FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (22nd - 28th April 1969)
This week's stories include vandalism at the borough cemetery in Rainford Road, criticism of a derelict house in Sutton Manor, the baby that died through malnutrition, a lucky escape in Billinge, the "sheer filth" of Parr's Court off Higher Parr Street and the "absolutely shocking" state of telephone boxes in St Helens.
But first I've always thought that the dumping of rubbish on the street was a modern obscenity. However at Rainford Council's Health Committee meeting on the 22nd, Councillor Allan Lawson complained of the discarding of rubbish adjacent to Dairy Farm Road. He claimed that people travelling on the Rainford Bypass were dumping all sorts of stuff – including bits of old bicycles, concrete blocks and hedge trimmings.
Councillor Bob Rose said all the district's country lanes had similar problems, with the hedge along Mossborough Road being littered with bags of rubbish that motorists had thrown out of cars. The councillor called for residents to take down the registration numbers of offending vehicles and report them to the police.
Death through lack of care was the verdict at an inquest on a 6-month-old boy held on the 22nd. Last year his parents from Gower Street had been sent to prison for 18 months for neglecting their child.
Dr John Benstead told the inquest that the boy had been nine pounds lighter than the average weight for a child of that age. There had been no fat present on his body, his stomach was empty and he had six sores. "The cause of death, in my opinion, was bronchial pneumonia associated with malnutrition", said the pathologist.
Firemen had to use hydraulic gear on the 23rd to force apart the bars of a cellar grating in order to free a little girl. Six-year-old Jane Derbyshire from Rigby Street had been walking with her mother in the direction of New Cross Street and Duke Street when she fell and trapped a leg. It only took the firemen a couple of minutes to free Jane who was taken to Providence Hospital and discharged after treatment.
On the same day in the Magistrates Court, the chairman of the Bench said the number of telephone boxes in St Helens that were being interfered with was "absolutely shocking", adding that: "No one is able to use a phone in an emergency."
This was said as the magistrates fined three youths for trying to steal cash from a kiosk in Austin Avenue, Eccleston. A policeman caught them in the act of using a screwdriver, as one youth explained in his statement: "We decided to try and do a telephone box. We were trying to get the cover off when the bobby came."
Courtman's of Westfield Street heard this week that they had won a silver trophy and gold, silver, and bronze medals in the Tailor and Cutter Show in London. The specialists in made-to-measure suits and jackets employed what they described as "four tailors and nine tailoresses". Kenneth Courtman would now go to London to be presented with his silver trophy by Lord Beeching.
Saints announced on the 24th that they had twenty rugby league clubs supporting their campaign for a switch from winter to summer play. Their proposal of a season lasting from March to November would now be put to an extraordinary general meeting of the Rugby Football League. It did, of course, take a further 26 years and the advent of Super League before their idea became a reality.
Criticism of a derelict house in Jubits Lane (pictured above when a procession was taking place) was the lead story in the St Helens Reporter on the 25th. Councillor Harry Williams said the National Coal Board owned the property and they had promised to demolish it after the sitting tenant was rehoused. However nothing had happened.
Thomas Smith who lived next door to the offending house said the building was used as a doss-house and attracted rats. Another neighbour Mary Ludden told the Reporter: "The property is harbouring tramps and rats, and is dangerous for kiddies." Rita Randalls said: "I think it is shocking. The building smells and is dangerous. Some child will be hurt unless something is done about it."
When the Reporter contacted the NCB they said the house had been sold to a developer and they would demolish it soon. The publicity clearly helped to expedite matters, as within days of the story appearing in the paper the house was demolished.
The newspaper also revealed that there had been more trouble at the borough cemetery in Rainford Road. A few weeks ago youths had used an air rifle to shoot a park ranger in the cheek after he had told them to leave the cemetery. Now about £250 worth of damage (about £4,000 in today's money) had been done to the newly renovated chapel after vandals had smashed fourteen windows.
The five-inch diamond panes were thought to be 100 years old and impossible to replace. "It's senseless. I can't see why they do it", said Parks Director S. B. Adamson. "We have had vandalism [before] in the cemetery but never on this scale. The odd window in the chapel has been broken but this time all fourteen have been damaged."
