FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 22 - 28 JANUARY 1974
This week's many stories include the explosion at a College Street electricity sub-station, a letter bomb explodes at Pilkington's head office injuring a security man, the pioneering female Open University graduate, Sutton Manor miners discuss the poor conditions of their workplace and the controversy over Post Office proposals for a single daily letters collection in Rainford.
We begin with the latest unemployment figures for St Helens. The Employment Exchange reported that on December 14th 1973 they had 1,817 people on their books. That was 258 more than at the same time in 1972. In addition 1,836 workers that had been temporarily laid off because of the power crisis were claiming benefit. The number of those placed in jobs had also been reduced by 50% because of the three-day working week.
St Helens Police were this week searching for a man who was blown through the doors of an electricity sub-station in College Street. The man in his early thirties had apparently broken into the sub-station but it was not known if he had intentionally caused the explosion. However, traces of petrol – or at least a gaseous substance – were found on the station building.
After the blast the man was chased by a passer-by and he shouted back to his pursuer that everything was in order. Chief Inspector Bob Moores was the head of St Helens CID and said: "All I can really say is that a form of explosion took place. This man may be suffering from burns or other injuries. We would appreciate all the help we can get."
On the 24th Ravenhead Road in St Helens was blocked after a burghy bank landslide. The burghys or burgies were the dumped glass waste that still existed in parts of St Helens. A build up of water on the waste material had led to the collapse.
Also on the 24th the Liverpool Echo described how mother-of-four Ann Swift from Irwin Road in Sutton had become the first local student without any academic exemptions to graduate from the Open University. "I still can't really believe that it has all happened," said Ann.
"There were times around midsummer when I was getting one or two low grades, that I thought I would have to slow down the pace and drop one of the courses. But both my tutor and my husband, Tony, urged me to carry on. They call the Open University a "second chance" and it has been just that for me. Let's be honest; I frittered my time away at school, then dropped out of a training college and drifted. That's the only word for it."
The OU had been established in 1969 and Ann was amongst its first batch of graduates but unlike most of the others she did not have the advantage of exemptions based on having undertaken previous college work. The St Helens Reporter described Ann's award as striking "a blow for Women's Lib" and said three men had also been the first graduates from the town to be awarded degrees from the Open University.
On the 25th a security officer at Pilkington's HQ in Prescot Road was injured when a letter bomb exploded. 57-year-old Joe Hampton was a former top policeman and he lost the tip of the little finger on his right hand. The device was addressed to company chairman Sir Alastair Pilkington and had been contained within a hollowed-out book on antiques, which the head of Lancashire's CID described as "very unstable and highly volatile".
Detective Chief Superintendent Joe Mounsey was also concerned about the possibility of more suspect packages arriving in the post: "Our big worry now is the danger that may exist for clerical staff who may have to handle mail on Monday morning. I must stress that if anyone is in the slightest way suspicious, they should contact the police. We will not regard them as fools if it turns out to be a harmless seed catalogue." Police later considered the theory that the IRA might have been responsible because Pilkington's made night sights for army rifles and 18 months later a student from Londonderry was charged with the offence.
Having a postman on Rainford Council meant the Post Office could not easily get away with making any changes to their service in the village. This week at what was described as a "stormy meeting" of Rainford Council's Management and General Purposes Committee, Councillor Dennis Collins revealed that the village was only going to have a single daily collection from letter boxes. That was to save on fuel and as he was one of the postmen delivering and collecting mail in Rainford, Dennis was well informed on the matter.
That was unlike the council who had complained to Post Office bosses about being kept in the dark over the change and had subsequently received an apology. Cllr Tom Wainwright (my father) said the decision was "barmy" as he and other businessmen would have to take their letters into St Helens to be posted and so fuel would not be saved. The committee decided to set up a meeting with the Post Office to discuss the matter.
An appeal was made in the St Helens Reporter on the 25th for readers to name the new downstairs bar at the Theatre Royal that would be opened in March. Manager James Lovelace said: "We want people to write in with names for the bar, but they must have a theatrical connotation." The individual who supplied the chosen name would be invited backstage to meet Jimmy Tarbuck and Kenny Lynch.
