FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (19th - 25th SEPTEMBER 1972)
This week's stories include the planned pedestrianisation of Church Street, why the name Alma Street in Peasley Cross could cost 150 jobs, plans to receive expelled Ugandan Asians in St Helens, new facilities are planned for the young people of Rainford and a stinging critique of Leathers Chemicals sulphuric acid factory in Sutton.
We begin on the 20th when St Helens Council's Works Committee gave the go-ahead for the pedestrianisation of part of Church Street in the town centre (pictured above). By the end of the year, the stretch of Church Street between Hall Street and Bridge Street would be made into a no-go area for private traffic. Only buses that were travelling towards Ormskirk Street and vehicles delivering goods to shops would be allowed. Hardshaw Street and Barrow Street would also be closed to normal traffic.
In January Greenall Whitley had stated that the proposed Church Street pedestrianisation scheme would create insurmountable access problems for their Hall Street brewery and so they announced its closure. The Works Committee also provisionally approved a proposal to re-route the Parr bus service along Corporation Street, with a bus stop and lay-by situated outside the Methodist Church.
Six weeks ago the President of Uganda, Idi Amin, had ordered the expulsion of all Asians living in his country. Many would be arriving in Britain and at a Whiston Council committee meeting on the 21st, it was agreed that the authority had a moral responsibility to help the refugees out. So up to 10 tenancies would be made available for expelled families in need.
However, the council had 400 local people on its housing waiting list. So they decided to only offer the tenancies to the Asians if there was still a shortage of accommodation after offers from other local authorities had been accepted. St Helens Council would also soon be announcing its offer of accommodation to those families cruelly expelled from Uganda.
Meanwhile, rumours were rife in Haydock this week that many of the Ugandan Asians were going to be put up at the old RAF camp in Haydock Lane. Speculation began when heavily laden contractors' vehicles were spotted driving towards the former base. But it turned out that the lorries were transporting material for a new lighting scheme planned for the East Lancs Road.
Rainford Council's Management and General Purposes Committee met this week and decided to support three local schemes for the benefit of young people. These were the provision of a youth club, a playing field in Crank behind the Red Cat and joint recreational facilities at Rainford High School. Councillor Ron Jones said: "People are always grumbling about the lack of facilities in the district and I think that they have cause to complain."
On the 22nd the St Helens Reporter published a hard-hitting editorial on the Leathers Chemicals factory in Sutton (pictured above). The controversial sulphuric acid works had originally been granted planning permission after claiming it would reduce the district's pollution by recycling effluent from British Sidac's neighbouring plant. The stinging front-page report read:
"Leading members of St. Helens Council have admitted, privately, that they were “conned” by the original planning application. They were baffled by facts, figures and formulae. Their technical advisers were powerless to argue with the results of laboratory tests. What the new sulphuric acid plant wasn't going to do! Pictures were almost conjured up of a salmon leap on the Stinking Brook as British Sidac's effluent was utilised in Leather's manufacturing process.
"What is the reality? The Stinking Brook still stinks. Worse, even that foul smell is often overwhelmed by the new odours from Leathers. And these are fumes which, according to the St. Helens Medical Officer of Health, can kill someone with a serious chest complaint. Sutton has more than its fair share of people who fall into that category. . . pitmen and former miners among them. And we have had numerous complaints about the fall-out from the Leathers' chimney, a fall-out which can eat away women's tights, ruin cars' paintwork, kill growing plants and cause acute discomfort to passers-by. …With the benefit of hindsight, St. Helens Council should now have no qualms in saying to them: GET IT RIGHT OR GET OUT, within 28 days."
The council had recently said that if they decided to close Leathers' factory, they would have to pay a massive amount of compensation to the firm. The Reporter demanded to know how much such payments would be, then, as they put it, "We can decide what price we want to pay for the health, happiness and general wellbeing of the people of Sutton."
