FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 14 - 20 APRIL 1975
This week's many stories include the choking mist that emanated from Leathers, the grim redundancy toll at Pilks worsens with more redundancies expected at Ravenhead, the elderly woman of Napier Street who woke up to find mice running round her bed, the golden wedding celebrations of a lovely couple from Rainhill, a report on Crank's new recreation centre and the St Helens councillors who were accused of living it up on the rates.
We begin on the 14th when singer Claudius Afolabi Siffre better known as Labi Siffre performed at the Theatre Royal. Probably his most famous song was "It Must Be Love", that Madness later covered.
Pilkington's had recently announced 1,300 job cuts in their glass plants in St Helens and nationwide. The country's economic crisis was continuing to affect Pilks and 300 more losses were now expected to be added to what the Reporter called the "grim redundancy toll". That was because on the 15th their Ravenhead Pressed Glass division announced that its workforce would have to be trimmed.
The factory made glass for colour TV tubes and their main customer, Thorn Electrical who made the actual tubes, had forecast they would be producing less within the next nine months. Thorn with its big plant in Skelmersdale was suffering from competition from cheap Japanese tubes. And the raising of VAT on TV sets to 25% in the recent Budget was also expected to hit sales.
During the boom period of colour TV sales in 1970 and 1971, Ravenhead had employed 1,350 workers on three production lines. But then early in 1974 they cut back production for black and white sets and then in October 1974 the firm announced 350 jobs would have to go. Once the second wave of redundancies took effect, only 650 to 750 employees would be left at the factory who would be working on a single production line.
A month ago St Helens Council had decided to shut down Leathers Chemicals in Lancots Lane and their decision was currently awaiting government approval. On the evening of the 16th at around 6:30pm, a choking mist emanated from the plant and sent two women running for cover. They had been cleaning at Gascoigne, Gush and Dent's factory and offices in Baxters Lane and one of the unnamed women said:
"We were inside when my friend saw what she thought was smoke. We rushed away thinking the place was on fire – I never gave Leathers a thought until we were outside in front of the office. Then I saw the back of the works was completely covered in a cloud, and once I got a whiff of it we dived back inside for cover."
East Sutton Councillor Jim Bond subsequently contacted St Helens' MP, Leslie Spriggs, asking him to make sure the Secretary of State for the Environment was aware of the incident when considering the confirmation of St Helens Council's closure order.
On Thursday 17th Silcocks pleasure fair began its annual visit to Queens Recreation Park. They stayed for a total of four days but missed out the Sunday, as holding a fair on the Sabbath was not yet allowed.
Another victim of the town centre redevelopment was profiled in the St Helens Reporter on the 18th. She was Eva Norton of Napier Street who had woken to find a family of mice running all over and inside her bed. "It was terrifying and I just froze with horror", explained Mrs Norton. "I called out and my son came down and frightened them away." The 76-year-old had a severe heart complaint and she later collapsed.
The mice was believed to have gnawed their way into the house from the surrounding slum clearance property that was waiting to be demolished. The general condition of Mrs Norton's own home was so bad that her doctor had written to St Helens Council asking them to urgently rehome her due to the damp and dry rot in the house. The council had offered Mrs Norton a two-bedroom flat in Gillars Green but she had declined it because of her poor health. Now, they said, she would have to wait until another suitable flat became available.
Hi-Fi is another of those terms that has pretty much died out but was very much in vogue during the ‘70s. Cobalt Hi-Fi of Ormskirk Street – who called themselves "High Fidelity Specialists" – had a large advert in the paper offering hi-fi amps, receivers and cassette decks from Yamaha, Technics, A. R. Trio, Hitachi, Pioneer etc.
Francoise, the new club in Waterloo Street in St Helens, also had an ad in which they promised "Lovely, Lovely Go-Go Girls" would be on stage. Admission on Mondays and Tuesdays was free with the price on other days of the week varying from 60p to £1.
The Reporter also stated that five judges led by Councillor Nellie Holley had chosen "delightful" Susan Jones to be this summer's Rainhill Rose Queen. The 10-year-old from Holt Lane would be crowned on June 21st. Apparently there used to be (and perhaps there still is) a Rainhill Corps of Drums. A snippet of news stated that Rainhill Parish Council had agreed to give the drummers a £50 grant.
The Reporter also described how a long-standing wholesale tobacco and confectionery firm had been sold to a Liverpool company. D. Swallow and Co had been situated in St Helens Road in Rainford for 80 years and its works would now close.
