FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (18th - 24th APRIL 1972)
This week's many stories include the skinhead trouble in Thatto Heath, the St Helens Fire Brigade decide to retain their white fire engines, Sparky the parrot gets the bird from West Sutton Labour Club, anglers fight plans to fill in the Sankey Canal and the bar staff at St Joseph's social club all get the sack.
We begin on the 18th with what was described as a performance by Circus International. Their twice-evening shows took place on the "rec" off Church Road in Rainford, with adults paying from 15p to 40p and children and OAPs from 10p to 25p. Performances then transferred to a site in Parr Stocks Road for three more evenings.
The St Helens Catholic Amateur Gilbert & Sullivan Society presented 'Princess Ida' at the Theatre Royal throughout this week. It was the first time that the comic opera had been performed at the theatre and Mary Mounfield played the eponymous princess, with Dr Francis Mooney the musical director. The latter is also remembered for his expertise as a consultant pathologist to both St Helens and Providence Hospitals. The ticket prices for 'Princess Ida' were extremely reasonable, costing from 40p in the rear circle to 80p in the stalls, and with half-price admission for pensioners on the Monday and Tuesday.
Rainford Planning Committee met this week and decided to build a new fire station to replace the existing building in Cross Pit Lane that had been in use for 33 years. The site of the new station would be in Old Lane, near a disused railway siding, with Cllr. Dennis Collins saying it would clear up a 20-year-old eyesore.
Talking of fire engines, the St Helens Fire Brigade Committee decided at their own meeting this week to snub a Home Office recommendation to re-spray their white fire engines red. Currently, the town had four white engines and three red, with George Wilson, the St Helens Chief Fire Officer, arguing that white was a better colour because motorists could pick it out more easily on badly lit roads.
He said tests had proved white was a superior colour and added that the appliances' blue warning lights reflected better from a white background. Cllr. Patrick Gill, the chairman of the Fire Brigade Committee, explained that drivers of white engines found it easier to beat traffic jams and commented how the Government was always telling pedestrians to wear something white at night – and not red!
The council's Health Committee also met this week and heard that the building of new housing estates in Clock Face was causing problems for the local child welfare clinic. Numbers attending the single weekly sessions in Jersey Street had rocketed over recent months and so the committee decided to trial a second session each week.
The TV detector vans had been in St Helens recently and as a result twenty residents found themselves in court this week where fines totalling £146 were imposed. The individual fines handed out at St Helens Magistrates Court varied considerably from £3.50 to £28 – with £10.50 the one most common. The magistrates also heard that a 30-strong crowd had watched two men fighting outside the Royal Raven Hotel in Church Street, with many of the spectators urging the fighters on. The two 18-year-old defendants in court were both bound over in the sum of £20.
Sparky the parrot that belonged to the West Sutton Labour Club in Jubits Lane was pictured in the St Helens Reporter on the 21st (shown above). Under the headline "When Sparky Shouts House The Caller Gets The Bird!", the paper wrote:
"Seven hundred despondent bingo players downed their pens and officials and started a search when “house” was called. But no one at West Sutton Labour Club, St. Helens could find the winner of the £20 prize. Then Sparky, the club parrot, shouted: “Eer yar!” And he brought the house down. Said Bill Lyon, the steward: “He's a proper rogue. He's stopped so many bingo sessions with his shouting we've had to ban him to another bar. We tried shutting him up but we couldn't win.”
"“He's a real card,” said regular Joe Atherton, of Scott Avenue, Sutton Manor. “My mate was sitting at the bingo. He was waiting for one more number. Then someone shouted ‘house’. All the pens went down … then there was a big laugh. It was Sparky.” Now Sparky has his own session out of earshot of the bingo caller. But he's a bad loser. “I gave him his own pencil and card. But when he can't mark it, he eats it,” said Bill."
However, the Reporter's lead story this week concerned the behaviour of those in charge of St Joseph's social club in Peasley Cross. When the nine bar staff turned up for duty at the town's largest Catholic club, they were told that evening would be their last. An eight-man committee led by the parish priest had decided to sack the lot because they weren't satisfied with the way the bar was being run. And so what was described as a "clean sweep" was being made.