Last week the Reporter had carried an appeal for the return of medicine bottles in order to help local chemists through a crisis. Difficulties in obtaining raw materials in the glass and plastics industries had led to a desperate shortage of containers. In this week's paper they were able to report that since the appeal hundreds of bottles had been returned. One unidentified chemist said:
"Normally we don't get more than half a dozen back each week. But since the appeal we've had a couple of hundred." And another local pharmacist said: "Until the appeal was made customers didn't bother to bring anything back. Now we're getting scores of tablet and medicine bottles brought in."
The Reporter also described how a well-known Haydock lady had died. Elizabeth Green had kept a newsagent's in West End Road until the age of ninety. Also in the paper was the news that the organisers of a charity concert at the Theatre Royal featuring the Haydock Male Voice Choir had made £1,000 – twice what they had expected. The money would allow them to buy a new mini-van for the St Helens and District Society for the Blind.
This week miners were balloted on whether to accept an offer of a pay rise of 16.5% or go on strike. Last November they had rejected strike action and instead introduced a damaging overtime ban and work to rule. While the results of the fresh ballot were awaited, the Liverpool Echo on the 26th asked the opinions of some men who either worked or had worked at Sutton Manor Colliery.
Harry Hulmes of Holden Road in Prescot had been employed down the mine for 22 years and was firmly in favour of a strike, saying: "I think we should get the money because of the conditions we work under. There is also the danger to health. I am only 38, but I have already got a bad chest."
Sidney Glover of Tennyson Street agreed and told his own personal story: "I was made redundant from Sutton Manor Colliery ten weeks ago because of pneumoconiosis and arthritis of the spine caused by an accident underground 20 years ago. I worked below for 20 years until my accident. After that I was a storeman for 18 years before they decided to slap me on the scrap heap. My dole will run out in 12 months' time and it will be impossible for me to get a job at 56."
Tom Bennett of Scott Avenue had worked underground at Sutton Manor for 40 years and remarked: "Certainly they should pay the miners the money they are asking. The conditions they tolerate are deplorable."
And finally, from the 27th 'Live And Let Die' starring Roger Moore as Bond began a week’s screening at the Capitol cinema and Paul Newman's 'The Mackintosh Man' was shown at the ABC Savoy.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the big reduction in air pollution in St Helens, the circus animals that were staying in Burtonhead Road, the Royal Navy recruitment campaign and the huge Rainford rubbish tip is hit by gales.
We begin with the latest unemployment figures for St Helens. The Employment Exchange reported that on December 14th 1973 they had 1,817 people on their books. That was 258 more than at the same time in 1972. In addition 1,836 workers that had been temporarily laid off because of the power crisis were claiming benefit. The number of those placed in jobs had also been reduced by 50% because of the three-day working week.
St Helens Police were this week searching for a man who was blown through the doors of an electricity sub-station in College Street. The man in his early thirties had apparently broken into the sub-station but it was not known if he had intentionally caused the explosion. However, traces of petrol – or at least a gaseous substance – were found on the station building.
After the blast the man was chased by a passer-by and he shouted back to his pursuer that everything was in order. Chief Inspector Bob Moores was the head of St Helens CID and said: "All I can really say is that a form of explosion took place. This man may be suffering from burns or other injuries. We would appreciate all the help we can get."
On the 24th Ravenhead Road in St Helens was blocked after a burghy bank landslide. The burghys or burgies were the dumped glass waste that still existed in parts of St Helens. A build up of water on the waste material had led to the collapse.
Also on the 24th the Liverpool Echo described how mother-of-four Ann Swift from Irwin Road in Sutton had become the first local student without any academic exemptions to graduate from the Open University. "I still can't really believe that it has all happened," said Ann.
"There were times around midsummer when I was getting one or two low grades, that I thought I would have to slow down the pace and drop one of the courses. But both my tutor and my husband, Tony, urged me to carry on. They call the Open University a "second chance" and it has been just that for me. Let's be honest; I frittered my time away at school, then dropped out of a training college and drifted. That's the only word for it."
The OU had been established in 1969 and Ann was amongst its first batch of graduates but unlike most of the others she did not have the advantage of exemptions based on having undertaken previous college work. The St Helens Reporter described Ann's award as striking "a blow for Women's Lib" and said three men had also been the first graduates from the town to be awarded degrees from the Open University.
