FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (16th - 22nd MARCH 1970)
This week's stories include anger over the ban on Sunday sport on council-owned pitches, a huge tobacco and spirits heist in Boundary Road, an update on the creation of the new Duckeries park in Parr and what Lord Pilkington had to say about the environment.
We begin on the 16th when four youths appeared in St Helens Magistrates Court after an incident in Corporation Street. One of the teenagers had stood opposite the police station and shouted: "Bobbies are bums", after his friend was arrested for obstruction. I expect the police had heard worse insults! The lad was arrested for being drunk and disorderly and they were all fined £2 each.
The new social centre of St Anne's RC Church in Sutton was opened on the 17th. It was St Patrick's night and Irish comedian Len Moore provided the entertainment. However the club wanted to be seen as interdenominational and planned a similar evening for St George's Day and hoped other faiths would visit the centre. The amenities inside included a concert hall, lounge bar and games room.
At a board meeting on the 18th it was announced that BICC's profits for 1969 were down almost £½ million on the previous year. However the Prescot cable giant still made £11 million.
St Helens Council's Works Committee also met on the 18th and decided not to take any action against the mobile fish vans that came into the town from Fleetwood. Local shops that paid rates and had other overheads did not appreciate the incomers taking their trade. So they'd set up a petition demanding restrictions on their activities. However many residents of Sutton Manor had signed a second petition calling for the vans to remain, as otherwise they would have to traipse into town to buy fish. The Works Committee appeared to think that the two petitions cancelled each other out and so decided to do nothing.
The committee was also told that motorists parking their cars near the electro-magnetic controlled traffic lights at the junction of Marshalls Cross Road and Robins Lane were interfering with the signals. So the councillors decided to recommend to the Town Council that parking near the lights be banned.
The programme for the Haydock Donkey Derby was announced this week. The event was the main source of income for the Old Folks Treat in Haydock and also helped to finance the meals-on-wheels service. This year it would be held on June 27th on the King George V playing fields and would be combined with the Miss Haydock contest. As well as donkey fun, an army team would make a parachute jump and there would be a display of guard dogs and army vehicles, sideshows and Silcock's fair.
The Council's Parliamentary Committee met on the 19th and approved the appointment of Councillor Eric Kerr as the town's next mayor. The 63-year-old from Broad Oak Road in Parr had been on the council since 1955 and would success Cllr. Tom Wilcock in May.
This week the Co-op offered a £2,500 reward (about £40,000 in today's money) for information that led to the arrest of those responsible for a massive tobacco and spirits heist. This had taken place last weekend at their warehouse in Boundary Road and amounted to £20,000 worth of goods. The raiders had used a Co-op van to take away all the drink and smokes. The St Helens Co-operative Society name on the vehicle had been painted over and the van was found dumped on an industrial estate in Manchester. However the Co-op wanted all their goods back as well as the arrest of the thieves before they would pay out any reward.
The St Helens Reporter's main front-page story on the 20th concerned the controversial by-law that banned some Sunday sports from being played on council-owned grounds. Although St Helens Corporation had permitted the playing of Sunday sport in 1961, they excluded organised football and rugby matches for religious reasons. A newly created amateur rugby league team called Altash was so fed up with the situation that they planned to write to Dennis Howell, the Minister of Sport, to ask him to investigate.
Club secretary Dave Addison said: "If we can show there is a demand for Sunday football and rugby in St. Helens perhaps we can get this ridiculous by-law rescinded." The club was currently forced to play all their games at away grounds, which was proving costly for their players and officials. Councillor Harry Williams of Sutton Manor supported the team and blamed the problem on selfish councillors:
"I heartily endorse all that Mr. Addison has said. It is ridiculous to ban soccer and rugby on Sundays when people can play pitch-and-putt, tennis and bowls, or go horse-riding. This stems from a very selfish attitude on the part of some senior members of the council. I respect their religious views and principles, but they should be prepared to put these at one side to help people who give up so much of their free time to run these clubs for local youth."
