FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (22nd - 28th NOVEMBER 1971)
This week's many stories include the couple who credited the St Helens air with becoming pregnant, the dangerous houses in Boundary Road, Pat Phoenix opens a new health food shop in Barrow Street, Rainford's novel way of getting a youth club, the attempts to save the seemingly doomed Prescot Town FC, Rainhill Amateur Operatic Society's latest show and Beecham's other pills and powders.
We begin with Providence Hospital (pictured above) and their charity shop, which put out an appeal this week for second-hand toy donations. The children at Windleshaw School had recently collected books, dolls and toys for the Ormskirk Street shop – but most had already been sold. The proceeds of their sales went to boost the "fighting fund" that was intended to wipe out Providence Hospital's debts.
The target was £20,000 (around £300,000 in today's money) and nearly £14,000 had already been raised. The shop also wanted to trace an old man in a flat cap who had donated his coin collection. This had now been valued at £17 and they wanted to thank the mystery man for his generosity.
In an 1876 article describing the opening of the new St Helens Town Hall, the Liverpool Daily Post said: "The only thing remarkable about the town, as probably everyone knows, is its smoky atmosphere". Twenty years later a magazine article on the chemical industries of St Helens and Widnes described how foul gases "belched forth night and day". And during the first half of the 20th century, St Helens was regularly listed in the top 10 sootiest places in the country.
So it was quite a turn around when on the 22nd a couple praised the St Helens air and gave it credit for two pregnancies! This is the complete piece that was published in the Liverpool Echo:
"A town often criticised for its polluted atmosphere has been praised by a married couple who were childless for 12 years. Miner George Hunter, aged 38, and his wife Doreen, aged 37, used to live in the windy city of Durham. When they left there in 1967 to settle in Nottingham they had given up hope of having children. Then in 1969 they moved to St. Helens. “We had only been here about a year when I learned I was pregnant,” said Mrs. Hunter at her home in Brookway Lane, Parr, St. Helens. “It was like a dream come true.”
"Mrs. Hunter gave birth to Steven who is now 14 months old, and a fortnight ago today Mrs. Hunter had her second child who has been named Amanda. Mr. Hunter who is an underground loco driver at Bold Colliery, St. Helens said: “We are certain the St. Helens atmosphere has done the trick. It is much warmer and more pleasant in St. Helens. In Durham and the North East it is very windy and cold. Neither of us really liked the atmosphere there.” Said Mrs. Hunter: “I believe it is entirely due to the advice we were given by the gynaecologist at Cowley Hill Maternity Home in St. Helens, and the much warmer atmosphere. Now that we have a boy and a girl we are really happy and contented.”"
It is easy to forget that Beecham's made a lot of other health products in St Helens and other places, as well as their pills and powders. A document dated c.1964 in the St Helens Archives lists eighteen other products in the Beecham's portfolio, including Dr. Cassell's Tablets, Eno's Fruit Salt, Germolene, Thermogene, Iron Jelloids, Phensic, Phosferine, Settlers and Veno's Cough Mixture. There was also Cephos, which had originally been made in Blackburn but was acquired by Beecham's c.1959 when production was transferred to St Helens.
Like many other pharmaceutical firms (including Beecham's), Cephos had a long history of dubious adverts claiming that the same pills or powder could cure nerves, headaches, sleeplessness, rheumatism, sciatica and ward off and treat colds and flu. However, by the early 1970s and under more stringent regulations over their claims, Cephos was advertised purely as a painkiller. In the Echo on the 22nd their ad said:
"Aches and pains go quickly with Cephos. Reliable, quick-acting Cephos starts to work the moment you take it. Swiftly its powerful ingredients get into your system to relieve pain without delay. Millions have proved the value of Cephos. Tried, Proved, Tested – The Cephos Company, St Helens, Lancs." That's quite mild compared to their extravagant claims of the past.
The Daily Mirror gave away many Sony Triniton colour portable TV sets during the early 1970s. On the 23rd it was announced that Mrs H. Gore of Windy Arbor Close in Whiston and Mrs V. Kinsey of Friar Street in Windle City were among the latest winners in an anagram competition.
