FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 19 - 25 AUGUST 1974
This week's many stories include how hundreds of sightseers risked their lives to watch a huge fire, a mother donates a kidney to her son, Saints board is in turmoil, the plans to turn Carr Mill Dam into a "public pleasure paradise" and the councillor who complained that he could not get his constituents to complain to him.
We begin on the 19th when Disney's 'Song of the South' began 6 days of screenings at the Capitol cinema in St Helens with 'American Graffiti' continuing to be shown at the ABC Savoy.
Also on that day Bill Connor, the landlord of the Traveller's Rest in Crab Street, dropped into the Halifax Building Society in Hardshaw Street while on his way to his bank to deposit his weekend’s takings. While he was talking to a cashier a man stole his bag containing £500 and ran off.
But Mr Connor was hot on his heels and the opportunist thief dropped the money as he made his getaway down Claughton Street. The landlord said: "The only thing I'm annoyed at is that I didn't catch him. I lost my pen in the chase and I'd like him to replace it."
Architectural experts were currently undertaking checks on twenty schools within the St Helens district that had used Alumina cement in their construction. That was after the roof of a school in London that had utilised the rapid hardening concrete had collapsed. The St Helens Newspaper revealed on the 20th that initial results had led to parts of Campion Boys and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Girls schools having to be closed for up to 12 months while repairs were carried out.
The gyms and assembly rooms in both schools would require reconstruction and although a government grant was expected to cover most of the cost, 15% of the amount would have to be found by the Catholic Church. And Canon Hugh Fitzpatrick told the Newspaper that finding the cash would not be easy as it would not be "Mickey Mouse money".
This week the St Helens Leisure and Recreation Committee agreed to allow Osram-GEC to take night-time photographs on the council's driving range at Sherdley Park and use them in their publicity. The firm had supplied the range's floodlights and as it was one of the few municipal floodlit driving ranges in the country, Osram-GEC wanted to promote their lighting to prospective customers.
The Leisure and Recreation Committee also decided to turn Carr Mill Dam into a "public pleasure paradise" – as the Reporter put it. The councillors took the first step to develop the dam and its surrounding woodland into a leisure centre by agreeing in principle to the idea. But exactly how their aim would be achieved was unclear.
However, a London-based company had submitted an outline planning application to build a £1 million leisure complex on part of Carr Mill Dam. The application included plans for 150-bed hotel, conference centre, casino, club, cinema, swimming pool, sauna and a boating centre. It was the second large private scheme proposed for Carr Mill in three years with the first having fallen through despite receiving planning permission.
Councillor Pat Ashton told the meeting that he was against the application, saying if it was granted they would receive complaints from local residents similar to when the Sands Club was operating. Alternatively, it was thought St Helens Council could go it alone at Carr Mill. If they could get the area designated as a country park, it was stated that the council would qualify for a 75% grant from the government.
The committee also considered a letter from John McCabe, who was the Moss Bank Ward Secretary and he was complaining about the noise from the powerboats on the water. Cllr Ashton echoed Mr McCabe's concerns, saying: "I can hear it in Queensway, so how the people who live near are suffering – they must be miserable, especially night workers. They've got no consideration for anybody."
The committee decided to pass the complaint from Mr McCabe on to the council's Environmental Health Committee. The councillors also nostalgically recalled the days when huge numbers used to go to Carr Mill to picnic and take trips on its lake and railway – it was like "going to Southport", as one member put it.
On the 21st the annual meeting of St Helens RLFC was held in which fans claimed that they were being neglected for the sake of the recently opened Saints Social Club. There was also criticism over the allocation of season tickets and office staff were accused of arrogance. And later that day, Harry Cook, the Saints chairman, resigned. Only five days before the club's general manager, Basil Lowe, had announced his shock resignation from Knowsley Road. "Bosses Quit in Saints Shake-Up" was the Reporter headline.
Also on the 21st the current Miss Great Britain, Gay Spink, was at Helena House in Baldwin Street meeting and greeting shoppers. It was part of a promotion drive for a soap brand and Gay chatted to shoppers and gave away autographed photographs of herself.
