FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (16th - 22nd MAY 1972)
This week's 17 stories include another arson attack on the new Four Acre estate, a Labour alderman is sacked as party leader for being too old, a claim that 999 calls were receiving the engaged tone, Lady Pilkington refutes criticism of getting over-excited in the Royal Box at Wembley, the St Helens MP claims VAT on tickets would kill off rugby league and why a zebra crossing in Haydock was considered to be a safety hazard.
We begin on the 16th when a meeting of striking boilermakers employed by William Neill of Bold voted to reject an improved pay offer. A 2-hour meeting earlier in the day between union officials and bosses at the engineering plant that had been shut for five weeks had led to the proposed rise. However, what its management called a "considerable increase" in wages had been conditional on the re-introduction of a controversial flexibility agreement.
On the 19th the Liverpool Echo reported that British Sidac of St Helens had announced that it would be making 100 process workers redundant in the near future. No date had been fixed for the redundancies at its cellulose wrappings factory in Lancots Lane but talks had taken place between the management and the General and Municipal Workers Union. Later in the week the St Helens Reporter wrote: "The axe will fall at a time when the town is still in the grip of a work famine."
On the 20th a free Bible lecture on 'The Divine Plan of the Ages' was given in the Co-op Hall in Helena House in Baldwin Street (pictured above). In these days of hi-tech shows, the advert for the event in the Reporter that said: "Illustrated by Large Chart" made its presentation sound rather primitive in comparison.
Also on that day, the newly-installed Mayor of St Helens, Cllr. Allan Lycett, officially opened the new driving range at Sherdley Park. A keen golfer, Cllr. Lycett became the first to tee off on the 400-yards-long range containing ten bays. Open from 8:30am to 8:30pm during the week and from 2pm on Sundays, golfers could blaze away at 60 balls for 35p.
It was announced this week that the first direct coach journey between St Helens and London would begin on May 24th. The service operated by Ribble would run every Saturday during the summer months and take five hours.
The much-vandalised Four Acre Lane housing estate suffered another blow this week when a caravan packed with building equipment was destroyed by fire. It was the third serious blaze on the site in the last few months. Last November three almost finished houses were gutted in an arson attack. Then last month two new homes had to be pulled down after fire caused extensive damage. Another blaze occurred this week in an office at the rear of Griffin's furniture store in Duke Street that seriously damaged the building.
The discovery of cheap and plentiful reserves of natural gas in the North Sea in 1965 had led to a mammoth conversion programme in Britain. During 1972 it was the turn of homes within the St Helens district to have their gas cookers and heaters converted to use natural gas (mainly methane) instead of manufactured gas. However, the conversion work had been brought to a halt almost two weeks ago due to a strike by 400 gas workers. On the 18th the men returned to work after their employers offered to open negotiations on a new bonus scheme and scrap some dismissal notices.
The lead story in the St Helens Reporter on the 19th described the sacking of Alderman Joe Hughes as the leader of the majority Labour group on St Helens Council – because he was considered too old. The paper wrote: "The shock decision to axe the 79-year-old alderman has been taken in a bid to introduce new blood to the top jobs in the council. And in the next few weeks, more heads are expected to roll." The Reporter added that hardliners in the Labour Party wanted to remove all alderman aged over 70 from the chairmanships of council committees.
Also on the front page of the Reporter were photographs of some of the candidates in the Pilkington Gala Girl contest. "Dark-eyed beauty" Krishna Dawar from Blackbrook was singled out for a write-up. The 25-year old process worker at Triplex had swapped a teaching career in Delhi for marriage and a new home in St Helens and would be appearing in the Pilks beauty contest in her national dress. The glass firm's works' depots and offices nationwide had each nominated a glamorous young woman to compete for the 1972 Gala Girl title, which carried a prize of a holiday for two worth £120.
The Reporter also described how the managing director of a St Helens firm had claimed that vital seconds – potentially, the difference between life and death – were being wasted because of an overloaded telephone network. The codes from St Helens for 14 local exchanges all now began with the number nine, which was said to be putting a strain on the emergency 999 system and leading to callers receiving engaged tones. Security boss Albert Roberts of Guard Dog Hire of Burtonhead Road told the Reporter:
"Somebody has dropped a clanger when they've allocated the dialling codes of 14 towns within a 20 mile radius of St. Helens to start with nine. The 999 service during the daytime is, on many occasions, not available. I will defy the Post Office to prove otherwise. If my place is on fire and I can't dial 999, what do I do?" The Telephone Users Association in London supported Mr Roberts' criticisms but the Liverpool Post Office denied that there was a problem. Their spokesman added that he would "stress most strongly" that people in St Helens should not call 999 just to see if the line was engaged!