The editor also criticised Leathers for their dreadful lack of communication, writing: "We have telephoned. We have been in person. We have met, time and time again, with the classic “no comment” situation. This is an open invitation to Leathers now to state their case in our columns. We want to be able to give both sides of the story, but they have not helped so far."
There was a curious article in the Reporter this week which began: "Work-hungry St. Helens, with 3,500 people on the dole, is likely to lose 150 jobs – and all for the sake of a name". The name was Alma, which, according to a chap called Rodney Keay, conjured up images of Coronation Street. No, not that Alma played by Amanda Barrie. She wouldn't appear in the ITV soap until the ‘80s.
But Mr Keay was convinced that foreigners hearing of Alma Street in Peasley Cross would think of rundown Coronation Street and not want to trade with him. Alma Street had been so-named for over 100 years but Mr Keay thought it should be renamed after him and his firm. A. R. Keay and Partners were industrial building and maintenance contractors and planned to set up their HQ in Alma Street.
But its boss felt the name of the road created the wrong image for his firm – in fact he reckoned it would be disastrous for his business. So Rodney Keay asked the council to rename Alma Street to Keaysway but they refused. They did offer to change the road so it had the same name as the neighbouring Alma Place but Keay angrily rejected that suggestion, saying:
"I don't want Alma Place. A name means a lot. It's all a matter of prestige. We are judged on appearance and the letter headings on our correspondence. It's our shop window. We are very go-ahead, but Alma Street or Place gives a Coronation Street image. It suggests we are a jobbing firm. I am spending an initial £40,000 on a factory that will supply fresh jobs for 150 people. But I am not going to invest any sort of money in Alma Street or Alma Place. Now I will probably take my headquarters out of town."
In a subsequent edition of 'Whalley's World' in the Reporter, Alan Whalley attacked Mr Keay for taking the "huff" in such a way, writing: "Rodney Keay – ex-porter and county councillor – apparently likes the sound of his own name. And it would appear that he wants a lot of his own way, too! How else can you interpret the motives of a man who threatens to deprive a dole-hit town of 150 jobs – unless a back street is re-named in his honour?"
There was another case of buck passing described by the Reporter this week. Recently four people – including an elderly widow called Margaret Lewis and a four-year-old boy – had collapsed inside a council-built flat in Parr after being overcome by fumes. This week Gas Board workmen tasked with tracing the cause of the leak in the Chancery Lane property had found loose flue pipes and a blocked chimney.
And they blamed council workmen, saying: "It is apparent that there is shoddy workmanship in the system." But the council hit back, with their Building Manager, Joseph Appleton, denying responsibility and saying: "We could not find any blockage in the chimney. The pipes which connect the gas appliance to the structural flue are the responsibility of the Gas Board, not the Building Department. It was also the Gas Board's responsibility to see that they were sealed."
Four years had passed since new vehicles had been required by law to have seatbelts fitted, although wearing them did not become mandatory until 1983. Drivers and front-seat passengers were instead encouraged to "belt up". The Reporter also wrote how a trusting Whiston firm called Turner and Newall had this week announced that any employee using a company car had to "promise" to wear a belt.
Woodcock's had run the Phoenix Foundry in Burtonhead Road since 1919. However, trade was now so bad that the firm was due to close with the loss of 45 jobs. But the Reporter described a glimmer of hope with the possibility that some of the workmen would take over and run part of the business. Foreman Peter Burkhill claimed the firm had "great possibilities for the lifting tackle side."
Comedian Tom O’Connor was the star act in a "Grand Concert" at Parr Labour Club on the 19th. Other acts on the bill in Boardmans Lane were The Amazons and singer Tony West. On the 22nd the Black Dyke Mills Band was in concert at the Theatre Royal in St Helens. Then on the following evening Roger Whittaker was on stage in Corporation Street. Also on the 23rd, the St Helens Junior Chamber of Commerce carried out a survey on residents' opinions of their town. Its damning conclusions will be revealed next week!
