A spokesman said: "They have no right to ask such questions. They are an insult to us, and our wives."
The men had come across a separate application form for office staff, which omitted the intrusive questions that they'd been asked. Their spokesman added:
"Does it mean because you are on the shop floor, that you're more likely to drink and get VD?"
The 'Whalley's World' column in the Reporter featured a man with an unusual hobby. He was 61-year-old Norman Lightfoot, a St Helens man who had returned to the town after serving as a fire chief in Somerset.
Mr Lightfoot now resided in Villiers Crescent in Eccleston and collected fire marks – metal identification plaques that were put on buildings by insurance companies during the 18th and 19th centuries.
In those days the companies ran private fire brigades and Norman said that if there was no insurance plaque on a blazing house, the firemen would pack up and go home!
Once municipal fire brigades began, the private brigades died out but some old houses still bore their fire mark.
Norman had collected 36, with the earliest issued in 1725 by the Sun Insurance Company.
Due to declining membership, the Reporter stated that the 60-year-old St Helens Military Band had changed its name to the St Helens Concert Band. Secretary Ron Feeney told the paper:
"Many of our adult members had been in the band for a long time – and they had begun literally to die off. We felt that many youngsters were put off by the military title. They thought it involved square-bashing, marches and so on."
At its peak the band had forty members but it had dropped to twenty before fourteen children aged eleven and twelve had been recruited from the schools.
"Any child taking brass music at school, who wants to join a band, is sent to us", added Mr Feeney.
An advertising feature on Green Shield Stamps was in the Reporter. The Green Shield Trading Stamp Company had been founded in Holloway in 1958 and now boasted over 80 gift houses and 4,000 staff.
In 1967 a 3¾ million cubic ft. warehouse had opened in Newton-le-Willows to service all the Green Shield gift shops in the North. Advertisers in the feature included:
Cowley Service Station, Dentons Green Lane ("Self service petrol with quad Green Shield stamps"); Walter Hughes, Westfield Street ("For a new radio or TV"); Southworth Service Station, Southworth Road, Newton ("Quad stamps on petrol and service sales") and Reynolds, Warrington Road, Rainhill ("Food savings – double stamps on Mondays – Easter eggs galore").
Also: Rowlands Florist, Bold Hall Nurseries, Clock Face ("Established their flower shop in 1948 opposite the chemist"); L. McClymont, Market Street, Newton ("Paint and wallpaper supplies – we give Green Shield stamps") and Roberts Bros., Wigan Road, Ashton ("High class butchers – poultry for the Easter weekend").
On the 17th the Liverpool Echo wrote:
"St. Helens singing star Holly Day will be appearing in the Val Doonican show with Dick Emery and “Mother of Mine” boy singer Neil Reid at the Empire Theatre on Sunday.
"Her pink dress for the evening has been made by Holly's mother, Mrs. Margaret Ashcroft, who is responsible for all her daughter's wardrobe.
"Holly, whose home is at Cowley Hill Lane, St. Helens is a former pupil of Cowley Girls Grammar School.
"She has made rapid strides in her singing career within a short time, having appeared at many leading night spots in the country and abroad including Turkey and Germany."
Then on the following day, the Echo wrote: "Extensions and alterations at Rainford Comprehensive Secondary School, costing more than £347,000, are expected to be completed this year.
"A two-storey extension has been added to the school's main building, comprising 13 classrooms, two dining rooms and a kitchen."
There was good news for Rockware Glass (pictured above) when they released their financial results for 1971 this week. The St Helens-based firm almost doubled their profits from the previous year to £1.77m.
And finally Steven Graves had an unfortunate accident during the weekend. The 16-year-old was returning to his home in Walkers Lane in Sutton Manor after a night out with a friend.
Somehow, Steven fell off the railway bridge in New Street in Sutton and, for over an hour, lay helpless on the track with a broken leg and other injuries.
Fortunately, it was so late at night that no trains were due and eventually he was heard crying for help by three men crossing the bridge.
Steven's mother, Joyce Graves, said: "We are grateful to the three men who saved our son's life, but we don't know who they were."