Upon hearing the news of their shock dismissal at the Sutton Road club, most of the staff walked out. Delia Richardson of Junction Lane told the Reporter that she felt "terrible" about the affair: "This has made me very upset. The rotten part of it is the way the club went about it." Another staff member complained to the paper that she had not been given a reference and so would have difficulty in getting another job. The Reporter asked Father Duxburry, the parish priest, about the sackings but he said he had no comment to make.
Skinheads were regularly featured in the Reporter in the context of violence and vandalism. They can't all have been a bad lot, of course – but you'd certainly think so by reading the Reporter in the ‘70s. This week the paper wrote that a "skinhead gang" armed with hammers and knives had attacked a man outside the Alexandra Hotel in Thatto Heath.
Thomas Hunt had been celebrating his 21st birthday in an upstairs room at the hotel but decided to help a friend who was being kicked outside by skinheads. As a result Tom needed 10 stitches in knife slashes made to his head but was allowed home from hospital after receiving treatment. His father Thomas said: "I saw my son being carried back into the hotel bleeding from the head, with his shirt covered in blood. I went outside and saw about 15 or 20 skinheads armed with hammers and knives, shouting and fighting."
Susan Langford was pictured in the Reporter after sending a letter to the paper in which she publicly apologised to Georgie Fame and Alan Price for their poor reception in St Helens. The two wizards of the keyboard had recently played at the Theatre Royal – but had not received much applause. The 20-year-old from Kiln Lane told the paper:
"I've been to pop concerts in Birmingham and the Midlands, but I have never been in an audience so apathetic as the one at the Theatre Royal. I just can't understand why they should want to go to a concert if they are just going to sit there like dummies. They only clapped at the end of each number and then it was a short burst of polite applause." Just whether Georgie Fame and Alan Price were readers of the St Helens Reporter and able to see Susan's apology to them was another matter!
An advertising feature in the Reporter was called "Ours Is A Nice House" and featured: G.D. Estates, 47 Baldwin Street ("Save ££’s when you sell your house – only 1¾% commission"); Griffins, New showroom 51 Duke Street ("Just arrived 3 piece suites from 65 gns."); A. Laithwaite & Son Ltd., College Street ("Largest selection of timber in St. Helens"); Dave's DIY Supermarket, 188 Rainhill Road, Rainhill ("Super Dave's at it again – this week with his Super Savers") and Beamans, Eccleston Street ("Hygena QA kitchen units 20% discount").
The Reporter's angling correspondent, Ray Moore, described how the British Waterways Board had recently made the "monstrous decision" to fill-in six miles of the Sankey Canal. Leslie Spriggs, the St Helens MP, was quoted as prepared to fight the plans, calling it a "shocking state of affairs" that would lead to thousands of anglers being denied an important amenity.
On the 22nd James Blake, the headmaster of St Teresa's Junior School in Devon Street, died in Wigan. The 65-year-old's death occurred just one week before he had been due to retire after 32 years as the school's head.
Over the Easter period, the Capitol had taken a break from its usual fare of sex and horror films by showing 'The Sound of Music'. But now the holidays were over and so the cinema on the corner of Duke Street and North Road returned to its staple genres. From the 23rd "the Cap" began screening the X-rated films 'Diary Of A Half Virgin' and 'Sex and The Vampire'. Meanwhile, the ABC Savoy cinema down Bridge Street began 7 days of showings of 'Klute', starring Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.
Next week's stories will include the thin Rag Week at St Helens Tech, the shocking vandalism of Park Road homes, Providence Hospital reaches its fundraising target, Saints' fans Wembley travel plans, the angry Rainhill mad-mile mothers and the St Helens Corporation double-decker buses destined for Canada.
We begin on the 18th with what was described as a performance by Circus International. Their twice-evening shows took place on the "rec" off Church Road in Rainford, with adults paying from 15p to 40p and children and OAPs from 10p to 25p. Performances then transferred to a site in Parr Stocks Road for three more evenings.
The St Helens Catholic Amateur Gilbert & Sullivan Society presented 'Princess Ida' at the Theatre Royal throughout this week. It was the first time that the comic opera had been performed at the theatre and Mary Mounfield played the eponymous princess, with Dr Francis Mooney the musical director. The latter is also remembered for his expertise as a consultant pathologist to both St Helens and Providence Hospitals. The ticket prices for 'Princess Ida' were extremely reasonable, costing from 40p in the rear circle to 80p in the stalls, and with half-price admission for pensioners on the Monday and Tuesday.