And finally, throughout this week Rainford's Annual Art Exhibition was held in the Village Hall. There were about 250 works on show, including a children's section. One painting bore the caption "Daddy on a ladder"!
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the ding-dong row at St Bartholomew's in Rainhill, the severe criticism of St Helens by its own residents, the giant crane that crashed down on a Liverpool Road building site and attempts to save Crank post office.
In January Greenall Whitley had stated that the proposed Church Street pedestrianisation scheme would create insurmountable access problems for their Hall Street brewery and so they announced its closure. The Works Committee also provisionally approved a proposal to re-route the Parr bus service along Corporation Street, with a bus stop and lay-by situated outside the Methodist Church.
Six weeks ago the President of Uganda, Idi Amin, had ordered the expulsion of all Asians living in his country. Many would be arriving in Britain and at a Whiston Council committee meeting on the 21st, it was agreed that the authority had a moral responsibility to help the refugees out. So up to 10 tenancies would be made available for expelled families in need.
However, the council had 400 local people on its housing waiting list. So they decided to only offer the tenancies to the Asians if there was still a shortage of accommodation after offers from other local authorities had been accepted. St Helens Council would also soon be announcing its offer of accommodation to those families cruelly expelled from Uganda.
Meanwhile, rumours were rife in Haydock this week that many of the Ugandan Asians were going to be put up at the old RAF camp in Haydock Lane. Speculation began when heavily laden contractors' vehicles were spotted driving towards the former base. But it turned out that the lorries were transporting material for a new lighting scheme planned for the East Lancs Road.
Rainford Council's Management and General Purposes Committee met this week and decided to support three local schemes for the benefit of young people. These were the provision of a youth club, a playing field in Crank behind the Red Cat and joint recreational facilities at Rainford High School. Councillor Ron Jones said: "People are always grumbling about the lack of facilities in the district and I think that they have cause to complain."
"Leading members of St. Helens Council have admitted, privately, that they were “conned” by the original planning application. They were baffled by facts, figures and formulae. Their technical advisers were powerless to argue with the results of laboratory tests. What the new sulphuric acid plant wasn't going to do! Pictures were almost conjured up of a salmon leap on the Stinking Brook as British Sidac's effluent was utilised in Leather's manufacturing process.
"What is the reality? The Stinking Brook still stinks. Worse, even that foul smell is often overwhelmed by the new odours from Leathers. And these are fumes which, according to the St. Helens Medical Officer of Health, can kill someone with a serious chest complaint. Sutton has more than its fair share of people who fall into that category. . . pitmen and former miners among them. And we have had numerous complaints about the fall-out from the Leathers' chimney, a fall-out which can eat away women's tights, ruin cars' paintwork, kill growing plants and cause acute discomfort to passers-by. …With the benefit of hindsight, St. Helens Council should now have no qualms in saying to them: GET IT RIGHT OR GET OUT, within 28 days."
The council had recently said that if they decided to close Leathers' factory, they would have to pay a massive amount of compensation to the firm. The Reporter demanded to know how much such payments would be, then, as they put it, "We can decide what price we want to pay for the health, happiness and general wellbeing of the people of Sutton."
The editor also criticised Leathers for their dreadful lack of communication, writing: "We have telephoned. We have been in person. We have met, time and time again, with the classic “no comment” situation. This is an open invitation to Leathers now to state their case in our columns. We want to be able to give both sides of the story, but they have not helped so far."
There was a curious article in the Reporter this week which began: "Work-hungry St. Helens, with 3,500 people on the dole, is likely to lose 150 jobs – and all for the sake of a name". The name was Alma, which, according to a chap called Rodney Keay, conjured up images of Coronation Street. No, not that Alma played by Amanda Barrie. She wouldn't appear in the ITV soap until the ‘80s.