St Helens Reporter articles courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the new public super-loos in St Helens, Alan Whalley dubs Beth Avenue houses "Downtown Morocco", the danger of crossing Elton Head Road and the terrified lady of Somerset Street that kids called Old Nanny Grunt.
We begin with a fire at the home of Thomas Atherton of Hammill Avenue in St Helens in which the 78-year-old suffered severe burns to his legs after his pyjamas caught fire.
His 72-year-old sister Monica Atherton pulled the blazing pyjamas off her brother and burnt her hands.
While Thomas was receiving treatment in the Burns Unit of Whiston Hospital and Monica was recovering with relatives, thieves broke into their home.
Their house in Dentons Green was rummaged through and £2 was taken.
St Helens Housing Committee met at the Town Hall on the 13th and discussed plans to modernise 3,000 pre-war council homes.
Officials would visit all the families concerned to find out what improvements they would like – although the installation of a bathroom and central heating would be the scheme's chief focus.
While the upgrading was being carried out, tenants would be moved into alternative accommodation – but they faced increased rents upon their return.
The first council estate to benefit from the modernisation would be at Haresfinch, with work undertaken on batches of twenty houses at a time.
During Saints match against Hull Kingston Rovers on the 14th, thirty nurses were shaking their collecting tins at supporters.
The £161 that was raised went towards the creation of a post-graduate medical school at Whiston Hospital.
Throughout this week, Rainhill Amateur Operatic Society performed the musical 'Song of Norway' at the Theatre Royal in St Helens.
The troupe's 21st anniversary show was centred on the life of Edward Greig and included the singing of Norway's National Anthem in the Norwegian language.
The St Helens Reporter on the 17th featured the story of a "pain-crazed" dog that had bolted over two miles with its paw caught in what was described as a "steel-jawed gin trap".
The brown and black mongrel was finally freed when it was too exhausted to run on.
Rush-hour motorists first spotted the dog near Windle Island. Many of them got out of their cars to help – but the dog dashed off along the East Lancs still with the trap biting into its leg.
An hour later the exhausted animal came to a stop two miles away in Washway Lane and a lorry driver removed the trap from its paw.
The dog was then taken to St Albans Secondary School nearby by schoolgirls Sheila Molyneux of Rivington Avenue and Lynn Houghton from City Gardens.
The animal finally ended up at RSPCA kennels and inspector Patrick Colgan told the Reporter:
"The dog must have been in a lot of pain. These gin traps are now illegal, but people put them down to catch rabbits."
However, the dog's problems were not over. If no one claimed it within seven days, it would be destroyed.
The Reporter also ran a lengthy article on Parr under the headline "We All Live in the Dustbin of The Town".
Student teacher Graham Mercer had taken journalist Alan Whalley on a tour of the district and was offering his services to others too.
"I am available most week-ends for guided tours," said Graham. "Applicants should be in good physical condition, be in possession of a valid life insurance policy and carry anti-gas respirators."
The 31-year-old from Price Grove added: "The way Parr is earmarked for all the unpleasant features of modern living is absolutely disgusting. At times I am thoroughly ashamed of living here."
Graham was particularly upset by an acid waste tip ("an evil sight"); the stinking brook; the Cement City coal board housing estate ("ugly and depressing") and the sewage works. He added:
"This area of St. Helens is taken for granted. And many of the people have grown apathetic. They have got used over the years, to having refuse tips and sewage works dumped on their doorsteps."
However, the Mayor of St. Helens, Cllr. Charles Martin, firmly denied that the heavily populated Parr district was purposely earmarked as the dumping ground of the borough.
The sit-in by 32 men at the former St Helens Plastics factory on the Reginald Road Industrial Estate was continuing and completed its second week.
The workers had barricaded themselves into their machine room upon learning they were being sacked.
The dismissals had occurred after the firm had been sold to Linpac Plastics – and they wanted all the workers to re-apply for their old jobs.
That was seemingly so they could pick and choose who they rehired.
Clues to the firm's thinking were in the application forms that had been sent to the men's homes, with some of the questions being highly personal.