On the 22nd Robert Kilroy-Silk visited Welding Units of Mill Lane in Rainford to see for himself the problems the firm were experiencing. The constituency of the MP for Ormskirk then included Rainford and Kilroy-Silk was told that a steel shortage was badly hampering their operations. Welding Units made specialist joints for pipelines and the eight-year-old firm employed 50 people. But its managing director, Barry Martland, said that they could increase their capacity 100% by operating a double shift but he could not obtain enough steel.
On the 23rd Mary Holden retired after 33 years as a bus conductress in which she had issued around 300,000 tickets. When the 63-year-old from Wythburn Crescent in Carr Mill joined the St Helens bus service in 1941 her wages were only £2 10 shillings a week.
The lead story in the Reporter on the 23rd was how hundreds of sightseers had risked their lives by crossing a main railway line as a train was approaching in order to watch a huge fire. It happened on the St Helens to Wigan line behind Rockware's glassworks as a blaze swept through a storage yard. The driver of the passenger train that was coming into St Helens was forced to stop and then advance very slowly, sounding his horn until the track cleared.
John Pilling of Brynn Street, a fire prevention and safety officer, said he was horrified at what he saw: "I was amazed at the foolhardiness of the people – mainly women, teenagers and children. But thanks to the driver of the passenger train a serious accident was averted. The driver of the express would have been unable to stop if the long train hadn't cleared the line. Some people even walked all the way along the track from the College Street bridge to get to the fire. And visibility was very poor."
A spokesman for British Rail said: "We absolutely condemn these people. This was a really foolish trick, especially when it was just to gape at someone's misfortune." The fire destroyed 30,000 wooden storage pallets and 200,000 plastic and wooden crates, causing an estimated £200,000 worth of damage. Police were interviewing children who were in the area at the time. However, they thought a spark from a truck or lorry could have started the blaze which was fought by 14 fire engines for over 1½ hours before it was got under control.
Although kidney transplants had begun in the early 1950s, drugs to help prevent rejection had not been available until the mid-‘60s. Such operations were still fairly new and there was always a lot of publicity when they took place. The Reporter described how Christina Culshaw and her 25-year-old son Stephen Kearns were both in hospital awaiting a vital transplant.
Stephen from Lewis Street in St Helens was a keen rugby player but earlier this year he'd collapsed at work and later both of his kidneys were found to be badly diseased. Stephen's sister, Anne, told the Reporter: "They said that a parent as a donor would be the most obvious choice. They tested mum and said there was more chance of success, and she was quite happy to go along with it."
And step-dad Joseph Culshaw said: "The operation is vital. He'll have to have it or live on a kidney machine for the rest of his life. We've been told it will have an 80 per cent success rate as the donor is his mother. I would have given one of my kidneys, but I'm his step-father."
There was a curious advert in the Reporter for a forthcoming gig by the St Helens group The Gravy Train. It said: "Buy your grannie some extra hair clips to keep her hair on and bring her to the Theatre Royal Saturday, Sept. 7th, 7:30 p.m. Tickets 65p, 70p, 75p. Available from St. Helens YMCA Now! A Fishwrapper Promotion."
Councillor Bill Jones was featured in the Reporter complaining how he could not get anyone in his ward to complain to him! Bill represented Rainhill and Bold and had held four surgeries over the last two months for people to air their grievances but only two persons had turned up. "I can't understand it," said Bill. "People would be surprised at how I can help them. I have been elected to solve problems but I can't do it unless they tell me about them." The councillor wondered whether the word "surgery" was putting off his younger constituents and said he intended to drop it from his future adverts promoting his sessions.
The latest unemployment figures for St Helens were released this week and showed that school leavers had increased the jobless rate from 3.5% to 4.6% – or from 2,021 to 2,600 persons. Unfilled vacancies totalled 125.
And finally, on the 25th Disney's 'Song of the South' was replaced at the Capitol Cinema in St Helens with 'The Guns Of Navarone', which in its Reporter ad had the strapline "The greatest adventure story of all time". And at the ABC Savoy, a film called 'The Dove' replaced 'American Graffiti'.