The Reporter also revealed that St Helens Corporation had reached an agreement with the Ravenhead Brick Company to allow the council to tip in a quarry in Clock Face Road. Cleansing Superintendent Len Cundy said the tip would have a life of about eight years, even longer if the material could be burned beforehand. An on-going study was examining the possibility of incinerating the rubbish and a report would be issued soon.
There was an update in the Reporter on the new recreational park in Parr on the old Ashtons Green Colliery site. That had closed in 1931 leaving an unsightly waste heap towering over the district. Towards the end of 1968 work had started to convert the site into open green space and playing fields. The council was confident that the new 54-acre park – bordered by Derbyshire Hill Road and Fleet Lane – would be open to the public in the summer. However people would only be permitted to walk over the newly-sown grass.
It would take some time before organised games could be allowed in the park that we know today as The Duckeries. Half of the area had already been sown with grass seed and 800 trees had been planted as part of the £45,000 development. It was hoped to complete the sowing by the autumn as part of the land had still to be drained. That was because the wet winter had made it impossible for heavy machinery to get onto the ground. A dozen old pit shafts had been discovered by the workmen and these all had to be filled in using hundreds of tons of earth and rock to make them safe.
There was another advertising feature on Westfield Street (pictured above in 1974) in the St Helens Reporter, which Ernest Williams – a former President of the Chamber of Trade – called an "up-and-coming street with an amazing variety of shops." In the spotlight was furnishers H. & A. E. Williams, as they were celebrating their 60th anniversary, having been founded by two brothers in a Lowe Street shed. As well as their shop in Westfield Street, the firm also had premises in Corporation Street and acted as a funeral director's.
Also featured was Pimbletts who had been founded in Liverpool Road in 1921 by John Pimblett and relocated to Westfield Street in 1959. Five more shops had since been opened in Bridge Street, Thatto Heath Road, College Street, Duke Street and Rainford, with the College Street bakery having opened in 1965. P. & H. Jolley's advert was headlined "Something New for Easter" and they were selling children's leather coats from £5 10 shillings and Scotch plaid skirts for 35 shillings.
The Reporter also described a recent speech by Lord Pilkington in which the chairman of the glass giant supported moves to reduce pollution and improve the environment. "We were one of the early polluters and therefore we have been de-polluting for longer," he said. However Lord Pilkington believed that huge advances had been made during the past fifty years to reduce the smoke nuisance: "The snow now stays white for several days. When I was young it was black by the second day."
Teachers were this week's subject in the Reporter's 'Other People's Jobs' series with the chosen school being Parr Flat Infants. The headmistress was Beatrice Parton who described having to deal with young children: "In an infants' school you have got to be able to mother the children and put up with their tears and laughter. Academic qualifications are important, it is true, but a teacher has also got to have lots of patience. We have to take their moods as they come.
"Often we are exhausted when we get home after a day at school. But believe me, it is well worth it. We might not get the right sort of pay, but we do get other rewards. We get immense satisfaction for one thing." Mrs Parton had been teaching for over 30 years but Mary Innes had been at Parr Flat for 34 years and told the Reporter: "There is no profession like teaching. It is my life and I love it".
And finally the Theatre Royal (pictured above) went upmarket on the 22nd when the 39-strong classical symphony orchestra the London Mozart Players performed in Corporation Street.
Next week's stories will include the miracle of the missing Chihuahua dog, the new Snoopy Club in the Reporter, concern for the future of Notre Dame girls school, the Rainhill telephone saga and the 86-year-old woman in Sutton Manor who was a "prisoner of cold, damp and despair".
The new social centre of St Anne's RC Church in Sutton was opened on the 17th. It was St Patrick's night and Irish comedian Len Moore provided the entertainment. However the club wanted to be seen as interdenominational and planned a similar evening for St George's Day and hoped other faiths would visit the centre. The amenities inside included a concert hall, lounge bar and games room.
At a board meeting on the 18th it was announced that BICC's profits for 1969 were down almost £½ million on the previous year. However the Prescot cable giant still made £11 million.
