FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (17 - 23 JULY 1973)
This week's many stories include the opening of new baths in Prescot, an angry mothers' school blockade in Blackbrook, a campaign against computers at Pilks, concern over the future of Greenall's recreation club in Alder Hey Road, the crafty monkeys at Knowsley Safari Park and there are plans for a new Windleshaw RC Primary – but Margaret Thatcher rejects badly-needed improvements to Moss Bank Primary School.
We begin with a number of fires that took place in St Helens this week. In one at Slinn's old wallpaper and paints store in Westfield Street, firemen Keith Lawrenson suffered a back injury and needed hospital treatment. Although the building had been vacated and was awaiting demolition, wallpaper, paint and cardboard boxes that had been left behind provided fuel for the fire.
Old buildings facing demolition proved problematic for the St Helens Fire Brigade in the ‘70s. At another blaze at the former Barclays Bank in Church Street there were concerns of walls collapsing when firemen dealt with timber and rubbish that was on fire. And at a third disused property on the corner of College Street and Standish Street that had formerly been a butcher's, a settee was ablaze. The busy brigade also dealt with a blaze down a shaft at Whiston Hospital, put out a fire in a car in Parade Street caused by a petrol leak and dealt with another fire at Fibreglass.
On the 17th the new £350,000 baths complex in Scotchbarn Lane in Prescot – that were intended to serve both Whiston and Prescot – were officially opened by Walter Winterbottom (pictured above). The ex-football star – who had been the first manager of the England national team – was then the Director of the National Sports Council.
Mr Winterbottom told those gathered that the provision of leisure facilities could be the answer to many present-day problems, such as drugs and vandalism. Leisure time for everyone, he said, was bound to increase as many people were now retiring at 60 and by 1981 some would be retiring at 55. The cable firm BICC had donated the land for the new baths. Its main pool was 82ft long and 41ft wide and its depth varied from 3ft to about 10ft.
Also on the 17th the teachers and managers at Windleshaw RC Primary were shown the architects' plans for a new modern school. The building would replace their existing school that the St Helens MP, Leslie Spriggs, had labelled a "Dickensian workhouse". It would be built in Rainford Road, north of the Hamblett open-air school. For children and staff it would mean the end of a daily quarter-mile walk to a canteen, having no hall or playing field and getting rid of their high, forbidding windows.
The St Helens Reporter's lead story on the 20th began: "Defiant mothers struggled with police to make a human barricade across two roads in Blackbrook and bring traffic to a halt. For nearly 20 minutes four policemen had to push and drag the furious women out of the way of waiting cars, buses, and heavy lorries."
The trouble occurred at St Mary's Primary School in Chain Lane and the women were demanding a lollipop man to supervise their children going to and from school. However, St Helens Corporation and the police had rejected an earlier petition on the grounds that insufficient traffic used Chain Lane and not enough children crossed there. But later three councillors promised the barricading women that their demand would be re-considered.
"Union To Fight ‘Brain’" was another front-page headline in the paper, which expressed concern that the use of computers at Pilkingtons would lead to job losses amongst white-collar workers. Their union – the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs – had seen a huge rise in their membership over the last two years in St Helens from 300 to 4,000. They attributed this growth to a realisation by salaried workers that trade union organisation was the "only way to combat low salaries and lack of job security caused by the computer and the consultant".
The Pilkington Glass Museum in Prescot Road had its own cinema and announced in the Reporter that until October they would be screening a film called 'Archipelago – Glass Sculptures' which was being seen for the first time in the UK.
Every year the St Helens Savings Committee awarded the Cozens-Hardy Savings Trophy to the schoolchildren considered the most regular savers. In the Reporter there was a photo of youngsters from St Peter's and St Paul's. They were this year's winners after collectively saving £965 in a year and the pupils received their award from the mayor.
The Reporter also revealed that Education Minister Margaret Thatcher had refused to permit improvements to Moss Bank Primary School because she considered that there were more urgent needs elsewhere. Currently the fifty-four children in the century-old church-run school ate their lunches in a wooden hut that also served as their gym. The Rev. Gordon Williams of St Mark's Church told the paper that the hut was getting battered and its flooring was bad.
Four years ago Mr Williams had asked the local education authority to consider plans for an extension. But it had taken them until November 1972 before an official request had been submitted to Mrs Thatcher. The vicar said that the education authority had told him that there were other schools in the area within statutory walking distance that could accommodate children. He added:
"We have our portion of the money for an extension, which would probably cost about £15,000. The amount is so small that to say this would hinder other projects is ludicrous. We're getting fed up spending money on patching up this wooden hut. There is plenty of room to build an extension on to the school for a dining room, gym and toilets."