St Helens Reporter and Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the pushback against Pilks' plans for a float glass factory in Gorsey Lane, the fun and chaos at Rainford and Burtonwood's carnivals and the 24-hour hot-line for Sutton residents to report atmospheric pollution.
We begin on the 19th when Disney's 'Song of the South' began 6 days of screenings at the Capitol cinema in St Helens with 'American Graffiti' continuing to be shown at the ABC Savoy.
Also on that day Bill Connor, the landlord of the Traveller's Rest in Crab Street, dropped into the Halifax Building Society in Hardshaw Street while on his way to his bank to deposit his weekend’s takings. While he was talking to a cashier a man stole his bag containing £500 and ran off.
But Mr Connor was hot on his heels and the opportunist thief dropped the money as he made his getaway down Claughton Street. The landlord said: "The only thing I'm annoyed at is that I didn't catch him. I lost my pen in the chase and I'd like him to replace it."
Architectural experts were currently undertaking checks on twenty schools within the St Helens district that had used Alumina cement in their construction. That was after the roof of a school in London that had utilised the rapid hardening concrete had collapsed. The St Helens Newspaper revealed on the 20th that initial results had led to parts of Campion Boys and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Girls schools having to be closed for up to 12 months while repairs were carried out.
The gyms and assembly rooms in both schools would require reconstruction and although a government grant was expected to cover most of the cost, 15% of the amount would have to be found by the Catholic Church. And Canon Hugh Fitzpatrick told the Newspaper that finding the cash would not be easy as it would not be "Mickey Mouse money".
This week the St Helens Leisure and Recreation Committee agreed to allow Osram-GEC to take night-time photographs on the council's driving range at Sherdley Park and use them in their publicity. The firm had supplied the range's floodlights and as it was one of the few municipal floodlit driving ranges in the country, Osram-GEC wanted to promote their lighting to prospective customers.
However, a London-based company had submitted an outline planning application to build a £1 million leisure complex on part of Carr Mill Dam. The application included plans for 150-bed hotel, conference centre, casino, club, cinema, swimming pool, sauna and a boating centre. It was the second large private scheme proposed for Carr Mill in three years with the first having fallen through despite receiving planning permission.
Councillor Pat Ashton told the meeting that he was against the application, saying if it was granted they would receive complaints from local residents similar to when the Sands Club was operating. Alternatively, it was thought St Helens Council could go it alone at Carr Mill. If they could get the area designated as a country park, it was stated that the council would qualify for a 75% grant from the government.
The committee also considered a letter from John McCabe, who was the Moss Bank Ward Secretary and he was complaining about the noise from the powerboats on the water. Cllr Ashton echoed Mr McCabe's concerns, saying: "I can hear it in Queensway, so how the people who live near are suffering – they must be miserable, especially night workers. They've got no consideration for anybody."
The committee decided to pass the complaint from Mr McCabe on to the council's Environmental Health Committee. The councillors also nostalgically recalled the days when huge numbers used to go to Carr Mill to picnic and take trips on its lake and railway – it was like "going to Southport", as one member put it.
On the 21st the annual meeting of St Helens RLFC was held in which fans claimed that they were being neglected for the sake of the recently opened Saints Social Club. There was also criticism over the allocation of season tickets and office staff were accused of arrogance. And later that day, Harry Cook, the Saints chairman, resigned. Only five days before the club's general manager, Basil Lowe, had announced his shock resignation from Knowsley Road. "Bosses Quit in Saints Shake-Up" was the Reporter headline.
On the 22nd Robert Kilroy-Silk visited Welding Units of Mill Lane in Rainford to see for himself the problems the firm were experiencing. The constituency of the MP for Ormskirk then included Rainford and Kilroy-Silk was told that a steel shortage was badly hampering their operations. Welding Units made specialist joints for pipelines and the eight-year-old firm employed 50 people. But its managing director, Barry Martland, said that they could increase their capacity 100% by operating a double shift but he could not obtain enough steel.
