FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (14 - 20 JUNE 1971)
This week's 21 stories include a bus crash in Lancots Lane, four Cowley schoolboys are suspended after tying up a prefect, the arrival of the giraffes at the new Knowsley Safari Park, an explosion rocks a Newton home and an update on the Rainhill campaign to slow traffic on Warrington Road.
We begin on the 14th with a report on the victims of a bus crash that had taken place in Sutton during the weekend. Fourteen passengers were taken to hospital after the bus skidded into a bridge in Lancots Lane. The driver was found to be over the alcohol limit and would later be prosecuted. Eight of the injured were taken to St Helens Hospital and six others to Providence Hospital, with Anthony Grady of Sutton Manor the only one still detained. The eight-year-old suffered injuries to his head, legs and arms and was now stated to be in a satisfactory condition.
Others treated at St Helens Hospital for shock, head injuries and cuts were Kathleen Saxon (aged 23) Harlow Close; her son Andrew (3); Thomas Ludden (46) Jubits Lane; Sheila Honey (16) Ramford Street; John Heggarty (12) Laithwaite Avenue; D. Hall (30) of Huyton and Joan Molyneux (17) of Tennyson Street. Those treated at Providence were John Hamilton (38) of Leach Lane; Mary Ludden (46) Jubits Lane; Thomas Barker (64) Milton Street; Mary Honey (50) Ramford Street; Thomas Cunningham (53) Milton Street and Elizabeth Roughley (69) Milton Street.
Also in hospital but in Warrington Infirmary, were a mother and two of her children from Lawrence Street in Newton-le-Willows. Joy Folan aged 36, and her children Jane, aged 11, and Dorothy, aged 9, were seriously injured when an explosion rocked their home. Railway guard Patrick Folan told the Liverpool Echo: "I was getting the right mixture with my petrol in the back kitchen of my house for my motor scooter. I went outside for a minute, and one of the children must have knocked the can over, which caused the blast."
During that evening two members of Rainhill Garrick Society appeared on Hughie Green's TV talent show 'Opportunity Knocks'. David Williams and Bill Moores (both from Prescot) presented a piece from 'Oliver Twist'.
On the 15th it was reported that St Helens police were looking for thieves who had broken into St Alban's Secondary School in Washway Lane in Haresfinch and stolen sports equipment worth nearly £30. Police were also investigating a break-in in Dean's yard in Hoghton Road, Sutton, in which 11 copper car radiators and a box of spanners worth £50 were stolen. Four pigeons worth £50 had also been taken from a shed at the rear of a house in Friar Street and from a building site at Leach Lane, thieves had stolen a blue and white sink unit.
On the 16th the council's Works Committee heard that child bathers at Boundary Road baths often ended up in tears after a swim because of the high strength of chlorine that was in use. However the baths manager claimed that the heat of the water could also cause eyes to smart.
The opening of the new Knowsley Safari Park was just over a fortnight away and the animals were starting to arrive at their new home. The media was discovering that there would be photo opportunities galore and on the 16th the Echo published a large, close-up picture of two giraffes surveying their new surroundings. They were part of a newly-arrived group of eleven giraffes and a spokesperson told the Echo: "They were rather tired after the 15-hour journey from Plymouth, but they seem to have settled very well."
The animals spent the night in a specially constructed shelter and were then released into their own compound during the morning. The giraffes had been captured in Uganda 18 months earlier and had then spent a compulsory twelve months in quarantine before travelling to Knowsley. Two days later the Echo published a feature on the reserve, which included a photo of 18-year-old Deidre Nicholson from the safari office kissing a lion cub.
In the article Lord Derby revealed that there had been some hitches in the plans: "Unfortunately, we have not had the luck we needed. There has been some deal of trouble getting a herd of elephants from Africa to Knowsley. Thankfully they are on their way, but only after a month's delay in Mombasa, and further trouble getting them on to a ship. But they have now sailed for this country. We would have liked to have given them more time to become acclimatised at Knowsley but the main point is to have them here for the opening. We have also had some trouble with fencing, but things are getting straight now and the park will be opened on July 3."
Richard Chipperfield, son of Lord Derby's partner in the venture, Jimmy Chipperfield, said the opening of the park would only be its first stage. "We are working on a five-year programme which will cost about £5,000,000. Part of this plan includes a monorail system for sightseeing. This alone will cost nearly £1,000,000 to build."
Have you ever thought of buying a lion or an elephant? No, I haven't either. But the Echo described their price tags back in 1971: "Some idea of the cost of starting the safari park can be seen from the prices quoted by Mr. Chipperfield for the animals to be brought there. Elephants cost over £1,000 each (and at the start there will be 20), and giraffes are going for £2,000 each. A first consignment of 11 arrived this week.