Concern was expressed in the paper as to what would happen to Greenall Whitley's recreation club in Alder Hey Road after the brewery pulled out of St Helens. Formed in 1929 the club ground included a football and cricket pitch, bowling green, tennis courts and snooker and darts facilities, as well as the clubhouse. Club secretary Harold Roberts said: "We have received no official word as to what will happen to it. All we can do is speculate." Greenall's response was not completely reassuring, saying: "There are no plans to sell the club, and it is not on the market yet."
There was a photograph in the Reporter of Alice Wood, the long-standing deputy head at Cowley Girls School who was retiring. Miss Wood of Gunning Avenue in Eccleston had been teaching at Cowley for 33 years, with 27 of them as deputy head. Staff had presented her with a fireside chair and transistor radio and pupils gave her a porcelain figurine.
Knowsley Safari Park was advertising in the Reporter. Upon opening two years ago the price of admission was £1 per car and that rate continued in 1972. But that had now increased to £1.50, although two new game reserves had been opened. On the 21st the Liverpool Echo published an article on Daniel Cowan whose job was to patrol Knowsley Safari Park at night on the look out for persons attempting to break in – and animals wanting to bust out.
The Echo wrote that the biggest headache for the safari watchmen had been the "mischievous monkeys", with Mr Cowan saying: "When the park was first opened the monkeys were kept in by a special slippery fence which they found impossible to climb. But since then they have grown bigger, stronger, and more crafty. A few weeks ago, all hell was let loose when some of them managed to break out – but we got them back within a short while. Now we have built a stronger and higher fence and this time it will definitely keep them in."
By the 1970s women had made limited headway playing traditional male sports. I'm only aware of a single female football team in St Helens that played at Hoghton Road in Sutton and I don't believe there were any women playing rugby. But there was cricket – and on the 22nd the Lancashire and Cheshire Women's Cricket Association played Trinidad and Tobago in a 60 overs match at St Helens but lost by 62 runs.
Also on the 22nd 'Steptoe & Son Ride Again' replaced 'The Thief Who Came To Dinner' at the ABC Savoy. And on the following day, the Capitol Cinema began showing the Disney film 'Snowball Express'.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the vandalism at the St Helens Show, the permitting of organised Sunday sport on council pitches, a plan to thwart a quarrying extension on Billinge Hill and anger in Rainford as a planned new youth centre is rejected.
We begin with a number of fires that took place in St Helens this week. In one at Slinn's old wallpaper and paints store in Westfield Street, firemen Keith Lawrenson suffered a back injury and needed hospital treatment. Although the building had been vacated and was awaiting demolition, wallpaper, paint and cardboard boxes that had been left behind provided fuel for the fire.
Old buildings facing demolition proved problematic for the St Helens Fire Brigade in the ‘70s. At another blaze at the former Barclays Bank in Church Street there were concerns of walls collapsing when firemen dealt with timber and rubbish that was on fire. And at a third disused property on the corner of College Street and Standish Street that had formerly been a butcher's, a settee was ablaze. The busy brigade also dealt with a blaze down a shaft at Whiston Hospital, put out a fire in a car in Parade Street caused by a petrol leak and dealt with another fire at Fibreglass.
Mr Winterbottom told those gathered that the provision of leisure facilities could be the answer to many present-day problems, such as drugs and vandalism. Leisure time for everyone, he said, was bound to increase as many people were now retiring at 60 and by 1981 some would be retiring at 55. The cable firm BICC had donated the land for the new baths. Its main pool was 82ft long and 41ft wide and its depth varied from 3ft to about 10ft.
Also on the 17th the teachers and managers at Windleshaw RC Primary were shown the architects' plans for a new modern school. The building would replace their existing school that the St Helens MP, Leslie Spriggs, had labelled a "Dickensian workhouse". It would be built in Rainford Road, north of the Hamblett open-air school. For children and staff it would mean the end of a daily quarter-mile walk to a canteen, having no hall or playing field and getting rid of their high, forbidding windows.
The St Helens Reporter's lead story on the 20th began: "Defiant mothers struggled with police to make a human barricade across two roads in Blackbrook and bring traffic to a halt. For nearly 20 minutes four policemen had to push and drag the furious women out of the way of waiting cars, buses, and heavy lorries."