St Helens Council's Works Committee also met on the 18th and decided not to take any action against the mobile fish vans that came into the town from Fleetwood. Local shops that paid rates and had other overheads did not appreciate the incomers taking their trade. So they'd set up a petition demanding restrictions on their activities. However many residents of Sutton Manor had signed a second petition calling for the vans to remain, as otherwise they would have to traipse into town to buy fish. The Works Committee appeared to think that the two petitions cancelled each other out and so decided to do nothing.
The committee was also told that motorists parking their cars near the electro-magnetic controlled traffic lights at the junction of Marshalls Cross Road and Robins Lane were interfering with the signals. So the councillors decided to recommend to the Town Council that parking near the lights be banned.
The programme for the Haydock Donkey Derby was announced this week. The event was the main source of income for the Old Folks Treat in Haydock and also helped to finance the meals-on-wheels service. This year it would be held on June 27th on the King George V playing fields and would be combined with the Miss Haydock contest. As well as donkey fun, an army team would make a parachute jump and there would be a display of guard dogs and army vehicles, sideshows and Silcock's fair.
The Council's Parliamentary Committee met on the 19th and approved the appointment of Councillor Eric Kerr as the town's next mayor. The 63-year-old from Broad Oak Road in Parr had been on the council since 1955 and would success Cllr. Tom Wilcock in May.
This week the Co-op offered a £2,500 reward (about £40,000 in today's money) for information that led to the arrest of those responsible for a massive tobacco and spirits heist. This had taken place last weekend at their warehouse in Boundary Road and amounted to £20,000 worth of goods. The raiders had used a Co-op van to take away all the drink and smokes. The St Helens Co-operative Society name on the vehicle had been painted over and the van was found dumped on an industrial estate in Manchester. However the Co-op wanted all their goods back as well as the arrest of the thieves before they would pay out any reward.
The St Helens Reporter's main front-page story on the 20th concerned the controversial by-law that banned some Sunday sports from being played on council-owned grounds. Although St Helens Corporation had permitted the playing of Sunday sport in 1961, they excluded organised football and rugby matches for religious reasons. A newly created amateur rugby league team called Altash was so fed up with the situation that they planned to write to Dennis Howell, the Minister of Sport, to ask him to investigate.
Club secretary Dave Addison said: "If we can show there is a demand for Sunday football and rugby in St. Helens perhaps we can get this ridiculous by-law rescinded." The club was currently forced to play all their games at away grounds, which was proving costly for their players and officials. Councillor Harry Williams of Sutton Manor supported the team and blamed the problem on selfish councillors:
"I heartily endorse all that Mr. Addison has said. It is ridiculous to ban soccer and rugby on Sundays when people can play pitch-and-putt, tennis and bowls, or go horse-riding. This stems from a very selfish attitude on the part of some senior members of the council. I respect their religious views and principles, but they should be prepared to put these at one side to help people who give up so much of their free time to run these clubs for local youth."
The Reporter also revealed that St Helens Corporation had reached an agreement with the Ravenhead Brick Company to allow the council to tip in a quarry in Clock Face Road. Cleansing Superintendent Len Cundy said the tip would have a life of about eight years, even longer if the material could be burned beforehand. An on-going study was examining the possibility of incinerating the rubbish and a report would be issued soon.
There was an update in the Reporter on the new recreational park in Parr on the old Ashtons Green Colliery site. That had closed in 1931 leaving an unsightly waste heap towering over the district. Towards the end of 1968 work had started to convert the site into open green space and playing fields. The council was confident that the new 54-acre park – bordered by Derbyshire Hill Road and Fleet Lane – would be open to the public in the summer. However people would only be permitted to walk over the newly-sown grass.
It would take some time before organised games could be allowed in the park that we know today as The Duckeries. Half of the area had already been sown with grass seed and 800 trees had been planted as part of the £45,000 development. It was hoped to complete the sowing by the autumn as part of the land had still to be drained. That was because the wet winter had made it impossible for heavy machinery to get onto the ground. A dozen old pit shafts had been discovered by the workmen and these all had to be filled in using hundreds of tons of earth and rock to make them safe.