Detective Chief Superintendent Joe Mounsey was also concerned about the possibility of more suspect packages arriving in the post: "Our big worry now is the danger that may exist for clerical staff who may have to handle mail on Monday morning. I must stress that if anyone is in the slightest way suspicious, they should contact the police. We will not regard them as fools if it turns out to be a harmless seed catalogue." Police later considered the theory that the IRA might have been responsible because Pilkington's made night sights for army rifles and 18 months later a student from Londonderry was charged with the offence.
Having a postman on Rainford Council meant the Post Office could not easily get away with making any changes to their service in the village. This week at what was described as a "stormy meeting" of Rainford Council's Management and General Purposes Committee, Councillor Dennis Collins revealed that the village was only going to have a single daily collection from letter boxes. That was to save on fuel and as he was one of the postmen delivering and collecting mail in Rainford, Dennis was well informed on the matter.
That was unlike the council who had complained to Post Office bosses about being kept in the dark over the change and had subsequently received an apology. Cllr Tom Wainwright (my father) said the decision was "barmy" as he and other businessmen would have to take their letters into St Helens to be posted and so fuel would not be saved. The committee decided to set up a meeting with the Post Office to discuss the matter.
An appeal was made in the St Helens Reporter on the 25th for readers to name the new downstairs bar at the Theatre Royal that would be opened in March. Manager James Lovelace said: "We want people to write in with names for the bar, but they must have a theatrical connotation." The individual who supplied the chosen name would be invited backstage to meet Jimmy Tarbuck and Kenny Lynch.
Last week the Reporter had carried an appeal for the return of medicine bottles in order to help local chemists through a crisis. Difficulties in obtaining raw materials in the glass and plastics industries had led to a desperate shortage of containers. In this week's paper they were able to report that since the appeal hundreds of bottles had been returned. One unidentified chemist said:
"Normally we don't get more than half a dozen back each week. But since the appeal we've had a couple of hundred." And another local pharmacist said: "Until the appeal was made customers didn't bother to bring anything back. Now we're getting scores of tablet and medicine bottles brought in."
The Reporter also described how a well-known Haydock lady had died. Elizabeth Green had kept a newsagent's in West End Road until the age of ninety. Also in the paper was the news that the organisers of a charity concert at the Theatre Royal featuring the Haydock Male Voice Choir had made £1,000 – twice what they had expected. The money would allow them to buy a new mini-van for the St Helens and District Society for the Blind.
This week miners were balloted on whether to accept an offer of a pay rise of 16.5% or go on strike. Last November they had rejected strike action and instead introduced a damaging overtime ban and work to rule. While the results of the fresh ballot were awaited, the Liverpool Echo on the 26th asked the opinions of some men who either worked or had worked at Sutton Manor Colliery.
Harry Hulmes of Holden Road in Prescot had been employed down the mine for 22 years and was firmly in favour of a strike, saying: "I think we should get the money because of the conditions we work under. There is also the danger to health. I am only 38, but I have already got a bad chest."
Sidney Glover of Tennyson Street agreed and told his own personal story: "I was made redundant from Sutton Manor Colliery ten weeks ago because of pneumoconiosis and arthritis of the spine caused by an accident underground 20 years ago. I worked below for 20 years until my accident. After that I was a storeman for 18 years before they decided to slap me on the scrap heap. My dole will run out in 12 months' time and it will be impossible for me to get a job at 56."
Tom Bennett of Scott Avenue had worked underground at Sutton Manor for 40 years and remarked: "Certainly they should pay the miners the money they are asking. The conditions they tolerate are deplorable."
And finally, from the 27th 'Live And Let Die' starring Roger Moore as Bond began a week’s screening at the Capitol cinema and Paul Newman's 'The Mackintosh Man' was shown at the ABC Savoy.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the big reduction in air pollution in St Helens, the circus animals that were staying in Burtonhead Road, the Royal Navy recruitment campaign and the huge Rainford rubbish tip is hit by gales.