The trouble occurred at St Mary's Primary School in Chain Lane and the women were demanding a lollipop man to supervise their children going to and from school. However, St Helens Corporation and the police had rejected an earlier petition on the grounds that insufficient traffic used Chain Lane and not enough children crossed there. But later three councillors promised the barricading women that their demand would be re-considered.
"Union To Fight ‘Brain’" was another front-page headline in the paper, which expressed concern that the use of computers at Pilkingtons would lead to job losses amongst white-collar workers. Their union – the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs – had seen a huge rise in their membership over the last two years in St Helens from 300 to 4,000. They attributed this growth to a realisation by salaried workers that trade union organisation was the "only way to combat low salaries and lack of job security caused by the computer and the consultant".
The Pilkington Glass Museum in Prescot Road had its own cinema and announced in the Reporter that until October they would be screening a film called 'Archipelago – Glass Sculptures' which was being seen for the first time in the UK.
Every year the St Helens Savings Committee awarded the Cozens-Hardy Savings Trophy to the schoolchildren considered the most regular savers. In the Reporter there was a photo of youngsters from St Peter's and St Paul's. They were this year's winners after collectively saving £965 in a year and the pupils received their award from the mayor.
The Reporter also revealed that Education Minister Margaret Thatcher had refused to permit improvements to Moss Bank Primary School because she considered that there were more urgent needs elsewhere. Currently the fifty-four children in the century-old church-run school ate their lunches in a wooden hut that also served as their gym. The Rev. Gordon Williams of St Mark's Church told the paper that the hut was getting battered and its flooring was bad.
Four years ago Mr Williams had asked the local education authority to consider plans for an extension. But it had taken them until November 1972 before an official request had been submitted to Mrs Thatcher. The vicar said that the education authority had told him that there were other schools in the area within statutory walking distance that could accommodate children. He added:
"We have our portion of the money for an extension, which would probably cost about £15,000. The amount is so small that to say this would hinder other projects is ludicrous. We're getting fed up spending money on patching up this wooden hut. There is plenty of room to build an extension on to the school for a dining room, gym and toilets."
Concern was expressed in the paper as to what would happen to Greenall Whitley's recreation club in Alder Hey Road after the brewery pulled out of St Helens. Formed in 1929 the club ground included a football and cricket pitch, bowling green, tennis courts and snooker and darts facilities, as well as the clubhouse. Club secretary Harold Roberts said: "We have received no official word as to what will happen to it. All we can do is speculate." Greenall's response was not completely reassuring, saying: "There are no plans to sell the club, and it is not on the market yet."
There was a photograph in the Reporter of Alice Wood, the long-standing deputy head at Cowley Girls School who was retiring. Miss Wood of Gunning Avenue in Eccleston had been teaching at Cowley for 33 years, with 27 of them as deputy head. Staff had presented her with a fireside chair and transistor radio and pupils gave her a porcelain figurine.
Knowsley Safari Park was advertising in the Reporter. Upon opening two years ago the price of admission was £1 per car and that rate continued in 1972. But that had now increased to £1.50, although two new game reserves had been opened. On the 21st the Liverpool Echo published an article on Daniel Cowan whose job was to patrol Knowsley Safari Park at night on the look out for persons attempting to break in – and animals wanting to bust out.
The Echo wrote that the biggest headache for the safari watchmen had been the "mischievous monkeys", with Mr Cowan saying: "When the park was first opened the monkeys were kept in by a special slippery fence which they found impossible to climb. But since then they have grown bigger, stronger, and more crafty. A few weeks ago, all hell was let loose when some of them managed to break out – but we got them back within a short while. Now we have built a stronger and higher fence and this time it will definitely keep them in."
By the 1970s women had made limited headway playing traditional male sports. I'm only aware of a single female football team in St Helens that played at Hoghton Road in Sutton and I don't believe there were any women playing rugby. But there was cricket – and on the 22nd the Lancashire and Cheshire Women's Cricket Association played Trinidad and Tobago in a 60 overs match at St Helens but lost by 62 runs.
Also on the 22nd 'Steptoe & Son Ride Again' replaced 'The Thief Who Came To Dinner' at the ABC Savoy. And on the following day, the Capitol Cinema began showing the Disney film 'Snowball Express'.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the vandalism at the St Helens Show, the permitting of organised Sunday sport on council pitches, a plan to thwart a quarrying extension on Billinge Hill and anger in Rainford as a planned new youth centre is rejected.