On the 23rd Mary Holden retired after 33 years as a bus conductress in which she had issued around 300,000 tickets. When the 63-year-old from Wythburn Crescent in Carr Mill joined the St Helens bus service in 1941 her wages were only £2 10 shillings a week.
The lead story in the Reporter on the 23rd was how hundreds of sightseers had risked their lives by crossing a main railway line as a train was approaching in order to watch a huge fire. It happened on the St Helens to Wigan line behind Rockware's glassworks as a blaze swept through a storage yard. The driver of the passenger train that was coming into St Helens was forced to stop and then advance very slowly, sounding his horn until the track cleared.
John Pilling of Brynn Street, a fire prevention and safety officer, said he was horrified at what he saw: "I was amazed at the foolhardiness of the people – mainly women, teenagers and children. But thanks to the driver of the passenger train a serious accident was averted. The driver of the express would have been unable to stop if the long train hadn't cleared the line. Some people even walked all the way along the track from the College Street bridge to get to the fire. And visibility was very poor."
A spokesman for British Rail said: "We absolutely condemn these people. This was a really foolish trick, especially when it was just to gape at someone's misfortune." The fire destroyed 30,000 wooden storage pallets and 200,000 plastic and wooden crates, causing an estimated £200,000 worth of damage. Police were interviewing children who were in the area at the time. However, they thought a spark from a truck or lorry could have started the blaze which was fought by 14 fire engines for over 1½ hours before it was got under control.
Although kidney transplants had begun in the early 1950s, drugs to help prevent rejection had not been available until the mid-‘60s. Such operations were still fairly new and there was always a lot of publicity when they took place. The Reporter described how Christina Culshaw and her 25-year-old son Stephen Kearns were both in hospital awaiting a vital transplant.
Stephen from Lewis Street in St Helens was a keen rugby player but earlier this year he'd collapsed at work and later both of his kidneys were found to be badly diseased. Stephen's sister, Anne, told the Reporter: "They said that a parent as a donor would be the most obvious choice. They tested mum and said there was more chance of success, and she was quite happy to go along with it."
And step-dad Joseph Culshaw said: "The operation is vital. He'll have to have it or live on a kidney machine for the rest of his life. We've been told it will have an 80 per cent success rate as the donor is his mother. I would have given one of my kidneys, but I'm his step-father."
There was a curious advert in the Reporter for a forthcoming gig by the St Helens group The Gravy Train. It said: "Buy your grannie some extra hair clips to keep her hair on and bring her to the Theatre Royal Saturday, Sept. 7th, 7:30 p.m. Tickets 65p, 70p, 75p. Available from St. Helens YMCA Now! A Fishwrapper Promotion."
Councillor Bill Jones was featured in the Reporter complaining how he could not get anyone in his ward to complain to him! Bill represented Rainhill and Bold and had held four surgeries over the last two months for people to air their grievances but only two persons had turned up. "I can't understand it," said Bill. "People would be surprised at how I can help them. I have been elected to solve problems but I can't do it unless they tell me about them." The councillor wondered whether the word "surgery" was putting off his younger constituents and said he intended to drop it from his future adverts promoting his sessions.
The latest unemployment figures for St Helens were released this week and showed that school leavers had increased the jobless rate from 3.5% to 4.6% – or from 2,021 to 2,600 persons. Unfilled vacancies totalled 125.
And finally, on the 25th Disney's 'Song of the South' was replaced at the Capitol Cinema in St Helens with 'The Guns Of Navarone', which in its Reporter ad had the strapline "The greatest adventure story of all time". And at the ABC Savoy, a film called 'The Dove' replaced 'American Graffiti'.
St Helens Reporter and Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the pushback against Pilks' plans for a float glass factory in Gorsey Lane, the fun and chaos at Rainford and Burtonwood's carnivals and the 24-hour hot-line for Sutton residents to report atmospheric pollution.
This week's many stories include how hundreds of sightseers risked their lives to watch a huge fire, a mother donates a kidney to her son, Saints board is in turmoil, the plans to turn Carr Mill Dam into a "public pleasure paradise" and the councillor who complained that he could not get his constituents to complain to him.