I described in February how Prescot Town Football Club was in dire straits and in danger of folding. The club in Hope Street had claimed to be financially sound until a police raid in 1968 led to officials being fined for allowing non-members to buy drinks. Nine years earlier Allied Breweries had loaned them the cash to build a new social club, which until the raid they'd been paying back on a weekly basis. However, now Prescot FC was, as they say, financially embarrassed and had not until recently been in a position to make any payments. So the brewery had obtained a court order demanding immediate repayment of the outstanding £11,000 debt or the club would have to forfeit their land and premises.
In an article published on the 24th entitled "Harold Helps But Prescot Still In Trouble", the Echo described how in spite of a donation from their local MP, the club's fighting fund was a long way off its target: "Mr. Harold Wilson is among those who have contributed towards the Prescot Town Football Club appeal fund. But in spite of Mr. Wilson's donation the fund is still below the £100 mark. And today, club chairman Mr. James Morris appealed for more support from the public. The appeal fund was launched seven weeks ago to help an £11,000 debt which the club owes to Allied Breweries Ltd., of Liverpool for the building of a social club eight years ago.
"To-day, Mr. Morris said that other non-League clubs had sent cheques to the fund but the fund was still not doing as well as they expected. Nearly 200 printed appeal letters have been sent out to business organisations in the Prescot area. Said Mr. Morris: “We do not only want large amounts. Any contributions between 25p and £1 will be welcomed.” Mr. Morris said that unless the money was raised the club would just go into liquidation. At present, they are managing to repay the money at the rate of £30 a week."
In another sport-related story published on the 24th, it was stated that Cowley School had provided nine of the fifteen rugby union players that played for South West Lancashire in a match against a team representing the South East.
It was also reported on that day that work had started on building new swimming baths in Scotchbarn Lane in Prescot. They would cost £300,000 and were scheduled for completion in sixteen months.
Triplex Holdings issued its latest profit results on the 27th, which showed some level of recovery for the safety glass offshoot of Pilks. The interim report said: "Stockholders are reminded when comparing results that profits for the first half of last year were abnormally low for special reasons." That's one way of describing the 7-week-long glass strike that did more damage to the Eccleston works than any other Pilkington plant through the loss of a number of a markets – especially the Midlands car makers who bought their glass from elsewhere.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 26th and described how workmen who had partially demolished three houses in Boundary Road six months earlier had left them in a dangerous state. Sheila Prescott said children were walking on planks jutting out of a roof over a 20-ft drop: "It is absolutely disgraceful. Children are risking their lives playing in houses which should have been pulled down. I have seen them clambering over beams and balancing on rickety second-storey floor boards and a roof. If you say anything, they are only rude to you."
The Reporter also described a novel approach by Rainford Council to get a dedicated youth club building in the village – they were kicking the existing club out of its Village Hall! For the last 18 months its 100-members had met twice weekly in the hall, which would before long be having a £10,000 face-lift (about £150,000 in today's money). So the youth club would at some point have to vacate the building while the workmen moved in.
But the council had decided to give them notice to quit well before they needed to, in order to force the county authority to act, as Cllr. Denis Collins explained: "We're not trying to put the club out on the streets. We want the Lancashire County Council to build the youngsters a new club. This quit notice might just force their hand. We have land ready and waiting."
Throughout this week Rainhill Amateur Operatic Society presented 'Oliver' at the Theatre Royal directed by George Pill. In his very positive review of the first night's performance in the Echo, Hughie Ross wrote:
"Ian Tinsley made an appealing Oliver with a clear voice, and Roger Parsonage was a jaunty Dodger. David Williams made Fagin a likeable rascal, singing and moving well, and Derek Jones was a dominating Bill Sykes. The role of Nancy was splendidly taken by Margaret Brooks, an accomplished actress who can also sing, and good studies were contributed by Keith W. Yates (Bumble) and Doreen Clarke (Widow Corney). The orchestra directed by J. Gordon Fletcher and the dancing choreographed by Betty Anderson were other notable features."
Ernest Buckley appeared in court again on the 26th charged with being in possession of "obscene literature for publication for gain". That was after the police had raided the Duke Street newsagent's shop in June and seized 425 books and magazines. An application for another adjournment was made and the case was postponed until December 17th.
On the 27th it was reported that a new lighting system was to be installed on Crow Lane and Common Road in Newton that would make the roads safer for night-time drivers. Similar work would later be carried out in the High Street.
On the same day TV star Pat Phoenix opened a new health food shop in Barrow Street (pictured above) called Vital Foods. A crowd of 250 shoppers turned out to watch Coronation Street's Elsie Tanner do the honours. The store was situated in the new shopping centre on a quarter-acre site, which comprised eight, three-storey buildings containing shops with offices above.