The paper also said that the day after Denis Healey's budget in which the Chancellor of the Exchequer had asked Britain to tighten its belts, St Helens councillors and officials had been "living it up on the rates again". The occasion in the Town Hall's banqueting suite had been to mark the handing over of the old civic chains belonging to Haydock and Newton which would now be put on display in St Helens Town Hall.
Len Scott, the leader of Rainford Ratepayers, said he was disgusted at what he called "excessive junketing" and added: "My reaction is one of fury. These people are bunging out rate demands with one hand and downing Scotch with the other. I know they will say the cost is trivial, but in these times – particularly the day after the Budget – you'd think they'd try to set an example."
The cost for 36 persons was £74 (about £1,000 in today's money) and the attendees had a choice of Scotch, gin, sherry or beer and later a buffet meal. Billinge and Rainford had refused to hand over their chains of office and so were not represented at the free do.
The Reporter also described the golden wedding celebrations of Harry and Gertrude Bibby of Ellaby Road in Rainhill. The couple had met in Church Street in St Helens and it had been love at first sight, as Harry explained: "We took one look at each other and we knew it was love and that's how it's been ever since!"
There was also a report on how a former WW1 barracks and HQ of the Crank Bowls team during the 1930s and ‘40s had become the village's new recreation centre. "It is filled with frenzied activity on most nights of the week by the two sections of the youth club, bingo nights and men's evenings," wrote the paper. The centre at the top of Crank Hill had been running for nearly three months and had an active committee.
"All members muck in when they have got the time," said trustee, Dr Graham Gillies, "and we have held coffee mornings and a jumble sale to raise some more cash for improvements. We have about £130 in the kitty now. It only seems a small amount but we are hoping to increase it with other fund-raising activities." The community centre also provided accommodation for the mothers and toddlers group, which had been forced out of Crank because they had nowhere to go and had to make what was described as an "awkward" journey into St Helens.
And finally, it was all change at the town's two cinemas from the 20th. At the ABC Savoy, 'That's Entertainment', MGM's 50th anniversary musicals retrospective, was replaced by 'Freebie and the Bean' starring James Caan and Alan Arkin. And the Capitol replaced 'Ransom', starring Sean Connery, with 'Dirty Mary – Crazy Larry', starring Peter Fonda and Susan George.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the panic buying to beat the hike in VAT, a worshipper's handbag is stolen from a church pew while kneeling at the altar, the graveyard desecration in Eccleston and the baby delivered by ambulancemen.
We begin on the 14th when singer Claudius Afolabi Siffre better known as Labi Siffre performed at the Theatre Royal. Probably his most famous song was "It Must Be Love", that Madness later covered.
Pilkington's had recently announced 1,300 job cuts in their glass plants in St Helens and nationwide. The country's economic crisis was continuing to affect Pilks and 300 more losses were now expected to be added to what the Reporter called the "grim redundancy toll". That was because on the 15th their Ravenhead Pressed Glass division announced that its workforce would have to be trimmed.
The factory made glass for colour TV tubes and their main customer, Thorn Electrical who made the actual tubes, had forecast they would be producing less within the next nine months. Thorn with its big plant in Skelmersdale was suffering from competition from cheap Japanese tubes. And the raising of VAT on TV sets to 25% in the recent Budget was also expected to hit sales.
During the boom period of colour TV sales in 1970 and 1971, Ravenhead had employed 1,350 workers on three production lines. But then early in 1974 they cut back production for black and white sets and then in October 1974 the firm announced 350 jobs would have to go. Once the second wave of redundancies took effect, only 650 to 750 employees would be left at the factory who would be working on a single production line.
A month ago St Helens Council had decided to shut down Leathers Chemicals in Lancots Lane and their decision was currently awaiting government approval. On the evening of the 16th at around 6:30pm, a choking mist emanated from the plant and sent two women running for cover. They had been cleaning at Gascoigne, Gush and Dent's factory and offices in Baxters Lane and one of the unnamed women said:
"We were inside when my friend saw what she thought was smoke. We rushed away thinking the place was on fire – I never gave Leathers a thought until we were outside in front of the office. Then I saw the back of the works was completely covered in a cloud, and once I got a whiff of it we dived back inside for cover."
East Sutton Councillor Jim Bond subsequently contacted St Helens' MP, Leslie Spriggs, asking him to make sure the Secretary of State for the Environment was aware of the incident when considering the confirmation of St Helens Council's closure order.
