FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (21st - 27th MARCH 1972)
This week's stories include the new public super-loos being built in St Helens, the jet age grannie of Carnegie Crescent, Alan Whalley dubs Beth Avenue houses "Downtown Morocco", the crossing danger of Elton Head Road, the death of John Molyneux VC, the terrified old lady of Somerset Street that kids called Old Nanny Grunt and the Government tells the town to put its own house in order before complaining about pollution.
We begin on the 20th with the tragic death of Stuart Bishop. The nine-year-old from Eldon Street in St Helens died from what the St Helens Reporter called an "avalanche of stones and rubble". Stuart, of Sacred Heart Primary School, had been playing with ten other boys under a railway bridge on the disused line in Borough Road, when a 15-ft. high stretch of wall collapsed.
The impending closure of the Crank sub-post office – caused by their landlord serving a notice to quit on his tenants – was causing Rainford Council some concern. At their General Purposes Committee meeting on the 21st, the go-ahead was given to a sub-committee to try and find a suitable council house that could be converted into a post office. There were seventy-eight old age pensioners in Crank who, unless a replacement building could be found, would have to travel by bus into Rainford to collect their pensions.
The authorities were always reluctant to slow-down or stop free-flowing traffic unless they absolutely had to – as the Rainhill mothers campaigning for a 30mph limit on the Warrington Road "mad mile" had recently discovered. One might have thought that a "lollipop" man or woman would have been recruited from the outset to supervise children at the new St John Vianney Primary School when crossing Elton Head Road.
But at this week's meeting of St Helens Education Committee it was revealed that the police had been counting the number of kids going over the busy road to decide if there were enough youngsters to warrant a school crossing patrol. They had concluded that there were – but until a "lollipop" person could be recruited, the bobbies themselves would supervise the pupils.
On the 21st, the St Helens MP, Leslie Spriggs, tackled Eldon Griffiths, the junior minister for pollution, in the House of Commons. The St Helens Labour MP's main complaint was that the town and other areas were being affected by a new pollution hazard. This he called photo-chemical smog which was being produced by the reaction of the sun on exhaust fumes.
However, the minister replied that St Helens should put its own house in order before complaining about the Conservative Government's record. Mr Griffiths criticised the St Helens' pollution clearance programme, saying it was "gravely behind" other towns. And he backed up his comments with some local knowledge, as Mr Griffiths had been a fire-watcher in St Helens during the war. His father had served as a police sergeant in Ashton-in-Makerfield and he had been head boy of Ashton Grammar School.
Mr Spriggs also criticised the pollution of rivers and canals within the St Helens' district and the noise and vibration from heavy vehicles, which, he claimed, caused a "state of depression and ill-health" in some of his constituents. Pushing back against Mr Spriggs' critical comments, Mr Griffiths said that only 46% of the St Helens area was covered by smoke control orders, compared with a 53% average for the rest of the country. "Clean air like compassion starts at home," he chided. "It would be helpful if St. Helens saw its way to make more smoke controlled areas."
The chairman of the St Helens Health Committee, Ald. James McDonnell, felt that Mr Griffiths had chosen his words very badly. "We have been extending smoke control areas as quickly as possible. There are problems with supplies of smokeless fuel and its cost and people not wanting to change over, means you can't do these things overnight."
During the early 1970s, they were repairing public toilets in St Helens and building new ones – and not closing them down. In 1970 it was stated that St Helens had seventeen public conveniences and this week it was announced that £12,000 (around £200,000 in today's money) was being spent on two "super-loos". St Helens Corporation was building a block on the Birchley Street car park – which would likely be manned by an attendant to reduce vandalism. A second toilet block was going to be built near the Carr Mill underpass on the East Lancashire Road.
Sooty and Harry Corbett returned to St Helens this week with performances of 'Sootytime' at the Theatre Royal. Harry Corbett used to travel by caravan and when performing in the district would usually park it outside the Wheatsheaf in Rainford.
In the St Helens Reporter on the 24th, May Johnson was pictured looking rather distressed. The 75-year-old said she was leaving her Somerset Street home in St Helens after thirty years because she could no longer bear the taunts and jibes of teenagers. When she goes outside her house, Mrs Johnson said she was routinely harassed by the chant of "Old Nanny Grunt". Stones had also been hurled at her home, windows broken and her garden hedge set on fire.