This week's many stories include the explosion at a College Street electricity sub-station, a letter bomb explodes at Pilkington's head office injuring a security man, the pioneering female Open University graduate, Sutton Manor miners discuss the poor conditions of their workplace and the controversy over Post Office proposals for a single daily letters collection in Rainford.
We begin with the latest unemployment figures for St Helens. The Employment Exchange reported that on December 14th 1973 they had 1,817 people on their books.
That was 258 more than at the same time in 1972. In addition 1,836 workers that had been temporarily laid off because of the power crisis were claiming benefit.
The number of those placed in jobs had also been reduced by 50% because of the three-day working week.
St Helens Police were this week searching for a man who was blown through the doors of an electricity sub-station in College Street.
The man in his early thirties had apparently broken into the sub-station but it was not known if he had intentionally caused the explosion.
However, traces of petrol – or at least a gaseous substance – were found on the station building.
After the blast the man was chased by a passer-by and he shouted back to his pursuer that everything was in order.
Chief Inspector Bob Moores was the head of St Helens CID and said: "All I can really say is that a form of explosion took place. This man may be suffering from burns or other injuries. We would appreciate all the help we can get."
On the 24th Ravenhead Road in St Helens was blocked after a burghy bank landslide.
The burghys or burgies were the dumped glass waste that still existed in parts of St Helens. A build up of water on the waste material had led to the collapse.
Also on the 24th the Liverpool Echo described how mother-of-four Ann Swift from Irwin Road in Sutton had become the first local student without any academic exemptions to graduate from the Open University.
"I still can't really believe that it has all happened," said Ann. "There were times around midsummer when I was getting one or two low grades, that I thought I would have to slow down the pace and drop one of the courses. But both my tutor and my husband, Tony, urged me to carry on.
"They call the Open University a "second chance" and it has been just that for me. Let's be honest; I frittered my time away at school, then dropped out of a training college and drifted. That's the only word for it."
The OU had been established in 1969 and Ann was amongst its first batch of graduates but unlike most of the others she did not have the advantage of exemptions based on having undertaken previous college work.
The St Helens Reporter described Ann's award as striking "a blow for Women's Lib" and said three men had also been the first graduates from the town to be awarded degrees from the Open University.
On the 25th a security officer at Pilkington's HQ in Prescot Road was injured when a letter bomb exploded. 57-year-old Joe Hampton was a former top policeman and he lost the tip of the little finger on his right hand.
The device was addressed to company chairman Sir Alastair Pilkington and had been contained within a hollowed-out book on antiques, which the head of Lancashire's CID described as "very unstable and highly volatile".
Detective Chief Superintendent Joe Mounsey was also concerned about the possibility of more suspect packages arriving in the post:
"Our big worry now is the danger that may exist for clerical staff who may have to handle mail on Monday morning. I must stress that if anyone is in the slightest way suspicious, they should contact the police. We will not regard them as fools if it turns out to be a harmless seed catalogue."
Police later considered the theory that the IRA might have been responsible because Pilkington's made night sights for army rifles and 18 months later a student from Londonderry was charged with the offence.
Having a postman on Rainford Council meant the Post Office could not easily get away with making any changes to their service in the village.
This week at what was described as a "stormy meeting" of Rainford Council's Management and General Purposes Committee, Councillor Dennis Collins revealed that the village was only going to have a single daily collection from letter boxes.
That was to save on fuel and as he was one of the postmen delivering and collecting mail in Rainford, Dennis was well informed on the matter.
That was unlike the council who had complained to Post Office bosses about being kept in the dark over the change and had subsequently received an apology.
Cllr Tom Wainwright (my father) said the decision was "barmy" as he and other businessmen would have to take their letters into St Helens to be posted and so fuel would not be saved.
The committee decided to set up a meeting with the Post Office to discuss the matter.
An appeal was made in the St Helens Reporter on the 25th for readers to name the new downstairs bar at the Theatre Royal that would be opened in March.
Manager James Lovelace said: "We want people to write in with names for the bar, but they must have a theatrical connotation."
The individual who supplied the chosen name would be invited backstage to meet Jimmy Tarbuck and Kenny Lynch.
Last week the Reporter had carried an appeal for the return of medicine bottles in order to help local chemists through a crisis.
Difficulties in obtaining raw materials in the glass and plastics industries had led to a desperate shortage of containers.