But Mr Keay was convinced that foreigners hearing of Alma Street in Peasley Cross would think of rundown Coronation Street and not want to trade with him. Alma Street had been so-named for over 100 years but Mr Keay thought it should be renamed after him and his firm. A. R. Keay and Partners were industrial building and maintenance contractors and planned to set up their HQ in Alma Street.
But its boss felt the name of the road created the wrong image for his firm – in fact he reckoned it would be disastrous for his business. So Rodney Keay asked the council to rename Alma Street to Keaysway but they refused. They did offer to change the road so it had the same name as the neighbouring Alma Place but Keay angrily rejected that suggestion, saying:
"I don't want Alma Place. A name means a lot. It's all a matter of prestige. We are judged on appearance and the letter headings on our correspondence. It's our shop window. We are very go-ahead, but Alma Street or Place gives a Coronation Street image. It suggests we are a jobbing firm. I am spending an initial £40,000 on a factory that will supply fresh jobs for 150 people. But I am not going to invest any sort of money in Alma Street or Alma Place. Now I will probably take my headquarters out of town."
In a subsequent edition of 'Whalley's World' in the Reporter, Alan Whalley attacked Mr Keay for taking the "huff" in such a way, writing: "Rodney Keay – ex-porter and county councillor – apparently likes the sound of his own name. And it would appear that he wants a lot of his own way, too! How else can you interpret the motives of a man who threatens to deprive a dole-hit town of 150 jobs – unless a back street is re-named in his honour?"
There was another case of buck passing described by the Reporter this week. Recently four people – including an elderly widow called Margaret Lewis and a four-year-old boy – had collapsed inside a council-built flat in Parr after being overcome by fumes. This week Gas Board workmen tasked with tracing the cause of the leak in the Chancery Lane property had found loose flue pipes and a blocked chimney.
And they blamed council workmen, saying: "It is apparent that there is shoddy workmanship in the system." But the council hit back, with their Building Manager, Joseph Appleton, denying responsibility and saying: "We could not find any blockage in the chimney. The pipes which connect the gas appliance to the structural flue are the responsibility of the Gas Board, not the Building Department. It was also the Gas Board's responsibility to see that they were sealed."
Four years had passed since new vehicles had been required by law to have seatbelts fitted, although wearing them did not become mandatory until 1983. Drivers and front-seat passengers were instead encouraged to "belt up". The Reporter also wrote how a trusting Whiston firm called Turner and Newall had this week announced that any employee using a company car had to "promise" to wear a belt.
Woodcock's had run the Phoenix Foundry in Burtonhead Road since 1919. However, trade was now so bad that the firm was due to close with the loss of 45 jobs. But the Reporter described a glimmer of hope with the possibility that some of the workmen would take over and run part of the business. Foreman Peter Burkhill claimed the firm had "great possibilities for the lifting tackle side."
Comedian Tom O’Connor was the star act in a "Grand Concert" at Parr Labour Club on the 19th. Other acts on the bill in Boardmans Lane were The Amazons and singer Tony West. On the 22nd the Black Dyke Mills Band was in concert at the Theatre Royal in St Helens. Then on the following evening Roger Whittaker was on stage in Corporation Street. Also on the 23rd, the St Helens Junior Chamber of Commerce carried out a survey on residents' opinions of their town. Its damning conclusions will be revealed next week!
And finally, throughout this week Rainford's Annual Art Exhibition was held in the Village Hall. There were about 250 works on show, including a children's section. One painting bore the caption "Daddy on a ladder"!
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the ding-dong row at St Bartholomew's in Rainhill, the severe criticism of St Helens by its own residents, the giant crane that crashed down on a Liverpool Road building site and attempts to save Crank post office.
This week's stories include the planned pedestrianisation of Church Street, why the name Alma Street in Peasley Cross could cost 150 jobs, plans to receive expelled Ugandan Asians in St Helens, new facilities are planned for the young people of Rainford and a stinging critique of Leathers Chemicals sulphuric acid factory in Sutton.