"If I go outside after school is finished they stop me in the street and shout insults," complained Mrs Johnson. "They call me Old Nanny Grunt and terrible names nobody has ever called me before. I have to put my hands over my ears. I have no idea why they do it. I will move as soon as I can get an old folk's flat." The Reporter then talked to May's son, Eric Johnson of Mertle Grove in Billinge, who said his mother was terrified and he had reported the situation to the police.
There was a happier picture in the paper of "jet age grannie" Agnes Tickle of Carnegie Crescent in Sutton. In an age when many were making their first flight in an aeroplane, the 89-year-old was about to embark on her eleventh trip to America to visit her daughters in Chicago and Washington. "Flying doesn't bother me in the least," she said. "I'm not a bit nervous or frightened. In fact I quite enjoy it," adding that it was as easy as riding on a bus into St Helens.
In January 1969 the Reporter had stated that the council's Housing Committee had decided to ask architects to submit plans for dwellings on what would become known as the "Beth Avenue" estate in Sutton. And then in October of that year they wrote: "St. Helens is to move into the 70s with a 1990's-style housing development. More than 700 dwellings in a scheme costing £2,600,000 are to be built on a 49-acre site bounded by New Street and Gerard's Lane, Sutton."
In this week's edition of 'Whalley's World' in the Reporter there was a photograph of some of the new homes under the headline "Downtown Morocco" – and journalist Alan Whalley was unimpressed:
"A mysterious hint of the East . . . or is it? Mini Morocco has come to town in the shape of these new-look dwellings being erected at Gerards Lane, Sutton. One can almost hear the strains of the snake-charmer's flute. The air is alive with the atmosphere of hot spices and belly dancing. At last, the box-shaped image of St. Helens council dwellings has been swept aside by a latest geometrical look in homes – slit windows and uni-slant roofs. There is no truth in the rumour that each occupant will be presented with a commemorative fez when he accepts his front door key."
Another photograph that would now be considered offensive was published in the Reporter this week. It was included in their weekend TV guide and was a picture of a new tenor performing on the 'Black and White Minstrel Show'.
'Your Guide To Gardening', was the name of an advertising feature in the Reporter. The advertisers included: H. Pilkington, Bold Heath Garden Centre ("Get set for Spring planting – open all Easter weekend"); A. C. Collins, Brynn Street ("Wise gardeners save ££’s at A. C. Collins – I am able to sell you a lawn mower cheaper than anyone in the UK"); Thomas Foster & Sons, Westfield Street ("Gardeners! We have all your requirements for a successful year ahead") and J. Edwards & Son, Burtonhead Road ("Landscape gardeners – specialists in flagging, fence erection, walling").
There have only been three holders of the Victoria Cross within the St Helens district and one, John Molyneux (pictured above), died at Ashtons Green Home in Parr on the 25th aged 81. Austin Lea, the superintendent of the retirement home, was quoted in the Reporter as saying: "He was one of the old brigade...a brave old man who never complained, even when he started to go blind".
Jack earned his award for his brave action in October 1917 in the Belgian province of West Flanders. Up to his waist in mud, Sgt. Molyneux took it upon himself to lead a bombing party to clear a trench and then became involved in hand-to-hand fighting inside a house. His bravery was said to have saved many lives and led to more than twenty German prisoners being taken. On July 28th 2017, the Mayor of St Helens, Cllr. Joe Pearson, officially named a new development off Robins Lane in Sutton as 'John Molyneux VC Close' to commemorate the war hero's achievement.
Next week's stories will include the vandalising of a new Haydock safety bridge, Saints' fury with the Rugby League, St Helens has the world's worst lung cancer rate, the creation of the Siding Lane Nature Reserve and why Hammy the hamster vacated Bleak Hill Road.
We begin on the 20th with the tragic death of Stuart Bishop. The nine-year-old from Eldon Street in St Helens died from what the St Helens Reporter called an "avalanche of stones and rubble". Stuart, of Sacred Heart Primary School, had been playing with ten other boys under a railway bridge on the disused line in Borough Road, when a 15-ft. high stretch of wall collapsed.
The impending closure of the Crank sub-post office – caused by their landlord serving a notice to quit on his tenants – was causing Rainford Council some concern. At their General Purposes Committee meeting on the 21st, the go-ahead was given to a sub-committee to try and find a suitable council house that could be converted into a post office. There were seventy-eight old age pensioners in Crank who, unless a replacement building could be found, would have to travel by bus into Rainford to collect their pensions.