In this week's paper they were able to report that since the appeal hundreds of bottles had been returned. One unidentified chemist said:
"Normally we don't get more than half a dozen back each week. But since the appeal we've had a couple of hundred." And another local pharmacist said:
"Until the appeal was made customers didn't bother to bring anything back. Now we're getting scores of tablet and medicine bottles brought in."
The Reporter also described how a well-known Haydock lady had died. Elizabeth Green had kept a newsagent's in West End Road until the age of ninety.
Also in the paper was the news that the organisers of a charity concert at the Theatre Royal featuring the Haydock Male Voice Choir had made £1,000 – twice what they had expected.
The money would allow them to buy a new mini-van for the St Helens and District Society for the Blind.
This week miners were balloted on whether to accept an offer of a pay rise of 16.5% or go on strike.
Last November they had rejected strike action and instead introduced a damaging overtime ban and work to rule.
While the results of the fresh ballot were awaited, the Liverpool Echo on the 26th asked the opinions of some men who either worked or had worked at Sutton Manor Colliery.
Harry Hulmes of Holden Road in Prescot had been employed down the mine for 22 years and was firmly in favour of a strike, saying:
"I think we should get the money because of the conditions we work under. There is also the danger to health. I am only 38, but I have already got a bad chest."
Sidney Glover of Tennyson Street agreed and told his own personal story: "I was made redundant from Sutton Manor Colliery ten weeks ago because of pneumoconiosis and arthritis of the spine caused by an accident underground 20 years ago.
"I worked below for 20 years until my accident. After that I was a storeman for 18 years before they decided to slap me on the scrap heap. My dole will run out in 12 months' time and it will be impossible for me to get a job at 56."
Tom Bennett of Scott Avenue had worked underground at Sutton Manor for 40 years and remarked: "Certainly they should pay the miners the money they are asking. The conditions they tolerate are deplorable."
And finally, from the 27th 'Live And Let Die' starring Roger Moore as Bond began a week’s screening at the Capitol cinema and Paul Newman's 'The Mackintosh Man' was shown at the ABC Savoy.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the big reduction in air pollution in St Helens, the circus animals that were staying in Burtonhead Road, the Royal Navy recruitment campaign and the huge Rainford rubbish tip is hit by gales.
We begin with the latest unemployment figures for St Helens. The Employment Exchange reported that on December 14th 1973 they had 1,817 people on their books.
That was 258 more than at the same time in 1972. In addition 1,836 workers that had been temporarily laid off because of the power crisis were claiming benefit.
The number of those placed in jobs had also been reduced by 50% because of the three-day working week.
St Helens Police were this week searching for a man who was blown through the doors of an electricity sub-station in College Street.
The man in his early thirties had apparently broken into the sub-station but it was not known if he had intentionally caused the explosion.
However, traces of petrol – or at least a gaseous substance – were found on the station building.
After the blast the man was chased by a passer-by and he shouted back to his pursuer that everything was in order.
Chief Inspector Bob Moores was the head of St Helens CID and said: "All I can really say is that a form of explosion took place. This man may be suffering from burns or other injuries. We would appreciate all the help we can get."
On the 24th Ravenhead Road in St Helens was blocked after a burghy bank landslide.
The burghys or burgies were the dumped glass waste that still existed in parts of St Helens. A build up of water on the waste material had led to the collapse.
Also on the 24th the Liverpool Echo described how mother-of-four Ann Swift from Irwin Road in Sutton had become the first local student without any academic exemptions to graduate from the Open University.
"I still can't really believe that it has all happened," said Ann. "There were times around midsummer when I was getting one or two low grades, that I thought I would have to slow down the pace and drop one of the courses. But both my tutor and my husband, Tony, urged me to carry on.
"They call the Open University a "second chance" and it has been just that for me. Let's be honest; I frittered my time away at school, then dropped out of a training college and drifted. That's the only word for it."
The OU had been established in 1969 and Ann was amongst its first batch of graduates but unlike most of the others she did not have the advantage of exemptions based on having undertaken previous college work.
The St Helens Reporter described Ann's award as striking "a blow for Women's Lib" and said three men had also been the first graduates from the town to be awarded degrees from the Open University.