We begin on the 20th when St Helens Council's Works Committee gave the go-ahead for the pedestrianisation of part of Church Street in the town centre (pictured above).
By the end of the year, the stretch of Church Street between Hall Street and Bridge Street would be made into a no-go area for private traffic.
Only buses that were travelling towards Ormskirk Street and vehicles delivering goods to shops would be allowed. Hardshaw Street and Barrow Street would also be closed to normal traffic.
In January Greenall Whitley had stated that the proposed Church Street pedestrianisation scheme would create insurmountable access problems for their Hall Street brewery and so they announced its closure.
The Works Committee also provisionally approved a proposal to re-route the Parr bus service along Corporation Street, with a bus stop and lay-by situated outside the Methodist Church.
Six weeks ago the President of Uganda, Idi Amin, had ordered the expulsion of all Asians living in his country.
Many would be arriving in Britain and at a Whiston Council committee meeting on the 21st, it was agreed that the authority had a moral responsibility to help the refugees out. So up to 10 tenancies would be made available for expelled families in need.
However, the council had 400 local people on its housing waiting list. So they decided to only offer the tenancies to the Asians if there was still a shortage of accommodation after offers from other local authorities had been accepted.
St Helens Council would also soon be announcing its offer of accommodation to those families cruelly expelled from Uganda.
Meanwhile, rumours were rife in Haydock this week that many of the Ugandan Asians were going to be put up at the old RAF camp in Haydock Lane.
Speculation began when heavily laden contractors' vehicles were spotted driving towards the former base.
But it turned out that the lorries were transporting material for a new lighting scheme planned for the East Lancs Road.
Rainford Council's Management and General Purposes Committee met this week and decided to support three local schemes for the benefit of young people.
These were the provision of a youth club, a playing field in Crank behind the Red Cat and joint recreational facilities at Rainford High School.
Councillor Ron Jones said: "People are always grumbling about the lack of facilities in the district and I think that they have cause to complain."
On the 22nd the St Helens Reporter published a hard-hitting editorial on the Leathers Chemicals factory in Sutton (pictured above).
The controversial sulphuric acid works had originally been granted planning permission after claiming it would reduce the district's pollution by recycling effluent from British Sidac's neighbouring plant. The stinging front-page report read:
"Leading members of St. Helens Council have admitted, privately, that they were “conned” by the original planning application. They were baffled by facts, figures and formulae. Their technical advisers were powerless to argue with the results of laboratory tests.
"What the new sulphuric acid plant wasn't going to do! Pictures were almost conjured up of a salmon leap on the Stinking Brook as British Sidac's effluent was utilised in Leather's manufacturing process.
"What is the reality? The Stinking Brook still stinks. Worse, even that foul smell is often overwhelmed by the new odours from Leathers. And these are fumes which, according to the St. Helens Medical Officer of Health, can kill someone with a serious chest complaint.
"Sutton has more than its fair share of people who fall into that category. . . pitmen and former miners among them. And we have had numerous complaints about the fall-out from the Leathers' chimney, a fall-out which can eat away women's tights, ruin cars' paintwork, kill growing plants and cause acute discomfort to passers-by.
"…With the benefit of hindsight, St. Helens Council should now have no qualms in saying to them: GET IT RIGHT OR GET OUT, within 28 days."
The council had recently said that if they decided to close Leathers' factory, they would have to pay a massive amount of compensation to the firm.
The Reporter demanded to know how much such payments would be, then, as they put it, "We can decide what price we want to pay for the health, happiness and general wellbeing of the people of Sutton."
The editor also criticised Leathers for their dreadful lack of communication, writing:
"We have telephoned. We have been in person. We have met, time and time again, with the classic “no comment” situation.
"This is an open invitation to Leathers now to state their case in our columns. We want to be able to give both sides of the story, but they have not helped so far."
There was a curious article in the Reporter this week which began:
"Work-hungry St. Helens, with 3,500 people on the dole, is likely to lose 150 jobs – and all for the sake of a name".