The authorities were always reluctant to slow-down or stop free-flowing traffic unless they absolutely had to – as the Rainhill mothers campaigning for a 30mph limit on the Warrington Road "mad mile" had recently discovered. One might have thought that a "lollipop" man or woman would have been recruited from the outset to supervise children at the new St John Vianney Primary School when crossing Elton Head Road.
But at this week's meeting of St Helens Education Committee it was revealed that the police had been counting the number of kids going over the busy road to decide if there were enough youngsters to warrant a school crossing patrol. They had concluded that there were – but until a "lollipop" person could be recruited, the bobbies themselves would supervise the pupils.
On the 21st, the St Helens MP, Leslie Spriggs, tackled Eldon Griffiths, the junior minister for pollution, in the House of Commons. The St Helens Labour MP's main complaint was that the town and other areas were being affected by a new pollution hazard. This he called photo-chemical smog which was being produced by the reaction of the sun on exhaust fumes.
However, the minister replied that St Helens should put its own house in order before complaining about the Conservative Government's record. Mr Griffiths criticised the St Helens' pollution clearance programme, saying it was "gravely behind" other towns. And he backed up his comments with some local knowledge, as Mr Griffiths had been a fire-watcher in St Helens during the war. His father had served as a police sergeant in Ashton-in-Makerfield and he had been head boy of Ashton Grammar School.
Mr Spriggs also criticised the pollution of rivers and canals within the St Helens' district and the noise and vibration from heavy vehicles, which, he claimed, caused a "state of depression and ill-health" in some of his constituents. Pushing back against Mr Spriggs' critical comments, Mr Griffiths said that only 46% of the St Helens area was covered by smoke control orders, compared with a 53% average for the rest of the country. "Clean air like compassion starts at home," he chided. "It would be helpful if St. Helens saw its way to make more smoke controlled areas."
The chairman of the St Helens Health Committee, Ald. James McDonnell, felt that Mr Griffiths had chosen his words very badly. "We have been extending smoke control areas as quickly as possible. There are problems with supplies of smokeless fuel and its cost and people not wanting to change over, means you can't do these things overnight."
During the early 1970s, they were repairing public toilets in St Helens and building new ones – and not closing them down. In 1970 it was stated that St Helens had seventeen public conveniences and this week it was announced that £12,000 (around £200,000 in today's money) was being spent on two "super-loos". St Helens Corporation was building a block on the Birchley Street car park – which would likely be manned by an attendant to reduce vandalism. A second toilet block was going to be built near the Carr Mill underpass on the East Lancashire Road.
Sooty and Harry Corbett returned to St Helens this week with performances of 'Sootytime' at the Theatre Royal. Harry Corbett used to travel by caravan and when performing in the district would usually park it outside the Wheatsheaf in Rainford.
In the St Helens Reporter on the 24th, May Johnson was pictured looking rather distressed. The 75-year-old said she was leaving her Somerset Street home in St Helens after thirty years because she could no longer bear the taunts and jibes of teenagers. When she goes outside her house, Mrs Johnson said she was routinely harassed by the chant of "Old Nanny Grunt". Stones had also been hurled at her home, windows broken and her garden hedge set on fire.
"If I go outside after school is finished they stop me in the street and shout insults," complained Mrs Johnson. "They call me Old Nanny Grunt and terrible names nobody has ever called me before. I have to put my hands over my ears. I have no idea why they do it. I will move as soon as I can get an old folk's flat." The Reporter then talked to May's son, Eric Johnson of Mertle Grove in Billinge, who said his mother was terrified and he had reported the situation to the police.
There was a happier picture in the paper of "jet age grannie" Agnes Tickle of Carnegie Crescent in Sutton. In an age when many were making their first flight in an aeroplane, the 89-year-old was about to embark on her eleventh trip to America to visit her daughters in Chicago and Washington. "Flying doesn't bother me in the least," she said. "I'm not a bit nervous or frightened. In fact I quite enjoy it," adding that it was as easy as riding on a bus into St Helens.
In January 1969 the Reporter had stated that the council's Housing Committee had decided to ask architects to submit plans for dwellings on what would become known as the "Beth Avenue" estate in Sutton. And then in October of that year they wrote: "St. Helens is to move into the 70s with a 1990's-style housing development. More than 700 dwellings in a scheme costing £2,600,000 are to be built on a 49-acre site bounded by New Street and Gerard's Lane, Sutton."