Lady Pilkington claimed in the Reporter that Rugby League boss Bill Fallowfield had criticised her behaviour at Wembley a fortnight earlier when Saints had won the Challenge Cup. The league's secretary had supposedly said: "Let us have less partisan behaviour in the Royal Box". Lady P told the paper:
"I'm afraid I was indifferent to Mr. Fallowfield's remarks. I had gone to watch my favourite team play an important match and when Graham Rees scored in the first 30 seconds of the game I thought it was terrific. I just couldn't stay in my seat. I stood up and cheered because I was so excited.
"And the rest of the match was so thrilling that I had to shout with the rest of the crowd. And why not? I'm one of the Saints keenest supporters and I cannot sit unmoved when I'm watching them play whether I'm in the Royal Box or not." Asked to respond to the allegation, Mr Fallowfield said his comments to Lady Pilkington had been made in a "casual and joking manner" and no offence had been intended.
The Reporter Leisure Guide was an advertising feature in this week's paper that profiled restaurants and clubs. The fact that most of the advertisers were from outside of the town indicates, perhaps, the limited choice of such facilities in St Helens during the early ‘70s. The Baccardi Club in Ormskirk Street in St Helens was profiled in the feature and described as "foremost in today's swinging scene locally" and "famed for its ability to present the best in entertainment, plus the finest in eats."
"Cast yourself away tonight on that island of entertainment and first class meals" was the slogan of the Robinson Crusoe Club in Carr Mill. The Royal Oak Hotel on the East Lancs Road near Rainford said they were: "The ideal rendezvous for good food with speciality dishes to order under the personal supervision of Mr. N. Fabro, Restaurateur, with the experience of a Master Chef."
How much weight should be placed on Nello Fabro's supervision might be seen as debatable, as in January 1972 he had been fined £210 by Prescot magistrates for having a dirty kitchen. The feature made no reference to that embarrassing event but it was stated that the kitchens of the Royal Oak had recently been renovated, creating a "modern, gleaming food preparation area in stainless steel".
Carpet designers Marjorie Fletcher and Ann Davison were pictured in the paper having beaten thirty-two other competitors to take first and second place in the Royal Society of Arts annual awards for carpet design. Both women worked at John Thornton's Crown Works in Eccleston Street in St Helens and for the competition had to design a carpet suitable for a discotheque.
It was also reported that Pilkington glass was to be used to repair the havoc caused by last year's devastating earthquake in Chile. The group had won two export orders for flat glass worth over £4 million from the Chilean government that would be used in a series of major housing projects.
At a meeting of the Haydock Highways Committee this week, Cllr. Ron Silver raised eyebrows when he said he opposed plans for a new zebra crossing in busy Church Road on safety grounds. Explaining his position, Cllr. Silver said zebras "give people a false sense of security. Some people step out on to one of these crossings and think they're safe. But they are not always." However, the other members of the committee voted in favour of the crossing with County Councillor Robert Finney saying: "Zebra crossings are in use everywhere and Councillor Silver might as well say the whole country is wrong."
Value added tax was due to replace purchase tax in April 1973 and there were often scare stories in the newspapers about possible consequences. This week in the House of Commons, the St Helens MP, Leslie Spriggs, claimed that the introduction of VAT on ticket prices could kill off rugby league. That was because the cost of admission to grounds from the start of the 1973/74 season would have to rise by 3p – or three "new pence", as our coinage was then commonly called.
Saints had already announced a separate rise of five new pence in admission prices from next season in order to bring them into line with other clubs' rates. And so the cost to the fan for watching Saints over the next two years was expected to rise by the equivalent of 1s 6d. Last season the minimum price to get into Knowsley Road had cost spectators 25 new pence. If VAT were imposed on ticket prices as planned, then the cost would rise to 33p. That, according to Leslie Spriggs, would lead to many supporters refusing to pay, which, he claimed, would mean the closure of some clubs.