Rainford Planning Committee met this week and decided to build a new fire station to replace the existing building in Cross Pit Lane that had been in use for 33 years. The site of the new station would be in Old Lane, near a disused railway siding, with Cllr. Dennis Collins saying it would clear up a 20-year-old eyesore.
Talking of fire engines, the St Helens Fire Brigade Committee decided at their own meeting this week to snub a Home Office recommendation to re-spray their white fire engines red. Currently, the town had four white engines and three red, with George Wilson, the St Helens Chief Fire Officer, arguing that white was a better colour because motorists could pick it out more easily on badly lit roads.
He said tests had proved white was a superior colour and added that the appliances' blue warning lights reflected better from a white background. Cllr. Patrick Gill, the chairman of the Fire Brigade Committee, explained that drivers of white engines found it easier to beat traffic jams and commented how the Government was always telling pedestrians to wear something white at night – and not red!
The council's Health Committee also met this week and heard that the building of new housing estates in Clock Face was causing problems for the local child welfare clinic. Numbers attending the single weekly sessions in Jersey Street had rocketed over recent months and so the committee decided to trial a second session each week.
The TV detector vans had been in St Helens recently and as a result twenty residents found themselves in court this week where fines totalling £146 were imposed. The individual fines handed out at St Helens Magistrates Court varied considerably from £3.50 to £28 – with £10.50 the one most common. The magistrates also heard that a 30-strong crowd had watched two men fighting outside the Royal Raven Hotel in Church Street, with many of the spectators urging the fighters on. The two 18-year-old defendants in court were both bound over in the sum of £20.
"Seven hundred despondent bingo players downed their pens and officials and started a search when “house” was called. But no one at West Sutton Labour Club, St. Helens could find the winner of the £20 prize. Then Sparky, the club parrot, shouted: “Eer yar!” And he brought the house down. Said Bill Lyon, the steward: “He's a proper rogue. He's stopped so many bingo sessions with his shouting we've had to ban him to another bar. We tried shutting him up but we couldn't win.”
"“He's a real card,” said regular Joe Atherton, of Scott Avenue, Sutton Manor. “My mate was sitting at the bingo. He was waiting for one more number. Then someone shouted ‘house’. All the pens went down … then there was a big laugh. It was Sparky.” Now Sparky has his own session out of earshot of the bingo caller. But he's a bad loser. “I gave him his own pencil and card. But when he can't mark it, he eats it,” said Bill."
However, the Reporter's lead story this week concerned the behaviour of those in charge of St Joseph's social club in Peasley Cross. When the nine bar staff turned up for duty at the town's largest Catholic club, they were told that evening would be their last. An eight-man committee led by the parish priest had decided to sack the lot because they weren't satisfied with the way the bar was being run. And so what was described as a "clean sweep" was being made.
Upon hearing the news of their shock dismissal at the Sutton Road club, most of the staff walked out. Delia Richardson of Junction Lane told the Reporter that she felt "terrible" about the affair: "This has made me very upset. The rotten part of it is the way the club went about it." Another staff member complained to the paper that she had not been given a reference and so would have difficulty in getting another job. The Reporter asked Father Duxburry, the parish priest, about the sackings but he said he had no comment to make.
Skinheads were regularly featured in the Reporter in the context of violence and vandalism. They can't all have been a bad lot, of course – but you'd certainly think so by reading the Reporter in the ‘70s. This week the paper wrote that a "skinhead gang" armed with hammers and knives had attacked a man outside the Alexandra Hotel in Thatto Heath.
Thomas Hunt had been celebrating his 21st birthday in an upstairs room at the hotel but decided to help a friend who was being kicked outside by skinheads. As a result Tom needed 10 stitches in knife slashes made to his head but was allowed home from hospital after receiving treatment. His father Thomas said: "I saw my son being carried back into the hotel bleeding from the head, with his shirt covered in blood. I went outside and saw about 15 or 20 skinheads armed with hammers and knives, shouting and fighting."
"I've been to pop concerts in Birmingham and the Midlands, but I have never been in an audience so apathetic as the one at the Theatre Royal. I just can't understand why they should want to go to a concert if they are just going to sit there like dummies. They only clapped at the end of each number and then it was a short burst of polite applause." Just whether Georgie Fame and Alan Price were readers of the St Helens Reporter and able to see Susan's apology to them was another matter!