We begin on the 19th when Disney's 'Song of the South' began 6 days of screenings at the Capitol cinema in St Helens with 'American Graffiti' continuing to be shown at the ABC Savoy.
Also on that day Bill Connor, the landlord of the Traveller's Rest in Crab Street, dropped into the Halifax Building Society in Hardshaw Street while on his way to his bank to deposit his weekend’s takings.
While he was talking to a cashier a man stole his bag containing £500 and ran off.
But Mr Connor was hot on his heels and the opportunist thief dropped the money as he made his getaway down Claughton Street.
The landlord said: "The only thing I'm annoyed at is that I didn't catch him. I lost my pen in the chase and I'd like him to replace it."
Architectural experts were currently undertaking checks on twenty schools within the St Helens district that had used Alumina cement in their construction.
That was after the roof of a school in London that had utilised the rapid hardening concrete had collapsed.
The St Helens Newspaper revealed on the 20th that initial results had led to parts of Campion Boys and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Girls schools having to be closed for up to 12 months while repairs were carried out.
The gyms and assembly rooms in both schools would require reconstruction and although a government grant was expected to cover most of the cost, 15% of the amount would have to be found by the Catholic Church.
And Canon Hugh Fitzpatrick told the Newspaper that finding the cash would not be easy as it would not be "Mickey Mouse money".
This week the St Helens Leisure and Recreation Committee agreed to allow Osram-GEC to take night-time photographs on the council's driving range at Sherdley Park and use them in their publicity.
The firm had supplied the range's floodlights and as it was one of the few municipal floodlit driving ranges in the country, Osram-GEC wanted to promote their lighting to prospective customers.
The Leisure and Recreation Committee also decided to turn Carr Mill Dam into a "public pleasure paradise" – as the Reporter put it.
The councillors took the first step to develop the dam and its surrounding woodland into a leisure centre by agreeing in principle to the idea. But exactly how their aim would be achieved was unclear.
However, a London-based company had submitted an outline planning application to build a £1 million leisure complex on part of Carr Mill Dam.
The application included plans for 150-bed hotel, conference centre, casino, club, cinema, swimming pool, sauna and a boating centre.
It was the second large private scheme proposed for Carr Mill in three years with the first having fallen through despite receiving planning permission.
Councillor Pat Ashton told the meeting that he was against the application, saying if it was granted they would receive complaints from local residents similar to when the Sands Club was operating.
Alternatively, it was thought St Helens Council could go it alone at Carr Mill. If they could get the area designated as a country park, it was stated that the council would qualify for a 75% grant from the government.
The committee also considered a letter from John McCabe, who was the Moss Bank Ward Secretary and he was complaining about the noise from the powerboats on the water.
Cllr Ashton echoed Mr McCabe's concerns, saying: "I can hear it in Queensway, so how the people who live near are suffering – they must be miserable, especially night workers. They've got no consideration for anybody."
The committee decided to pass the complaint from Mr McCabe on to the council's Environmental Health Committee.
The councillors also nostalgically recalled the days when huge numbers used to go to Carr Mill to picnic and take trips on its lake and railway – it was like "going to Southport", as one member put it.
On the 21st the annual meeting of St Helens RLFC was held in which fans claimed that they were being neglected for the sake of the recently opened Saints Social Club.
There was also criticism over the allocation of season tickets and office staff were accused of arrogance. And later that day, Harry Cook, the Saints chairman, resigned.
Only five days before the club's general manager, Basil Lowe, had announced his shock resignation from Knowsley Road. "Bosses Quit in Saints Shake-Up" was the Reporter headline.
Also on the 21st the current Miss Great Britain, Gay Spink, was at Helena House in Baldwin Street meeting and greeting shoppers.
It was part of a promotion drive for a soap brand and Gay chatted to shoppers and gave away autographed photographs of herself.
On the 22nd Robert Kilroy-Silk visited Welding Units of Mill Lane in Rainford to see for himself the problems the firm were experiencing.