The cemetery's foreman thought it likely that a blunt instrument or a plank had been used to break the windows and not stones.
Last week it had been reported that demolition in Fingerpost had revealed a mysterious row of four houses that had been unoccupied for thirty years. No one knew who owned the homes and until the owners could be traced they could not be knocked down.
It was now believed that the hidden houses at the rear of Higher Parr Street had been empty for at least sixty years and had been known as Parr's Court. However Keith Orrell the owner of a knitwear shop and a newsagent in Higher Parr Street had known about the properties for some time.
He told the Reporter that he'd been trying to persuade the Corporation to demolish them for three years and called them "sheer filth". Keith said children played inside the houses and a few weeks earlier he'd had to put out a fire and get two youngsters out.
Immediately adjacent to Parr's Court was St Joseph's RC School and headmistress Sister Mary said: "I have lived in the slum areas of Liverpool for 16 years, but I have never seen anything as bad as this. I have complained to the Corporation. The property is a danger to health and to children."
The Reporter also stated that Carborundum had opened two new factories costing £300,000 (about £5m in today's money) in Rainford. These would create an additional 38 jobs at the plant that had opened in 1948.
The newspaper also revealed that Rainhill Parish Council had decided against grassing the area around the village war memorial in case it led to vandalism. County Councillor Nellie Holley said: "It is a pity that in this day and age we cannot provide a place where people could just sit and read."
Emily Smith was pictured in the Reporter at the Rivoli – pictured above on the corner of Hall Street and Corporation Street – receiving a kiss and bouquet from Charlie Chester. The comedian presented the 81-year-old from Freda Avenue in Sutton with flowers for being the oldest lady playing bingo inside the club.
The St Helens YMCA held a dance on the 26th with the music provided by Universal Colour and The Hide Away. Admission was five shillings.
On the 26th and 27th 'April Follies' – described as an "an original light entertainment for Springtime" – was held at the Theatre Royal. Produced by Tony Hewitt, the show featuring the combined talents of The Unitarian Players, The Smithson Dancers and Parr Central Singers.
On the 27th St Helens Corporation worker Herbert Taggart had a very lucky escape in Billinge. The 48-year-old from Reginald Road in Sutton fell into a hole in Wigan Road and a steel rod entered his groin and passed through his ribs. Although the rod came out near Herbert's heart, he had the presence of mind to drive a van 50 yards to get help.
Peter Roberts of Sutton Harriers won the Lancashire 10,000 metres track title at Kirkby on the 27th. Peter had trained by running five miles to work, doing another five miles in his lunch break and he then ran a further five miles home at the end of the day.
Later that day the 90-strong Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra performed a programme featuring the music of Beethoven at the Theatre Royal. Then for two evenings from the 28th, the stage version of the BBC TV show 'The White Heather Club', featuring Robin Hall and Jimmy MacGregor, was performed at the Corporation Street theatre.
To end here are some other stories that were in the national newspapers this week. 'The Dales' (formerly 'Mrs Dale's Diary') broadcast its last episode after 21 years and 5,431 editions. The serial ended with Jessie Matthews, alias Mary Dale, speaking the lines: "One thing's never going to change – I shall always worry about you, Jim."
The episode had scarcely finished before fans were phoning the BBC to protest about the programme being axed. A few days later 'Waggoners' Walk', took over the same time slot on Radio 2.
'The Old Codgers' commented on the Daily Mirror's letters page from 1935 up until 1990. This week a woman from Lowestoft got more than she bargained for from the fictional pair.
Mrs S. H. (as she was called) complained to the codgers that her husband had lost a week's unemployment benefit while on his honeymoon touring around different places. This was because the man had not sent a daily postcard to his local dole office providing them with his present address. The codgers were not sympathetic:
"Ma'am, the rules state that persons claiming unemployment benefit must be immediately available for work, which means that the employment exchange must know where to contact them each day. We're simply somewhat staggered that any man should have the nerve to claim unemployment benefit on a touring honeymoon. Whatever next!"
And finally a little girl called Tracy Hayton from Carlisle gave away two of her father's shoes to a rag and bone man when he came down her street. Her Dad only had two pairs of shoes and the three-year-old seemingly couldn't decide which pair to give away – so she gave the man one of each.