The name was Alma, which, according to a chap called Rodney Keay, conjured up images of Coronation Street.
No, not that Alma played by Amanda Barrie. She wouldn't appear in the ITV soap until the ‘80s.
But Mr Keay was convinced that foreigners hearing of Alma Street in Peasley Cross would think of rundown Coronation Street and not want to trade with him.
Alma Street had been so-named for over 100 years but Mr Keay thought it should be renamed after him and his firm.
A. R. Keay and Partners were industrial building and maintenance contractors and planned to set up their HQ in Alma Street.
But its boss felt the name of the road created the wrong image for his firm – in fact he reckoned it would be disastrous for his business.
So Rodney Keay asked the council to rename Alma Street to Keaysway but they refused.
They did offer to change the road so it had the same name as the neighbouring Alma Place but Keay angrily rejected that suggestion, saying:
"I don't want Alma Place. A name means a lot. It's all a matter of prestige. We are judged on appearance and the letter headings on our correspondence. It's our shop window.
"We are very go-ahead, but Alma Street or Place gives a Coronation Street image. It suggests we are a jobbing firm.
"I am spending an initial £40,000 on a factory that will supply fresh jobs for 150 people. But I am not going to invest any sort of money in Alma Street or Alma Place. Now I will probably take my headquarters out of town."
In a subsequent edition of 'Whalley's World' in the Reporter, Alan Whalley attacked Mr Keay for taking the "huff" in such a way, writing:
"Rodney Keay – ex-porter and county councillor – apparently likes the sound of his own name. And it would appear that he wants a lot of his own way, too!
"How else can you interpret the motives of a man who threatens to deprive a dole-hit town of 150 jobs – unless a back street is re-named in his honour?"
There was another case of buck passing described by the Reporter this week.
Recently four people – including an elderly widow called Margaret Lewis and a four-year-old boy – had collapsed inside a council-built flat in Parr after being overcome by fumes.
This week Gas Board workmen tasked with tracing the cause of the leak in the Chancery Lane property had found loose flue pipes and a blocked chimney. And they blamed council workmen, saying:
"It is apparent that there is shoddy workmanship in the system."
But the council hit back, with their Building Manager, Joseph Appleton, denying responsibility and saying:
"We could not find any blockage in the chimney. The pipes which connect the gas appliance to the structural flue are the responsibility of the Gas Board, not the Building Department. It was also the Gas Board's responsibility to see that they were sealed."
Four years had passed since new vehicles had been required by law to have seatbelts fitted, although wearing them did not become mandatory until 1983. Drivers and front-seat passengers were instead encouraged to "belt up".
The Reporter also wrote how a trusting Whiston firm called Turner and Newall had this week announced that any employee using a company car had to "promise" to wear a belt.
Woodcock's had run the Phoenix Foundry in Burtonhead Road since 1919. However, trade was now so bad that the firm was due to close with the loss of 45 jobs.
But the Reporter described a glimmer of hope with the possibility that some of the workmen would take over and run part of the business.
Foreman Peter Burkhill claimed the firm had "great possibilities for the lifting tackle side."
Comedian Tom O’Connor was the star act in a "Grand Concert" at Parr Labour Club on the 19th. Other acts on the bill in Boardmans Lane were The Amazons and singer Tony West.
On the 22nd the Black Dyke Mills Band was in concert at the Theatre Royal in St Helens. Then on the following evening Roger Whittaker was on stage in Corporation Street.
Also on the 23rd, the St Helens Junior Chamber of Commerce carried out a survey on residents' opinions of their town. Its damning conclusions will be revealed next week!
And finally, throughout this week Rainford's Annual Art Exhibition was held in the Village Hall.
There were about 250 works on show, including a children's section. One painting bore the caption "Daddy on a ladder"!