Next week's stories will include a child's death at Bartons Carpet store in Duke Street, the star-spangled Windle filling station, the poisoning of family pets in Billinge, the Clock Face home gazumping and the parent-led Children's Club in Gartons Lane.
We begin on the 16th when a meeting of striking boilermakers employed by William Neill of Bold voted to reject an improved pay offer. A 2-hour meeting earlier in the day between union officials and bosses at the engineering plant that had been shut for five weeks had led to the proposed rise. However, what its management called a "considerable increase" in wages had been conditional on the re-introduction of a controversial flexibility agreement.
On the 19th the Liverpool Echo reported that British Sidac of St Helens had announced that it would be making 100 process workers redundant in the near future. No date had been fixed for the redundancies at its cellulose wrappings factory in Lancots Lane but talks had taken place between the management and the General and Municipal Workers Union. Later in the week the St Helens Reporter wrote: "The axe will fall at a time when the town is still in the grip of a work famine."
Also on that day, the newly-installed Mayor of St Helens, Cllr. Allan Lycett, officially opened the new driving range at Sherdley Park. A keen golfer, Cllr. Lycett became the first to tee off on the 400-yards-long range containing ten bays. Open from 8:30am to 8:30pm during the week and from 2pm on Sundays, golfers could blaze away at 60 balls for 35p.
It was announced this week that the first direct coach journey between St Helens and London would begin on May 24th. The service operated by Ribble would run every Saturday during the summer months and take five hours.
The much-vandalised Four Acre Lane housing estate suffered another blow this week when a caravan packed with building equipment was destroyed by fire. It was the third serious blaze on the site in the last few months. Last November three almost finished houses were gutted in an arson attack. Then last month two new homes had to be pulled down after fire caused extensive damage. Another blaze occurred this week in an office at the rear of Griffin's furniture store in Duke Street that seriously damaged the building.
The discovery of cheap and plentiful reserves of natural gas in the North Sea in 1965 had led to a mammoth conversion programme in Britain. During 1972 it was the turn of homes within the St Helens district to have their gas cookers and heaters converted to use natural gas (mainly methane) instead of manufactured gas. However, the conversion work had been brought to a halt almost two weeks ago due to a strike by 400 gas workers. On the 18th the men returned to work after their employers offered to open negotiations on a new bonus scheme and scrap some dismissal notices.
The lead story in the St Helens Reporter on the 19th described the sacking of Alderman Joe Hughes as the leader of the majority Labour group on St Helens Council – because he was considered too old. The paper wrote: "The shock decision to axe the 79-year-old alderman has been taken in a bid to introduce new blood to the top jobs in the council. And in the next few weeks, more heads are expected to roll." The Reporter added that hardliners in the Labour Party wanted to remove all alderman aged over 70 from the chairmanships of council committees.
Also on the front page of the Reporter were photographs of some of the candidates in the Pilkington Gala Girl contest. "Dark-eyed beauty" Krishna Dawar from Blackbrook was singled out for a write-up. The 25-year old process worker at Triplex had swapped a teaching career in Delhi for marriage and a new home in St Helens and would be appearing in the Pilks beauty contest in her national dress. The glass firm's works' depots and offices nationwide had each nominated a glamorous young woman to compete for the 1972 Gala Girl title, which carried a prize of a holiday for two worth £120.
The Reporter also described how the managing director of a St Helens firm had claimed that vital seconds – potentially, the difference between life and death – were being wasted because of an overloaded telephone network. The codes from St Helens for 14 local exchanges all now began with the number nine, which was said to be putting a strain on the emergency 999 system and leading to callers receiving engaged tones. Security boss Albert Roberts of Guard Dog Hire of Burtonhead Road told the Reporter:
"Somebody has dropped a clanger when they've allocated the dialling codes of 14 towns within a 20 mile radius of St. Helens to start with nine. The 999 service during the daytime is, on many occasions, not available. I will defy the Post Office to prove otherwise. If my place is on fire and I can't dial 999, what do I do?" The Telephone Users Association in London supported Mr Roberts' criticisms but the Liverpool Post Office denied that there was a problem. Their spokesman added that he would "stress most strongly" that people in St Helens should not call 999 just to see if the line was engaged!