On Thursday 17th Silcocks pleasure fair began its annual visit to Queens Recreation Park. They stayed for a total of four days but missed out the Sunday, as holding a fair on the Sabbath was not yet allowed.
Another victim of the town centre redevelopment was profiled in the St Helens Reporter on the 18th. She was Eva Norton of Napier Street who had woken to find a family of mice running all over and inside her bed. "It was terrifying and I just froze with horror", explained Mrs Norton. "I called out and my son came down and frightened them away." The 76-year-old had a severe heart complaint and she later collapsed.
The mice was believed to have gnawed their way into the house from the surrounding slum clearance property that was waiting to be demolished. The general condition of Mrs Norton's own home was so bad that her doctor had written to St Helens Council asking them to urgently rehome her due to the damp and dry rot in the house. The council had offered Mrs Norton a two-bedroom flat in Gillars Green but she had declined it because of her poor health. Now, they said, she would have to wait until another suitable flat became available.
Hi-Fi is another of those terms that has pretty much died out but was very much in vogue during the ‘70s. Cobalt Hi-Fi of Ormskirk Street – who called themselves "High Fidelity Specialists" – had a large advert in the paper offering hi-fi amps, receivers and cassette decks from Yamaha, Technics, A. R. Trio, Hitachi, Pioneer etc.
Francoise, the new club in Waterloo Street in St Helens, also had an ad in which they promised "Lovely, Lovely Go-Go Girls" would be on stage. Admission on Mondays and Tuesdays was free with the price on other days of the week varying from 60p to £1.
The Reporter also stated that five judges led by Councillor Nellie Holley had chosen "delightful" Susan Jones to be this summer's Rainhill Rose Queen. The 10-year-old from Holt Lane would be crowned on June 21st. Apparently there used to be (and perhaps there still is) a Rainhill Corps of Drums. A snippet of news stated that Rainhill Parish Council had agreed to give the drummers a £50 grant.
The Reporter also described how a long-standing wholesale tobacco and confectionery firm had been sold to a Liverpool company. D. Swallow and Co had been situated in St Helens Road in Rainford for 80 years and its works would now close.
Len Scott, the leader of Rainford Ratepayers, said he was disgusted at what he called "excessive junketing" and added: "My reaction is one of fury. These people are bunging out rate demands with one hand and downing Scotch with the other. I know they will say the cost is trivial, but in these times – particularly the day after the Budget – you'd think they'd try to set an example."
The cost for 36 persons was £74 (about £1,000 in today's money) and the attendees had a choice of Scotch, gin, sherry or beer and later a buffet meal. Billinge and Rainford had refused to hand over their chains of office and so were not represented at the free do.
The Reporter also described the golden wedding celebrations of Harry and Gertrude Bibby of Ellaby Road in Rainhill. The couple had met in Church Street in St Helens and it had been love at first sight, as Harry explained: "We took one look at each other and we knew it was love and that's how it's been ever since!"
There was also a report on how a former WW1 barracks and HQ of the Crank Bowls team during the 1930s and ‘40s had become the village's new recreation centre. "It is filled with frenzied activity on most nights of the week by the two sections of the youth club, bingo nights and men's evenings," wrote the paper. The centre at the top of Crank Hill had been running for nearly three months and had an active committee.
"All members muck in when they have got the time," said trustee, Dr Graham Gillies, "and we have held coffee mornings and a jumble sale to raise some more cash for improvements. We have about £130 in the kitty now. It only seems a small amount but we are hoping to increase it with other fund-raising activities." The community centre also provided accommodation for the mothers and toddlers group, which had been forced out of Crank because they had nowhere to go and had to make what was described as an "awkward" journey into St Helens.
And finally, it was all change at the town's two cinemas from the 20th. At the ABC Savoy, 'That's Entertainment', MGM's 50th anniversary musicals retrospective, was replaced by 'Freebie and the Bean' starring James Caan and Alan Arkin. And the Capitol replaced 'Ransom', starring Sean Connery, with 'Dirty Mary – Crazy Larry', starring Peter Fonda and Susan George.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the panic buying to beat the hike in VAT, a worshipper's handbag is stolen from a church pew while kneeling at the altar, the graveyard desecration in Eccleston and the baby delivered by ambulancemen.