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the ding-dong row at St Bartholomew's in Rainhill, the severe criticism of St Helens by its own residents, the giant crane that crashed down on a Liverpool Road building site and attempts to save Crank post office.
By the end of the year, the stretch of Church Street between Hall Street and Bridge Street would be made into a no-go area for private traffic.
Only buses that were travelling towards Ormskirk Street and vehicles delivering goods to shops would be allowed. Hardshaw Street and Barrow Street would also be closed to normal traffic.
In January Greenall Whitley had stated that the proposed Church Street pedestrianisation scheme would create insurmountable access problems for their Hall Street brewery and so they announced its closure.
The Works Committee also provisionally approved a proposal to re-route the Parr bus service along Corporation Street, with a bus stop and lay-by situated outside the Methodist Church.
Six weeks ago the President of Uganda, Idi Amin, had ordered the expulsion of all Asians living in his country.
Many would be arriving in Britain and at a Whiston Council committee meeting on the 21st, it was agreed that the authority had a moral responsibility to help the refugees out. So up to 10 tenancies would be made available for expelled families in need.
However, the council had 400 local people on its housing waiting list. So they decided to only offer the tenancies to the Asians if there was still a shortage of accommodation after offers from other local authorities had been accepted.
St Helens Council would also soon be announcing its offer of accommodation to those families cruelly expelled from Uganda.
Meanwhile, rumours were rife in Haydock this week that many of the Ugandan Asians were going to be put up at the old RAF camp in Haydock Lane.
Speculation began when heavily laden contractors' vehicles were spotted driving towards the former base.
But it turned out that the lorries were transporting material for a new lighting scheme planned for the East Lancs Road.
Rainford Council's Management and General Purposes Committee met this week and decided to support three local schemes for the benefit of young people.
These were the provision of a youth club, a playing field in Crank behind the Red Cat and joint recreational facilities at Rainford High School.
Councillor Ron Jones said: "People are always grumbling about the lack of facilities in the district and I think that they have cause to complain."
The controversial sulphuric acid works had originally been granted planning permission after claiming it would reduce the district's pollution by recycling effluent from British Sidac's neighbouring plant. The stinging front-page report read:
"Leading members of St. Helens Council have admitted, privately, that they were “conned” by the original planning application. They were baffled by facts, figures and formulae. Their technical advisers were powerless to argue with the results of laboratory tests.
"What the new sulphuric acid plant wasn't going to do! Pictures were almost conjured up of a salmon leap on the Stinking Brook as British Sidac's effluent was utilised in Leather's manufacturing process.
"What is the reality? The Stinking Brook still stinks. Worse, even that foul smell is often overwhelmed by the new odours from Leathers. And these are fumes which, according to the St. Helens Medical Officer of Health, can kill someone with a serious chest complaint.
"Sutton has more than its fair share of people who fall into that category. . . pitmen and former miners among them. And we have had numerous complaints about the fall-out from the Leathers' chimney, a fall-out which can eat away women's tights, ruin cars' paintwork, kill growing plants and cause acute discomfort to passers-by.
"…With the benefit of hindsight, St. Helens Council should now have no qualms in saying to them: GET IT RIGHT OR GET OUT, within 28 days."
The council had recently said that if they decided to close Leathers' factory, they would have to pay a massive amount of compensation to the firm.
The Reporter demanded to know how much such payments would be, then, as they put it, "We can decide what price we want to pay for the health, happiness and general wellbeing of the people of Sutton."
The editor also criticised Leathers for their dreadful lack of communication, writing:
"We have telephoned. We have been in person. We have met, time and time again, with the classic “no comment” situation.
"This is an open invitation to Leathers now to state their case in our columns. We want to be able to give both sides of the story, but they have not helped so far."
There was a curious article in the Reporter this week which began:
"Work-hungry St. Helens, with 3,500 people on the dole, is likely to lose 150 jobs – and all for the sake of a name".
The name was Alma, which, according to a chap called Rodney Keay, conjured up images of Coronation Street.