"A mysterious hint of the East . . . or is it? Mini Morocco has come to town in the shape of these new-look dwellings being erected at Gerards Lane, Sutton. One can almost hear the strains of the snake-charmer's flute. The air is alive with the atmosphere of hot spices and belly dancing. At last, the box-shaped image of St. Helens council dwellings has been swept aside by a latest geometrical look in homes – slit windows and uni-slant roofs. There is no truth in the rumour that each occupant will be presented with a commemorative fez when he accepts his front door key."
Another photograph that would now be considered offensive was published in the Reporter this week. It was included in their weekend TV guide and was a picture of a new tenor performing on the 'Black and White Minstrel Show'.
'Your Guide To Gardening', was the name of an advertising feature in the Reporter. The advertisers included: H. Pilkington, Bold Heath Garden Centre ("Get set for Spring planting – open all Easter weekend"); A. C. Collins, Brynn Street ("Wise gardeners save ££’s at A. C. Collins – I am able to sell you a lawn mower cheaper than anyone in the UK"); Thomas Foster & Sons, Westfield Street ("Gardeners! We have all your requirements for a successful year ahead") and J. Edwards & Son, Burtonhead Road ("Landscape gardeners – specialists in flagging, fence erection, walling").
Jack earned his award for his brave action in October 1917 in the Belgian province of West Flanders. Up to his waist in mud, Sgt. Molyneux took it upon himself to lead a bombing party to clear a trench and then became involved in hand-to-hand fighting inside a house. His bravery was said to have saved many lives and led to more than twenty German prisoners being taken. On July 28th 2017, the Mayor of St Helens, Cllr. Joe Pearson, officially named a new development off Robins Lane in Sutton as 'John Molyneux VC Close' to commemorate the war hero's achievement.
Next week's stories will include the vandalising of a new Haydock safety bridge, Saints' fury with the Rugby League, St Helens has the world's worst lung cancer rate, the creation of the Siding Lane Nature Reserve and why Hammy the hamster vacated Bleak Hill Road.
This week's stories include the new public super-loos being built in St Helens, the jet age grannie of Carnegie Crescent, Alan Whalley dubs Beth Avenue houses "Downtown Morocco", the crossing danger of Elton Head Road, the death of John Molyneux VC, the terrified old lady of Somerset Street that kids called Old Nanny Grunt and the Government tells the town to put its own house in order before complaining about pollution.
We begin on the 20th with the tragic death of Stuart Bishop. The nine-year-old from Eldon Street in St Helens died from what the St Helens Reporter called an "avalanche of stones and rubble".
Stuart, of Sacred Heart Primary School, had been playing with ten other boys under a railway bridge on the disused line in Borough Road, when a 15-ft. high stretch of wall collapsed.
The impending closure of the Crank sub-post office – caused by their landlord serving a notice to quit on his tenants – was causing Rainford Council some concern.
At their General Purposes Committee meeting on the 21st, the go-ahead was given to a sub-committee to try and find a suitable council house that could be converted into a post office.
There were seventy-eight old age pensioners in Crank who, unless a replacement building could be found, would have to travel by bus into Rainford to collect their pensions.
The authorities were always reluctant to slow-down or stop free-flowing traffic unless they absolutely had to – as the Rainhill mothers campaigning for a 30mph limit on the Warrington Road "mad mile" had recently discovered.
One might have thought that a "lollipop" man or woman would have been recruited from the outset to supervise children at the new St John Vianney Primary School when crossing Elton Head Road.
But at this week's meeting of St Helens Education Committee it was revealed that the police had been counting the number of kids going over the busy road to decide if there were enough youngsters to warrant a school crossing patrol.
They had concluded that there were – but until a "lollipop" person could be recruited, the bobbies themselves would supervise the pupils.
On the 21st, the St Helens MP, Leslie Spriggs, tackled Eldon Griffiths, the junior minister for pollution, in the House of Commons.
The St Helens Labour MP's main complaint was that the town and other areas were being affected by a new pollution hazard.
This he called photo-chemical smog which was being produced by the reaction of the sun on exhaust fumes.
However, the minister replied that St Helens should put its own house in order before complaining about the Conservative Government's record.
Mr Griffiths criticised the St Helens' pollution clearance programme, saying it was "gravely behind" other towns.
