FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (23rd - 29th AUGUST 1971)
This week's many stories include the disabled boy from North Road who played footie against John Toshack, admiration is expressed for the Theatre Royal, world snooker champion John Spencer comes to St Helens, the courses available at St Helens Tech, the dogs running on the Park Road racetrack and Rainford is declared the best place to live.
We begin in Blackpool shortly after 9:30am on the morning of the 23rd, when a gang of robbers shot dead a police superintendent who had previously served at Newton-le-Willows. Holidaymakers and shoppers ran for their lives as gunmen opened fire on Superintendent Gerald Richardson and his police colleagues. The officers had rammed the robbers' getaway car after they'd committed an audacious £50,000 jewellery raid. At the officer's funeral later in the week, an estimated 100,000 people lined the streets of Blackpool to pay their last respects to the courageous officer.
Throughout this week the latest film in the "carry on" franchise, 'Carry On Henry' – starring Sid James and Kenneth Williams – played at the ABC Savoy in St Helens. And at the Capitol, 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' was shown.
John Spencer was the reigning world snooker champion and he performed in St Helens on the 23rd. The prize money for winning the competition was £2,333. That, of course, is tiny compared to today – but there were decent earnings and plenty of practice for the top players on the club circuit. For several years Spencer had taken on seven players from club teams and always given them a 200 points start.
If he won he took home his normal fee of £25 – but if he lost Spencer forfeited the fee and paid the club a similar sum. At St Helens Transport Club the snooker ace took on a strong team in Walter Prescott, Gerald Greenall, Harry Burns, Bill Dennison, Jack Holcroft, Bernard Turner and Des Myler. John Spencer would be making two more visits to St Helens next month, appearing at Lowe House Club on September 13th and St Anne's Club in Sutton on the 28th.
Also on the 23rd, St Helens College Of Technology in Water Street (pictured above) was advertising its range of courses in the Echo. The 15 main courses that would begin next month included shorthand & typewriting; catering; hairdressing; hospital careers; pre-apprenticeship courses in building and engineering and HND sandwich courses for mechanical engineering and electrical engineering.
These were clearly the bread and butter vocational courses of the time. Three years ago the college had learned that if they veered away from mainstream subjects they had to make them relevant to the times. That was after abandoning a proposed "new brides" course after a lack of interest. The course had nothing to do with weddings but might be summarised as "how to be a good, organised housewife after getting married". It was the fourth time that St Helens College had tried to run a course for new brides – but on each occasion they had been thwarted by apathy.
On the 24th a charity evening was held held at the Plaza Theatre Club in Duke Street to raise money for the Providence Hospital Fighting Fund. Topping the bill was local artiste Harry Parker.
With unemployment increasing in St Helens, training courses were taking on an increased importance. During this week the Department of Employment had a mobile office situated in Exchange Street promoting the work of Government training centres.
Edie Carter from Mill Lane was a regular contributor to the 'Whalley's World' column in the St Helens Star describing her memories of Sutton life. She never married and died at the age of 96. On the 25th Edie had this letter published in the Liverpool Echo about the price of a day trip to New Brighton in the old pre-inflation days: "Sir, – Do any of your older readers remember this song sung in a Liverpool pantomime years ago?
“Threepence I paid for a steamboat,
Down to New Brighton Pier,
Twopence I paid for a donkey,
To teach me how to steer,
A penny I paid for a roundabout,
Ninepence I paid for my tea,
Threepence I paid for another boat home.
And threepence is left you see.”
"Those were the days. – (Miss) E. Carter, 109 Mill Lane, Sutton Leach, St. Helens."
A fortnight earlier the Runcorn Weekly News had published this article:
"A Runcorn-born woman is helping to rewrite traditional fairy tales because she believes they have had a bad effect on children's attitudes to themselves and society. Twenty one years old Audrey Ackroyd, a staunch supporter of the Women's Liberation Movement, is working with four other members of the movement's Merseyside children's literature sub-group to produce a book, tentatively entitled 'Once and Future Fairy Tales'."