"Lions – there will be 40 – are quite cheap at £350 each. But the star of the shopping list is a rare white rhinoceros which cost £10,000. Many of the animals are already in England completing their 12 months quarantine. Eventually, it is hoped to build a motel in the park which itself will be further extended from its present 360 acres by another 200 acres."
St Helens Corporation's Transport Department had been struggling of late but saw an opportunity to make some money from the new reserve. This week the department announced that special buses would be running through the Knowsley park at two-hour intervals at weekends and on weekdays during school holidays. It would take the vehicles an hour to cover the 4½ miles of roadway with fares (including admission) of 50p for adults and 30p for children. The entrance fee for those in a car, incidentally, would be £1.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 18th and its front-page headline said: "Welcome to Clodagh, Petula and Co." Their version of the story of the newly-arrived Knowsley giraffes played on the fact that some had been given pop star names. As well as Clodagh and her baby giraffe Petula, there was also a Dusty and a Reg. Clodagh Rodgers, Petula Clark and Dusty Springfield were clearly the female singers with giraffes named after them – but Reg? Perhaps he bore the moniker of Reg Presley of The Troggs?
The Reporter also wrote: "Backsliding dustbinmen were accused by their boss yesterday of work-dodging – so they can stay on overtime. A hard core of St. Helens' 220 dustbinmen are deliberately slowing down collections, claimed Cleansing Superintendent Mr. Leonard Cundy." Another article described how a security man at Pilkingtons had "stumbled across" a confidential memo that suggested that the jobs of the glass giant's security staff were going to be replaced by teams from Securicor – although Pilks played down the document.
The Reporter also claimed that Cowley headmaster Fred Wright had suspended four boys after they'd tied a prefect to a classroom chair using window cord. A friend of the sixth-formers told the paper: "There's nothing unusual in tying prefects up in chairs. We've done it many times before. And once we even staked a boy to a tree, and left him there. I don't know why the headmaster has got so annoyed by this incident. It was only a bit of fun."
The Reporter also attacked the danger of derelict properties in St Helens claiming that some old buildings in College Street (comprising houses, a pub and a shop) had until their demolition this week been accidents waiting to happen. "It was bloody scandalous," wrote the Editor. "When will they learn in St. Helens? How many people must die in the town before the authorities exercise real control over demolition sites?" The paper claimed that had been possible to stumble from a rubble-strewn pavement straight into an eight-foot drop and be "guillotined" by slates stacked on a roof.
Also in the Reporter was a picture of Heather Wilson after the 13-year-old had become this year's top lifesaver in St Helens' schools. Every year local schools competed for a silver medal from the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society. Heather from Catchdale Moss in Eccleston had represented Rainford Secondary against top-ranking lifesavers from eleven other schools. The Echo reported on the 18th that brother and sister middle distance runners, Steve Lawrence (17) and Janet (12) from St. Helens, had been chosen to represent Lancashire at the All-England Schools Athletics Championships at Crystal Palace in July.
Other news this week included the Ormskirk Street Congregational Church merging with the Tolver Street Presbyterians. In Parr the chairman of the North Western Gas Board officially opened a £250,000 factory extension at the works of Sperryn & Co in Delta Road. The light engineering company employed over 600 personnel and made products for the gas industry. And the Northern Dance Theatre was appearing at the Theatre Royal, performing eight ballets including 'Pas de Cinq', 'Death of a Maiden' and 'Peter and the Wolf'.
The direct action by Rainhill parents to get the speed limit in Warrington Road (pictured above) reduced from 40 mph to 30 mph and zebra crossings installed continued throughout the week. The road was being barricaded during rush hour every afternoon causing traffic chaos. The Parents Action Committee had explained that the 40 mph limit had been introduced when Warrington Road passed through a rural area – but now there were 3,000 homes in the vicinity.
By the 18th – after a dozen demos had taken place but with still no action from the Ministry of Transport – the committee announced that 90 parents were planning a trip to London. Two coachloads of parents would leave Rainhill for the capital on July 2nd in order to lobby MPs over the issue.
Also on the 18th, Edward Prescott of Sewell Street in Prescot was awarded £2,200 damages and costs at Liverpool Assizes after an accident five years earlier at BICC. Mr Prescott had been employed as a rod handler at the Prescot wireworks and had his right eye pierced by a length of binding wire. However the judge granted the defendants a 27-day stay of execution in order to consider making an appeal against the award – which is around £35,000 in today's money.
During the evening of the 18th at St Helens "Tech", Lord Pilkington presented the Duke of Edinburgh gold, silver and bronze awards to 100 teenage boys and girls. On the following day after the publication of the Pilkington group's financial results, the Echo reported that the glass giant's profits had "taken a hammering" through last year's strike. However the firm had still managed to make £13.9 million in the year to March 31st – although that was down from £16.6m in the previous year.