This week's many stories include the choking mist that emanated from Leathers, the grim redundancy toll at Pilks worsens with more redundancies expected at Ravenhead, the elderly woman of Napier Street who woke up to find mice running round her bed, the golden wedding celebrations of a lovely couple from Rainhill, a report on Crank's new recreation centre and the St Helens councillors who were accused of living it up on the rates.
We begin on the 14th when singer Claudius Afolabi Siffre better known as Labi Siffre performed at the Theatre Royal. Probably his most famous song was "It Must Be Love", that Madness later covered.
Pilkington's had recently announced 1,300 job cuts in their glass plants in St Helens and nationwide.
The country's economic crisis was continuing to affect Pilks and 300 more losses were now expected to be added to what the Reporter called the "grim redundancy toll".
That was because on the 15th their Ravenhead Pressed Glass division announced that its workforce would have to be trimmed.
The factory made glass for colour TV tubes and their main customer, Thorn Electrical who made the actual tubes, had forecast they would be producing less within the next nine months.
Thorn with its big plant in Skelmersdale was suffering from competition from cheap Japanese tubes. And the raising of VAT on TV sets to 25% in the recent Budget was also expected to hit sales.
During the boom period of colour TV sales in 1970 and 1971, Ravenhead had employed 1,350 workers on three production lines.
But then early in 1974 they cut back production for black and white sets and then in October 1974 the firm announced 350 jobs would have to go.
Once the second wave of redundancies took effect, only 650 to 750 employees would be left at the factory who would be working on a single production line.
A month ago St Helens Council had decided to shut down Leathers Chemicals in Lancots Lane and their decision was currently awaiting government approval.
On the evening of the 16th at around 6:30pm, a choking mist emanated from the plant and sent two women running for cover.
They had been cleaning at Gascoigne, Gush and Dent's factory and offices in Baxters Lane and one of the unnamed women said:
"We were inside when my friend saw what she thought was smoke. We rushed away thinking the place was on fire – I never gave Leathers a thought until we were outside in front of the office.
"Then I saw the back of the works was completely covered in a cloud, and once I got a whiff of it we dived back inside for cover."
East Sutton Councillor Jim Bond subsequently contacted St Helens' MP, Leslie Spriggs, asking him to make sure the Secretary of State for the Environment was aware of the incident when considering the confirmation of St Helens Council's closure order.
On Thursday 17th Silcocks pleasure fair began its annual visit to Queens Recreation Park.
They stayed for a total of four days but missed out the Sunday, as holding a fair on the Sabbath was not yet allowed.
Another victim of the town centre redevelopment was profiled in the St Helens Reporter on the 18th.
She was Eva Norton of Napier Street who had woken to find a family of mice running all over and inside her bed.
"It was terrifying and I just froze with horror", explained Mrs Norton. "I called out and my son came down and frightened them away."
The 76-year-old had a severe heart complaint and she later collapsed.
The mice was believed to have gnawed their way into the house from the surrounding slum clearance property that was waiting to be demolished.
The general condition of Mrs Norton's own home was so bad that her doctor had written to St Helens Council asking them to urgently rehome her due to the damp and dry rot in the house.
The council had offered Mrs Norton a two-bedroom flat in Gillars Green but she had declined it because of her poor health.
Now, they said, she would have to wait until another suitable flat became available.
Hi-Fi is another of those terms that has pretty much died out but was very much in vogue during the ‘70s.
Cobalt Hi-Fi of Ormskirk Street – who called themselves "High Fidelity Specialists" – had a large advert in the paper offering hi-fi amps, receivers and cassette decks from Yamaha, Technics, A. R. Trio, Hitachi, Pioneer etc.
Francoise, the new club in Waterloo Street in St Helens, also had an ad in which they promised "Lovely, Lovely Go-Go Girls" would be on stage.
Admission on Mondays and Tuesdays was free with the price on other days of the week varying from 60p to £1.
The Reporter also stated that five judges led by Councillor Nellie Holley had chosen "delightful" Susan Jones to be this summer's Rainhill Rose Queen. The 10-year-old from Holt Lane would be crowned on June 21st.
Apparently there used to be (and perhaps there still is) a Rainhill Corps of Drums. A snippet of news stated that Rainhill Parish Council had agreed to give the drummers a £50 grant.
The Reporter also described how a long-standing wholesale tobacco and confectionery firm had been sold to a Liverpool company.
D. Swallow and Co had been situated in St Helens Road in Rainford for 80 years and its works would now close.
The paper also said that the day after Denis Healey's budget in which the Chancellor of the Exchequer had asked Britain to tighten its belts, St Helens councillors and officials had been "living it up on the rates again".