And he backed up his comments with some local knowledge, as Mr Griffiths had been a fire-watcher in St Helens during the war.
His father had served as a police sergeant in Ashton-in-Makerfield and he had been head boy of Ashton Grammar School.
Mr Spriggs also criticised the pollution of rivers and canals within the St Helens' district and the noise and vibration from heavy vehicles, which, he claimed, caused a "state of depression and ill-health" in some of his constituents.
Pushing back against Mr Spriggs' critical comments, Mr Griffiths said that only 46% of the St Helens area was covered by smoke control orders, compared with a 53% average for the rest of the country.
"Clean air like compassion starts at home," he chided. "It would be helpful if St. Helens saw its way to make more smoke controlled areas."
The chairman of the St Helens Health Committee, Ald. James McDonnell, felt that Mr Griffiths had chosen his words very badly.
"We have been extending smoke control areas as quickly as possible. There are problems with supplies of smokeless fuel and its cost and people not wanting to change over, means you can't do these things overnight."
During the early 1970s, they were repairing public toilets in St Helens and building new ones – and not closing them down.
In 1970 it was stated that St Helens had seventeen public conveniences and this week it was announced that £12,000 (around £200,000 in today's money) was being spent on two "super-loos".
St Helens Corporation was building a block on the Birchley Street car park – which would likely be manned by an attendant to reduce vandalism.
A second toilet block was going to be built near the Carr Mill underpass on the East Lancashire Road.
Sooty and Harry Corbett (pictured above) returned to St Helens this week with performances of 'Sootytime' at the Theatre Royal.
Harry Corbett used to travel by caravan and when performing in the district would usually park it outside the Wheatsheaf in Rainford.
In the St Helens Reporter on the 24th, May Johnson was pictured looking rather distressed.
The 75-year-old said she was leaving her Somerset Street home in St Helens after thirty years because she could no longer bear the taunts and jibes of teenagers.
When she goes outside her house, Mrs Johnson said she was routinely harassed by the chant of "Old Nanny Grunt".
Stones had also been hurled at her home, windows broken and her garden hedge set on fire.
"If I go outside after school is finished they stop me in the street and shout insults," complained Mrs Johnson.
"They call me Old Nanny Grunt and terrible names nobody has ever called me before. I have to put my hands over my ears. I have no idea why they do it. I will move as soon as I can get an old folk's flat."
The Reporter then talked to May's son, Eric Johnson of Mertle Grove in Billinge, who said his mother was terrified and he had reported the situation to the police.
There was a happier picture in the paper of "jet age grannie" Agnes Tickle of Carnegie Crescent in Sutton.
In an age when many were making their first flight in an aeroplane, the 89-year-old was about to embark on her eleventh trip to America to visit her daughters in Chicago and Washington.
"Flying doesn't bother me in the least," she said. "I'm not a bit nervous or frightened. In fact I quite enjoy it," adding that it was as easy as riding on a bus into St Helens.
In January 1969 the Reporter had stated that the council's Housing Committee had decided to ask architects to submit plans for dwellings on what would become known as the "Beth Avenue" estate in Sutton.
And then in October of that year they wrote: "St. Helens is to move into the 70s with a 1990's-style housing development. More than 700 dwellings in a scheme costing £2,600,000 are to be built on a 49-acre site bounded by New Street and Gerard's Lane, Sutton."
In this week's edition of 'Whalley's World' in the Reporter there was a photograph of some of the new homes under the headline "Downtown Morocco" – and journalist Alan Whalley was unimpressed:
"A mysterious hint of the East . . . or is it? Mini Morocco has come to town in the shape of these new-look dwellings being erected at Gerards Lane, Sutton.
"One can almost hear the strains of the snake-charmer's flute. The air is alive with the atmosphere of hot spices and belly dancing.
"At last, the box-shaped image of St. Helens council dwellings has been swept aside by a latest geometrical look in homes – slit windows and uni-slant roofs.
"There is no truth in the rumour that each occupant will be presented with a commemorative fez when he accepts his front door key."
Another photograph that would now be considered offensive was published in the Reporter this week.
It was included in their weekend TV guide and was a picture of a new tenor performing on the 'Black and White Minstrel Show'.