Not long ago the firm had been gloomily predicting pre-tax profits being in the region of only £10.4 million – so almost £14m was much better than expected. Although the strike was blamed for costing the glassmakers £5 million, sales had climbed over the year from £116 million to £123 million enabling more profit to be made.
Next week's stories will include the dangerous condition of Prescot Church, a Duke Street newsagent is raided by police, an anonymous donor gives a huge sum for social work in St Helens and the many teachers retiring from the town's schools.
Others treated at St Helens Hospital for shock, head injuries and cuts were Kathleen Saxon (aged 23) Harlow Close; her son Andrew (3); Thomas Ludden (46) Jubits Lane; Sheila Honey (16) Ramford Street; John Heggarty (12) Laithwaite Avenue; D. Hall (30) of Huyton and Joan Molyneux (17) of Tennyson Street. Those treated at Providence were John Hamilton (38) of Leach Lane; Mary Ludden (46) Jubits Lane; Thomas Barker (64) Milton Street; Mary Honey (50) Ramford Street; Thomas Cunningham (53) Milton Street and Elizabeth Roughley (69) Milton Street.
Also in hospital but in Warrington Infirmary, were a mother and two of her children from Lawrence Street in Newton-le-Willows. Joy Folan aged 36, and her children Jane, aged 11, and Dorothy, aged 9, were seriously injured when an explosion rocked their home. Railway guard Patrick Folan told the Liverpool Echo: "I was getting the right mixture with my petrol in the back kitchen of my house for my motor scooter. I went outside for a minute, and one of the children must have knocked the can over, which caused the blast."
During that evening two members of Rainhill Garrick Society appeared on Hughie Green's TV talent show 'Opportunity Knocks'. David Williams and Bill Moores (both from Prescot) presented a piece from 'Oliver Twist'.
On the 15th it was reported that St Helens police were looking for thieves who had broken into St Alban's Secondary School in Washway Lane in Haresfinch and stolen sports equipment worth nearly £30. Police were also investigating a break-in in Dean's yard in Hoghton Road, Sutton, in which 11 copper car radiators and a box of spanners worth £50 were stolen. Four pigeons worth £50 had also been taken from a shed at the rear of a house in Friar Street and from a building site at Leach Lane, thieves had stolen a blue and white sink unit.
On the 16th the council's Works Committee heard that child bathers at Boundary Road baths often ended up in tears after a swim because of the high strength of chlorine that was in use. However the baths manager claimed that the heat of the water could also cause eyes to smart.
The opening of the new Knowsley Safari Park was just over a fortnight away and the animals were starting to arrive at their new home. The media was discovering that there would be photo opportunities galore and on the 16th the Echo published a large, close-up picture of two giraffes surveying their new surroundings. They were part of a newly-arrived group of eleven giraffes and a spokesperson told the Echo: "They were rather tired after the 15-hour journey from Plymouth, but they seem to have settled very well."
The animals spent the night in a specially constructed shelter and were then released into their own compound during the morning. The giraffes had been captured in Uganda 18 months earlier and had then spent a compulsory twelve months in quarantine before travelling to Knowsley. Two days later the Echo published a feature on the reserve, which included a photo of 18-year-old Deidre Nicholson from the safari office kissing a lion cub.
In the article Lord Derby revealed that there had been some hitches in the plans: "Unfortunately, we have not had the luck we needed. There has been some deal of trouble getting a herd of elephants from Africa to Knowsley. Thankfully they are on their way, but only after a month's delay in Mombasa, and further trouble getting them on to a ship. But they have now sailed for this country. We would have liked to have given them more time to become acclimatised at Knowsley but the main point is to have them here for the opening. We have also had some trouble with fencing, but things are getting straight now and the park will be opened on July 3."
Richard Chipperfield, son of Lord Derby's partner in the venture, Jimmy Chipperfield, said the opening of the park would only be its first stage. "We are working on a five-year programme which will cost about £5,000,000. Part of this plan includes a monorail system for sightseeing. This alone will cost nearly £1,000,000 to build."
Have you ever thought of buying a lion or an elephant? No, I haven't either. But the Echo described their price tags back in 1971: "Some idea of the cost of starting the safari park can be seen from the prices quoted by Mr. Chipperfield for the animals to be brought there. Elephants cost over £1,000 each (and at the start there will be 20), and giraffes are going for £2,000 each. A first consignment of 11 arrived this week.
"Lions – there will be 40 – are quite cheap at £350 each. But the star of the shopping list is a rare white rhinoceros which cost £10,000. Many of the animals are already in England completing their 12 months quarantine. Eventually, it is hoped to build a motel in the park which itself will be further extended from its present 360 acres by another 200 acres."