The men were asked to state if they had ever contracted VD, how much savings they had in the bank and how much alcohol they consumed on a daily basis.
A spokesman said: "They have no right to ask such questions. They are an insult to us, and our wives."
The men had come across a separate application form for office staff, which omitted the intrusive questions that they'd been asked. Their spokesman added:
"Does it mean because you are on the shop floor, that you're more likely to drink and get VD?"
The 'Whalley's World' column in the Reporter featured a man with an unusual hobby. He was 61-year-old Norman Lightfoot, a St Helens man who had returned to the town after serving as a fire chief in Somerset.
Mr Lightfoot now resided in Villiers Crescent in Eccleston and collected fire marks – metal identification plaques that were put on buildings by insurance companies during the 18th and 19th centuries.
In those days the companies ran private fire brigades and Norman said that if there was no insurance plaque on a blazing house, the firemen would pack up and go home!
Once municipal fire brigades began, the private brigades died out but some old houses still bore their fire mark.
Norman had collected 36, with the earliest issued in 1725 by the Sun Insurance Company.
Due to declining membership, the Reporter stated that the 60-year-old St Helens Military Band had changed its name to the St Helens Concert Band. Secretary Ron Feeney told the paper:
"Many of our adult members had been in the band for a long time – and they had begun literally to die off. We felt that many youngsters were put off by the military title. They thought it involved square-bashing, marches and so on."
At its peak the band had forty members but it had dropped to twenty before fourteen children aged eleven and twelve had been recruited from the schools.
"Any child taking brass music at school, who wants to join a band, is sent to us", added Mr Feeney.
In 1967 a 3¾ million cubic ft. warehouse had opened in Newton-le-Willows to service all the Green Shield gift shops in the North. Advertisers in the feature included:
Cowley Service Station, Dentons Green Lane ("Self service petrol with quad Green Shield stamps"); Walter Hughes, Westfield Street ("For a new radio or TV"); Southworth Service Station, Southworth Road, Newton ("Quad stamps on petrol and service sales") and Reynolds, Warrington Road, Rainhill ("Food savings – double stamps on Mondays – Easter eggs galore").
Also: Rowlands Florist, Bold Hall Nurseries, Clock Face ("Established their flower shop in 1948 opposite the chemist"); L. McClymont, Market Street, Newton ("Paint and wallpaper supplies – we give Green Shield stamps") and Roberts Bros., Wigan Road, Ashton ("High class butchers – poultry for the Easter weekend").
On the 17th the Liverpool Echo wrote:
"St. Helens singing star Holly Day will be appearing in the Val Doonican show with Dick Emery and “Mother of Mine” boy singer Neil Reid at the Empire Theatre on Sunday.
"Her pink dress for the evening has been made by Holly's mother, Mrs. Margaret Ashcroft, who is responsible for all her daughter's wardrobe.
"Holly, whose home is at Cowley Hill Lane, St. Helens is a former pupil of Cowley Girls Grammar School.
"She has made rapid strides in her singing career within a short time, having appeared at many leading night spots in the country and abroad including Turkey and Germany."
Then on the following day, the Echo wrote: "Extensions and alterations at Rainford Comprehensive Secondary School, costing more than £347,000, are expected to be completed this year.
"A two-storey extension has been added to the school's main building, comprising 13 classrooms, two dining rooms and a kitchen."
And finally Steven Graves had an unfortunate accident during the weekend. The 16-year-old was returning to his home in Walkers Lane in Sutton Manor after a night out with a friend.
Somehow, Steven fell off the railway bridge in New Street in Sutton and, for over an hour, lay helpless on the track with a broken leg and other injuries.
Fortunately, it was so late at night that no trains were due and eventually he was heard crying for help by three men crossing the bridge.
Steven's mother, Joyce Graves, said: "We are grateful to the three men who saved our son's life, but we don't know who they were."
St Helens Reporter articles courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the new public super-loos in St Helens, Alan Whalley dubs Beth Avenue houses "Downtown Morocco", the danger of crossing Elton Head Road and the terrified lady of Somerset Street that kids called Old Nanny Grunt.