Also featured was Pimbletts who had been founded in Liverpool Road in 1921 by John Pimblett and relocated to Westfield Street in 1959. Five more shops had since been opened in Bridge Street, Thatto Heath Road, College Street, Duke Street and Rainford, with the College Street bakery having opened in 1965. P. & H. Jolley's advert was headlined "Something New for Easter" and they were selling children's leather coats from £5 10 shillings and Scotch plaid skirts for 35 shillings.
The Reporter also described a recent speech by Lord Pilkington in which the chairman of the glass giant supported moves to reduce pollution and improve the environment. "We were one of the early polluters and therefore we have been de-polluting for longer," he said. However Lord Pilkington believed that huge advances had been made during the past fifty years to reduce the smoke nuisance: "The snow now stays white for several days. When I was young it was black by the second day."
Teachers were this week's subject in the Reporter's 'Other People's Jobs' series with the chosen school being Parr Flat Infants. The headmistress was Beatrice Parton who described having to deal with young children: "In an infants' school you have got to be able to mother the children and put up with their tears and laughter. Academic qualifications are important, it is true, but a teacher has also got to have lots of patience. We have to take their moods as they come.
"Often we are exhausted when we get home after a day at school. But believe me, it is well worth it. We might not get the right sort of pay, but we do get other rewards. We get immense satisfaction for one thing." Mrs Parton had been teaching for over 30 years but Mary Innes had been at Parr Flat for 34 years and told the Reporter: "There is no profession like teaching. It is my life and I love it".
Next week's stories will include the miracle of the missing Chihuahua dog, the new Snoopy Club in the Reporter, concern for the future of Notre Dame girls school, the Rainhill telephone saga and the 86-year-old woman in Sutton Manor who was a "prisoner of cold, damp and despair".
This week's stories include anger over the ban on Sunday sport on council-owned pitches, a huge tobacco and spirits heist in Boundary Road, an update on the creation of the new Duckeries park in Parr and what Lord Pilkington had to say about the environment.
We begin on the 16th when four youths appeared in St Helens Magistrates Court after an incident in Corporation Street.
One of the teenagers had stood opposite the police station and shouted: "Bobbies are bums", after his friend was arrested for obstruction.
I expect the police had heard worse insults! The lad was arrested for being drunk and disorderly and they were all fined £2 each.
The new social centre of St Anne's RC Church in Sutton was opened on the 17th. It was St Patrick's night and Irish comedian Len Moore provided the entertainment.
However the club wanted to be seen as interdenominational and planned a similar evening for St George's Day and hoped other faiths would visit the centre.
The amenities inside the social centre included a concert hall, lounge bar and games room.
At a board meeting on the 18th it was announced that BICC's profits for 1969 were down almost £½ million on the previous year. However the Prescot cable giant still made £11 million.
St Helens Council's Works Committee also met on the 18th and decided not to take any action against the mobile fish vans that came into the town from Fleetwood.
Local shops that paid rates and had other overheads did not appreciate the incomers taking their trade. So they'd set up a petition demanding restrictions on their activities.
However many residents of Sutton Manor had signed a second petition calling for the vans to remain, as otherwise they would have to traipse into town to buy fish.
The Works Committee appeared to think that the two petitions cancelled each other out and so decided to do nothing.
The committee was also told that motorists parking their cars near the electro-magnetic controlled traffic lights at the junction of Marshalls Cross Road and Robins Lane were interfering with the signals.
So the councillors decided to recommend to the Town Council that parking near the lights be banned.
The programme for the Haydock Donkey Derby was announced this week. The event was the main source of income for the Old Folks Treat in Haydock and also helped to finance the meals-on-wheels service.
This year it would be held on June 27th on the King George V playing fields and would be combined with the Miss Haydock contest.
As well as donkey fun, an army team would make a parachute jump and there would be a display of guard dogs and army vehicles, sideshows and Silcock's fair.
The Council's Parliamentary Committee met on the 19th and approved the appointment of Councillor Eric Kerr as the town's next mayor.
The 63-year-old from Broad Oak Road in Parr had been on the council since 1955 and would success Cllr. Tom Wilcock in May.