St Helens Corporation's Transport Department had been struggling of late but saw an opportunity to make some money from the new reserve. This week the department announced that special buses would be running through the Knowsley park at two-hour intervals at weekends and on weekdays during school holidays. It would take the vehicles an hour to cover the 4½ miles of roadway with fares (including admission) of 50p for adults and 30p for children. The entrance fee for those in a car, incidentally, would be £1.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 18th and its front-page headline said: "Welcome to Clodagh, Petula and Co." Their version of the story of the newly-arrived Knowsley giraffes played on the fact that some had been given pop star names. As well as Clodagh and her baby giraffe Petula, there was also a Dusty and a Reg. Clodagh Rodgers, Petula Clark and Dusty Springfield were clearly the female singers with giraffes named after them – but Reg? Perhaps he bore the moniker of Reg Presley of The Troggs?
The Reporter also wrote: "Backsliding dustbinmen were accused by their boss yesterday of work-dodging – so they can stay on overtime. A hard core of St. Helens' 220 dustbinmen are deliberately slowing down collections, claimed Cleansing Superintendent Mr. Leonard Cundy." Another article described how a security man at Pilkingtons had "stumbled across" a confidential memo that suggested that the jobs of the glass giant's security staff were going to be replaced by teams from Securicor – although Pilks played down the document.
The Reporter also claimed that Cowley headmaster Fred Wright had suspended four boys after they'd tied a prefect to a classroom chair using window cord. A friend of the sixth-formers told the paper: "There's nothing unusual in tying prefects up in chairs. We've done it many times before. And once we even staked a boy to a tree, and left him there. I don't know why the headmaster has got so annoyed by this incident. It was only a bit of fun."
The Reporter also attacked the danger of derelict properties in St Helens claiming that some old buildings in College Street (comprising houses, a pub and a shop) had until their demolition this week been accidents waiting to happen. "It was bloody scandalous," wrote the Editor. "When will they learn in St. Helens? How many people must die in the town before the authorities exercise real control over demolition sites?" The paper claimed that had been possible to stumble from a rubble-strewn pavement straight into an eight-foot drop and be "guillotined" by slates stacked on a roof.
Also in the Reporter was a picture of Heather Wilson after the 13-year-old had become this year's top lifesaver in St Helens' schools. Every year local schools competed for a silver medal from the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society. Heather from Catchdale Moss in Eccleston had represented Rainford Secondary against top-ranking lifesavers from eleven other schools. The Echo reported on the 18th that brother and sister middle distance runners, Steve Lawrence (17) and Janet (12) from St. Helens, had been chosen to represent Lancashire at the All-England Schools Athletics Championships at Crystal Palace in July.
Other news this week included the Ormskirk Street Congregational Church merging with the Tolver Street Presbyterians. In Parr the chairman of the North Western Gas Board officially opened a £250,000 factory extension at the works of Sperryn & Co in Delta Road. The light engineering company employed over 600 personnel and made products for the gas industry. And the Northern Dance Theatre was appearing at the Theatre Royal, performing eight ballets including 'Pas de Cinq', 'Death of a Maiden' and 'Peter and the Wolf'.
By the 18th – after a dozen demos had taken place but with still no action from the Ministry of Transport – the committee announced that 90 parents were planning a trip to London. Two coachloads of parents would leave Rainhill for the capital on July 2nd in order to lobby MPs over the issue.
Also on the 18th, Edward Prescott of Sewell Street in Prescot was awarded £2,200 damages and costs at Liverpool Assizes after an accident five years earlier at BICC. Mr Prescott had been employed as a rod handler at the Prescot wireworks and had his right eye pierced by a length of binding wire. However the judge granted the defendants a 27-day stay of execution in order to consider making an appeal against the award – which is around £35,000 in today's money.
During the evening of the 18th at St Helens "Tech", Lord Pilkington presented the Duke of Edinburgh gold, silver and bronze awards to 100 teenage boys and girls. On the following day after the publication of the Pilkington group's financial results, the Echo reported that the glass giant's profits had "taken a hammering" through last year's strike. However the firm had still managed to make £13.9 million in the year to March 31st – although that was down from £16.6m in the previous year.
Not long ago the firm had been gloomily predicting pre-tax profits being in the region of only £10.4 million – so almost £14m was much better than expected. Although the strike was blamed for costing the glassmakers £5 million, sales had climbed over the year from £116 million to £123 million enabling more profit to be made.
Next week's stories will include the dangerous condition of Prescot Church, a Duke Street newsagent is raided by police, an anonymous donor gives a huge sum for social work in St Helens and the many teachers retiring from the town's schools.
This week's 21 stories include a bus crash in Lancots Lane, four Cowley schoolboys are suspended after tying up a prefect, the arrival of the giraffes at the new Knowsley Safari Park, an explosion rocks a Newton home and an update on the Rainhill campaign to slow traffic on Warrington Road.
We begin on the 14th with a report on the victims of a bus crash that had taken place in Sutton during the weekend.