The occasion in the Town Hall's banqueting suite had been to mark the handing over of the old civic chains belonging to Haydock and Newton which would now be put on display in St Helens Town Hall.
Len Scott, the leader of Rainford Ratepayers, said he was disgusted at what he called "excessive junketing" and added:
"My reaction is one of fury. These people are bunging out rate demands with one hand and downing Scotch with the other. I know they will say the cost is trivial, but in these times – particularly the day after the Budget – you'd think they'd try to set an example."
The cost for 36 persons was £74 (about £1,000 in today's money) and the attendees had a choice of Scotch, gin, sherry or beer and later a buffet meal.
Billinge and Rainford had refused to hand over their chains of office and so were not represented at the free do.
The Reporter also described the golden wedding celebrations of Harry and Gertrude Bibby of Ellaby Road in Rainhill.
The couple had met in Church Street in St Helens and it had been love at first sight, as Harry explained:
"We took one look at each other and we knew it was love and that's how it's been ever since!"
There was also a report on how a former WW1 barracks and HQ of the Crank Bowls team during the 1930s and ‘40s had become the village's new recreation centre.
"It is filled with frenzied activity on most nights of the week by the two sections of the youth club, bingo nights and men's evenings," wrote the paper.
The centre at the top of Crank Hill had been running for nearly three months and had an active committee.
"All members muck in when they have got the time," said trustee, Dr Graham Gillies, "and we have held coffee mornings and a jumble sale to raise some more cash for improvements.
"We have about £130 in the kitty now. It only seems a small amount but we are hoping to increase it with other fund-raising activities."
The community centre also provided accommodation for the mothers and toddlers group, which had been forced out of Crank because they had nowhere to go and had to make what was described as an "awkward" journey into St Helens.
And finally, it was all change at the town's two cinemas from the 20th. At the ABC Savoy, 'That's Entertainment', MGM's 50th anniversary musicals retrospective, was replaced by 'Freebie and the Bean' starring James Caan and Alan Arkin.
And the Capitol replaced 'Ransom', starring Sean Connery, with 'Dirty Mary – Crazy Larry', starring Peter Fonda and Susan George.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the panic buying to beat the hike in VAT, a worshipper's handbag is stolen from a church pew while kneeling at the altar, the graveyard desecration in Eccleston and the baby delivered by ambulancemen.
We begin on the 14th when singer Claudius Afolabi Siffre better known as Labi Siffre performed at the Theatre Royal. Probably his most famous song was "It Must Be Love", that Madness later covered.
Pilkington's had recently announced 1,300 job cuts in their glass plants in St Helens and nationwide.
The country's economic crisis was continuing to affect Pilks and 300 more losses were now expected to be added to what the Reporter called the "grim redundancy toll".
That was because on the 15th their Ravenhead Pressed Glass division announced that its workforce would have to be trimmed.
The factory made glass for colour TV tubes and their main customer, Thorn Electrical who made the actual tubes, had forecast they would be producing less within the next nine months.
Thorn with its big plant in Skelmersdale was suffering from competition from cheap Japanese tubes. And the raising of VAT on TV sets to 25% in the recent Budget was also expected to hit sales.
During the boom period of colour TV sales in 1970 and 1971, Ravenhead had employed 1,350 workers on three production lines.
But then early in 1974 they cut back production for black and white sets and then in October 1974 the firm announced 350 jobs would have to go.
Once the second wave of redundancies took effect, only 650 to 750 employees would be left at the factory who would be working on a single production line.
A month ago St Helens Council had decided to shut down Leathers Chemicals in Lancots Lane and their decision was currently awaiting government approval.
On the evening of the 16th at around 6:30pm, a choking mist emanated from the plant and sent two women running for cover.
They had been cleaning at Gascoigne, Gush and Dent's factory and offices in Baxters Lane and one of the unnamed women said:
"We were inside when my friend saw what she thought was smoke. We rushed away thinking the place was on fire – I never gave Leathers a thought until we were outside in front of the office.
"Then I saw the back of the works was completely covered in a cloud, and once I got a whiff of it we dived back inside for cover."
East Sutton Councillor Jim Bond subsequently contacted St Helens' MP, Leslie Spriggs, asking him to make sure the Secretary of State for the Environment was aware of the incident when considering the confirmation of St Helens Council's closure order.