That left her father Robert Hayton late for work. As a result he had 14 shillings deducted from his wages and he also had to fork out £6 for two new pairs of shoes. "I'm keeping them on top of the wardrobe out of Tracy's reach", he told the Mirror!
Next week's stories will include Blaster Bates in Jackson Street, polygamy at the Theatre Royal, a critical shortage of St Helens bus staff, a public enquiry into an Elephant Lane amusement arcade and trouble looms in Reginald Road at an illegal caravan site.
But first I've always thought that the dumping of rubbish on the street was a modern obscenity. However at Rainford Council's Health Committee meeting on the 22nd, Councillor Allan Lawson complained of the discarding of rubbish adjacent to Dairy Farm Road. He claimed that people travelling on the Rainford Bypass were dumping all sorts of stuff – including bits of old bicycles, concrete blocks and hedge trimmings.
Councillor Bob Rose said all the district's country lanes had similar problems, with the hedge along Mossborough Road being littered with bags of rubbish that motorists had thrown out of cars. The councillor called for residents to take down the registration numbers of offending vehicles and report them to the police.
Death through lack of care was the verdict at an inquest on a 6-month-old boy held on the 22nd. Last year his parents from Gower Street had been sent to prison for 18 months for neglecting their child.
Dr John Benstead told the inquest that the boy had been nine pounds lighter than the average weight for a child of that age. There had been no fat present on his body, his stomach was empty and he had six sores. "The cause of death, in my opinion, was bronchial pneumonia associated with malnutrition", said the pathologist.
Firemen had to use hydraulic gear on the 23rd to force apart the bars of a cellar grating in order to free a little girl. Six-year-old Jane Derbyshire from Rigby Street had been walking with her mother in the direction of New Cross Street and Duke Street when she fell and trapped a leg. It only took the firemen a couple of minutes to free Jane who was taken to Providence Hospital and discharged after treatment.
On the same day in the Magistrates Court, the chairman of the Bench said the number of telephone boxes in St Helens that were being interfered with was "absolutely shocking", adding that: "No one is able to use a phone in an emergency."
This was said as the magistrates fined three youths for trying to steal cash from a kiosk in Austin Avenue, Eccleston. A policeman caught them in the act of using a screwdriver, as one youth explained in his statement: "We decided to try and do a telephone box. We were trying to get the cover off when the bobby came."
Courtman's of Westfield Street heard this week that they had won a silver trophy and gold, silver, and bronze medals in the Tailor and Cutter Show in London. The specialists in made-to-measure suits and jackets employed what they described as "four tailors and nine tailoresses". Kenneth Courtman would now go to London to be presented with his silver trophy by Lord Beeching.
Saints announced on the 24th that they had twenty rugby league clubs supporting their campaign for a switch from winter to summer play. Their proposal of a season lasting from March to November would now be put to an extraordinary general meeting of the Rugby Football League. It did, of course, take a further 26 years and the advent of Super League before their idea became a reality.
Thomas Smith who lived next door to the offending house said the building was used as a doss-house and attracted rats. Another neighbour Mary Ludden told the Reporter: "The property is harbouring tramps and rats, and is dangerous for kiddies." Rita Randalls said: "I think it is shocking. The building smells and is dangerous. Some child will be hurt unless something is done about it."
When the Reporter contacted the NCB they said the house had been sold to a developer and they would demolish it soon. The publicity clearly helped to expedite matters, as within days of the story appearing in the paper the house was demolished.
The newspaper also revealed that there had been more trouble at the borough cemetery in Rainford Road. A few weeks ago youths had used an air rifle to shoot a park ranger in the cheek after he had told them to leave the cemetery. Now about £250 worth of damage (about £4,000 in today's money) had been done to the newly renovated chapel after vandals had smashed fourteen windows.
The five-inch diamond panes were thought to be 100 years old and impossible to replace. "It's senseless. I can't see why they do it", said Parks Director S. B. Adamson. "We have had vandalism [before] in the cemetery but never on this scale. The odd window in the chapel has been broken but this time all fourteen have been damaged."
The cemetery's foreman thought it likely that a blunt instrument or a plank had been used to break the windows and not stones.