Fourteen passengers were taken to hospital after the bus skidded into a bridge in Lancots Lane. The driver was found to be over the alcohol limit and would later be prosecuted.
Eight of the injured were taken to St Helens Hospital and six others to Providence Hospital, with Anthony Grady of Sutton Manor the only one still detained.
The eight-year-old suffered injuries to his head, legs and arms and was now stated to be in a satisfactory condition.
Others treated at St Helens Hospital for shock, head injuries and cuts were Kathleen Saxon (aged 23) Harlow Close; her son Andrew (3); Thomas Ludden (46) Jubits Lane; Sheila Honey (16) Ramford Street; John Heggarty (12) Laithwaite Avenue; D. Hall (30) of Huyton and Joan Molyneux (17) of Tennyson Street.
Those treated at Providence were John Hamilton (38) of Leach Lane; Mary Ludden (46) Jubits Lane; Thomas Barker (64) Milton Street; Mary Honey (50) Ramford Street; Thomas Cunningham (53) Milton Street and Elizabeth Roughley (69) Milton Street.
Also in hospital but in Warrington Infirmary, were a mother and two of her children from Lawrence Street in Newton-le-Willows.
Joy Folan aged 36, and her children Jane, aged 11, and Dorothy, aged 9, were seriously injured when an explosion rocked their home. Railway guard Patrick Folan told the Liverpool Echo:
"I was getting the right mixture with my petrol in the back kitchen of my house for my motor scooter. I went outside for a minute, and one of the children must have knocked the can over, which caused the blast."
During that evening two members of Rainhill Garrick Society appeared on Hughie Green's TV talent show 'Opportunity Knocks'.
David Williams and Bill Moores (both from Prescot) presented a piece from 'Oliver Twist'.
On the 15th it was reported that St Helens police were looking for thieves who had broken into St Alban's Secondary School in Washway Lane in Haresfinch and stolen sports equipment worth nearly £30.
Police were also investigating a break-in in Dean's yard in Hoghton Road, Sutton, in which 11 copper car radiators and a box of spanners worth £50 were stolen.
Four pigeons worth £50 had also been taken from a shed at the rear of a house in Friar Street and from a building site at Leach Lane, thieves had stolen a blue and white sink unit.
On the 16th the council's Works Committee heard that child bathers at Boundary Road baths often ended up in tears after a swim because of the high strength of chlorine that was in use.
However the baths manager claimed that the heat of the water could also cause eyes to smart.
The opening of the new Knowsley Safari Park was just over a fortnight away and the animals were starting to arrive at their new home.
The media was discovering that there would be photo opportunities galore and on the 16th the Echo published a large, close-up picture of two giraffes surveying their new surroundings.
They were part of a newly-arrived group of eleven giraffes and a spokesperson told the Echo:
"They were rather tired after the 15-hour journey from Plymouth, but they seem to have settled very well."
The animals spent the night in a specially constructed shelter and were then released into their own compound during the morning.
The giraffes had been captured in Uganda 18 months earlier and had then spent a compulsory twelve months in quarantine before travelling to Knowsley.
Two days later the Echo published a feature on the reserve, which included a photo of 18-year-old Deidre Nicholson from the safari office kissing a lion cub.
In the article Lord Derby revealed that there had been some hitches in the plans:
"Unfortunately, we have not had the luck we needed. There has been some deal of trouble getting a herd of elephants from Africa to Knowsley.
"Thankfully they are on their way, but only after a month's delay in Mombasa, and further trouble getting them on to a ship. But they have now sailed for this country.
"We would have liked to have given them more time to become acclimatised at Knowsley but the main point is to have them here for the opening.
"We have also had some trouble with fencing, but things are getting straight now and the park will be opened on July 3."
Richard Chipperfield, son of Lord Derby's partner in the venture, Jimmy Chipperfield, said the opening of the park would only be its first stage.
"We are working on a five-year programme which will cost about £5,000,000. Part of this plan includes a monorail system for sightseeing. This alone will cost nearly £1,000,000 to build."
Have you ever thought of buying a lion or an elephant? No, I haven't either. But the Echo described their price tags back in 1971:
"Some idea of the cost of starting the safari park can be seen from the prices quoted by Mr. Chipperfield for the animals to be brought there.
"Elephants cost over £1,000 each (and at the start there will be 20), and giraffes are going for £2,000 each. A first consignment of 11 arrived this week.
"Lions – there will be 40 – are quite cheap at £350 each. But the star of the shopping list is a rare white rhinoceros which cost £10,000.
"Many of the animals are already in England completing their 12 months quarantine. Eventually, it is hoped to build a motel in the park which itself will be further extended from its present 360 acres by another 200 acres."
St Helens Corporation's Transport Department had been struggling of late but saw an opportunity to make some money from the reserve.