This week's many stories include the opening of new baths in Prescot, an angry mothers' school blockade in Blackbrook, a campaign against computers at Pilks, concern over the future of Greenall's recreation club in Alder Hey Road, the crafty monkeys at Knowsley Safari Park and there are plans for a new Windleshaw RC Primary – but Margaret Thatcher rejects badly-needed improvements to Moss Bank Primary School.
We begin with a number of fires that took place in St Helens this week. In one at Slinn's old wallpaper and paints store in Westfield Street, firemen Keith Lawrenson suffered a back injury and needed hospital treatment.
Although the building had been vacated and was awaiting demolition, wallpaper, paint and cardboard boxes that had been left behind provided fuel for the fire.
Old buildings facing demolition proved problematic for the St Helens Fire Brigade in the ‘70s.
At another blaze at the former Barclays Bank in Church Street there were concerns of walls collapsing when firemen dealt with timber and rubbish that was on fire.
And at a third disused property on the corner of College Street and Standish Street that had formerly been a butcher's, a settee was ablaze.
The busy brigade also dealt with a blaze down a shaft at Whiston Hospital, put out a fire in a car in Parade Street caused by a petrol leak and dealt with another fire at Fibreglass.
On the 17th the new £350,000 baths complex in Scotchbarn Lane in Prescot – that were intended to serve both Whiston and Prescot – were officially opened by Walter Winterbottom (pictured above).
The ex-football star – who had been the first manager of the England national team – was then the Director of the National Sports Council.
Mr Winterbottom told those gathered that the provision of leisure facilities could be the answer to many present-day problems, such as drugs and vandalism.
Leisure time for everyone, he said, was bound to increase as many people were now retiring at 60 and by 1981 some would be retiring at 55.
The cable firm BICC had donated the land for the new baths. Its main pool was 82ft long and 41ft wide and its depth varied from 3ft to about 10ft.
Also on the 17th the teachers and managers at Windleshaw RC Primary were shown the architects' plans for a new modern school.
The building would replace their existing school that the St Helens MP, Leslie Spriggs, had labelled a "Dickensian workhouse". It would be built in Rainford Road, north of the Hamblett open-air school.
For children and staff it would mean the end of a daily quarter-mile walk to a canteen, having no hall or playing field and getting rid of their high, forbidding windows.
The St Helens Reporter's lead story on the 20th began: "Defiant mothers struggled with police to make a human barricade across two roads in Blackbrook and bring traffic to a halt.
"For nearly 20 minutes four policemen had to push and drag the furious women out of the way of waiting cars, buses, and heavy lorries."
The trouble occurred at St Mary's Primary School in Chain Lane and the women were demanding a lollipop man to supervise their children going to and from school.
However, St Helens Corporation and the police had rejected an earlier petition on the grounds that insufficient traffic used Chain Lane and not enough children crossed there.
But later three councillors promised the barricading women that their demand would be re-considered.
"Union To Fight ‘Brain’" was another front-page headline in the paper, which expressed concern that the use of computers at Pilkingtons would lead to job losses amongst white-collar workers.
Their union – the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs – had seen a huge rise in their membership over the last two years in St Helens from 300 to 4,000.
They attributed this growth to a realisation by salaried workers that trade union organisation was the "only way to combat low salaries and lack of job security caused by the computer and the consultant".
The Pilkington Glass Museum in Prescot Road had its own cinema and announced in the Reporter that until October they would be screening a film called 'Archipelago – Glass Sculptures' which was being seen for the first time in the UK.
Every year the St Helens Savings Committee awarded the Cozens-Hardy Savings Trophy to the schoolchildren considered the most regular savers.
In the Reporter there was a photo of youngsters from St Peter's and St Paul's. They were this year's winners after collectively saving £965 in a year and the pupils received their award from the mayor.
The Reporter also revealed that Education Minister Margaret Thatcher had refused to permit improvements to Moss Bank Primary School because she considered that there were more urgent needs elsewhere.
Currently the fifty-four children in the century-old church-run school ate their lunches in a wooden hut that also served as their gym.
The Rev. Gordon Williams of St Mark's Church told the paper that the hut was getting battered and its flooring was bad.
Four years ago Mr Williams had asked the local education authority to consider plans for an extension.
But it had taken them until November 1972 before an official request had been submitted to Mrs Thatcher.
The vicar said that the education authority had told him that there were other schools in the area within statutory walking distance that could accommodate children. He added:
"We have our portion of the money for an extension, which would probably cost about £15,000. The amount is so small that to say this would hinder other projects is ludicrous.