Next week's stories will include the complexity of concessionary bus travel, a feature on the Sherdley Road gipsy site, Saints fans are attacked in Leeds, a big canal clean up is announced and a call for the eyesore of Carr Mill Dam to be improved.
The target was £20,000 (around £300,000 in today's money) and nearly £14,000 had already been raised. The shop also wanted to trace an old man in a flat cap who had donated his coin collection. This had now been valued at £17 and they wanted to thank the mystery man for his generosity.
In an 1876 article describing the opening of the new St Helens Town Hall, the Liverpool Daily Post said: "The only thing remarkable about the town, as probably everyone knows, is its smoky atmosphere". Twenty years later a magazine article on the chemical industries of St Helens and Widnes described how foul gases "belched forth night and day". And during the first half of the 20th century, St Helens was regularly listed in the top 10 sootiest places in the country.
So it was quite a turn around when on the 22nd a couple praised the St Helens air and gave it credit for two pregnancies! This is the complete piece that was published in the Liverpool Echo:
"A town often criticised for its polluted atmosphere has been praised by a married couple who were childless for 12 years. Miner George Hunter, aged 38, and his wife Doreen, aged 37, used to live in the windy city of Durham. When they left there in 1967 to settle in Nottingham they had given up hope of having children. Then in 1969 they moved to St. Helens. “We had only been here about a year when I learned I was pregnant,” said Mrs. Hunter at her home in Brookway Lane, Parr, St. Helens. “It was like a dream come true.”
"Mrs. Hunter gave birth to Steven who is now 14 months old, and a fortnight ago today Mrs. Hunter had her second child who has been named Amanda. Mr. Hunter who is an underground loco driver at Bold Colliery, St. Helens said: “We are certain the St. Helens atmosphere has done the trick. It is much warmer and more pleasant in St. Helens. In Durham and the North East it is very windy and cold. Neither of us really liked the atmosphere there.” Said Mrs. Hunter: “I believe it is entirely due to the advice we were given by the gynaecologist at Cowley Hill Maternity Home in St. Helens, and the much warmer atmosphere. Now that we have a boy and a girl we are really happy and contented.”"
It is easy to forget that Beecham's made a lot of other health products in St Helens and other places, as well as their pills and powders. A document dated c.1964 in the St Helens Archives lists eighteen other products in the Beecham's portfolio, including Dr. Cassell's Tablets, Eno's Fruit Salt, Germolene, Thermogene, Iron Jelloids, Phensic, Phosferine, Settlers and Veno's Cough Mixture. There was also Cephos, which had originally been made in Blackburn but was acquired by Beecham's c.1959 when production was transferred to St Helens.
Like many other pharmaceutical firms (including Beecham's), Cephos had a long history of dubious adverts claiming that the same pills or powder could cure nerves, headaches, sleeplessness, rheumatism, sciatica and ward off and treat colds and flu. However, by the early 1970s and under more stringent regulations over their claims, Cephos was advertised purely as a painkiller. In the Echo on the 22nd their ad said:
"Aches and pains go quickly with Cephos. Reliable, quick-acting Cephos starts to work the moment you take it. Swiftly its powerful ingredients get into your system to relieve pain without delay. Millions have proved the value of Cephos. Tried, Proved, Tested – The Cephos Company, St Helens, Lancs." That's quite mild compared to their extravagant claims of the past.
The Daily Mirror gave away many Sony Triniton colour portable TV sets during the early 1970s. On the 23rd it was announced that Mrs H. Gore of Windy Arbor Close in Whiston and Mrs V. Kinsey of Friar Street in Windle City were among the latest winners in an anagram competition.
I described in February how Prescot Town Football Club was in dire straits and in danger of folding. The club in Hope Street had claimed to be financially sound until a police raid in 1968 led to officials being fined for allowing non-members to buy drinks. Nine years earlier Allied Breweries had loaned them the cash to build a new social club, which until the raid they'd been paying back on a weekly basis. However, now Prescot FC was, as they say, financially embarrassed and had not until recently been in a position to make any payments. So the brewery had obtained a court order demanding immediate repayment of the outstanding £11,000 debt or the club would have to forfeit their land and premises.