The device was addressed to company chairman Sir Alastair Pilkington and had been contained within a hollowed-out book on antiques, which the head of Lancashire's CID described as "very unstable and highly volatile".
Detective Chief Superintendent Joe Mounsey was also concerned about the possibility of more suspect packages arriving in the post:
"Our big worry now is the danger that may exist for clerical staff who may have to handle mail on Monday morning. I must stress that if anyone is in the slightest way suspicious, they should contact the police. We will not regard them as fools if it turns out to be a harmless seed catalogue."
Police later considered the theory that the IRA might have been responsible because Pilkington's made night sights for army rifles and 18 months later a student from Londonderry was charged with the offence.
Having a postman on Rainford Council meant the Post Office could not easily get away with making any changes to their service in the village.
This week at what was described as a "stormy meeting" of Rainford Council's Management and General Purposes Committee, Councillor Dennis Collins revealed that the village was only going to have a single daily collection from letter boxes.
That was to save on fuel and as he was one of the postmen delivering and collecting mail in Rainford, Dennis was well informed on the matter.
That was unlike the council who had complained to Post Office bosses about being kept in the dark over the change and had subsequently received an apology.
Cllr Tom Wainwright (my father) said the decision was "barmy" as he and other businessmen would have to take their letters into St Helens to be posted and so fuel would not be saved.
The committee decided to set up a meeting with the Post Office to discuss the matter.
An appeal was made in the St Helens Reporter on the 25th for readers to name the new downstairs bar at the Theatre Royal that would be opened in March.
Manager James Lovelace said: "We want people to write in with names for the bar, but they must have a theatrical connotation."
The individual who supplied the chosen name would be invited backstage to meet Jimmy Tarbuck and Kenny Lynch.
Last week the Reporter had carried an appeal for the return of medicine bottles in order to help local chemists through a crisis.
Difficulties in obtaining raw materials in the glass and plastics industries had led to a desperate shortage of containers.
In this week's paper they were able to report that since the appeal hundreds of bottles had been returned. One unidentified chemist said:
"Normally we don't get more than half a dozen back each week. But since the appeal we've had a couple of hundred." And another local pharmacist said:
"Until the appeal was made customers didn't bother to bring anything back. Now we're getting scores of tablet and medicine bottles brought in."
The Reporter also described how a well-known Haydock lady had died. Elizabeth Green had kept a newsagent's in West End Road until the age of ninety.
Also in the paper was the news that the organisers of a charity concert at the Theatre Royal featuring the Haydock Male Voice Choir had made £1,000 – twice what they had expected.
The money would allow them to buy a new mini-van for the St Helens and District Society for the Blind.
This week miners were balloted on whether to accept an offer of a pay rise of 16.5% or go on strike.
Last November they had rejected strike action and instead introduced a damaging overtime ban and work to rule.
While the results of the fresh ballot were awaited, the Liverpool Echo on the 26th asked the opinions of some men who either worked or had worked at Sutton Manor Colliery.
Harry Hulmes of Holden Road in Prescot had been employed down the mine for 22 years and was firmly in favour of a strike, saying:
"I think we should get the money because of the conditions we work under. There is also the danger to health. I am only 38, but I have already got a bad chest."
Sidney Glover of Tennyson Street agreed and told his own personal story: "I was made redundant from Sutton Manor Colliery ten weeks ago because of pneumoconiosis and arthritis of the spine caused by an accident underground 20 years ago.
"I worked below for 20 years until my accident. After that I was a storeman for 18 years before they decided to slap me on the scrap heap. My dole will run out in 12 months' time and it will be impossible for me to get a job at 56."
Tom Bennett of Scott Avenue had worked underground at Sutton Manor for 40 years and remarked: "Certainly they should pay the miners the money they are asking. The conditions they tolerate are deplorable."
And finally, from the 27th 'Live And Let Die' starring Roger Moore as Bond began a week’s screening at the Capitol cinema and Paul Newman's 'The Mackintosh Man' was shown at the ABC Savoy.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the big reduction in air pollution in St Helens, the circus animals that were staying in Burtonhead Road, the Royal Navy recruitment campaign and the huge Rainford rubbish tip is hit by gales.