Lady Pilkington claimed in the Reporter that Rugby League boss Bill Fallowfield had criticised her behaviour at Wembley a fortnight earlier when Saints had won the Challenge Cup. The league's secretary had supposedly said: "Let us have less partisan behaviour in the Royal Box". Lady P told the paper:
"I'm afraid I was indifferent to Mr. Fallowfield's remarks. I had gone to watch my favourite team play an important match and when Graham Rees scored in the first 30 seconds of the game I thought it was terrific. I just couldn't stay in my seat. I stood up and cheered because I was so excited.
"And the rest of the match was so thrilling that I had to shout with the rest of the crowd. And why not? I'm one of the Saints keenest supporters and I cannot sit unmoved when I'm watching them play whether I'm in the Royal Box or not." Asked to respond to the allegation, Mr Fallowfield said his comments to Lady Pilkington had been made in a "casual and joking manner" and no offence had been intended.
The Reporter Leisure Guide was an advertising feature in this week's paper that profiled restaurants and clubs. The fact that most of the advertisers were from outside of the town indicates, perhaps, the limited choice of such facilities in St Helens during the early ‘70s. The Baccardi Club in Ormskirk Street in St Helens was profiled in the feature and described as "foremost in today's swinging scene locally" and "famed for its ability to present the best in entertainment, plus the finest in eats."
"Cast yourself away tonight on that island of entertainment and first class meals" was the slogan of the Robinson Crusoe Club in Carr Mill. The Royal Oak Hotel on the East Lancs Road near Rainford said they were: "The ideal rendezvous for good food with speciality dishes to order under the personal supervision of Mr. N. Fabro, Restaurateur, with the experience of a Master Chef."
How much weight should be placed on Nello Fabro's supervision might be seen as debatable, as in January 1972 he had been fined £210 by Prescot magistrates for having a dirty kitchen. The feature made no reference to that embarrassing event but it was stated that the kitchens of the Royal Oak had recently been renovated, creating a "modern, gleaming food preparation area in stainless steel".
Carpet designers Marjorie Fletcher and Ann Davison were pictured in the paper having beaten thirty-two other competitors to take first and second place in the Royal Society of Arts annual awards for carpet design. Both women worked at John Thornton's Crown Works in Eccleston Street in St Helens and for the competition had to design a carpet suitable for a discotheque.
It was also reported that Pilkington glass was to be used to repair the havoc caused by last year's devastating earthquake in Chile. The group had won two export orders for flat glass worth over £4 million from the Chilean government that would be used in a series of major housing projects.
At a meeting of the Haydock Highways Committee this week, Cllr. Ron Silver raised eyebrows when he said he opposed plans for a new zebra crossing in busy Church Road on safety grounds. Explaining his position, Cllr. Silver said zebras "give people a false sense of security. Some people step out on to one of these crossings and think they're safe. But they are not always." However, the other members of the committee voted in favour of the crossing with County Councillor Robert Finney saying: "Zebra crossings are in use everywhere and Councillor Silver might as well say the whole country is wrong."
Value added tax was due to replace purchase tax in April 1973 and there were often scare stories in the newspapers about possible consequences. This week in the House of Commons, the St Helens MP, Leslie Spriggs, claimed that the introduction of VAT on ticket prices could kill off rugby league. That was because the cost of admission to grounds from the start of the 1973/74 season would have to rise by 3p – or three "new pence", as our coinage was then commonly called.
Saints had already announced a separate rise of five new pence in admission prices from next season in order to bring them into line with other clubs' rates. And so the cost to the fan for watching Saints over the next two years was expected to rise by the equivalent of 1s 6d. Last season the minimum price to get into Knowsley Road had cost spectators 25 new pence. If VAT were imposed on ticket prices as planned, then the cost would rise to 33p. That, according to Leslie Spriggs, would lead to many supporters refusing to pay, which, he claimed, would mean the closure of some clubs.
Next week's stories will include a child's death at Bartons Carpet store in Duke Street, the star-spangled Windle filling station, the poisoning of family pets in Billinge, the Clock Face home gazumping and the parent-led Children's Club in Gartons Lane.