No, not that Alma played by Amanda Barrie. She wouldn't appear in the ITV soap until the ‘80s.
But Mr Keay was convinced that foreigners hearing of Alma Street in Peasley Cross would think of rundown Coronation Street and not want to trade with him.
Alma Street had been so-named for over 100 years but Mr Keay thought it should be renamed after him and his firm.
A. R. Keay and Partners were industrial building and maintenance contractors and planned to set up their HQ in Alma Street.
But its boss felt the name of the road created the wrong image for his firm – in fact he reckoned it would be disastrous for his business.
So Rodney Keay asked the council to rename Alma Street to Keaysway but they refused.
They did offer to change the road so it had the same name as the neighbouring Alma Place but Keay angrily rejected that suggestion, saying:
"I don't want Alma Place. A name means a lot. It's all a matter of prestige. We are judged on appearance and the letter headings on our correspondence. It's our shop window.
"We are very go-ahead, but Alma Street or Place gives a Coronation Street image. It suggests we are a jobbing firm.
"I am spending an initial £40,000 on a factory that will supply fresh jobs for 150 people. But I am not going to invest any sort of money in Alma Street or Alma Place. Now I will probably take my headquarters out of town."
In a subsequent edition of 'Whalley's World' in the Reporter, Alan Whalley attacked Mr Keay for taking the "huff" in such a way, writing:
"Rodney Keay – ex-porter and county councillor – apparently likes the sound of his own name. And it would appear that he wants a lot of his own way, too!
"How else can you interpret the motives of a man who threatens to deprive a dole-hit town of 150 jobs – unless a back street is re-named in his honour?"
There was another case of buck passing described by the Reporter this week.
Recently four people – including an elderly widow called Margaret Lewis and a four-year-old boy – had collapsed inside a council-built flat in Parr after being overcome by fumes.
This week Gas Board workmen tasked with tracing the cause of the leak in the Chancery Lane property had found loose flue pipes and a blocked chimney. And they blamed council workmen, saying:
"It is apparent that there is shoddy workmanship in the system."
But the council hit back, with their Building Manager, Joseph Appleton, denying responsibility and saying:
"We could not find any blockage in the chimney. The pipes which connect the gas appliance to the structural flue are the responsibility of the Gas Board, not the Building Department. It was also the Gas Board's responsibility to see that they were sealed."
Four years had passed since new vehicles had been required by law to have seatbelts fitted, although wearing them did not become mandatory until 1983. Drivers and front-seat passengers were instead encouraged to "belt up".
The Reporter also wrote how a trusting Whiston firm called Turner and Newall had this week announced that any employee using a company car had to "promise" to wear a belt.
Woodcock's had run the Phoenix Foundry in Burtonhead Road since 1919. However, trade was now so bad that the firm was due to close with the loss of 45 jobs.
But the Reporter described a glimmer of hope with the possibility that some of the workmen would take over and run part of the business.
Foreman Peter Burkhill claimed the firm had "great possibilities for the lifting tackle side."
Comedian Tom O’Connor was the star act in a "Grand Concert" at Parr Labour Club on the 19th. Other acts on the bill in Boardmans Lane were The Amazons and singer Tony West.
On the 22nd the Black Dyke Mills Band was in concert at the Theatre Royal in St Helens. Then on the following evening Roger Whittaker was on stage in Corporation Street.
Also on the 23rd, the St Helens Junior Chamber of Commerce carried out a survey on residents' opinions of their town. Its damning conclusions will be revealed next week!
And finally, throughout this week Rainford's Annual Art Exhibition was held in the Village Hall.
There were about 250 works on show, including a children's section. One painting bore the caption "Daddy on a ladder"!
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the ding-dong row at St Bartholomew's in Rainhill, the severe criticism of St Helens by its own residents, the giant crane that crashed down on a Liverpool Road building site and attempts to save Crank post office.