"We're getting fed up spending money on patching up this wooden hut. There is plenty of room to build an extension on to the school for a dining room, gym and toilets."
Concern was expressed in the paper as to what would happen to Greenall Whitley's recreation club in Alder Hey Road after the brewery pulled out of St Helens.
Formed in 1929 the club ground included a football and cricket pitch, bowling green, tennis courts and snooker and darts facilities, as well as the clubhouse.
Club secretary Harold Roberts said: "We have received no official word as to what will happen to it. All we can do is speculate."
Greenall's response was not completely reassuring, saying: "There are no plans to sell the club, and it is not on the market yet."
There was a photograph in the Reporter of Alice Wood, the long-standing deputy head at Cowley Girls School who was retiring.
Miss Wood of Gunning Avenue in Eccleston had been teaching at Cowley for 33 years, with 27 of them as deputy head.
Staff had presented her with a fireside chair and transistor radio and pupils gave her a porcelain figurine.
Knowsley Safari Park was advertising in the Reporter. Upon opening two years ago the price of admission was £1 per car and that rate continued in 1972.
But that had now increased to £1.50, although two new game reserves had been opened.
On the 21st the Liverpool Echo published an article on Daniel Cowan whose job was to patrol Knowsley Safari Park at night on the look out for persons attempting to break in – and animals wanting to bust out.
The Echo wrote that the biggest headache for the safari watchmen had been the "mischievous monkeys", with Mr Cowan saying:
"When the park was first opened the monkeys were kept in by a special slippery fence which they found impossible to climb. But since then they have grown bigger, stronger, and more crafty.
"A few weeks ago, all hell was let loose when some of them managed to break out – but we got them back within a short while. Now we have built a stronger and higher fence and this time it will definitely keep them in."
By the 1970s women had made limited headway playing traditional male sports.
I'm only aware of a single female football team in St Helens that played at Hoghton Road in Sutton and I don't believe there were any women playing rugby.
But there was cricket – and on the 22nd the Lancashire and Cheshire Women's Cricket Association played Trinidad and Tobago in a 60 overs match at St Helens but lost by 62 runs.
Also on the 22nd 'Steptoe & Son Ride Again' replaced 'The Thief Who Came To Dinner' at the ABC Savoy.
And on the following day, the Capitol Cinema began showing the Disney film 'Snowball Express'.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the vandalism at the St Helens Show, the permitting of organised Sunday sport on council pitches, a plan to thwart a quarrying extension on Billinge Hill and anger in Rainford as a planned new youth centre is rejected.
We begin with a number of fires that took place in St Helens this week. In one at Slinn's old wallpaper and paints store in Westfield Street, firemen Keith Lawrenson suffered a back injury and needed hospital treatment.
Although the building had been vacated and was awaiting demolition, wallpaper, paint and cardboard boxes that had been left behind provided fuel for the fire.
Old buildings facing demolition proved problematic for the St Helens Fire Brigade in the ‘70s.
At another blaze at the former Barclays Bank in Church Street there were concerns of walls collapsing when firemen dealt with timber and rubbish that was on fire.
And at a third disused property on the corner of College Street and Standish Street that had formerly been a butcher's, a settee was ablaze.
The busy brigade also dealt with a blaze down a shaft at Whiston Hospital, put out a fire in a car in Parade Street caused by a petrol leak and dealt with another fire at Fibreglass.
The ex-football star – who had been the first manager of the England national team – was then the Director of the National Sports Council.
Mr Winterbottom told those gathered that the provision of leisure facilities could be the answer to many present-day problems, such as drugs and vandalism.
Leisure time for everyone, he said, was bound to increase as many people were now retiring at 60 and by 1981 some would be retiring at 55.
The cable firm BICC had donated the land for the new baths. Its main pool was 82ft long and 41ft wide and its depth varied from 3ft to about 10ft.
Also on the 17th the teachers and managers at Windleshaw RC Primary were shown the architects' plans for a new modern school.
The building would replace their existing school that the St Helens MP, Leslie Spriggs, had labelled a "Dickensian workhouse". It would be built in Rainford Road, north of the Hamblett open-air school.
For children and staff it would mean the end of a daily quarter-mile walk to a canteen, having no hall or playing field and getting rid of their high, forbidding windows.
The St Helens Reporter's lead story on the 20th began: "Defiant mothers struggled with police to make a human barricade across two roads in Blackbrook and bring traffic to a halt.
"For nearly 20 minutes four policemen had to push and drag the furious women out of the way of waiting cars, buses, and heavy lorries."