In an article published on the 24th entitled "Harold Helps But Prescot Still In Trouble", the Echo described how in spite of a donation from their local MP, the club's fighting fund was a long way off its target: "Mr. Harold Wilson is among those who have contributed towards the Prescot Town Football Club appeal fund. But in spite of Mr. Wilson's donation the fund is still below the £100 mark. And today, club chairman Mr. James Morris appealed for more support from the public. The appeal fund was launched seven weeks ago to help an £11,000 debt which the club owes to Allied Breweries Ltd., of Liverpool for the building of a social club eight years ago.
"To-day, Mr. Morris said that other non-League clubs had sent cheques to the fund but the fund was still not doing as well as they expected. Nearly 200 printed appeal letters have been sent out to business organisations in the Prescot area. Said Mr. Morris: “We do not only want large amounts. Any contributions between 25p and £1 will be welcomed.” Mr. Morris said that unless the money was raised the club would just go into liquidation. At present, they are managing to repay the money at the rate of £30 a week."
In another sport-related story published on the 24th, it was stated that Cowley School had provided nine of the fifteen rugby union players that played for South West Lancashire in a match against a team representing the South East.
It was also reported on that day that work had started on building new swimming baths in Scotchbarn Lane in Prescot. They would cost £300,000 and were scheduled for completion in sixteen months.
Triplex Holdings issued its latest profit results on the 27th, which showed some level of recovery for the safety glass offshoot of Pilks. The interim report said: "Stockholders are reminded when comparing results that profits for the first half of last year were abnormally low for special reasons." That's one way of describing the 7-week-long glass strike that did more damage to the Eccleston works than any other Pilkington plant through the loss of a number of a markets – especially the Midlands car makers who bought their glass from elsewhere.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 26th and described how workmen who had partially demolished three houses in Boundary Road six months earlier had left them in a dangerous state. Sheila Prescott said children were walking on planks jutting out of a roof over a 20-ft drop: "It is absolutely disgraceful. Children are risking their lives playing in houses which should have been pulled down. I have seen them clambering over beams and balancing on rickety second-storey floor boards and a roof. If you say anything, they are only rude to you."
The Reporter also described a novel approach by Rainford Council to get a dedicated youth club building in the village – they were kicking the existing club out of its Village Hall! For the last 18 months its 100-members had met twice weekly in the hall, which would before long be having a £10,000 face-lift (about £150,000 in today's money). So the youth club would at some point have to vacate the building while the workmen moved in.
But the council had decided to give them notice to quit well before they needed to, in order to force the county authority to act, as Cllr. Denis Collins explained: "We're not trying to put the club out on the streets. We want the Lancashire County Council to build the youngsters a new club. This quit notice might just force their hand. We have land ready and waiting."
Throughout this week Rainhill Amateur Operatic Society presented 'Oliver' at the Theatre Royal directed by George Pill. In his very positive review of the first night's performance in the Echo, Hughie Ross wrote:
"Ian Tinsley made an appealing Oliver with a clear voice, and Roger Parsonage was a jaunty Dodger. David Williams made Fagin a likeable rascal, singing and moving well, and Derek Jones was a dominating Bill Sykes. The role of Nancy was splendidly taken by Margaret Brooks, an accomplished actress who can also sing, and good studies were contributed by Keith W. Yates (Bumble) and Doreen Clarke (Widow Corney). The orchestra directed by J. Gordon Fletcher and the dancing choreographed by Betty Anderson were other notable features."
Ernest Buckley appeared in court again on the 26th charged with being in possession of "obscene literature for publication for gain". That was after the police had raided the Duke Street newsagent's shop in June and seized 425 books and magazines. An application for another adjournment was made and the case was postponed until December 17th.
On the 27th it was reported that a new lighting system was to be installed on Crow Lane and Common Road in Newton that would make the roads safer for night-time drivers. Similar work would later be carried out in the High Street.
Next week's stories will include the complexity of concessionary bus travel, a feature on the Sherdley Road gipsy site, Saints fans are attacked in Leeds, a big canal clean up is announced and a call for the eyesore of Carr Mill Dam to be improved.
This week's many stories include the couple who credited the St Helens air with becoming pregnant, the dangerous houses in Boundary Road, Pat Phoenix opens a new health food shop in Barrow Street, Rainford's novel way of getting a youth club, the attempts to save the seemingly doomed Prescot Town FC, Rainhill Amateur Operatic Society's latest show and Beecham's other pills and powders.