Mr T. G. Franklin of Lugsmore Lane in St Helens was another prolific letter-writer with his own occasional column in the St Helens Reporter. He was clearly not happy with the tampering of great literature and had this stinging missive published in the Weekly News on the 26th:
"So Women's Lib. is on the warpath again – this time against children's fairy stories. We can't help it if Miss Ackroyd has seen fairies at the bottom of her garden, but when she comes to attack the creations of Hans Anderson and the Brothers Grimm – well, that's too much. The Ugly Duckling and Rumpelstiltskin will continue to have their youthful (and not so youthful) admirers long after Women's Lib. has passed into oblivion. The World of Fantasy and make believe is natural for children. Women's Lib is an unnatural movement made up of people with frustrated egos".
There was a nice story on the front page of the Reporter on the 27th. Liverpool's star player John Toshack had invited Keith Hughes to his home in Formby to play some footie. The six-year-old from North Road was disabled or – as the Reporter put it – had been "crippled since birth". Keith usually played football on his own on a patch of wasteland near his home. The star Welsh international striker got to hear of him and so invited the lad to keep goal in his back garden. "It was great", said Keith. "And I managed to save a few of Mr. Toshack's shots."
But the lead story in the Reporter was that Billinge Council had taken out an injunction to stop blasting operations on Billinge Hill. The writ was against the quarrying firm of Joseph Pickavance who were accused of making excessive noise and damaging roads.
"No better place to live", was the verdict on Rainford from Mel Davies of Beavan Maples in an advertising feature on the village. The Church Road estate agent pointed out that he had inadvertently left some toys out in his garden overnight and they were still there on the following day. "I know of nowhere else that could have happened", said Mel. Other advertisers included builder's W. Carter of Ormskirk Road; Fashion Flair of Ormskirk Road; Wainwrights Electrical Services of Church Road and building contractors Thomas Winstanley.
The weekly Friday evening races were held on the 27th at the St Helens Greyhound Track in Park Road. As usual some of the names of the dogs that were running referenced television programmes, films and music of the time. So among those animals furiously chasing after a mechanical hare were 'Rawhide', 'Lassie', 'Skippy', 'High Noon' and 'Deep Purple'. There was also 'Little Weed', which I presume derived its name from 'Bill and Ben The Flower Pot Men' and not from cannabis! However I'm pleased to say that 'Hopeless' defied its moniker and won yet again. You know what they say about giving a dog a bad name!
The St Helens Theatre Royal had an extremely good name with the Liverpool Echo. The paper was always full of praise for both the acts that were booked to play the Corporation Street venue and their theatrical presentation. The Echo's longstanding arts correspondent George Harrison wrote this on the 28th:
"I take off my tatty trilby in admiration of the Theatre Royal, St. Helens, which is run by the glass firm of Pilkington's and managed by Jimmy Lovelace in the manner of a top-circuit production house. Not only do they beat Liverpool's shutdown theatres stone cold in the presentation of plays and such, but they also provide celebrity concerts of sufficient magnitude to fill Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall. Their opening concert is not for another month, on October 6, but already every seat for it has been sold.
"I don't know what they are paying that glorious singer, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, for her appearance that night, but it is a certainty right now that they can't lose. They tell me in St. Helens it's harder to get tickets for her show than it ever was for the Wembley Cup Final. Jimmy Lovelace told me: “We could have sold the theatre twice over for her performance. In fact, the overall demand for tickets for our series of five celebrity concerts has been so phenomenal that we are now planning on having two series next year.” Their other international artists in the new season include John Ogdon, Alberto Remedios, and the Halle Orchestra."
George also wrote that on the reverse side of a Liverpool firm's advertising card there was this comic message: "Complimentary Ticket – please permit my mother-in-law, Mrs ...................... to walk through Knowsley Safari Park. This ticket can be used once only." That reminds me of the stallholder on St Helens Market who was reputed to shout: "All money taken today will go towards a mothers-in-laws outing. The more we take, the further we can send them."