The constituency of the MP for Ormskirk then included Rainford and Kilroy-Silk was told that a steel shortage was badly hampering their operations.
Welding Units made specialist joints for pipelines and the eight-year-old firm employed 50 people.
But its managing director, Barry Martland, said that they could increase their capacity 100% by operating a double shift but he could not obtain enough steel.
On the 23rd Mary Holden retired after 33 years as a bus conductress in which she had issued around 300,000 tickets.
When the 63-year-old from Wythburn Crescent in Carr Mill joined the St Helens bus service in 1941 her wages were only £2 10 shillings a week.
The lead story in the Reporter on the 23rd was how hundreds of sightseers had risked their lives by crossing a main railway line as a train was approaching in order to watch a huge fire.
It happened on the St Helens to Wigan line behind Rockware's glassworks as a blaze swept through a storage yard.
The driver of the passenger train that was coming into St Helens was forced to stop and then advance very slowly, sounding his horn until the track cleared.
John Pilling of Brynn Street, a fire prevention and safety officer, said he was horrified at what he saw:
"I was amazed at the foolhardiness of the people – mainly women, teenagers and children. But thanks to the driver of the passenger train a serious accident was averted.
"The driver of the express would have been unable to stop if the long train hadn't cleared the line. Some people even walked all the way along the track from the College Street bridge to get to the fire. And visibility was very poor."
A spokesman for British Rail said: "We absolutely condemn these people. This was a really foolish trick, especially when it was just to gape at someone's misfortune."
The fire destroyed 30,000 wooden storage pallets and 200,000 plastic and wooden crates, causing an estimated £200,000 worth of damage.
Police were interviewing children who were in the area at the time. However, they thought a spark from a truck or lorry could have started the blaze which was fought by 14 fire engines for over 1½ hours before it was got under control.
Although kidney transplants had begun in the early 1950s, drugs to help prevent rejection had not been available until the mid-‘60s.
Such operations were still fairly new and there was always a lot of publicity when they took place.
The Reporter described how Christina Culshaw and her 25-year-old son Stephen Kearns were both in hospital awaiting a vital transplant.
Stephen from Lewis Street in St Helens was a keen rugby player but earlier this year he'd collapsed at work and later both of his kidneys were found to be badly diseased.
Stephen's sister, Anne, told the Reporter: "They said that a parent as a donor would be the most obvious choice. They tested mum and said there was more chance of success, and she was quite happy to go along with it." And step-dad Joseph Culshaw said:
"The operation is vital. He'll have to have it or live on a kidney machine for the rest of his life. We've been told it will have an 80 per cent success rate as the donor is his mother. I would have given one of my kidneys, but I'm his step-father."
There was a curious advert in the Reporter for a forthcoming gig by the St Helens group The Gravy Train. It said:
"Buy your grannie some extra hair clips to keep her hair on and bring her to the Theatre Royal Saturday, Sept. 7th, 7:30 p.m. Tickets 65p, 70p, 75p. Available from St. Helens YMCA Now! A Fishwrapper Promotion."
Councillor Bill Jones was featured in the Reporter complaining how he could not get anyone in his ward to complain to him!
Bill represented Rainhill and Bold and had held four surgeries over the last two months for people to air their grievances but only two persons had turned up.
"I can't understand it," said Bill. "People would be surprised at how I can help them. I have been elected to solve problems but I can't do it unless they tell me about them."
The councillor wondered whether the word "surgery" was putting off his younger constituents and said he intended to drop it from his future adverts promoting his sessions.
The latest unemployment figures for St Helens were released this week and showed that school leavers had increased the jobless rate from 3.5% to 4.6% – or from 2,021 to 2,600 persons. Unfilled vacancies totalled 125.
And finally, on the 25th Disney's 'Song of the South' was replaced at the Capitol Cinema in St Helens with 'The Guns Of Navarone', which in its Reporter ad had the strapline "The greatest adventure story of all time".
And at the ABC Savoy, a film called 'The Dove' replaced 'American Graffiti'.