On Thursday 17th Silcocks pleasure fair began its annual visit to Queens Recreation Park.
They stayed for a total of four days but missed out the Sunday, as holding a fair on the Sabbath was not yet allowed.
Another victim of the town centre redevelopment was profiled in the St Helens Reporter on the 18th.
She was Eva Norton of Napier Street who had woken to find a family of mice running all over and inside her bed.
"It was terrifying and I just froze with horror", explained Mrs Norton. "I called out and my son came down and frightened them away."
The 76-year-old had a severe heart complaint and she later collapsed.
The mice was believed to have gnawed their way into the house from the surrounding slum clearance property that was waiting to be demolished.
The general condition of Mrs Norton's own home was so bad that her doctor had written to St Helens Council asking them to urgently rehome her due to the damp and dry rot in the house.
The council had offered Mrs Norton a two-bedroom flat in Gillars Green but she had declined it because of her poor health.
Now, they said, she would have to wait until another suitable flat became available.
Hi-Fi is another of those terms that has pretty much died out but was very much in vogue during the ‘70s.
Cobalt Hi-Fi of Ormskirk Street – who called themselves "High Fidelity Specialists" – had a large advert in the paper offering hi-fi amps, receivers and cassette decks from Yamaha, Technics, A. R. Trio, Hitachi, Pioneer etc.
Francoise, the new club in Waterloo Street in St Helens, also had an ad in which they promised "Lovely, Lovely Go-Go Girls" would be on stage.
Admission on Mondays and Tuesdays was free with the price on other days of the week varying from 60p to £1.
The Reporter also stated that five judges led by Councillor Nellie Holley had chosen "delightful" Susan Jones to be this summer's Rainhill Rose Queen. The 10-year-old from Holt Lane would be crowned on June 21st.
Apparently there used to be (and perhaps there still is) a Rainhill Corps of Drums. A snippet of news stated that Rainhill Parish Council had agreed to give the drummers a £50 grant.
The Reporter also described how a long-standing wholesale tobacco and confectionery firm had been sold to a Liverpool company.
D. Swallow and Co had been situated in St Helens Road in Rainford for 80 years and its works would now close.
The occasion in the Town Hall's banqueting suite had been to mark the handing over of the old civic chains belonging to Haydock and Newton which would now be put on display in St Helens Town Hall.
Len Scott, the leader of Rainford Ratepayers, said he was disgusted at what he called "excessive junketing" and added:
"My reaction is one of fury. These people are bunging out rate demands with one hand and downing Scotch with the other. I know they will say the cost is trivial, but in these times – particularly the day after the Budget – you'd think they'd try to set an example."
The cost for 36 persons was £74 (about £1,000 in today's money) and the attendees had a choice of Scotch, gin, sherry or beer and later a buffet meal.
Billinge and Rainford had refused to hand over their chains of office and so were not represented at the free do.
The Reporter also described the golden wedding celebrations of Harry and Gertrude Bibby of Ellaby Road in Rainhill.
The couple had met in Church Street in St Helens and it had been love at first sight, as Harry explained:
"We took one look at each other and we knew it was love and that's how it's been ever since!"
There was also a report on how a former WW1 barracks and HQ of the Crank Bowls team during the 1930s and ‘40s had become the village's new recreation centre.
"It is filled with frenzied activity on most nights of the week by the two sections of the youth club, bingo nights and men's evenings," wrote the paper.
The centre at the top of Crank Hill had been running for nearly three months and had an active committee.
"All members muck in when they have got the time," said trustee, Dr Graham Gillies, "and we have held coffee mornings and a jumble sale to raise some more cash for improvements.
"We have about £130 in the kitty now. It only seems a small amount but we are hoping to increase it with other fund-raising activities."
The community centre also provided accommodation for the mothers and toddlers group, which had been forced out of Crank because they had nowhere to go and had to make what was described as an "awkward" journey into St Helens.
And finally, it was all change at the town's two cinemas from the 20th. At the ABC Savoy, 'That's Entertainment', MGM's 50th anniversary musicals retrospective, was replaced by 'Freebie and the Bean' starring James Caan and Alan Arkin.
And the Capitol replaced 'Ransom', starring Sean Connery, with 'Dirty Mary – Crazy Larry', starring Peter Fonda and Susan George.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the panic buying to beat the hike in VAT, a worshipper's handbag is stolen from a church pew while kneeling at the altar, the graveyard desecration in Eccleston and the baby delivered by ambulancemen.