FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (15th - 21st April 1969)
This week's stories include the missing children from Raglan Street, a mysterious row of houses is "discovered" in Fingerpost, a stag night stunt leaves a man in chains in Victoria Square, there's a last-minute drama at the Theatre Royal and committal proceedings are held for the men charged with killing Brian Harrison of Sutton.
We begin on the 15th when there was another incident of a runaway vehicle. Recently a potato van had crashed into a house in Canberra Avenue in Thatto Heath after being parked on a hill. This time the incident took place in Earlestown, when a parked lorry ran 50 yards in reverse down a steep incline in Hillside Avenue.
As it careered down the road, the vehicle smashed through garden fences and broke flagstones and demolished two lamp standards. The lorry then somersaulted 20 feet into the Sankey Canal before crashing into eight feet of water. Fortunately there were no injuries.
The disappearance of two children from Raglan Street on the same day sparked a search by their neighbours and the police. David Walsh, aged nine, and his eight-year-old sister Pauline went missing for twelve hours before they were found in a local park.
They told their mother Maureen that they'd gone for a walk around St Helens and ended up in the park. They had not been there before and could not find their way home. It had clearly been an upsetting experience for the children. "I don't think they will stroll away again", said Mrs Walsh. Raglan Street used to be near Kirkland Street with the houses demolished during the 1970s.
Four and a half hours before the curtain would rise for a performance of 'Brigadoon' on the 15th, producer George Pill learnt that one of his star actors would be absent. Brian Podmore was portraying Harry Ritchie in Rainhill Amateur Operatic Society's production at the Theatre Royal and in a fight scene had to fall from a ramp. However during the previous night's performance, the 24-year-old had injured his elbow and had now been advised by his doctor to rest.
George Pill had produced the show two years earlier in Northwich and saved the day by persuading Graham Rowe – who had then played Harry Ritchie – to rush to St Helens. Graham only managed to get in two hours rehearsal before curtain up but gave a sterling performance, with the show said to have gone without a hitch.
The Liverpool Echo's main story on its front page of the 16th concerned the committal proceedings of two men who had been charged with killing Brian Harrison from Sutton. The 34-year-old from Waterdale Crescent had worked in the Magistrates Court in St Helens and had been stabbed in Litherland.
Under the headline "Court Told of Miss X – Girl Witness Petrified With Fear" the Echo described how a 24-year-old woman had been so frightened of her name appearing in the newspapers that the magistrates said she should be referred to as "Miss X".
The defendants had changed their story about what had occurred. Their latest version was a claim that Brian Harrison was a "queer" who had tried to sexually assault one of them.
However Miss X described how Brian had that same night taken her home after they had met at a dance in Ainsdale and the couple had kissed. On the following day the two men were committed for trial at Liverpool Crown Court, with bail not applied for.
There was a horror double-header at the Capitol from the 17th with 'Castle of the Living Dead' starring Christopher Lee and 'Terror Creatures from the Grave'.
It was reported on the 17th that the St Helens Works Committee had agreed to allow motorists to park without lights in 35 town centre streets. This was subject to approval by the Town Council.
Also on the 17th two lorries crashed on the East Lancs at its junction with Haydock Lane. One of the drivers was catapulted through his windscreen and on to the road, his vehicle then trapping him by the back axle.
Although seat belt legislation had been introduced during the Sixties, it would be many years before it would be made compulsory to wear one. Police closed a four-mile stretch of the road from Haydock to Windle Island while they cleared the two vehicles.
A stag night stunt on the 17th ended with a visit to St Helens police station for a 20-year-old man from Crawford. Two days before Ivan Kendall was due to be married to 18-year-old Maureen Garner, his workmates decided to dress him in a convict's uniform, complete with arrows.
They also manacled his hands and feet with chains and attached a heavy iron ball, which Ivan took with good humour. His friends said they were taking him home by car but instead dumped him on Victoria Square, near the Town Hall. No matter how hard Ivan struggled, he could not set himself free from his chains. Understandably the apprentice blacksmith was the centre of attention and eventually several policemen carried him the short distance to the police station.
However four new locks had secured the chains and the police were unable to release him. So they called in St Helens Fire Brigade and they used heavy cutting gear to set Ivan free.
The police said that as it had been a practical joke, they did not intend to take legal action against anyone. However a spokesman for the fire brigade said: "We have never had a case this before. I do not know just how we will enter it in the records."
The St Helens Reporter on the 18th said that demolition in the Fingerpost area had revealed a mysterious row of houses that had been unoccupied for at least thirty years. No one knew who owned the four homes and until the owners could be traced they could not be knocked down.
The row lay between Bolton Street (which had been demolished a year earlier) and the rear of Higher Parr Street. Staff at the Town Hall had gone back through fifty years of records but had been unable to identify the owners of the homes or even discover what street they were in. There'll be more on this mystery in next week's article.
Young David Colquitt was pictured in the paper with the large trophy and certificate that he'd been awarded at the Liverpool Music Festival. David – from Peckers Hill Road – was a choirboy with Sutton Parish Church and was the winner of the boys' solo singing competition.