This week's 17 stories include another arson attack on the new Four Acre estate, a Labour alderman is sacked as party leader for being too old, a claim that 999 calls were receiving the engaged tone, Lady Pilkington refutes criticism of getting over-excited in the Royal Box at Wembley, the St Helens MP claims VAT on tickets would kill off rugby league and why a zebra crossing in Haydock was considered to be a safety hazard.
We begin on the 16th when a meeting of striking boilermakers employed by William Neill of Bold voted to reject an improved pay offer.
A 2-hour meeting earlier in the day between union officials and bosses at the engineering plant that had been shut for five weeks had led to the proposed rise.
However, what its management called a "considerable increase" in wages had been conditional on the re-introduction of a controversial flexibility agreement.
On the 19th the Liverpool Echo reported that British Sidac of St Helens had announced that it would be making 100 process workers redundant in the near future.
No date had been fixed for the redundancies at its cellulose wrappings factory in Lancots Lane but talks had taken place between the management and the General and Municipal Workers Union.
Later in the week the St Helens Reporter wrote: "The axe will fall at a time when the town is still in the grip of a work famine."
On the 20th a free Bible lecture on 'The Divine Plan of the Ages' was given in the Co-op Hall in Helena House in Baldwin Street (pictured above).
In these days of hi-tech shows, the advert for the event in the Reporter that said: "Illustrated by Large Chart" made its presentation sound rather primitive in comparison.
Also on that day, the newly-installed Mayor of St Helens, Cllr. Allan Lycett, officially opened the new driving range at Sherdley Park.
A keen golfer, Cllr. Lycett became the first to tee off on the 400-yards-long range containing ten bays.
Open from 8:30am to 8:30pm during the week and from 2pm on Sundays, golfers could blaze away at 60 balls for 35p.
It was announced this week that the first direct coach journey between St Helens and London would begin on May 24th.
The service operated by Ribble would run every Saturday during the summer months and take five hours.
The much-vandalised Four Acre Lane housing estate suffered another blow this week when a caravan packed with building equipment was destroyed by fire.
It was the third serious blaze on the site in the last few months. Last November three almost finished houses were gutted in an arson attack. Then last month two new homes had to be pulled down after fire caused extensive damage.
Another blaze occurred this week in an office at the rear of Griffin's furniture store in Duke Street that seriously damaged the building.
The discovery of cheap and plentiful reserves of natural gas in the North Sea in 1965 had led to a mammoth conversion programme in Britain.
During 1972 it was the turn of homes within the St Helens district to have their gas cookers and heaters converted to use natural gas (mainly methane) instead of manufactured gas.
However, the conversion work had been brought to a halt almost two weeks ago due to a strike by 400 gas workers.
On the 18th the men returned to work after their employers offered to open negotiations on a new bonus scheme and scrap some dismissal notices.
The lead story in the St Helens Reporter on the 19th described the sacking of Alderman Joe Hughes as the leader of the majority Labour group on St Helens Council – because he was considered too old.
The paper wrote: "The shock decision to axe the 79-year-old alderman has been taken in a bid to introduce new blood to the top jobs in the council. And in the next few weeks, more heads are expected to roll."
The Reporter added that hardliners in the Labour Party wanted to remove all alderman aged over 70 from the chairmanships of council committees.
Also on the front page of the Reporter were photographs of some of the candidates in the Pilkington Gala Girl contest.
"Dark-eyed beauty" Krishna Dawar from Blackbrook was singled out for a write-up.
The 25-year old process worker at Triplex had swapped a teaching career in Delhi for marriage and a new home in St Helens and would be appearing in the Pilks beauty contest in her national dress.
The glass firm's works' depots and offices nationwide had each nominated a glamorous young woman to compete for the 1972 Gala Girl title, which carried a prize of a holiday for two worth £120.
The Reporter also described how the managing director of a St Helens firm had claimed that vital seconds – potentially, the difference between life and death – were being wasted because of an overloaded telephone network.
The codes from St Helens for 14 local exchanges all now began with the number nine, which was said to be putting a strain on the emergency 999 system and leading to callers receiving engaged tones.
Security boss Albert Roberts of Guard Dog Hire of Burtonhead Road told the Reporter:
"Somebody has dropped a clanger when they've allocated the dialling codes of 14 towns within a 20 mile radius of St. Helens to start with nine.