This week the department announced that special buses would be running through the Knowsley park at two-hour intervals at weekends and on weekdays during school holidays.
It would take the vehicles an hour to cover the 4½ miles of roadway with fares (including admission) of 50p for adults and 30p for children. The entrance fee for those in a car, incidentally, would be £1.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 18th and its front-page headline said: "Welcome to Clodagh, Petula and Co."
Their version of the story of the newly-arrived Knowsley giraffes played on the fact that some had been given pop star names. As well as Clodagh and her baby giraffe Petula, there was also a Dusty and a Reg.
Clodagh Rodgers, Petula Clark and Dusty Springfield were clearly the female singers with giraffes named after them – but Reg? Perhaps he bore the moniker of Reg Presley of The Troggs?
The Reporter also wrote: "Backsliding dustbinmen were accused by their boss yesterday of work-dodging – so they can stay on overtime. A hard core of St. Helens' 220 dustbinmen are deliberately slowing down collections, claimed Cleansing Superintendent Mr. Leonard Cundy."
Another article described how a security man at Pilkingtons had "stumbled across" a confidential memo that suggested that the jobs of the glass giant's security staff were going to be replaced by teams from Securicor – although Pilks played down the document.
The Reporter also claimed that Cowley headmaster Fred Wright had suspended four boys after they'd tied a prefect to a classroom chair using window cord.
A friend of the sixth-formers told the paper: "There's nothing unusual in tying prefects up in chairs. We've done it many times before. And once we even staked a boy to a tree, and left him there. I don't know why the headmaster has got so annoyed by this incident. It was only a bit of fun."
The Reporter also attacked the danger of derelict properties in St Helens claiming that some old buildings in College Street (comprising houses, a pub and a shop) had until their demolition this week been accidents waiting to happen.
"It was bloody scandalous," wrote the Editor. "When will they learn in St. Helens? How many people must die in the town before the authorities exercise real control over demolition sites?"
The paper claimed that had been possible to stumble from a rubble-strewn pavement straight into an eight-foot drop and be "guillotined" by slates stacked on a roof.
Also in the Reporter was a picture of Heather Wilson after the 13-year-old had become this year's top lifesaver in St Helens' schools.
Every year local schools competed for a silver medal from the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society.
Heather from Catchdale Moss in Eccleston had represented Rainford Secondary against top-ranking lifesavers from eleven other schools.
The Echo reported on the 18th that brother and sister middle distance runners, Steve Lawrence (17) and Janet (12) from St. Helens, had been chosen to represent Lancashire at the All-England Schools Athletics Championships at Crystal Palace in July.
Other news this week included the Ormskirk Street Congregational Church merging with the Tolver Street Presbyterians.
In Parr the chairman of the North Western Gas Board officially opened a £250,000 factory extension at the works of Sperryn & Co in Delta Road.
The light engineering company employed over 600 personnel and made products for the gas industry.
And the Northern Dance Theatre was appearing at the Theatre Royal, performing eight ballets including 'Pas de Cinq', 'Death of a Maiden' and 'Peter and the Wolf'.
The direct action by Rainhill parents to get the speed limit in Warrington Road (pictured above) reduced from 40 mph to 30 mph and zebra crossings installed continued throughout the week.
The road was being barricaded during rush hour every afternoon causing traffic chaos.
The Parents Action Committee had explained that the 40 mph limit had been introduced when Warrington Road passed through a rural area – but now there were 3,000 homes in the vicinity.
By the 18th – after a dozen demos had taken place but with still no action from the Ministry of Transport – the committee announced that 90 parents were planning a trip to London.
Two coachloads of parents would leave Rainhill for the capital on July 2nd in order to lobby MPs over the issue.
Also on the 18th, Edward Prescott of Sewell Street in Prescot was awarded £2,200 damages and costs at Liverpool Assizes after an accident five years earlier at BICC.
Mr Prescott had been employed as a rod handler at the Prescot wireworks and had his right eye pierced by a length of binding wire.
However the judge granted the defendants a 27-day stay of execution in order to consider making an appeal against the award – which is around £35,000 in today's money.
During the evening of the 18th at St Helens "Tech", Lord Pilkington presented the Duke of Edinburgh gold, silver and bronze awards to 100 teenage boys and girls.
On the following day after the publication of the Pilkington group's financial results, the Echo reported that the glass giant's profits had "taken a hammering" through last year's strike.
However the firm had still managed to make £13.9 million in the year to March 31st – although that was down from £16.6m in the previous year.
Not long ago the firm had been gloomily predicting pre-tax profits being in the region of only £10.4 million – so almost £14m was much better than expected.
Although the strike was blamed for costing the glassmakers £5 million, sales had climbed over the year from £116 million to £123 million enabling more profit to be made.