The Reporter also stated that thirty-three men had so far signed up for the latest 'Preparation For Retirement' course. This was not a new initiative, having begun in St Helens in 1964 and so far twenty-six courses for men and four for women had been held.
Three couples celebrating golden wedding anniversaries were also pictured in the paper. These were James and Christine Evans from Claughton Street, Alfred and Elizabeth Owen from Bidston Avenue in Blackbrook and Stanley and Mary Petty from Billinge. Stan Petty had started work at Bispham Hall Colliery as a boy and rose to become pit manager prior to its closure in 1967.
The St Helens Youth Employment Department announced this week that almost all the 300 school leavers at Easter had found jobs. Many had obtained apprenticeships and the employment situation for young people was, they said, brighter than expected.
The St Helens Folk Dance and Song Society held their annual ball on the 19th at the Methodist Church Hall in Atherton Street, Prescot.
Meanwhile at the Theatre Royal on the 20th, the Rhos Girls Choir made their first appearance outside Wales. The 45-strong ensemble from Rhos, near Wrexham, had only been formed eight years earlier. Many were the daughters of the village's more famous male voice choir that had twice previously performed in St Helens.
Although the BBC radio drama serial 'Mrs Dale's Diary' had changed its name to 'The Dales' in 1962, it was still routinely known by its former name. The programme was controversially being axed after 21 years and its final show would be broadcast next week on Radio 2. Beecham's was tapping into the attendant publicity with the St Helens pill firm's own series of adverts, called 'Jessie Matthews' Diary'.
Jessie played Mary Dale in the long-running drama and in the adverts gave advice about health issues that could be resolved by taking Beecham's pills. On the 21st in the Daily Mirror, Jessie related how a Mrs Pratt had supposedly told her about the joys of taking Beecham's laxatives, which didn't cause discomfort, unlike other similar products.
Also on that day Clint Eastwood's thriller 'Coogan's Bluff' began a week's screening at the ABC (Savoy) in Bridge Street. At the Capitol on the corner of Duke Street and North Road the detective film 'Lady in Cement' starring Frank Sinatra and Raquel Welch was shown.
And finally at a housing committee meeting of Rainford Council on the 21st, Cllr. Sarah Heyes said housewives in Holly Crescent were finding it increasingly difficult to hang out washing as their gardens were swamps.
"It is disgusting", she added, "that these women are forced to get soaked through every time they hang their washing out". The council's Surveyor, Reg Haycock, said the problem could not be solved until the village's major drainage scheme was undertaken. However he offered to provide paving stones as a temporary measure.
Next week's stories will include vandalism at the borough cemetery in Rainford Road, criticism of a derelict house in Sutton Manor, the baby that died through malnutrition, a lucky escape in Billinge, the "sheer filth" of Parr's Court off Higher Parr Street and the "absolutely shocking" state of telephone boxes in St Helens.
We begin on the 15th when there was another incident of a runaway vehicle. Recently a potato van had crashed into a house in Canberra Avenue in Thatto Heath after being parked on a hill. This time the incident took place in Earlestown, when a parked lorry ran 50 yards in reverse down a steep incline in Hillside Avenue.
As it careered down the road, the vehicle smashed through garden fences and broke flagstones and demolished two lamp standards. The lorry then somersaulted 20 feet into the Sankey Canal before crashing into eight feet of water. Fortunately there were no injuries.
The disappearance of two children from Raglan Street on the same day sparked a search by their neighbours and the police. David Walsh, aged nine, and his eight-year-old sister Pauline went missing for twelve hours before they were found in a local park.
They told their mother Maureen that they'd gone for a walk around St Helens and ended up in the park. They had not been there before and could not find their way home. It had clearly been an upsetting experience for the children. "I don't think they will stroll away again", said Mrs Walsh. Raglan Street used to be near Kirkland Street with the houses demolished during the 1970s.
Four and a half hours before the curtain would rise for a performance of 'Brigadoon' on the 15th, producer George Pill learnt that one of his star actors would be absent. Brian Podmore was portraying Harry Ritchie in Rainhill Amateur Operatic Society's production at the Theatre Royal and in a fight scene had to fall from a ramp. However during the previous night's performance, the 24-year-old had injured his elbow and had now been advised by his doctor to rest.
George Pill had produced the show two years earlier in Northwich and saved the day by persuading Graham Rowe – who had then played Harry Ritchie – to rush to St Helens. Graham only managed to get in two hours rehearsal before curtain up but gave a sterling performance, with the show said to have gone without a hitch.
The Liverpool Echo's main story on its front page of the 16th concerned the committal proceedings of two men who had been charged with killing Brian Harrison from Sutton. The 34-year-old from Waterdale Crescent had worked in the Magistrates Court in St Helens and had been stabbed in Litherland.
Under the headline "Court Told of Miss X – Girl Witness Petrified With Fear" the Echo described how a 24-year-old woman had been so frightened of her name appearing in the newspapers that the magistrates said she should be referred to as "Miss X".
The defendants had changed their story about what had occurred. Their latest version was a claim that Brian Harrison was a "queer" who had tried to sexually assault one of them.