An advertising feature in the Reporter was called "Ours Is A Nice House" and featured: G.D. Estates, 47 Baldwin Street ("Save ££’s when you sell your house – only 1¾% commission"); Griffins, New showroom 51 Duke Street ("Just arrived 3 piece suites from 65 gns."); A. Laithwaite & Son Ltd., College Street ("Largest selection of timber in St. Helens"); Dave's DIY Supermarket, 188 Rainhill Road, Rainhill ("Super Dave's at it again – this week with his Super Savers") and Beamans, Eccleston Street ("Hygena QA kitchen units 20% discount").
The Reporter's angling correspondent, Ray Moore, described how the British Waterways Board had recently made the "monstrous decision" to fill-in six miles of the Sankey Canal. Leslie Spriggs, the St Helens MP, was quoted as prepared to fight the plans, calling it a "shocking state of affairs" that would lead to thousands of anglers being denied an important amenity.
On the 22nd James Blake, the headmaster of St Teresa's Junior School in Devon Street, died in Wigan. The 65-year-old's death occurred just one week before he had been due to retire after 32 years as the school's head.
Over the Easter period, the Capitol had taken a break from its usual fare of sex and horror films by showing 'The Sound of Music'. But now the holidays were over and so the cinema on the corner of Duke Street and North Road returned to its staple genres. From the 23rd "the Cap" began screening the X-rated films 'Diary Of A Half Virgin' and 'Sex and The Vampire'. Meanwhile, the ABC Savoy cinema down Bridge Street began 7 days of showings of 'Klute', starring Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.
Next week's stories will include the thin Rag Week at St Helens Tech, the shocking vandalism of Park Road homes, Providence Hospital reaches its fundraising target, Saints' fans Wembley travel plans, the angry Rainhill mad-mile mothers and the St Helens Corporation double-decker buses destined for Canada.
This week's many stories include the skinhead trouble in Thatto Heath, the St Helens Fire Brigade decide to retain their white fire engines, Sparky the parrot gets the bird from West Sutton Labour Club, anglers fight plans to fill in the Sankey Canal and the bar staff at St Joseph's social club all get the sack.
We begin on the 18th with what was described as a performance by Circus International.
Their twice-evening shows took place on the "rec" off Church Road in Rainford, with adults paying from 15p to 40p and children and OAPs from 10p to 25p.
Performances then transferred to a site in Parr Stocks Road for three more evenings.
The St Helens Catholic Amateur Gilbert & Sullivan Society presented 'Princess Ida' at the Theatre Royal throughout this week.
It was the first time that the comic opera had been performed at the theatre and Mary Mounfield played the eponymous princess, with Dr Francis Mooney the musical director.
The latter is also remembered for his expertise as a consultant pathologist to both St Helens and Providence Hospitals.
The ticket prices for 'Princess Ida' were extremely reasonable, costing from 40p in the rear circle to 80p in the stalls, and with half-price admission for pensioners on the Monday and Tuesday.
Rainford Planning Committee met this week and decided to build a new fire station to replace the existing building in Cross Pit Lane that had been in use for 33 years.
The site of the new station would be in Old Lane, near a disused railway siding, with Cllr. Dennis Collins saying it would clear up a 20-year-old eyesore.
Talking of fire engines, the St Helens Fire Brigade Committee decided at their own meeting this week to snub a Home Office recommendation to re-spray their white fire engines red.
Currently, the town had four white engines and three red, with George Wilson, the St Helens Chief Fire Officer, arguing that white was a better colour because motorists could pick it out more easily on badly lit roads.
He said tests had proved white was a superior colour and added that the appliances' blue warning lights reflected better from a white background.
Cllr. Patrick Gill, the chairman of the Fire Brigade Committee, explained that drivers of white engines found it easier to beat traffic jams and commented how the Government was always telling pedestrians to wear something white at night – and not red!
The council's Health Committee also met this week and heard that the building of new housing estates in Clock Face was causing problems for the local child welfare clinic.
Numbers attending the single weekly sessions in Jersey Street had rocketed over recent months and so the committee decided to trial a second session each week.
The TV detector vans had been in St Helens recently and as a result twenty residents found themselves in court this week where fines totalling £146 were imposed.