"The 999 service during the daytime is, on many occasions, not available. I will defy the Post Office to prove otherwise. If my place is on fire and I can't dial 999, what do I do?"
The Telephone Users Association in London supported Mr Roberts' criticisms but the Liverpool Post Office denied that there was a problem.
Their spokesman added that he would "stress most strongly" that people in St Helens should not call 999 just to see if the line was engaged!
Lady Pilkington claimed in the Reporter that Rugby League boss Bill Fallowfield had criticised her behaviour at Wembley a fortnight earlier when Saints had won the Challenge Cup.
The league's secretary had supposedly said: "Let us have less partisan behaviour in the Royal Box". Lady P told the paper:
"I'm afraid I was indifferent to Mr. Fallowfield's remarks. I had gone to watch my favourite team play an important match and when Graham Rees scored in the first 30 seconds of the game I thought it was terrific. I just couldn't stay in my seat.
"I stood up and cheered because I was so excited. And the rest of the match was so thrilling that I had to shout with the rest of the crowd. And why not? I'm one of the Saints keenest supporters and I cannot sit unmoved when I'm watching them play whether I'm in the Royal Box or not."
Asked to respond to the allegation, Mr Fallowfield said his comments to Lady Pilkington had been made in a "casual and joking manner" and no offence had been intended.
The Reporter Leisure Guide was an advertising feature in this week's paper that profiled restaurants and clubs.
The fact that most of the advertisers were from outside of the town indicates, perhaps, the limited choice of such facilities in St Helens during the early ‘70s.
The Baccardi Club in Ormskirk Street in St Helens was profiled in the feature and described as "foremost in today's swinging scene locally" and "famed for its ability to present the best in entertainment, plus the finest in eats."
"Cast yourself away tonight on that island of entertainment and first class meals" was the slogan of the Robinson Crusoe Club in Carr Mill.
The Royal Oak Hotel on the East Lancs Road near Rainford said they were: "The ideal rendezvous for good food with speciality dishes to order under the personal supervision of Mr. N. Fabro, Restaurateur, with the experience of a Master Chef."
How much weight should be placed on Nello Fabro's supervision might be seen as debatable, as in January 1972 he had been fined £210 by Prescot magistrates for having a dirty kitchen.
The feature made no reference to that embarrassing event but it was stated that the kitchens of the Royal Oak had recently been renovated, creating a "modern, gleaming food preparation area in stainless steel".
Carpet designers Marjorie Fletcher and Ann Davison were pictured in the paper having beaten thirty-two other competitors to take first and second place in the Royal Society of Arts annual awards for carpet design.
Both women worked at John Thornton's Crown Works in Eccleston Street in St Helens and for the competition had to design a carpet suitable for a discotheque.
It was also reported that Pilkington glass was to be used to repair the havoc caused by last year's devastating earthquake in Chile.
The group had won two export orders for flat glass worth over £4 million from the Chilean government that would be used in a series of major housing projects.
At a meeting of the Haydock Highways Committee this week, Cllr. Ron Silver raised eyebrows when he said he opposed plans for a new zebra crossing in busy Church Road on safety grounds.
Explaining his position, Cllr. Silver said zebras "give people a false sense of security. Some people step out on to one of these crossings and think they're safe. But they are not always."
However, the other members of the committee voted in favour of the crossing with County Councillor Robert Finney saying: "Zebra crossings are in use everywhere and Councillor Silver might as well say the whole country is wrong."
Value added tax was due to replace purchase tax in April 1973 and there were often scare stories in the newspapers about possible consequences.
This week in the House of Commons, the St Helens MP, Leslie Spriggs, claimed that the introduction of VAT on ticket prices could kill off rugby league.
That was because the cost of admission to grounds from the start of the 1973/74 season would have to rise by 3p – or three "new pence", as our coinage was then commonly called.
Saints had already announced a separate rise of five new pence in admission prices from next season in order to bring them into line with other clubs' rates.
And so the cost to the fan for watching Saints over the next two years was expected to rise by the equivalent of 1s 6d.
Last season the minimum price to get into Knowsley Road had cost spectators 25 new pence. If VAT were imposed on ticket prices as planned, then the cost would rise to 33p.
That, according to Leslie Spriggs, would lead to many supporters refusing to pay, which, he claimed, would mean the closure of some clubs.