And finally Billinge Field Day took place on the 28th at Greenfield House School – but did not go down well. A highlight was a procession of 32 vintage cars – but there was confusion over the starting point, which caused a 45-minute delay. The Ashton Trinity Girls Silver Band also went missing and then the heavens opened, drenching everyone. But otherwise all had a fun time!
Next week's stories will include Rainford's exotic bird show, the St Helens car washes, the expanding Lennon's supermarkets, the Pilkington Sub Aqua Club diver who almost died and the Haydock hole-in-the-heart father's dilemma.
We begin in Blackpool shortly after 9:30am on the morning of the 23rd, when a gang of robbers shot dead a police superintendent who had previously served at Newton-le-Willows. Holidaymakers and shoppers ran for their lives as gunmen opened fire on Superintendent Gerald Richardson and his police colleagues. The officers had rammed the robbers' getaway car after they'd committed an audacious £50,000 jewellery raid. At the officer's funeral later in the week, an estimated 100,000 people lined the streets of Blackpool to pay their last respects to the courageous officer.
Throughout this week the latest film in the "carry on" franchise, 'Carry On Henry' – starring Sid James and Kenneth Williams – played at the ABC Savoy in St Helens. And at the Capitol, 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' was shown.
John Spencer was the reigning world snooker champion and he performed in St Helens on the 23rd. The prize money for winning the competition was £2,333. That, of course, is tiny compared to today – but there were decent earnings and plenty of practice for the top players on the club circuit. For several years Spencer had taken on seven players from club teams and always given them a 200 points start.
If he won he took home his normal fee of £25 – but if he lost Spencer forfeited the fee and paid the club a similar sum. At St Helens Transport Club the snooker ace took on a strong team in Walter Prescott, Gerald Greenall, Harry Burns, Bill Dennison, Jack Holcroft, Bernard Turner and Des Myler. John Spencer would be making two more visits to St Helens next month, appearing at Lowe House Club on September 13th and St Anne's Club in Sutton on the 28th.
These were clearly the bread and butter vocational courses of the time. Three years ago the college had learned that if they veered away from mainstream subjects they had to make them relevant to the times. That was after abandoning a proposed "new brides" course after a lack of interest. The course had nothing to do with weddings but might be summarised as "how to be a good, organised housewife after getting married". It was the fourth time that St Helens College had tried to run a course for new brides – but on each occasion they had been thwarted by apathy.
On the 24th a charity evening was held held at the Plaza Theatre Club in Duke Street to raise money for the Providence Hospital Fighting Fund. Topping the bill was local artiste Harry Parker.
With unemployment increasing in St Helens, training courses were taking on an increased importance. During this week the Department of Employment had a mobile office situated in Exchange Street promoting the work of Government training centres.
Edie Carter from Mill Lane was a regular contributor to the 'Whalley's World' column in the St Helens Star describing her memories of Sutton life. She never married and died at the age of 96. On the 25th Edie had this letter published in the Liverpool Echo about the price of a day trip to New Brighton in the old pre-inflation days: "Sir, – Do any of your older readers remember this song sung in a Liverpool pantomime years ago?
“Threepence I paid for a steamboat,
Down to New Brighton Pier,
Twopence I paid for a donkey,
To teach me how to steer,
A penny I paid for a roundabout,
Ninepence I paid for my tea,
Threepence I paid for another boat home.
And threepence is left you see.”
"Those were the days. – (Miss) E. Carter, 109 Mill Lane, Sutton Leach, St. Helens."
A fortnight earlier the Runcorn Weekly News had published this article:
"A Runcorn-born woman is helping to rewrite traditional fairy tales because she believes they have had a bad effect on children's attitudes to themselves and society. Twenty one years old Audrey Ackroyd, a staunch supporter of the Women's Liberation Movement, is working with four other members of the movement's Merseyside children's literature sub-group to produce a book, tentatively entitled 'Once and Future Fairy Tales'."