We begin with Providence Hospital (pictured above) and their charity shop, which put out an appeal this week for second-hand toy donations.
The children at Windleshaw School had recently collected books, dolls and toys for the Ormskirk Street shop – but most had already been sold.
The proceeds of their sales went to boost the "fighting fund" that was intended to wipe out Providence Hospital's debts.
The target was £20,000 (around £300,000 in today's money) and nearly £14,000 had already been raised.
The shop also wanted to trace an old man in a flat cap who had donated his coin collection.
This had now been valued at £17 and they wanted to thank the mystery man for his generosity.
In an 1876 article describing the opening of the new St Helens Town Hall, the Liverpool Daily Post said: "The only thing remarkable about the town, as probably everyone knows, is its smoky atmosphere".
Twenty years later a magazine article on the chemical industries of St Helens and Widnes described how foul gases "belched forth night and day".
And during the first half of the 20th century, St Helens was regularly listed in the top 10 sootiest places in the country.
So it was quite a turn around when on the 22nd a couple praised the St Helens air and gave it credit for two pregnancies! This is the complete piece that was published in the Liverpool Echo:
"A town often criticised for its polluted atmosphere has been praised by a married couple who were childless for 12 years.
"Miner George Hunter, aged 38, and his wife Doreen, aged 37, used to live in the windy city of Durham. When they left there in 1967 to settle in Nottingham they had given up hope of having children.
"Then in 1969 they moved to St. Helens. “We had only been here about a year when I learned I was pregnant,” said Mrs. Hunter at her home in Brookway Lane, Parr, St. Helens. “It was like a dream come true.”
"Mrs. Hunter gave birth to Steven who is now 14 months old, and a fortnight ago today Mrs. Hunter had her second child who has been named Amanda.
"Mr. Hunter who is an underground loco driver at Bold Colliery, St. Helens said: “We are certain the St. Helens atmosphere has done the trick. It is much warmer and more pleasant in St. Helens.
"“In Durham and the North East it is very windy and cold. Neither of us really liked the atmosphere there.”
"Said Mrs. Hunter: “I believe it is entirely due to the advice we were given by the gynaecologist at Cowley Hill Maternity Home in St. Helens, and the much warmer atmosphere. Now that we have a boy and a girl we are really happy and contented.”"
It is easy to forget that Beecham's made a lot of other health products in St Helens and other places, as well as their pills and powders.
A document dated c.1964 in the St Helens Archives lists eighteen other products in the Beecham's portfolio, including Dr. Cassell's Tablets, Eno's Fruit Salt, Germolene, Thermogene, Iron Jelloids, Phensic, Phosferine, Settlers and Veno's Cough Mixture.
There was also Cephos, which had originally been made in Blackburn but was acquired by Beecham's c.1959 when production was transferred to St Helens.
Like many other pharmaceutical firms (including Beecham's), Cephos had a long history of dubious adverts claiming that the same pills or powder could cure nerves, headaches, sleeplessness, rheumatism, sciatica and ward off and treat colds and flu.
However, by the early 1970s and under more stringent regulations over their claims, Cephos was advertised purely as a painkiller. In the Echo on the 22nd their ad said:
"Aches and pains go quickly with Cephos. Reliable, quick-acting Cephos starts to work the moment you take it. Swiftly its powerful ingredients get into your system to relieve pain without delay. Millions have proved the value of Cephos. Tried, Proved, Tested – The Cephos Company, St Helens, Lancs."
That's quite mild compared to their extravagant claims of the past.
The Daily Mirror gave away many Sony Triniton colour portable TV sets during the early 1970s.
On the 23rd it was announced that Mrs H. Gore of Windy Arbor Close in Whiston and Mrs V. Kinsey of Friar Street in Windle City were among the latest winners in an anagram competition.
I described in February how Prescot Town Football Club was in dire straits and in danger of folding.
The club in Hope Street had claimed to be financially sound until a police raid in 1968 led to officials being fined for allowing non-members to buy drinks.
Nine years earlier Allied Breweries had loaned them the cash to build a new social club, which until the raid they'd been paying back on a weekly basis.
However, now Prescot FC was, as they say, financially embarrassed and had not until recently been in a position to make any payments.
So the brewery had obtained a court order demanding immediate repayment of the outstanding £11,000 debt or the club would have to forfeit their land and premises.