Next week's stories will include the dangerous condition of Prescot Church, a Duke Street newsagent is raided by police, an anonymous donor gives a huge sum for social work in St Helens and the many teachers retiring from the town's schools.
We begin on the 14th with a report on the victims of a bus crash that had taken place in Sutton during the weekend.
Eight of the injured were taken to St Helens Hospital and six others to Providence Hospital, with Anthony Grady of Sutton Manor the only one still detained.
The eight-year-old suffered injuries to his head, legs and arms and was now stated to be in a satisfactory condition.
Others treated at St Helens Hospital for shock, head injuries and cuts were Kathleen Saxon (aged 23) Harlow Close; her son Andrew (3); Thomas Ludden (46) Jubits Lane; Sheila Honey (16) Ramford Street; John Heggarty (12) Laithwaite Avenue; D. Hall (30) of Huyton and Joan Molyneux (17) of Tennyson Street.
Those treated at Providence were John Hamilton (38) of Leach Lane; Mary Ludden (46) Jubits Lane; Thomas Barker (64) Milton Street; Mary Honey (50) Ramford Street; Thomas Cunningham (53) Milton Street and Elizabeth Roughley (69) Milton Street.
Also in hospital but in Warrington Infirmary, were a mother and two of her children from Lawrence Street in Newton-le-Willows.
Joy Folan aged 36, and her children Jane, aged 11, and Dorothy, aged 9, were seriously injured when an explosion rocked their home. Railway guard Patrick Folan told the Liverpool Echo:
"I was getting the right mixture with my petrol in the back kitchen of my house for my motor scooter. I went outside for a minute, and one of the children must have knocked the can over, which caused the blast."
During that evening two members of Rainhill Garrick Society appeared on Hughie Green's TV talent show 'Opportunity Knocks'.
David Williams and Bill Moores (both from Prescot) presented a piece from 'Oliver Twist'.
On the 15th it was reported that St Helens police were looking for thieves who had broken into St Alban's Secondary School in Washway Lane in Haresfinch and stolen sports equipment worth nearly £30.
Police were also investigating a break-in in Dean's yard in Hoghton Road, Sutton, in which 11 copper car radiators and a box of spanners worth £50 were stolen.
Four pigeons worth £50 had also been taken from a shed at the rear of a house in Friar Street and from a building site at Leach Lane, thieves had stolen a blue and white sink unit.
On the 16th the council's Works Committee heard that child bathers at Boundary Road baths often ended up in tears after a swim because of the high strength of chlorine that was in use.
However the baths manager claimed that the heat of the water could also cause eyes to smart.
The opening of the new Knowsley Safari Park was just over a fortnight away and the animals were starting to arrive at their new home.
The media was discovering that there would be photo opportunities galore and on the 16th the Echo published a large, close-up picture of two giraffes surveying their new surroundings.
They were part of a newly-arrived group of eleven giraffes and a spokesperson told the Echo:
"They were rather tired after the 15-hour journey from Plymouth, but they seem to have settled very well."
The animals spent the night in a specially constructed shelter and were then released into their own compound during the morning.
The giraffes had been captured in Uganda 18 months earlier and had then spent a compulsory twelve months in quarantine before travelling to Knowsley.
Two days later the Echo published a feature on the reserve, which included a photo of 18-year-old Deidre Nicholson from the safari office kissing a lion cub.
In the article Lord Derby revealed that there had been some hitches in the plans:
"Unfortunately, we have not had the luck we needed. There has been some deal of trouble getting a herd of elephants from Africa to Knowsley.
"Thankfully they are on their way, but only after a month's delay in Mombasa, and further trouble getting them on to a ship. But they have now sailed for this country.
"We would have liked to have given them more time to become acclimatised at Knowsley but the main point is to have them here for the opening.
"We have also had some trouble with fencing, but things are getting straight now and the park will be opened on July 3."
Richard Chipperfield, son of Lord Derby's partner in the venture, Jimmy Chipperfield, said the opening of the park would only be its first stage.
"We are working on a five-year programme which will cost about £5,000,000. Part of this plan includes a monorail system for sightseeing. This alone will cost nearly £1,000,000 to build."
Have you ever thought of buying a lion or an elephant? No, I haven't either. But the Echo described their price tags back in 1971:
"Some idea of the cost of starting the safari park can be seen from the prices quoted by Mr. Chipperfield for the animals to be brought there.
"Elephants cost over £1,000 each (and at the start there will be 20), and giraffes are going for £2,000 each. A first consignment of 11 arrived this week.
"Lions – there will be 40 – are quite cheap at £350 each. But the star of the shopping list is a rare white rhinoceros which cost £10,000.
"Many of the animals are already in England completing their 12 months quarantine. Eventually, it is hoped to build a motel in the park which itself will be further extended from its present 360 acres by another 200 acres."
St Helens Corporation's Transport Department had been struggling of late but saw an opportunity to make some money from the reserve.