'Your Guide To Gardening', was the name of an advertising feature in the Reporter. The advertisers included:
H. Pilkington, Bold Heath Garden Centre ("Get set for Spring planting – open all Easter weekend"); A. C. Collins, Brynn Street ("Wise gardeners save ££’s at A. C. Collins – I am able to sell you a lawn mower cheaper than anyone in the UK"); Thomas Foster & Sons, Westfield Street ("Gardeners! We have all your requirements for a successful year ahead") and J. Edwards & Son, Burtonhead Road ("Landscape gardeners – specialists in flagging, fence erection, walling").
There have only been three holders of the Victoria Cross within the St Helens district and one, John Molyneux (pictured above), died at Ashtons Green Home in Parr on the 25th aged 81.
Austin Lea, the superintendent of the retirement home, was quoted in the Reporter as saying: "He was one of the old brigade...a brave old man who never complained, even when he started to go blind".
Jack earned his award for his brave action in October 1917 in the Belgian province of West Flanders.
Up to his waist in mud, Sgt. Molyneux took it upon himself to lead a bombing party to clear a trench and then became involved in hand-to-hand fighting inside a house.
His bravery was said to have saved many lives and led to more than twenty German prisoners being taken.
On July 28th 2017 the Mayor of St Helens, Cllr. Joe Pearson, officially named a new development off Robins Lane in Sutton as 'John Molyneux VC Close' to commemorate the war hero's achievement.
Next week's stories will include the vandalising of a new Haydock safety bridge, Saints' fury with the Rugby League, St Helens has the world's worst lung cancer rate, the creation of the Siding Lane Nature Reserve and why Hammy the hamster vacated Bleak Hill Road.
We begin on the 20th with the tragic death of Stuart Bishop. The nine-year-old from Eldon Street in St Helens died from what the St Helens Reporter called an "avalanche of stones and rubble".
Stuart, of Sacred Heart Primary School, had been playing with ten other boys under a railway bridge on the disused line in Borough Road, when a 15-ft. high stretch of wall collapsed.
The impending closure of the Crank sub-post office – caused by their landlord serving a notice to quit on his tenants – was causing Rainford Council some concern.
At their General Purposes Committee meeting on the 21st, the go-ahead was given to a sub-committee to try and find a suitable council house that could be converted into a post office.
There were seventy-eight old age pensioners in Crank who, unless a replacement building could be found, would have to travel by bus into Rainford to collect their pensions.
The authorities were always reluctant to slow-down or stop free-flowing traffic unless they absolutely had to – as the Rainhill mothers campaigning for a 30mph limit on the Warrington Road "mad mile" had recently discovered.
One might have thought that a "lollipop" man or woman would have been recruited from the outset to supervise children at the new St John Vianney Primary School when crossing Elton Head Road.
But at this week's meeting of St Helens Education Committee it was revealed that the police had been counting the number of kids going over the busy road to decide if there were enough youngsters to warrant a school crossing patrol.
They had concluded that there were – but until a "lollipop" person could be recruited, the bobbies themselves would supervise the pupils.
On the 21st, the St Helens MP, Leslie Spriggs, tackled Eldon Griffiths, the junior minister for pollution, in the House of Commons.
The St Helens Labour MP's main complaint was that the town and other areas were being affected by a new pollution hazard.
This he called photo-chemical smog which was being produced by the reaction of the sun on exhaust fumes.
However, the minister replied that St Helens should put its own house in order before complaining about the Conservative Government's record.
Mr Griffiths criticised the St Helens' pollution clearance programme, saying it was "gravely behind" other towns.
And he backed up his comments with some local knowledge, as Mr Griffiths had been a fire-watcher in St Helens during the war.
His father had served as a police sergeant in Ashton-in-Makerfield and he had been head boy of Ashton Grammar School.
Mr Spriggs also criticised the pollution of rivers and canals within the St Helens' district and the noise and vibration from heavy vehicles, which, he claimed, caused a "state of depression and ill-health" in some of his constituents.
Pushing back against Mr Spriggs' critical comments, Mr Griffiths said that only 46% of the St Helens area was covered by smoke control orders, compared with a 53% average for the rest of the country.
"Clean air like compassion starts at home," he chided. "It would be helpful if St. Helens saw its way to make more smoke controlled areas."
The chairman of the St Helens Health Committee, Ald. James McDonnell, felt that Mr Griffiths had chosen his words very badly.
"We have been extending smoke control areas as quickly as possible. There are problems with supplies of smokeless fuel and its cost and people not wanting to change over, means you can't do these things overnight."