Mr T. G. Franklin of Lugsmore Lane in St Helens was another prolific letter-writer with his own occasional column in the St Helens Reporter. He was clearly not happy with the tampering of great literature and had this stinging missive published in the Weekly News on the 26th:
"So Women's Lib. is on the warpath again – this time against children's fairy stories. We can't help it if Miss Ackroyd has seen fairies at the bottom of her garden, but when she comes to attack the creations of Hans Anderson and the Brothers Grimm – well, that's too much. The Ugly Duckling and Rumpelstiltskin will continue to have their youthful (and not so youthful) admirers long after Women's Lib. has passed into oblivion. The World of Fantasy and make believe is natural for children. Women's Lib is an unnatural movement made up of people with frustrated egos".
There was a nice story on the front page of the Reporter on the 27th. Liverpool's star player John Toshack had invited Keith Hughes to his home in Formby to play some footie. The six-year-old from North Road was disabled or – as the Reporter put it – had been "crippled since birth". Keith usually played football on his own on a patch of wasteland near his home. The star Welsh international striker got to hear of him and so invited the lad to keep goal in his back garden. "It was great", said Keith. "And I managed to save a few of Mr. Toshack's shots."
But the lead story in the Reporter was that Billinge Council had taken out an injunction to stop blasting operations on Billinge Hill. The writ was against the quarrying firm of Joseph Pickavance who were accused of making excessive noise and damaging roads.
"No better place to live", was the verdict on Rainford from Mel Davies of Beavan Maples in an advertising feature on the village. The Church Road estate agent pointed out that he had inadvertently left some toys out in his garden overnight and they were still there on the following day. "I know of nowhere else that could have happened", said Mel. Other advertisers included builder's W. Carter of Ormskirk Road; Fashion Flair of Ormskirk Road; Wainwrights Electrical Services of Church Road and building contractors Thomas Winstanley.
The weekly Friday evening races were held on the 27th at the St Helens Greyhound Track in Park Road. As usual some of the names of the dogs that were running referenced television programmes, films and music of the time. So among those animals furiously chasing after a mechanical hare were 'Rawhide', 'Lassie', 'Skippy', 'High Noon' and 'Deep Purple'. There was also 'Little Weed', which I presume derived its name from 'Bill and Ben The Flower Pot Men' and not from cannabis! However I'm pleased to say that 'Hopeless' defied its moniker and won yet again. You know what they say about giving a dog a bad name!
"I take off my tatty trilby in admiration of the Theatre Royal, St. Helens, which is run by the glass firm of Pilkington's and managed by Jimmy Lovelace in the manner of a top-circuit production house. Not only do they beat Liverpool's shutdown theatres stone cold in the presentation of plays and such, but they also provide celebrity concerts of sufficient magnitude to fill Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall. Their opening concert is not for another month, on October 6, but already every seat for it has been sold.
"I don't know what they are paying that glorious singer, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, for her appearance that night, but it is a certainty right now that they can't lose. They tell me in St. Helens it's harder to get tickets for her show than it ever was for the Wembley Cup Final. Jimmy Lovelace told me: “We could have sold the theatre twice over for her performance. In fact, the overall demand for tickets for our series of five celebrity concerts has been so phenomenal that we are now planning on having two series next year.” Their other international artists in the new season include John Ogdon, Alberto Remedios, and the Halle Orchestra."
George also wrote that on the reverse side of a Liverpool firm's advertising card there was this comic message: "Complimentary Ticket – please permit my mother-in-law, Mrs ...................... to walk through Knowsley Safari Park. This ticket can be used once only." That reminds me of the stallholder on St Helens Market who was reputed to shout: "All money taken today will go towards a mothers-in-laws outing. The more we take, the further we can send them."
And finally Billinge Field Day took place on the 28th at Greenfield House School – but did not go down well. A highlight was a procession of 32 vintage cars – but there was confusion over the starting point, which caused a 45-minute delay. The Ashton Trinity Girls Silver Band also went missing and then the heavens opened, drenching everyone. But otherwise all had a fun time!