However Miss X described how Brian had that same night taken her home after they had met at a dance in Ainsdale and the couple had kissed. On the following day the two men were committed for trial at Liverpool Crown Court, with bail not applied for.
There was a horror double-header at the Capitol from the 17th with 'Castle of the Living Dead' starring Christopher Lee and 'Terror Creatures from the Grave'.
It was reported on the 17th that the St Helens Works Committee had agreed to allow motorists to park without lights in 35 town centre streets. This was subject to approval by the Town Council.
Also on the 17th two lorries crashed on the East Lancs at its junction with Haydock Lane. One of the drivers was catapulted through his windscreen and on to the road, his vehicle then trapping him by the back axle.
Although seat belt legislation had been introduced during the Sixties, it would be many years before it would be made compulsory to wear one. Police closed a four-mile stretch of the road from Haydock to Windle Island while they cleared the two vehicles.
A stag night stunt on the 17th ended with a visit to St Helens police station for a 20-year-old man from Crawford. Two days before Ivan Kendall was due to be married to 18-year-old Maureen Garner, his workmates decided to dress him in a convict's uniform, complete with arrows.
They also manacled his hands and feet with chains and attached a heavy iron ball, which Ivan took with good humour. His friends said they were taking him home by car but instead dumped him on Victoria Square, near the Town Hall. No matter how hard Ivan struggled, he could not set himself free from his chains. Understandably the apprentice blacksmith was the centre of attention and eventually several policemen carried him the short distance to the police station.
However four new locks had secured the chains and the police were unable to release him. So they called in St Helens Fire Brigade and they used heavy cutting gear to set Ivan free.
The police said that as it had been a practical joke, they did not intend to take legal action against anyone. However a spokesman for the fire brigade said: "We have never had a case this before. I do not know just how we will enter it in the records."
The St Helens Reporter on the 18th said that demolition in the Fingerpost area had revealed a mysterious row of houses that had been unoccupied for at least thirty years. No one knew who owned the four homes and until the owners could be traced they could not be knocked down.
The row lay between Bolton Street (which had been demolished a year earlier) and the rear of Higher Parr Street. Staff at the Town Hall had gone back through fifty years of records but had been unable to identify the owners of the homes or even discover what street they were in. There'll be more on this mystery in next week's article.
Young David Colquitt was pictured in the paper with the large trophy and certificate that he'd been awarded at the Liverpool Music Festival. David – from Peckers Hill Road – was a choirboy with Sutton Parish Church and was the winner of the boys' solo singing competition.
The Reporter also stated that thirty-three men had so far signed up for the latest 'Preparation For Retirement' course. This was not a new initiative, having begun in St Helens in 1964 and so far twenty-six courses for men and four for women had been held.
Three couples celebrating golden wedding anniversaries were also pictured in the paper. These were James and Christine Evans from Claughton Street, Alfred and Elizabeth Owen from Bidston Avenue in Blackbrook and Stanley and Mary Petty from Billinge. Stan Petty had started work at Bispham Hall Colliery as a boy and rose to become pit manager prior to its closure in 1967.
The St Helens Youth Employment Department announced this week that almost all the 300 school leavers at Easter had found jobs. Many had obtained apprenticeships and the employment situation for young people was, they said, brighter than expected.
The St Helens Folk Dance and Song Society held their annual ball on the 19th at the Methodist Church Hall in Atherton Street, Prescot.
Meanwhile at the Theatre Royal on the 20th, the Rhos Girls Choir made their first appearance outside Wales. The 45-strong ensemble from Rhos, near Wrexham, had only been formed eight years earlier. Many were the daughters of the village's more famous male voice choir that had twice previously performed in St Helens.
Jessie Matthews' Diary in the Daily Mirror and a couple of adverts that were in the Liverpool Echo this week
Jessie Matthews Diary and adverts in the Liverpool Echo this week
Jessie Matthews Diary / Liverpool Echo adverts
Jessie played Mary Dale in the long-running drama and in the adverts gave advice about health issues that could be resolved by taking Beecham's pills. On the 21st in the Daily Mirror, Jessie related how a Mrs Pratt had supposedly told her about the joys of taking Beecham's laxatives, which didn't cause discomfort, unlike other similar products.
Also on that day Clint Eastwood's thriller 'Coogan's Bluff' began a week's screening at the ABC (Savoy) in Bridge Street. At the Capitol on the corner of Duke Street and North Road the detective film 'Lady in Cement' starring Frank Sinatra and Raquel Welch was shown.
And finally at a housing committee meeting of Rainford Council on the 21st, Cllr. Sarah Heyes said housewives in Holly Crescent were finding it increasingly difficult to hang out washing as their gardens were swamps.
"It is disgusting", she added, "that these women are forced to get soaked through every time they hang their washing out". The council's Surveyor, Reg Haycock, said the problem could not be solved until the village's major drainage scheme was undertaken. However he offered to provide paving stones as a temporary measure.
Next week's stories will include vandalism at the borough cemetery in Rainford Road, criticism of a derelict house in Sutton Manor, the baby that died through malnutrition, a lucky escape in Billinge, the "sheer filth" of Parr's Court off Higher Parr Street and the "absolutely shocking" state of telephone boxes in St Helens.