This week the Co-op offered a £2,500 reward (about £40,000 in today's money) for information that led to the arrest of those responsible for a massive tobacco and spirits heist.
This had taken place last weekend at their warehouse in Boundary Road and amounted to £20,000 worth of goods.
The raiders had used a Co-op van to take away all the drink and smokes.
The St Helens Co-operative Society name on the vehicle had been painted over and the van was found dumped on an industrial estate in Manchester.
However the Co-op wanted all their goods back as well as the arrest of the thieves before they would pay out any reward.
The St Helens Reporter's main front-page story on the 20th concerned the controversial by-law that banned some Sunday sports from being played on council-owned grounds.
Although St Helens Corporation had permitted the playing of Sunday sport in 1961, they excluded organised football and rugby matches for religious reasons.
A newly created amateur rugby league team called Altash was so fed up with the situation that they planned to write to Dennis Howell, the Minister of Sport, to ask him to investigate.
Club secretary Dave Addison said: "If we can show there is a demand for Sunday football and rugby in St. Helens perhaps we can get this ridiculous by-law rescinded."
The club was currently forced to play all their games at away grounds, which was proving costly for their players and officials.
Councillor Harry Williams of Sutton Manor supported the team and blamed the problem on selfish councillors:
"I heartily endorse all that Mr. Addison has said. It is ridiculous to ban soccer and rugby on Sundays when people can play pitch-and-putt, tennis and bowls, or go horse-riding.
"This stems from a very selfish attitude on the part of some senior members of the council. I respect their religious views and principles, but they should be prepared to put these at one side to help people who give up so much of their free time to run these clubs for local youth."
The Reporter also revealed that St Helens Corporation had reached an agreement with the Ravenhead Brick Company to allow the council to tip in a quarry in Clock Face Road.
Cleansing Superintendent Len Cundy said the tip would have a life of about eight years, even longer if the material could be burned beforehand.
An on-going study was examining the possibility of incinerating the rubbish and a report would be issued soon.
There was an update in the Reporter on the new recreational park in Parr on the old Ashtons Green Colliery site.
That had closed in 1931 leaving an unsightly waste heap towering over the district.
Towards the end of 1968 work had started to convert the site into open green space and playing fields.
The council was confident that the new 54-acre park – bordered by Derbyshire Hill Road and Fleet Lane – would be open to the public in the summer.
However people would only be permitted to walk over the newly-sown grass. It would take some time before organised games could be allowed in the park that we know today as The Duckeries.
Half of the area had already been sown with grass seed and 800 trees had been planted as part of the £45,000 development.
It was hoped to complete the sowing by the autumn as part of the land had still to be drained.
That was because the wet winter had made it impossible for heavy machinery to get onto the ground.
A dozen old pit shafts had been discovered by the workmen and these all had to be filled in using hundreds of tons of earth and rock to make them safe.
There was another advertising feature on Westfield Street (pictured above in 1974) in the St Helens Reporter, which Ernest Williams – a former President of the Chamber of Trade – called an "up-and-coming street with an amazing variety of shops."
In the spotlight was furnishers H. & A. E. Williams, as they were celebrating their 60th anniversary, having been founded by two brothers in a Lowe Street shed.
As well as their shop in Westfield Street, the firm also had premises in Corporation Street and acted as a funeral director's.
Also featured was Pimbletts who had been founded in Liverpool Road in 1921 by John Pimblett and relocated to Westfield Street in 1959.
Five more shops had since been opened in Bridge Street, Thatto Heath Road, College Street, Duke Street and Rainford, with the College Street bakery having opened in 1965.
P. & H. Jolley's advert was headlined "Something New for Easter" and they were selling children's leather coats from £5 10 shillings and Scotch plaid skirts for 35 shillings.
The Reporter also described a recent speech by Lord Pilkington in which the chairman of the glass giant supported moves to reduce pollution and improve the environment.
"We were one of the early polluters and therefore we have been de-polluting for longer," he said.
However Lord Pilkington believed that huge advances had been made during the past fifty years to reduce the smoke nuisance:
"The snow now stays white for several days. When I was young it was black by the second day."