Next week's stories will include a child's death at Bartons Carpet store in Duke Street, the star-spangled Windle filling station, the poisoning of family pets in Billinge, the Clock Face home gazumping and the parent-led Children's Club in Gartons Lane.
We begin on the 16th when a meeting of striking boilermakers employed by William Neill of Bold voted to reject an improved pay offer.
A 2-hour meeting earlier in the day between union officials and bosses at the engineering plant that had been shut for five weeks had led to the proposed rise.
However, what its management called a "considerable increase" in wages had been conditional on the re-introduction of a controversial flexibility agreement.
On the 19th the Liverpool Echo reported that British Sidac of St Helens had announced that it would be making 100 process workers redundant in the near future.
No date had been fixed for the redundancies at its cellulose wrappings factory in Lancots Lane but talks had taken place between the management and the General and Municipal Workers Union.
Later in the week the St Helens Reporter wrote: "The axe will fall at a time when the town is still in the grip of a work famine."
In these days of hi-tech shows, the advert for the event in the Reporter that said: "Illustrated by Large Chart" made its presentation sound rather primitive in comparison.
Also on that day, the newly-installed Mayor of St Helens, Cllr. Allan Lycett, officially opened the new driving range at Sherdley Park.
A keen golfer, Cllr. Lycett became the first to tee off on the 400-yards-long range containing ten bays.
Open from 8:30am to 8:30pm during the week and from 2pm on Sundays, golfers could blaze away at 60 balls for 35p.
It was announced this week that the first direct coach journey between St Helens and London would begin on May 24th.
The service operated by Ribble would run every Saturday during the summer months and take five hours.
The much-vandalised Four Acre Lane housing estate suffered another blow this week when a caravan packed with building equipment was destroyed by fire.
It was the third serious blaze on the site in the last few months. Last November three almost finished houses were gutted in an arson attack. Then last month two new homes had to be pulled down after fire caused extensive damage.
Another blaze occurred this week in an office at the rear of Griffin's furniture store in Duke Street that seriously damaged the building.
The discovery of cheap and plentiful reserves of natural gas in the North Sea in 1965 had led to a mammoth conversion programme in Britain.
During 1972 it was the turn of homes within the St Helens district to have their gas cookers and heaters converted to use natural gas (mainly methane) instead of manufactured gas.
However, the conversion work had been brought to a halt almost two weeks ago due to a strike by 400 gas workers.
On the 18th the men returned to work after their employers offered to open negotiations on a new bonus scheme and scrap some dismissal notices.
The lead story in the St Helens Reporter on the 19th described the sacking of Alderman Joe Hughes as the leader of the majority Labour group on St Helens Council – because he was considered too old.
The paper wrote: "The shock decision to axe the 79-year-old alderman has been taken in a bid to introduce new blood to the top jobs in the council. And in the next few weeks, more heads are expected to roll."
The Reporter added that hardliners in the Labour Party wanted to remove all alderman aged over 70 from the chairmanships of council committees.
Also on the front page of the Reporter were photographs of some of the candidates in the Pilkington Gala Girl contest.
"Dark-eyed beauty" Krishna Dawar from Blackbrook was singled out for a write-up.
The 25-year old process worker at Triplex had swapped a teaching career in Delhi for marriage and a new home in St Helens and would be appearing in the Pilks beauty contest in her national dress.
The glass firm's works' depots and offices nationwide had each nominated a glamorous young woman to compete for the 1972 Gala Girl title, which carried a prize of a holiday for two worth £120.
The Reporter also described how the managing director of a St Helens firm had claimed that vital seconds – potentially, the difference between life and death – were being wasted because of an overloaded telephone network.
The codes from St Helens for 14 local exchanges all now began with the number nine, which was said to be putting a strain on the emergency 999 system and leading to callers receiving engaged tones.
Security boss Albert Roberts of Guard Dog Hire of Burtonhead Road told the Reporter:
"Somebody has dropped a clanger when they've allocated the dialling codes of 14 towns within a 20 mile radius of St. Helens to start with nine.
"The 999 service during the daytime is, on many occasions, not available. I will defy the Post Office to prove otherwise. If my place is on fire and I can't dial 999, what do I do?"
The Telephone Users Association in London supported Mr Roberts' criticisms but the Liverpool Post Office denied that there was a problem.