The trouble occurred at St Mary's Primary School in Chain Lane and the women were demanding a lollipop man to supervise their children going to and from school.
However, St Helens Corporation and the police had rejected an earlier petition on the grounds that insufficient traffic used Chain Lane and not enough children crossed there.
But later three councillors promised the barricading women that their demand would be re-considered.
"Union To Fight ‘Brain’" was another front-page headline in the paper, which expressed concern that the use of computers at Pilkingtons would lead to job losses amongst white-collar workers.
Their union – the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs – had seen a huge rise in their membership over the last two years in St Helens from 300 to 4,000.
They attributed this growth to a realisation by salaried workers that trade union organisation was the "only way to combat low salaries and lack of job security caused by the computer and the consultant".
The Pilkington Glass Museum in Prescot Road had its own cinema and announced in the Reporter that until October they would be screening a film called 'Archipelago – Glass Sculptures' which was being seen for the first time in the UK.
Every year the St Helens Savings Committee awarded the Cozens-Hardy Savings Trophy to the schoolchildren considered the most regular savers.
In the Reporter there was a photo of youngsters from St Peter's and St Paul's. They were this year's winners after collectively saving £965 in a year and the pupils received their award from the mayor.
The Reporter also revealed that Education Minister Margaret Thatcher had refused to permit improvements to Moss Bank Primary School because she considered that there were more urgent needs elsewhere.
Currently the fifty-four children in the century-old church-run school ate their lunches in a wooden hut that also served as their gym.
The Rev. Gordon Williams of St Mark's Church told the paper that the hut was getting battered and its flooring was bad.
Four years ago Mr Williams had asked the local education authority to consider plans for an extension.
But it had taken them until November 1972 before an official request had been submitted to Mrs Thatcher.
The vicar said that the education authority had told him that there were other schools in the area within statutory walking distance that could accommodate children. He added:
"We have our portion of the money for an extension, which would probably cost about £15,000. The amount is so small that to say this would hinder other projects is ludicrous.
"We're getting fed up spending money on patching up this wooden hut. There is plenty of room to build an extension on to the school for a dining room, gym and toilets."
Concern was expressed in the paper as to what would happen to Greenall Whitley's recreation club in Alder Hey Road after the brewery pulled out of St Helens.
Formed in 1929 the club ground included a football and cricket pitch, bowling green, tennis courts and snooker and darts facilities, as well as the clubhouse.
Club secretary Harold Roberts said: "We have received no official word as to what will happen to it. All we can do is speculate."
Greenall's response was not completely reassuring, saying: "There are no plans to sell the club, and it is not on the market yet."
There was a photograph in the Reporter of Alice Wood, the long-standing deputy head at Cowley Girls School who was retiring.
Miss Wood of Gunning Avenue in Eccleston had been teaching at Cowley for 33 years, with 27 of them as deputy head.
Staff had presented her with a fireside chair and transistor radio and pupils gave her a porcelain figurine.
Knowsley Safari Park was advertising in the Reporter. Upon opening two years ago the price of admission was £1 per car and that rate continued in 1972.
But that had now increased to £1.50, although two new game reserves had been opened.
On the 21st the Liverpool Echo published an article on Daniel Cowan whose job was to patrol Knowsley Safari Park at night on the look out for persons attempting to break in – and animals wanting to bust out.
The Echo wrote that the biggest headache for the safari watchmen had been the "mischievous monkeys", with Mr Cowan saying:
"When the park was first opened the monkeys were kept in by a special slippery fence which they found impossible to climb. But since then they have grown bigger, stronger, and more crafty.
"A few weeks ago, all hell was let loose when some of them managed to break out – but we got them back within a short while. Now we have built a stronger and higher fence and this time it will definitely keep them in."
By the 1970s women had made limited headway playing traditional male sports.
I'm only aware of a single female football team in St Helens that played at Hoghton Road in Sutton and I don't believe there were any women playing rugby.
But there was cricket – and on the 22nd the Lancashire and Cheshire Women's Cricket Association played Trinidad and Tobago in a 60 overs match at St Helens but lost by 62 runs.
Also on the 22nd 'Steptoe & Son Ride Again' replaced 'The Thief Who Came To Dinner' at the ABC Savoy.
And on the following day, the Capitol Cinema began showing the Disney film 'Snowball Express'.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the vandalism at the St Helens Show, the permitting of organised Sunday sport on council pitches, a plan to thwart a quarrying extension on Billinge Hill and anger in Rainford as a planned new youth centre is rejected.