Teachers were this week's subject in the Reporter's 'Other People's Jobs' series with the chosen school being Parr Flat Infants.
The headmistress was Beatrice Parton who described having to deal with young children:
"In an infants' school you have got to be able to mother the children and put up with their tears and laughter. Academic qualifications are important, it is true, but a teacher has also got to have lots of patience. We have to take their moods as they come.
"Often we are exhausted when we get home after a day at school. But believe me, it is well worth it. We might not get the right sort of pay, but we do get other rewards. We get immense satisfaction for one thing."
Mrs Parton had been teaching for over 30 years but Mary Innes had been at Parr Flat for 34 years and told the Reporter: "There is no profession like teaching. It is my life and I love it".
And finally the Theatre Royal (pictured above) went upmarket on the 22nd when the 39-strong classical symphony orchestra the London Mozart Players performed in Corporation Street.
Next week's stories will include the miracle of the missing Chihuahua dog, the new Snoopy Club in the Reporter, concern for the future of Notre Dame girls school, the Rainhill telephone saga and the 86-year-old woman in Sutton Manor who was a "prisoner of cold, damp and despair".
One of the teenagers had stood opposite the police station and shouted: "Bobbies are bums", after his friend was arrested for obstruction.
I expect the police had heard worse insults! The lad was arrested for being drunk and disorderly and they were all fined £2 each.
The new social centre of St Anne's RC Church in Sutton was opened on the 17th. It was St Patrick's night and Irish comedian Len Moore provided the entertainment.
However the club wanted to be seen as interdenominational and planned a similar evening for St George's Day and hoped other faiths would visit the centre.
The amenities inside the social centre included a concert hall, lounge bar and games room.
At a board meeting on the 18th it was announced that BICC's profits for 1969 were down almost £½ million on the previous year. However the Prescot cable giant still made £11 million.
St Helens Council's Works Committee also met on the 18th and decided not to take any action against the mobile fish vans that came into the town from Fleetwood.
Local shops that paid rates and had other overheads did not appreciate the incomers taking their trade. So they'd set up a petition demanding restrictions on their activities.
However many residents of Sutton Manor had signed a second petition calling for the vans to remain, as otherwise they would have to traipse into town to buy fish.
The Works Committee appeared to think that the two petitions cancelled each other out and so decided to do nothing.
The committee was also told that motorists parking their cars near the electro-magnetic controlled traffic lights at the junction of Marshalls Cross Road and Robins Lane were interfering with the signals.
So the councillors decided to recommend to the Town Council that parking near the lights be banned.
The programme for the Haydock Donkey Derby was announced this week. The event was the main source of income for the Old Folks Treat in Haydock and also helped to finance the meals-on-wheels service.
This year it would be held on June 27th on the King George V playing fields and would be combined with the Miss Haydock contest.
As well as donkey fun, an army team would make a parachute jump and there would be a display of guard dogs and army vehicles, sideshows and Silcock's fair.
The Council's Parliamentary Committee met on the 19th and approved the appointment of Councillor Eric Kerr as the town's next mayor.
The 63-year-old from Broad Oak Road in Parr had been on the council since 1955 and would success Cllr. Tom Wilcock in May.
This week the Co-op offered a £2,500 reward (about £40,000 in today's money) for information that led to the arrest of those responsible for a massive tobacco and spirits heist.
This had taken place last weekend at their warehouse in Boundary Road and amounted to £20,000 worth of goods.
The raiders had used a Co-op van to take away all the drink and smokes.
The St Helens Co-operative Society name on the vehicle had been painted over and the van was found dumped on an industrial estate in Manchester.
However the Co-op wanted all their goods back as well as the arrest of the thieves before they would pay out any reward.
The St Helens Reporter's main front-page story on the 20th concerned the controversial by-law that banned some Sunday sports from being played on council-owned grounds.
Although St Helens Corporation had permitted the playing of Sunday sport in 1961, they excluded organised football and rugby matches for religious reasons.