St Helens Reporter and Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the pushback against Pilks' plans for a float glass factory in Gorsey Lane, the fun and chaos at Rainford and Burtonwood's carnivals and the 24-hour hot-line for Sutton residents to report atmospheric pollution.
We begin on the 19th when Disney's 'Song of the South' began 6 days of screenings at the Capitol cinema in St Helens with 'American Graffiti' continuing to be shown at the ABC Savoy.
Also on that day Bill Connor, the landlord of the Traveller's Rest in Crab Street, dropped into the Halifax Building Society in Hardshaw Street while on his way to his bank to deposit his weekend’s takings.
While he was talking to a cashier a man stole his bag containing £500 and ran off.
But Mr Connor was hot on his heels and the opportunist thief dropped the money as he made his getaway down Claughton Street.
The landlord said: "The only thing I'm annoyed at is that I didn't catch him. I lost my pen in the chase and I'd like him to replace it."
Architectural experts were currently undertaking checks on twenty schools within the St Helens district that had used Alumina cement in their construction.
That was after the roof of a school in London that had utilised the rapid hardening concrete had collapsed.
The St Helens Newspaper revealed on the 20th that initial results had led to parts of Campion Boys and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Girls schools having to be closed for up to 12 months while repairs were carried out.
The gyms and assembly rooms in both schools would require reconstruction and although a government grant was expected to cover most of the cost, 15% of the amount would have to be found by the Catholic Church.
And Canon Hugh Fitzpatrick told the Newspaper that finding the cash would not be easy as it would not be "Mickey Mouse money".
This week the St Helens Leisure and Recreation Committee agreed to allow Osram-GEC to take night-time photographs on the council's driving range at Sherdley Park and use them in their publicity.
The firm had supplied the range's floodlights and as it was one of the few municipal floodlit driving ranges in the country, Osram-GEC wanted to promote their lighting to prospective customers.
The councillors took the first step to develop the dam and its surrounding woodland into a leisure centre by agreeing in principle to the idea. But exactly how their aim would be achieved was unclear.
However, a London-based company had submitted an outline planning application to build a £1 million leisure complex on part of Carr Mill Dam.
The application included plans for 150-bed hotel, conference centre, casino, club, cinema, swimming pool, sauna and a boating centre.
It was the second large private scheme proposed for Carr Mill in three years with the first having fallen through despite receiving planning permission.
Councillor Pat Ashton told the meeting that he was against the application, saying if it was granted they would receive complaints from local residents similar to when the Sands Club was operating.
Alternatively, it was thought St Helens Council could go it alone at Carr Mill. If they could get the area designated as a country park, it was stated that the council would qualify for a 75% grant from the government.
The committee also considered a letter from John McCabe, who was the Moss Bank Ward Secretary and he was complaining about the noise from the powerboats on the water.
Cllr Ashton echoed Mr McCabe's concerns, saying: "I can hear it in Queensway, so how the people who live near are suffering – they must be miserable, especially night workers. They've got no consideration for anybody."
The committee decided to pass the complaint from Mr McCabe on to the council's Environmental Health Committee.
The councillors also nostalgically recalled the days when huge numbers used to go to Carr Mill to picnic and take trips on its lake and railway – it was like "going to Southport", as one member put it.
On the 21st the annual meeting of St Helens RLFC was held in which fans claimed that they were being neglected for the sake of the recently opened Saints Social Club.
There was also criticism over the allocation of season tickets and office staff were accused of arrogance. And later that day, Harry Cook, the Saints chairman, resigned.
Only five days before the club's general manager, Basil Lowe, had announced his shock resignation from Knowsley Road. "Bosses Quit in Saints Shake-Up" was the Reporter headline.
It was part of a promotion drive for a soap brand and Gay chatted to shoppers and gave away autographed photographs of herself.
On the 22nd Robert Kilroy-Silk visited Welding Units of Mill Lane in Rainford to see for himself the problems the firm were experiencing.
The constituency of the MP for Ormskirk then included Rainford and Kilroy-Silk was told that a steel shortage was badly hampering their operations.
Welding Units made specialist joints for pipelines and the eight-year-old firm employed 50 people.