The individual fines handed out at St Helens Magistrates Court varied considerably from £3.50 to £28 – with £10.50 the one most common.
The magistrates also heard that a 30-strong crowd had watched two men fighting outside the Royal Raven Hotel in Church Street, with many of the spectators urging the fighters on.
The two 18-year-old defendants in court were both bound over in the sum of £20.
Sparky the parrot that belonged to the West Sutton Labour Club in Jubits Lane was pictured in the St Helens Reporter on the 21st (shown above).
Under the headline "When Sparky Shouts House The Caller Gets The Bird!", the paper wrote:
"Seven hundred despondent bingo players downed their pens and officials and started a search when “house” was called.
"But no one at West Sutton Labour Club, St. Helens could find the winner of the £20 prize. Then Sparky, the club parrot, shouted: “Eer yar!” And he brought the house down.
"Said Bill Lyon, the steward: “He's a proper rogue. He's stopped so many bingo sessions with his shouting we've had to ban him to another bar. We tried shutting him up but we couldn't win.”
"“He's a real card,” said regular Joe Atherton, of Scott Avenue, Sutton Manor. “My mate was sitting at the bingo. He was waiting for one more number. Then someone shouted ‘house’. All the pens went down … then there was a big laugh. It was Sparky.”
"Now Sparky has his own session out of earshot of the bingo caller. But he's a bad loser. “I gave him his own pencil and card. But when he can't mark it, he eats it,” said Bill."
However, the Reporter's lead story this week concerned the behaviour of those in charge of St Joseph's social club in Peasley Cross.
When the nine bar staff turned up for duty at the town's largest Catholic club, they were told that evening would be their last.
An eight-man committee led by the parish priest had decided to sack the lot because they weren't satisfied with the way the bar was being run. And so what was described as a "clean sweep" was being made.
Upon hearing the news of their shock dismissal at the Sutton Road club, most of the staff walked out.
Delia Richardson of Junction Lane told the Reporter that she felt "terrible" about the affair:
"This has made me very upset. The rotten part of it is the way the club went about it."
Another staff member complained to the paper that she had not been given a reference and so would have difficulty in getting another job.
The Reporter asked Father Duxburry, the parish priest, about the sackings but he said he had no comment to make.
Skinheads were regularly featured in the Reporter in the context of violence and vandalism.
They can't all have been a bad lot, of course – but you'd certainly think so by reading the Reporter in the ‘70s.
This week the paper wrote that a "skinhead gang" armed with hammers and knives had attacked a man outside the Alexandra Hotel in Thatto Heath.
Thomas Hunt had been celebrating his 21st birthday in an upstairs room at the hotel but decided to help a friend who was being kicked outside by skinheads.
As a result Tom needed 10 stitches in knife slashes made to his head but was allowed home from hospital after receiving treatment. His father Thomas said:
"I saw my son being carried back into the hotel bleeding from the head, with his shirt covered in blood. I went outside and saw about 15 or 20 skinheads armed with hammers and knives, shouting and fighting."
Susan Langford was pictured in the Reporter after sending a letter to the paper in which she publicly apologised to Georgie Fame and Alan Price for their poor reception in St Helens.
The two wizards of the keyboard had recently played at the Theatre Royal – but had not received much applause. The 20-year-old from Kiln Lane told the paper:
"I've been to pop concerts in Birmingham and the Midlands, but I have never been in an audience so apathetic as the one at the Theatre Royal. I just can't understand why they should want to go to a concert if they are just going to sit there like dummies. They only clapped at the end of each number and then it was a short burst of polite applause."
Just whether Georgie Fame and Alan Price were readers of the St Helens Reporter and able to see Susan's apology to them was another matter!
An advertising feature in the Reporter was called "Ours Is A Nice House" and featured:
G.D. Estates, 47 Baldwin Street ("Save ££’s when you sell your house – only 1¾% commission"); Griffins, New showroom 51 Duke Street ("Just arrived 3 piece suites from 65 gns."); A. Laithwaite & Son Ltd., College Street ("Largest selection of timber in St. Helens"); Dave's DIY Supermarket, 188 Rainhill Road, Rainhill ("Super Dave's at it again – this week with his Super Savers") and Beamans, Eccleston Street ("Hygena QA kitchen units 20% discount").