Their spokesman added that he would "stress most strongly" that people in St Helens should not call 999 just to see if the line was engaged!
Lady Pilkington claimed in the Reporter that Rugby League boss Bill Fallowfield had criticised her behaviour at Wembley a fortnight earlier when Saints had won the Challenge Cup.
The league's secretary had supposedly said: "Let us have less partisan behaviour in the Royal Box". Lady P told the paper:
"I'm afraid I was indifferent to Mr. Fallowfield's remarks. I had gone to watch my favourite team play an important match and when Graham Rees scored in the first 30 seconds of the game I thought it was terrific. I just couldn't stay in my seat.
"I stood up and cheered because I was so excited. And the rest of the match was so thrilling that I had to shout with the rest of the crowd. And why not? I'm one of the Saints keenest supporters and I cannot sit unmoved when I'm watching them play whether I'm in the Royal Box or not."
Asked to respond to the allegation, Mr Fallowfield said his comments to Lady Pilkington had been made in a "casual and joking manner" and no offence had been intended.
The Reporter Leisure Guide was an advertising feature in this week's paper that profiled restaurants and clubs.
The fact that most of the advertisers were from outside of the town indicates, perhaps, the limited choice of such facilities in St Helens during the early ‘70s.
The Baccardi Club in Ormskirk Street in St Helens was profiled in the feature and described as "foremost in today's swinging scene locally" and "famed for its ability to present the best in entertainment, plus the finest in eats."
"Cast yourself away tonight on that island of entertainment and first class meals" was the slogan of the Robinson Crusoe Club in Carr Mill.
The Royal Oak Hotel on the East Lancs Road near Rainford said they were: "The ideal rendezvous for good food with speciality dishes to order under the personal supervision of Mr. N. Fabro, Restaurateur, with the experience of a Master Chef."
How much weight should be placed on Nello Fabro's supervision might be seen as debatable, as in January 1972 he had been fined £210 by Prescot magistrates for having a dirty kitchen.
The feature made no reference to that embarrassing event but it was stated that the kitchens of the Royal Oak had recently been renovated, creating a "modern, gleaming food preparation area in stainless steel".
Carpet designers Marjorie Fletcher and Ann Davison were pictured in the paper having beaten thirty-two other competitors to take first and second place in the Royal Society of Arts annual awards for carpet design.
Both women worked at John Thornton's Crown Works in Eccleston Street in St Helens and for the competition had to design a carpet suitable for a discotheque.
It was also reported that Pilkington glass was to be used to repair the havoc caused by last year's devastating earthquake in Chile.
The group had won two export orders for flat glass worth over £4 million from the Chilean government that would be used in a series of major housing projects.
At a meeting of the Haydock Highways Committee this week, Cllr. Ron Silver raised eyebrows when he said he opposed plans for a new zebra crossing in busy Church Road on safety grounds.
Explaining his position, Cllr. Silver said zebras "give people a false sense of security. Some people step out on to one of these crossings and think they're safe. But they are not always."
However, the other members of the committee voted in favour of the crossing with County Councillor Robert Finney saying: "Zebra crossings are in use everywhere and Councillor Silver might as well say the whole country is wrong."
Value added tax was due to replace purchase tax in April 1973 and there were often scare stories in the newspapers about possible consequences.
This week in the House of Commons, the St Helens MP, Leslie Spriggs, claimed that the introduction of VAT on ticket prices could kill off rugby league.
That was because the cost of admission to grounds from the start of the 1973/74 season would have to rise by 3p – or three "new pence", as our coinage was then commonly called.
Saints had already announced a separate rise of five new pence in admission prices from next season in order to bring them into line with other clubs' rates.
And so the cost to the fan for watching Saints over the next two years was expected to rise by the equivalent of 1s 6d.
Last season the minimum price to get into Knowsley Road had cost spectators 25 new pence. If VAT were imposed on ticket prices as planned, then the cost would rise to 33p.
That, according to Leslie Spriggs, would lead to many supporters refusing to pay, which, he claimed, would mean the closure of some clubs.
Next week's stories will include a child's death at Bartons Carpet store in Duke Street, the star-spangled Windle filling station, the poisoning of family pets in Billinge, the Clock Face home gazumping and the parent-led Children's Club in Gartons Lane.