In an article published on the 24th entitled "Harold Helps But Prescot Still In Trouble", the Echo described how in spite of a donation from their local MP, the club's fighting fund was a long way off its target:
"Mr. Harold Wilson is among those who have contributed towards the Prescot Town Football Club appeal fund. But in spite of Mr. Wilson's donation the fund is still below the £100 mark.
"And today, club chairman Mr. James Morris appealed for more support from the public.
"The appeal fund was launched seven weeks ago to help an £11,000 debt which the club owes to Allied Breweries Ltd., of Liverpool for the building of a social club eight years ago.
"To-day, Mr. Morris said that other non-League clubs had sent cheques to the fund but the fund was still not doing as well as they expected.
"Nearly 200 printed appeal letters have been sent out to business organisations in the Prescot area.
"Said Mr. Morris: “We do not only want large amounts. Any contributions between 25p and £1 will be welcomed.”
"Mr. Morris said that unless the money was raised the club would just go into liquidation. At present, they are managing to repay the money at the rate of £30 a week."
In another sport-related story published on the 24th, it was stated that Cowley School had provided nine of the fifteen rugby union players that played for South West Lancashire in a match against a team representing the South East.
It was also reported on that day that work had started on building new swimming baths in Scotchbarn Lane in Prescot. They would cost £300,000 and were scheduled for completion in sixteen months.
Triplex Holdings issued its latest profit results on the 27th, which showed some level of recovery for the safety glass offshoot of Pilks.
The interim report said: "Stockholders are reminded when comparing results that profits for the first half of last year were abnormally low for special reasons."
That's one way of describing the 7-week-long glass strike that did more damage to the Eccleston works than any other Pilkington plant through the loss of a number of a markets – especially the Midlands car makers who bought their glass from elsewhere.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 26th and described how workmen who had partially demolished three houses in Boundary Road six months earlier had left them in a dangerous state.
Sheila Prescott said children were walking on planks jutting out of a roof over a 20-ft drop:
"It is absolutely disgraceful. Children are risking their lives playing in houses which should have been pulled down. I have seen them clambering over beams and balancing on rickety second-storey floor boards and a roof. If you say anything, they are only rude to you."
The Reporter also described a novel approach by Rainford Council to get a dedicated youth club building in the village – they were kicking the existing club out of its Village Hall!
For the last 18 months its 100-members had met twice weekly in the hall, which would before long be having a £10,000 face-lift (about £150,000 in today's money).
So the youth club would at some point have to vacate the building while the workmen moved in.
But the council had decided to give them notice to quit well before they needed to, in order to force the county authority to act, as Cllr. Denis Collins explained:
"We're not trying to put the club out on the streets. We want the Lancashire County Council to build the youngsters a new club. This quit notice might just force their hand. We have land ready and waiting."
Throughout this week Rainhill Amateur Operatic Society presented 'Oliver' at the Theatre Royal directed by George Pill.
In his very positive review of the first night's performance in the Echo, Hughie Ross wrote:
"Ian Tinsley made an appealing Oliver with a clear voice, and Roger Parsonage was a jaunty Dodger. David Williams made Fagin a likeable rascal, singing and moving well, and Derek Jones was a dominating Bill Sykes.
"The role of Nancy was splendidly taken by Margaret Brooks, an accomplished actress who can also sing, and good studies were contributed by Keith W. Yates (Bumble) and Doreen Clarke (Widow Corney).
"The orchestra directed by J. Gordon Fletcher and the dancing choreographed by Betty Anderson were other notable features."
Ernest Buckley appeared in court again on the 26th charged with being in possession of "obscene literature for publication for gain".
That was after the police had raided the Duke Street newsagent's shop in June and seized 425 books and magazines.
An application for another adjournment was made and the case was postponed until December 17th.
On the 27th it was reported that a new lighting system was to be installed on Crow Lane and Common Road in Newton that would make the roads safer for night-time drivers. Similar work would later be carried out in the High Street.
On the same day TV star Pat Phoenix opened a new health food shop in Barrow Street (pictured above) called Vital Foods.
A crowd of 250 shoppers turned out to watch Coronation Street's Elsie Tanner do the honours.
The store was situated in the new shopping centre on a quarter-acre site, which comprised eight, three-storey buildings containing shops with offices above.
Next week's stories will include the complexity of concessionary bus travel, a feature on the Sherdley Road gipsy site, Saints fans are attacked in Leeds, a big canal clean up is announced and a call for the eyesore of Carr Mill Dam to be improved.