The Reporter's angling correspondent, Ray Moore, described how the British Waterways Board had recently made the "monstrous decision" to fill-in six miles of the Sankey Canal.
Leslie Spriggs, the St Helens MP, was quoted as prepared to fight the plans, calling it a "shocking state of affairs" that would lead to thousands of anglers being denied an important amenity.
On the 22nd James Blake, the headmaster of St Teresa's Junior School in Devon Street, died in Wigan.
The 65-year-old's death occurred just one week before he had been due to retire after 32 years as the school's head.
Over the Easter period, the Capitol had taken a break from its usual fare of sex and horror films by showing 'The Sound of Music'.
But now the holidays were over and so the cinema on the corner of Duke Street and North Road returned to its staple genres.
From the 23rd "the Cap" began screening the X-rated films 'Diary Of A Half Virgin' and 'Sex and The Vampire'.
Meanwhile, the ABC Savoy cinema down Bridge Street began 7 days of showings of 'Klute', starring Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.
Next week's stories will include the thin Rag Week at St Helens Tech, the shocking vandalism of Park Road homes, Providence Hospital reaches its fundraising target, Saints' fans Wembley travel plans, the angry Rainhill mad-mile mothers and the St Helens Corporation double-decker buses destined for Canada.
We begin on the 18th with what was described as a performance by Circus International.
Their twice-evening shows took place on the "rec" off Church Road in Rainford, with adults paying from 15p to 40p and children and OAPs from 10p to 25p.
Performances then transferred to a site in Parr Stocks Road for three more evenings.
The St Helens Catholic Amateur Gilbert & Sullivan Society presented 'Princess Ida' at the Theatre Royal throughout this week.
It was the first time that the comic opera had been performed at the theatre and Mary Mounfield played the eponymous princess, with Dr Francis Mooney the musical director.
The latter is also remembered for his expertise as a consultant pathologist to both St Helens and Providence Hospitals.
The ticket prices for 'Princess Ida' were extremely reasonable, costing from 40p in the rear circle to 80p in the stalls, and with half-price admission for pensioners on the Monday and Tuesday.
Rainford Planning Committee met this week and decided to build a new fire station to replace the existing building in Cross Pit Lane that had been in use for 33 years.
The site of the new station would be in Old Lane, near a disused railway siding, with Cllr. Dennis Collins saying it would clear up a 20-year-old eyesore.
Talking of fire engines, the St Helens Fire Brigade Committee decided at their own meeting this week to snub a Home Office recommendation to re-spray their white fire engines red.
Currently, the town had four white engines and three red, with George Wilson, the St Helens Chief Fire Officer, arguing that white was a better colour because motorists could pick it out more easily on badly lit roads.
He said tests had proved white was a superior colour and added that the appliances' blue warning lights reflected better from a white background.
Cllr. Patrick Gill, the chairman of the Fire Brigade Committee, explained that drivers of white engines found it easier to beat traffic jams and commented how the Government was always telling pedestrians to wear something white at night – and not red!
The council's Health Committee also met this week and heard that the building of new housing estates in Clock Face was causing problems for the local child welfare clinic.
Numbers attending the single weekly sessions in Jersey Street had rocketed over recent months and so the committee decided to trial a second session each week.
The TV detector vans had been in St Helens recently and as a result twenty residents found themselves in court this week where fines totalling £146 were imposed.
The individual fines handed out at St Helens Magistrates Court varied considerably from £3.50 to £28 – with £10.50 the one most common.
The magistrates also heard that a 30-strong crowd had watched two men fighting outside the Royal Raven Hotel in Church Street, with many of the spectators urging the fighters on.
The two 18-year-old defendants in court were both bound over in the sum of £20.
Under the headline "When Sparky Shouts House The Caller Gets The Bird!", the paper wrote:
"Seven hundred despondent bingo players downed their pens and officials and started a search when “house” was called.
"But no one at West Sutton Labour Club, St. Helens could find the winner of the £20 prize. Then Sparky, the club parrot, shouted: “Eer yar!” And he brought the house down.
"Said Bill Lyon, the steward: “He's a proper rogue. He's stopped so many bingo sessions with his shouting we've had to ban him to another bar. We tried shutting him up but we couldn't win.”