A newly created amateur rugby league team called Altash was so fed up with the situation that they planned to write to Dennis Howell, the Minister of Sport, to ask him to investigate.
Club secretary Dave Addison said: "If we can show there is a demand for Sunday football and rugby in St. Helens perhaps we can get this ridiculous by-law rescinded."
The club was currently forced to play all their games at away grounds, which was proving costly for their players and officials.
Councillor Harry Williams of Sutton Manor supported the team and blamed the problem on selfish councillors:
"I heartily endorse all that Mr. Addison has said. It is ridiculous to ban soccer and rugby on Sundays when people can play pitch-and-putt, tennis and bowls, or go horse-riding.
"This stems from a very selfish attitude on the part of some senior members of the council. I respect their religious views and principles, but they should be prepared to put these at one side to help people who give up so much of their free time to run these clubs for local youth."
The Reporter also revealed that St Helens Corporation had reached an agreement with the Ravenhead Brick Company to allow the council to tip in a quarry in Clock Face Road.
Cleansing Superintendent Len Cundy said the tip would have a life of about eight years, even longer if the material could be burned beforehand.
An on-going study was examining the possibility of incinerating the rubbish and a report would be issued soon.
There was an update in the Reporter on the new recreational park in Parr on the old Ashtons Green Colliery site.
That had closed in 1931 leaving an unsightly waste heap towering over the district.
Towards the end of 1968 work had started to convert the site into open green space and playing fields.
The council was confident that the new 54-acre park – bordered by Derbyshire Hill Road and Fleet Lane – would be open to the public in the summer.
However people would only be permitted to walk over the newly-sown grass. It would take some time before organised games could be allowed in the park that we know today as The Duckeries.
Half of the area had already been sown with grass seed and 800 trees had been planted as part of the £45,000 development.
It was hoped to complete the sowing by the autumn as part of the land had still to be drained.
That was because the wet winter had made it impossible for heavy machinery to get onto the ground.
A dozen old pit shafts had been discovered by the workmen and these all had to be filled in using hundreds of tons of earth and rock to make them safe.
In the spotlight was furnishers H. & A. E. Williams, as they were celebrating their 60th anniversary, having been founded by two brothers in a Lowe Street shed.
As well as their shop in Westfield Street, the firm also had premises in Corporation Street and acted as a funeral director's.
Also featured was Pimbletts who had been founded in Liverpool Road in 1921 by John Pimblett and relocated to Westfield Street in 1959.
Five more shops had since been opened in Bridge Street, Thatto Heath Road, College Street, Duke Street and Rainford, with the College Street bakery having opened in 1965.
P. & H. Jolley's advert was headlined "Something New for Easter" and they were selling children's leather coats from £5 10 shillings and Scotch plaid skirts for 35 shillings.
The Reporter also described a recent speech by Lord Pilkington in which the chairman of the glass giant supported moves to reduce pollution and improve the environment.
"We were one of the early polluters and therefore we have been de-polluting for longer," he said.
However Lord Pilkington believed that huge advances had been made during the past fifty years to reduce the smoke nuisance:
"The snow now stays white for several days. When I was young it was black by the second day."
Teachers were this week's subject in the Reporter's 'Other People's Jobs' series with the chosen school being Parr Flat Infants.
The headmistress was Beatrice Parton who described having to deal with young children:
"In an infants' school you have got to be able to mother the children and put up with their tears and laughter. Academic qualifications are important, it is true, but a teacher has also got to have lots of patience. We have to take their moods as they come.
"Often we are exhausted when we get home after a day at school. But believe me, it is well worth it. We might not get the right sort of pay, but we do get other rewards. We get immense satisfaction for one thing."
Mrs Parton had been teaching for over 30 years but Mary Innes had been at Parr Flat for 34 years and told the Reporter: "There is no profession like teaching. It is my life and I love it".
Next week's stories will include the miracle of the missing Chihuahua dog, the new Snoopy Club in the Reporter, concern for the future of Notre Dame girls school, the Rainhill telephone saga and the 86-year-old woman in Sutton Manor who was a "prisoner of cold, damp and despair".