The children at Windleshaw School had recently collected books, dolls and toys for the Ormskirk Street shop – but most had already been sold.
The proceeds of their sales went to boost the "fighting fund" that was intended to wipe out Providence Hospital's debts.
The target was £20,000 (around £300,000 in today's money) and nearly £14,000 had already been raised.
The shop also wanted to trace an old man in a flat cap who had donated his coin collection.
This had now been valued at £17 and they wanted to thank the mystery man for his generosity.
In an 1876 article describing the opening of the new St Helens Town Hall, the Liverpool Daily Post said: "The only thing remarkable about the town, as probably everyone knows, is its smoky atmosphere".
Twenty years later a magazine article on the chemical industries of St Helens and Widnes described how foul gases "belched forth night and day".
And during the first half of the 20th century, St Helens was regularly listed in the top 10 sootiest places in the country.
So it was quite a turn around when on the 22nd a couple praised the St Helens air and gave it credit for two pregnancies! This is the complete piece that was published in the Liverpool Echo:
"A town often criticised for its polluted atmosphere has been praised by a married couple who were childless for 12 years.
"Miner George Hunter, aged 38, and his wife Doreen, aged 37, used to live in the windy city of Durham. When they left there in 1967 to settle in Nottingham they had given up hope of having children.
"Then in 1969 they moved to St. Helens. “We had only been here about a year when I learned I was pregnant,” said Mrs. Hunter at her home in Brookway Lane, Parr, St. Helens. “It was like a dream come true.”
"Mrs. Hunter gave birth to Steven who is now 14 months old, and a fortnight ago today Mrs. Hunter had her second child who has been named Amanda.
"Mr. Hunter who is an underground loco driver at Bold Colliery, St. Helens said: “We are certain the St. Helens atmosphere has done the trick. It is much warmer and more pleasant in St. Helens.
"“In Durham and the North East it is very windy and cold. Neither of us really liked the atmosphere there.”
"Said Mrs. Hunter: “I believe it is entirely due to the advice we were given by the gynaecologist at Cowley Hill Maternity Home in St. Helens, and the much warmer atmosphere. Now that we have a boy and a girl we are really happy and contented.”"
It is easy to forget that Beecham's made a lot of other health products in St Helens and other places, as well as their pills and powders.
A document dated c.1964 in the St Helens Archives lists eighteen other products in the Beecham's portfolio, including Dr. Cassell's Tablets, Eno's Fruit Salt, Germolene, Thermogene, Iron Jelloids, Phensic, Phosferine, Settlers and Veno's Cough Mixture.
There was also Cephos, which had originally been made in Blackburn but was acquired by Beecham's c.1959 when production was transferred to St Helens.
Like many other pharmaceutical firms (including Beecham's), Cephos had a long history of dubious adverts claiming that the same pills or powder could cure nerves, headaches, sleeplessness, rheumatism, sciatica and ward off and treat colds and flu.
However, by the early 1970s and under more stringent regulations over their claims, Cephos was advertised purely as a painkiller. In the Echo on the 22nd their ad said:
"Aches and pains go quickly with Cephos. Reliable, quick-acting Cephos starts to work the moment you take it. Swiftly its powerful ingredients get into your system to relieve pain without delay. Millions have proved the value of Cephos. Tried, Proved, Tested – The Cephos Company, St Helens, Lancs."
That's quite mild compared to their extravagant claims of the past.
The Daily Mirror gave away many Sony Triniton colour portable TV sets during the early 1970s.
On the 23rd it was announced that Mrs H. Gore of Windy Arbor Close in Whiston and Mrs V. Kinsey of Friar Street in Windle City were among the latest winners in an anagram competition.
I described in February how Prescot Town Football Club was in dire straits and in danger of folding.
The club in Hope Street had claimed to be financially sound until a police raid in 1968 led to officials being fined for allowing non-members to buy drinks.
Nine years earlier Allied Breweries had loaned them the cash to build a new social club, which until the raid they'd been paying back on a weekly basis.
However, now Prescot FC was, as they say, financially embarrassed and had not until recently been in a position to make any payments.
So the brewery had obtained a court order demanding immediate repayment of the outstanding £11,000 debt or the club would have to forfeit their land and premises.