Last week it had been reported that demolition in Fingerpost had revealed a mysterious row of four houses that had been unoccupied for thirty years. No one knew who owned the homes and until the owners could be traced they could not be knocked down.
It was now believed that the hidden houses at the rear of Higher Parr Street had been empty for at least sixty years and had been known as Parr's Court. However Keith Orrell the owner of a knitwear shop and a newsagent in Higher Parr Street had known about the properties for some time.
He told the Reporter that he'd been trying to persuade the Corporation to demolish them for three years and called them "sheer filth". Keith said children played inside the houses and a few weeks earlier he'd had to put out a fire and get two youngsters out.
Immediately adjacent to Parr's Court was St Joseph's RC School and headmistress Sister Mary said: "I have lived in the slum areas of Liverpool for 16 years, but I have never seen anything as bad as this. I have complained to the Corporation. The property is a danger to health and to children."
The Reporter also stated that Carborundum had opened two new factories costing £300,000 (about £5m in today's money) in Rainford. These would create an additional 38 jobs at the plant that had opened in 1948.
The newspaper also revealed that Rainhill Parish Council had decided against grassing the area around the village war memorial in case it led to vandalism. County Councillor Nellie Holley said: "It is a pity that in this day and age we cannot provide a place where people could just sit and read."
The St Helens YMCA held a dance on the 26th with the music provided by Universal Colour and The Hide Away. Admission was five shillings.
On the 26th and 27th 'April Follies' – described as an "an original light entertainment for Springtime" – was held at the Theatre Royal. Produced by Tony Hewitt, the show featuring the combined talents of The Unitarian Players, The Smithson Dancers and Parr Central Singers.
On the 27th St Helens Corporation worker Herbert Taggart had a very lucky escape in Billinge. The 48-year-old from Reginald Road in Sutton fell into a hole in Wigan Road and a steel rod entered his groin and passed through his ribs. Although the rod came out near Herbert's heart, he had the presence of mind to drive a van 50 yards to get help.
Peter Roberts of Sutton Harriers won the Lancashire 10,000 metres track title at Kirkby on the 27th. Peter had trained by running five miles to work, doing another five miles in his lunch break and he then ran a further five miles home at the end of the day.
Later that day the 90-strong Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra performed a programme featuring the music of Beethoven at the Theatre Royal. Then for two evenings from the 28th, the stage version of the BBC TV show 'The White Heather Club', featuring Robin Hall and Jimmy MacGregor, was performed at the Corporation Street theatre.
To end here are some other stories that were in the national newspapers this week. 'The Dales' (formerly 'Mrs Dale's Diary') broadcast its last episode after 21 years and 5,431 editions. The serial ended with Jessie Matthews, alias Mary Dale, speaking the lines: "One thing's never going to change – I shall always worry about you, Jim."
The episode had scarcely finished before fans were phoning the BBC to protest about the programme being axed. A few days later 'Waggoners' Walk', took over the same time slot on Radio 2.
'The Old Codgers' commented on the Daily Mirror's letters page from 1935 up until 1990. This week a woman from Lowestoft got more than she bargained for from the fictional pair.
Mrs S. H. (as she was called) complained to the codgers that her husband had lost a week's unemployment benefit while on his honeymoon touring around different places. This was because the man had not sent a daily postcard to his local dole office providing them with his present address. The codgers were not sympathetic:
"Ma'am, the rules state that persons claiming unemployment benefit must be immediately available for work, which means that the employment exchange must know where to contact them each day. We're simply somewhat staggered that any man should have the nerve to claim unemployment benefit on a touring honeymoon. Whatever next!"
And finally a little girl called Tracy Hayton from Carlisle gave away two of her father's shoes to a rag and bone man when he came down her street. Her Dad only had two pairs of shoes and the three-year-old seemingly couldn't decide which pair to give away – so she gave the man one of each.
That left her father Robert Hayton late for work. As a result he had 14 shillings deducted from his wages and he also had to fork out £6 for two new pairs of shoes. "I'm keeping them on top of the wardrobe out of Tracy's reach", he told the Mirror!
Next week's stories will include Blaster Bates in Jackson Street, polygamy at the Theatre Royal, a critical shortage of St Helens bus staff, a public enquiry into an Elephant Lane amusement arcade and trouble looms in Reginald Road at an illegal caravan site.