But its managing director, Barry Martland, said that they could increase their capacity 100% by operating a double shift but he could not obtain enough steel.
On the 23rd Mary Holden retired after 33 years as a bus conductress in which she had issued around 300,000 tickets.
When the 63-year-old from Wythburn Crescent in Carr Mill joined the St Helens bus service in 1941 her wages were only £2 10 shillings a week.
The lead story in the Reporter on the 23rd was how hundreds of sightseers had risked their lives by crossing a main railway line as a train was approaching in order to watch a huge fire.
It happened on the St Helens to Wigan line behind Rockware's glassworks as a blaze swept through a storage yard.
The driver of the passenger train that was coming into St Helens was forced to stop and then advance very slowly, sounding his horn until the track cleared.
John Pilling of Brynn Street, a fire prevention and safety officer, said he was horrified at what he saw:
"I was amazed at the foolhardiness of the people – mainly women, teenagers and children. But thanks to the driver of the passenger train a serious accident was averted.
"The driver of the express would have been unable to stop if the long train hadn't cleared the line. Some people even walked all the way along the track from the College Street bridge to get to the fire. And visibility was very poor."
A spokesman for British Rail said: "We absolutely condemn these people. This was a really foolish trick, especially when it was just to gape at someone's misfortune."
The fire destroyed 30,000 wooden storage pallets and 200,000 plastic and wooden crates, causing an estimated £200,000 worth of damage.
Police were interviewing children who were in the area at the time. However, they thought a spark from a truck or lorry could have started the blaze which was fought by 14 fire engines for over 1½ hours before it was got under control.
Although kidney transplants had begun in the early 1950s, drugs to help prevent rejection had not been available until the mid-‘60s.
Such operations were still fairly new and there was always a lot of publicity when they took place.
The Reporter described how Christina Culshaw and her 25-year-old son Stephen Kearns were both in hospital awaiting a vital transplant.
Stephen from Lewis Street in St Helens was a keen rugby player but earlier this year he'd collapsed at work and later both of his kidneys were found to be badly diseased.
Stephen's sister, Anne, told the Reporter: "They said that a parent as a donor would be the most obvious choice. They tested mum and said there was more chance of success, and she was quite happy to go along with it." And step-dad Joseph Culshaw said:
"The operation is vital. He'll have to have it or live on a kidney machine for the rest of his life. We've been told it will have an 80 per cent success rate as the donor is his mother. I would have given one of my kidneys, but I'm his step-father."
There was a curious advert in the Reporter for a forthcoming gig by the St Helens group The Gravy Train. It said:
"Buy your grannie some extra hair clips to keep her hair on and bring her to the Theatre Royal Saturday, Sept. 7th, 7:30 p.m. Tickets 65p, 70p, 75p. Available from St. Helens YMCA Now! A Fishwrapper Promotion."
Councillor Bill Jones was featured in the Reporter complaining how he could not get anyone in his ward to complain to him!
Bill represented Rainhill and Bold and had held four surgeries over the last two months for people to air their grievances but only two persons had turned up.
"I can't understand it," said Bill. "People would be surprised at how I can help them. I have been elected to solve problems but I can't do it unless they tell me about them."
The councillor wondered whether the word "surgery" was putting off his younger constituents and said he intended to drop it from his future adverts promoting his sessions.
The latest unemployment figures for St Helens were released this week and showed that school leavers had increased the jobless rate from 3.5% to 4.6% – or from 2,021 to 2,600 persons. Unfilled vacancies totalled 125.
And finally, on the 25th Disney's 'Song of the South' was replaced at the Capitol Cinema in St Helens with 'The Guns Of Navarone', which in its Reporter ad had the strapline "The greatest adventure story of all time".
And at the ABC Savoy, a film called 'The Dove' replaced 'American Graffiti'.
St Helens Reporter and Newspaper courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the pushback against Pilks' plans for a float glass factory in Gorsey Lane, the fun and chaos at Rainford and Burtonwood's carnivals and the 24-hour hot-line for Sutton residents to report atmospheric pollution.