Next week's stories will include Rainford's exotic bird show, the St Helens car washes, the expanding Lennon's supermarkets, the Pilkington Sub Aqua Club diver who almost died and the Haydock hole-in-the-heart father's dilemma.
This week's many stories include the disabled boy from North Road who played footie against John Toshack, admiration is expressed for the Theatre Royal, world snooker champion John Spencer comes to St Helens, the courses available at St Helens Tech, the dogs running on the Park Road racetrack and Rainford is declared the best place to live.
We begin in Blackpool shortly after 9:30am on the morning of the 23rd, when a gang of robbers shot dead a police superintendent who had previously served at Newton-le-Willows.
Holidaymakers and shoppers ran for their lives as gunmen opened fire on Superintendent Gerald Richardson and his police colleagues.
The officers had rammed the robbers' getaway car after they'd committed an audacious £50,000 jewellery raid.
At the officer's funeral later in the week, an estimated 100,000 people lined the streets of Blackpool to pay their last respects to the courageous officer.
Throughout this week the latest film in the "carry on" franchise, 'Carry On Henry' – starring Sid James and Kenneth Williams – played at the ABC Savoy in St Helens.
And at the Capitol, 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' was shown.
John Spencer was the reigning world snooker champion and he performed in St Helens on the 23rd.
The prize money for winning the competition was £2,333. That, of course, is tiny compared to today – but there were decent earnings and plenty of practice for the top players on the club circuit.
For several years Spencer had taken on seven players from club teams and always given them a 200 points start.
If he won he took home his normal fee of £25 – but if he lost Spencer forfeited the fee and paid the club a similar sum.
At St Helens Transport Club the snooker ace took on a strong team in Walter Prescott, Gerald Greenall, Harry Burns, Bill Dennison, Jack Holcroft, Bernard Turner and Des Myler.
John Spencer would be making two more visits to St Helens next month, appearing at Lowe House Club on September 13th and St Anne's Club in Sutton on the 28th.
Also on the 23rd, St Helens College Of Technology in Water Street was advertising its range of courses in the Echo.
The 15 main courses that would begin next month included shorthand & typewriting; catering; hairdressing; hospital careers; pre-apprenticeship courses in building and engineering and HND sandwich courses for mechanical engineering and electrical engineering.
These were clearly the bread and butter vocational courses of the time.
Three years ago the college had learned that if they veered away from mainstream subjects they had to make them relevant to the times.
That was after abandoning a proposed "new brides" course after a lack of interest.
The course had nothing to do with weddings but might be summarised as "how to be a good, organised housewife after getting married".
It was the fourth time that St Helens College had tried to run a course for new brides – but on each occasion they had been thwarted by apathy.
On the 24th a charity evening was held held at the Plaza Theatre Club in Duke Street to raise money for the Providence Hospital Fighting Fund. Topping the bill was local artiste Harry Parker.
With unemployment increasing in St Helens, training courses were taking on an increased importance.
During this week the Department of Employment had a mobile office situated in Exchange Street promoting the work of Government training centres.
Edie Carter from Mill Lane was a regular contributor to the 'Whalley's World' column in the St Helens Star describing her memories of Sutton life. She never married and died at the age of 96.
On the 25th Edie had this letter published in the Liverpool Echo about the price of a day trip to New Brighton in the old pre-inflation days:
"Sir, – Do any of your older readers remember this song sung in a Liverpool pantomime years ago?
“Threepence I paid for a steamboat,
Down to New Brighton Pier,
Twopence I paid for a donkey,
To teach me how to steer,
A penny I paid for a roundabout,
Ninepence I paid for my tea,
Threepence I paid for another boat home.
And threepence is left you see.”
"Those were the days. – (Miss) E. Carter, 109 Mill Lane, Sutton Leach, St. Helens."
A fortnight earlier the Runcorn Weekly News had published this article:
"A Runcorn-born woman is helping to rewrite traditional fairy tales because she believes they have had a bad effect on children's attitudes to themselves and society.