"“He's a real card,” said regular Joe Atherton, of Scott Avenue, Sutton Manor. “My mate was sitting at the bingo. He was waiting for one more number. Then someone shouted ‘house’. All the pens went down … then there was a big laugh. It was Sparky.”
"Now Sparky has his own session out of earshot of the bingo caller. But he's a bad loser. “I gave him his own pencil and card. But when he can't mark it, he eats it,” said Bill."
However, the Reporter's lead story this week concerned the behaviour of those in charge of St Joseph's social club in Peasley Cross.
When the nine bar staff turned up for duty at the town's largest Catholic club, they were told that evening would be their last.
An eight-man committee led by the parish priest had decided to sack the lot because they weren't satisfied with the way the bar was being run. And so what was described as a "clean sweep" was being made.
Upon hearing the news of their shock dismissal at the Sutton Road club, most of the staff walked out.
Delia Richardson of Junction Lane told the Reporter that she felt "terrible" about the affair:
"This has made me very upset. The rotten part of it is the way the club went about it."
Another staff member complained to the paper that she had not been given a reference and so would have difficulty in getting another job.
The Reporter asked Father Duxburry, the parish priest, about the sackings but he said he had no comment to make.
Skinheads were regularly featured in the Reporter in the context of violence and vandalism.
They can't all have been a bad lot, of course – but you'd certainly think so by reading the Reporter in the ‘70s.
This week the paper wrote that a "skinhead gang" armed with hammers and knives had attacked a man outside the Alexandra Hotel in Thatto Heath.
Thomas Hunt had been celebrating his 21st birthday in an upstairs room at the hotel but decided to help a friend who was being kicked outside by skinheads.
As a result Tom needed 10 stitches in knife slashes made to his head but was allowed home from hospital after receiving treatment. His father Thomas said:
"I saw my son being carried back into the hotel bleeding from the head, with his shirt covered in blood. I went outside and saw about 15 or 20 skinheads armed with hammers and knives, shouting and fighting."
The two wizards of the keyboard had recently played at the Theatre Royal – but had not received much applause. The 20-year-old from Kiln Lane told the paper:
"I've been to pop concerts in Birmingham and the Midlands, but I have never been in an audience so apathetic as the one at the Theatre Royal. I just can't understand why they should want to go to a concert if they are just going to sit there like dummies. They only clapped at the end of each number and then it was a short burst of polite applause."
Just whether Georgie Fame and Alan Price were readers of the St Helens Reporter and able to see Susan's apology to them was another matter!
An advertising feature in the Reporter was called "Ours Is A Nice House" and featured:
G.D. Estates, 47 Baldwin Street ("Save ££’s when you sell your house – only 1¾% commission"); Griffins, New showroom 51 Duke Street ("Just arrived 3 piece suites from 65 gns."); A. Laithwaite & Son Ltd., College Street ("Largest selection of timber in St. Helens"); Dave's DIY Supermarket, 188 Rainhill Road, Rainhill ("Super Dave's at it again – this week with his Super Savers") and Beamans, Eccleston Street ("Hygena QA kitchen units 20% discount").
The Reporter's angling correspondent, Ray Moore, described how the British Waterways Board had recently made the "monstrous decision" to fill-in six miles of the Sankey Canal.
Leslie Spriggs, the St Helens MP, was quoted as prepared to fight the plans, calling it a "shocking state of affairs" that would lead to thousands of anglers being denied an important amenity.
On the 22nd James Blake, the headmaster of St Teresa's Junior School in Devon Street, died in Wigan.
The 65-year-old's death occurred just one week before he had been due to retire after 32 years as the school's head.
Over the Easter period, the Capitol had taken a break from its usual fare of sex and horror films by showing 'The Sound of Music'.
But now the holidays were over and so the cinema on the corner of Duke Street and North Road returned to its staple genres.
From the 23rd "the Cap" began screening the X-rated films 'Diary Of A Half Virgin' and 'Sex and The Vampire'.
Meanwhile, the ABC Savoy cinema down Bridge Street began 7 days of showings of 'Klute', starring Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.
Next week's stories will include the thin Rag Week at St Helens Tech, the shocking vandalism of Park Road homes, Providence Hospital reaches its fundraising target, Saints' fans Wembley travel plans, the angry Rainhill mad-mile mothers and the St Helens Corporation double-decker buses destined for Canada.