This week the department announced that special buses would be running through the Knowsley park at two-hour intervals at weekends and on weekdays during school holidays.
It would take the vehicles an hour to cover the 4½ miles of roadway with fares (including admission) of 50p for adults and 30p for children. The entrance fee for those in a car, incidentally, would be £1.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 18th and its front-page headline said: "Welcome to Clodagh, Petula and Co."
Their version of the story of the newly-arrived Knowsley giraffes played on the fact that some had been given pop star names. As well as Clodagh and her baby giraffe Petula, there was also a Dusty and a Reg.
Clodagh Rodgers, Petula Clark and Dusty Springfield were clearly the female singers with giraffes named after them – but Reg? Perhaps he bore the moniker of Reg Presley of The Troggs?
The Reporter also wrote: "Backsliding dustbinmen were accused by their boss yesterday of work-dodging – so they can stay on overtime. A hard core of St. Helens' 220 dustbinmen are deliberately slowing down collections, claimed Cleansing Superintendent Mr. Leonard Cundy."
Another article described how a security man at Pilkingtons had "stumbled across" a confidential memo that suggested that the jobs of the glass giant's security staff were going to be replaced by teams from Securicor – although Pilks played down the document.
The Reporter also claimed that Cowley headmaster Fred Wright had suspended four boys after they'd tied a prefect to a classroom chair using window cord.
A friend of the sixth-formers told the paper: "There's nothing unusual in tying prefects up in chairs. We've done it many times before. And once we even staked a boy to a tree, and left him there. I don't know why the headmaster has got so annoyed by this incident. It was only a bit of fun."
The Reporter also attacked the danger of derelict properties in St Helens claiming that some old buildings in College Street (comprising houses, a pub and a shop) had until their demolition this week been accidents waiting to happen.
"It was bloody scandalous," wrote the Editor. "When will they learn in St. Helens? How many people must die in the town before the authorities exercise real control over demolition sites?"
The paper claimed that had been possible to stumble from a rubble-strewn pavement straight into an eight-foot drop and be "guillotined" by slates stacked on a roof.
Also in the Reporter was a picture of Heather Wilson after the 13-year-old had become this year's top lifesaver in St Helens' schools.
Every year local schools competed for a silver medal from the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society.
Heather from Catchdale Moss in Eccleston had represented Rainford Secondary against top-ranking lifesavers from eleven other schools.
The Echo reported on the 18th that brother and sister middle distance runners, Steve Lawrence (17) and Janet (12) from St. Helens, had been chosen to represent Lancashire at the All-England Schools Athletics Championships at Crystal Palace in July.
Other news this week included the Ormskirk Street Congregational Church merging with the Tolver Street Presbyterians.
In Parr the chairman of the North Western Gas Board officially opened a £250,000 factory extension at the works of Sperryn & Co in Delta Road.
The light engineering company employed over 600 personnel and made products for the gas industry.
And the Northern Dance Theatre was appearing at the Theatre Royal, performing eight ballets including 'Pas de Cinq', 'Death of a Maiden' and 'Peter and the Wolf'.
The road was being barricaded during rush hour every afternoon causing traffic chaos.
The Parents Action Committee had explained that the 40 mph limit had been introduced when Warrington Road passed through a rural area – but now there were 3,000 homes in the vicinity.
By the 18th – after a dozen demos had taken place but with still no action from the Ministry of Transport – the committee announced that 90 parents were planning a trip to London.
Two coachloads of parents would leave Rainhill for the capital on July 2nd in order to lobby MPs over the issue.
Also on the 18th, Edward Prescott of Sewell Street in Prescot was awarded £2,200 damages and costs at Liverpool Assizes after an accident five years earlier at BICC.
Mr Prescott had been employed as a rod handler at the Prescot wireworks and had his right eye pierced by a length of binding wire.
However the judge granted the defendants a 27-day stay of execution in order to consider making an appeal against the award – which is around £35,000 in today's money.
During the evening of the 18th at St Helens "Tech", Lord Pilkington presented the Duke of Edinburgh gold, silver and bronze awards to 100 teenage boys and girls.
On the following day after the publication of the Pilkington group's financial results, the Echo reported that the glass giant's profits had "taken a hammering" through last year's strike.
However the firm had still managed to make £13.9 million in the year to March 31st – although that was down from £16.6m in the previous year.
Not long ago the firm had been gloomily predicting pre-tax profits being in the region of only £10.4 million – so almost £14m was much better than expected.
Although the strike was blamed for costing the glassmakers £5 million, sales had climbed over the year from £116 million to £123 million enabling more profit to be made.
Next week's stories will include the dangerous condition of Prescot Church, a Duke Street newsagent is raided by police, an anonymous donor gives a huge sum for social work in St Helens and the many teachers retiring from the town's schools.