During the early 1970s, they were repairing public toilets in St Helens and building new ones – and not closing them down.
In 1970 it was stated that St Helens had seventeen public conveniences and this week it was announced that £12,000 (around £200,000 in today's money) was being spent on two "super-loos".
St Helens Corporation was building a block on the Birchley Street car park – which would likely be manned by an attendant to reduce vandalism.
A second toilet block was going to be built near the Carr Mill underpass on the East Lancashire Road.
Harry Corbett used to travel by caravan and when performing in the district would usually park it outside the Wheatsheaf in Rainford.
In the St Helens Reporter on the 24th, May Johnson was pictured looking rather distressed.
The 75-year-old said she was leaving her Somerset Street home in St Helens after thirty years because she could no longer bear the taunts and jibes of teenagers.
When she goes outside her house, Mrs Johnson said she was routinely harassed by the chant of "Old Nanny Grunt".
Stones had also been hurled at her home, windows broken and her garden hedge set on fire.
"If I go outside after school is finished they stop me in the street and shout insults," complained Mrs Johnson.
"They call me Old Nanny Grunt and terrible names nobody has ever called me before. I have to put my hands over my ears. I have no idea why they do it. I will move as soon as I can get an old folk's flat."
The Reporter then talked to May's son, Eric Johnson of Mertle Grove in Billinge, who said his mother was terrified and he had reported the situation to the police.
There was a happier picture in the paper of "jet age grannie" Agnes Tickle of Carnegie Crescent in Sutton.
In an age when many were making their first flight in an aeroplane, the 89-year-old was about to embark on her eleventh trip to America to visit her daughters in Chicago and Washington.
"Flying doesn't bother me in the least," she said. "I'm not a bit nervous or frightened. In fact I quite enjoy it," adding that it was as easy as riding on a bus into St Helens.
In January 1969 the Reporter had stated that the council's Housing Committee had decided to ask architects to submit plans for dwellings on what would become known as the "Beth Avenue" estate in Sutton.
And then in October of that year they wrote: "St. Helens is to move into the 70s with a 1990's-style housing development. More than 700 dwellings in a scheme costing £2,600,000 are to be built on a 49-acre site bounded by New Street and Gerard's Lane, Sutton."
"A mysterious hint of the East . . . or is it? Mini Morocco has come to town in the shape of these new-look dwellings being erected at Gerards Lane, Sutton.
"One can almost hear the strains of the snake-charmer's flute. The air is alive with the atmosphere of hot spices and belly dancing.
"At last, the box-shaped image of St. Helens council dwellings has been swept aside by a latest geometrical look in homes – slit windows and uni-slant roofs.
"There is no truth in the rumour that each occupant will be presented with a commemorative fez when he accepts his front door key."
Another photograph that would now be considered offensive was published in the Reporter this week.
It was included in their weekend TV guide and was a picture of a new tenor performing on the 'Black and White Minstrel Show'.
'Your Guide To Gardening', was the name of an advertising feature in the Reporter. The advertisers included:
H. Pilkington, Bold Heath Garden Centre ("Get set for Spring planting – open all Easter weekend"); A. C. Collins, Brynn Street ("Wise gardeners save ££’s at A. C. Collins – I am able to sell you a lawn mower cheaper than anyone in the UK"); Thomas Foster & Sons, Westfield Street ("Gardeners! We have all your requirements for a successful year ahead") and J. Edwards & Son, Burtonhead Road ("Landscape gardeners – specialists in flagging, fence erection, walling").
Austin Lea, the superintendent of the retirement home, was quoted in the Reporter as saying: "He was one of the old brigade...a brave old man who never complained, even when he started to go blind".
Jack earned his award for his brave action in October 1917 in the Belgian province of West Flanders.
Up to his waist in mud, Sgt. Molyneux took it upon himself to lead a bombing party to clear a trench and then became involved in hand-to-hand fighting inside a house.
His bravery was said to have saved many lives and led to more than twenty German prisoners being taken.
On July 28th 2017 the Mayor of St Helens, Cllr. Joe Pearson, officially named a new development off Robins Lane in Sutton as 'John Molyneux VC Close' to commemorate the war hero's achievement.
Next week's stories will include the vandalising of a new Haydock safety bridge, Saints' fury with the Rugby League, St Helens has the world's worst lung cancer rate, the creation of the Siding Lane Nature Reserve and why Hammy the hamster vacated Bleak Hill Road.