In an article published on the 24th entitled "Harold Helps But Prescot Still In Trouble", the Echo described how in spite of a donation from their local MP, the club's fighting fund was a long way off its target:
"Mr. Harold Wilson is among those who have contributed towards the Prescot Town Football Club appeal fund. But in spite of Mr. Wilson's donation the fund is still below the £100 mark.
"And today, club chairman Mr. James Morris appealed for more support from the public.
"The appeal fund was launched seven weeks ago to help an £11,000 debt which the club owes to Allied Breweries Ltd., of Liverpool for the building of a social club eight years ago.
"To-day, Mr. Morris said that other non-League clubs had sent cheques to the fund but the fund was still not doing as well as they expected.
"Nearly 200 printed appeal letters have been sent out to business organisations in the Prescot area.
"Said Mr. Morris: “We do not only want large amounts. Any contributions between 25p and £1 will be welcomed.”
"Mr. Morris said that unless the money was raised the club would just go into liquidation. At present, they are managing to repay the money at the rate of £30 a week."
In another sport-related story published on the 24th, it was stated that Cowley School had provided nine of the fifteen rugby union players that played for South West Lancashire in a match against a team representing the South East.
It was also reported on that day that work had started on building new swimming baths in Scotchbarn Lane in Prescot. They would cost £300,000 and were scheduled for completion in sixteen months.
Triplex Holdings issued its latest profit results on the 27th, which showed some level of recovery for the safety glass offshoot of Pilks.
The interim report said: "Stockholders are reminded when comparing results that profits for the first half of last year were abnormally low for special reasons."
That's one way of describing the 7-week-long glass strike that did more damage to the Eccleston works than any other Pilkington plant through the loss of a number of a markets – especially the Midlands car makers who bought their glass from elsewhere.
The St Helens Reporter was published on the 26th and described how workmen who had partially demolished three houses in Boundary Road six months earlier had left them in a dangerous state.
Sheila Prescott said children were walking on planks jutting out of a roof over a 20-ft drop:
"It is absolutely disgraceful. Children are risking their lives playing in houses which should have been pulled down. I have seen them clambering over beams and balancing on rickety second-storey floor boards and a roof. If you say anything, they are only rude to you."
The Reporter also described a novel approach by Rainford Council to get a dedicated youth club building in the village – they were kicking the existing club out of its Village Hall!
For the last 18 months its 100-members had met twice weekly in the hall, which would before long be having a £10,000 face-lift (about £150,000 in today's money).
So the youth club would at some point have to vacate the building while the workmen moved in.
But the council had decided to give them notice to quit well before they needed to, in order to force the county authority to act, as Cllr. Denis Collins explained:
"We're not trying to put the club out on the streets. We want the Lancashire County Council to build the youngsters a new club. This quit notice might just force their hand. We have land ready and waiting."
Throughout this week Rainhill Amateur Operatic Society presented 'Oliver' at the Theatre Royal directed by George Pill.
In his very positive review of the first night's performance in the Echo, Hughie Ross wrote:
"Ian Tinsley made an appealing Oliver with a clear voice, and Roger Parsonage was a jaunty Dodger. David Williams made Fagin a likeable rascal, singing and moving well, and Derek Jones was a dominating Bill Sykes.
"The role of Nancy was splendidly taken by Margaret Brooks, an accomplished actress who can also sing, and good studies were contributed by Keith W. Yates (Bumble) and Doreen Clarke (Widow Corney).
"The orchestra directed by J. Gordon Fletcher and the dancing choreographed by Betty Anderson were other notable features."
Ernest Buckley appeared in court again on the 26th charged with being in possession of "obscene literature for publication for gain".
That was after the police had raided the Duke Street newsagent's shop in June and seized 425 books and magazines.
An application for another adjournment was made and the case was postponed until December 17th.
On the 27th it was reported that a new lighting system was to be installed on Crow Lane and Common Road in Newton that would make the roads safer for night-time drivers. Similar work would later be carried out in the High Street.
A crowd of 250 shoppers turned out to watch Coronation Street's Elsie Tanner do the honours.
The store was situated in the new shopping centre on a quarter-acre site, which comprised eight, three-storey buildings containing shops with offices above.
Next week's stories will include the complexity of concessionary bus travel, a feature on the Sherdley Road gipsy site, Saints fans are attacked in Leeds, a big canal clean up is announced and a call for the eyesore of Carr Mill Dam to be improved.