"Twenty one years old Audrey Ackroyd, a staunch supporter of the Women's Liberation Movement, is working with four other members of the movement's Merseyside children's literature sub-group to produce a book, tentatively entitled 'Once and Future Fairy Tales'."
Mr T. G. Franklin of Lugsmore Lane in St Helens was another prolific letter-writer with his own occasional column in the St Helens Reporter.
He was clearly not happy with the tampering of great literature and had this stinging missive published in the Weekly News on the 26th:
"So Women's Lib. is on the warpath again – this time against children's fairy stories. We can't help it if Miss Ackroyd has seen fairies at the bottom of her garden, but when she comes to attack the creations of Hans Anderson and the Brothers Grimm – well, that's too much.
"The Ugly Duckling and Rumpelstiltskin will continue to have their youthful (and not so youthful) admirers long after Women's Lib. has passed into oblivion.
"The World of Fantasy and make believe is natural for children. Women's Lib is an unnatural movement made up of people with frustrated egos".
There was a nice story on the front page of the Reporter on the 27th. Liverpool's star player John Toshack had invited Keith Hughes to his home in Formby to play some footie.
The six-year-old from North Road was disabled or – as the Reporter put it – had been "crippled since birth".
Keith usually played football on his own on a patch of wasteland near his home. The star Welsh international striker got to hear of him and so invited the lad to keep goal in his back garden.
"It was great", said Keith. "And I managed to save a few of Mr. Toshack's shots."
But the lead story in the Reporter was that Billinge Council had taken out an injunction to stop blasting operations on Billinge Hill.
The writ was against the quarrying firm of Joseph Pickavance who were accused of making excessive noise and damaging roads.
"No better place to live", was the verdict on Rainford from Mel Davies of Beavan Maples in an advertising feature on the village.
The Church Road estate agent pointed out that he had inadvertently left some toys out in his garden overnight and they were still there on the following day. "I know of nowhere else that could have happened", said Mel.
Other advertisers included builder's W. Carter of Ormskirk Road; Fashion Flair of Ormskirk Road; Wainwrights Electrical Services of Church Road and building contractors Thomas Winstanley.
The weekly Friday evening races were held on the 27th at the St Helens Greyhound Track in Park Road.
As usual some of the names of the dogs that were running referenced television programmes, films and music of the time.
So among those animals furiously chasing after a mechanical hare were 'Rawhide', 'Lassie', 'Skippy', 'High Noon' and 'Deep Purple'.
There was also 'Little Weed', which I presume derived its name from 'Bill and Ben The Flower Pot Men' and not from cannabis!
However I'm pleased to say that 'Hopeless' defied its moniker and won yet again. You know what they say about giving a dog a bad name!
The St Helens Theatre Royal had an extremely good name with the Liverpool Echo.
The paper was always full of praise for both the acts that were booked to play the Corporation Street venue and their theatrical presentation.
The Echo's longstanding arts correspondent George Harrison wrote this on the 28th:
"I take off my tatty trilby in admiration of the Theatre Royal, St. Helens, which is run by the glass firm of Pilkington's and managed by Jimmy Lovelace in the manner of a top-circuit production house.
"Not only do they beat Liverpool's shutdown theatres stone cold in the presentation of plays and such, but they also provide celebrity concerts of sufficient magnitude to fill Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall.
"Their opening concert is not for another month, on October 6, but already every seat for it has been sold.
"I don't know what they are paying that glorious singer, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, for her appearance that night, but it is a certainty right now that they can't lose.
"They tell me in St. Helens it's harder to get tickets for her show than it ever was for the Wembley Cup Final.
"Jimmy Lovelace told me: “We could have sold the theatre twice over for her performance. In fact, the overall demand for tickets for our series of five celebrity concerts has been so phenomenal that we are now planning on having two series next year.”
"Their other international artists in the new season include John Ogdon, Alberto Remedios, and the Halle Orchestra."
George also wrote that on the reverse side of a Liverpool firm's advertising card there was this comic message:
"Complimentary Ticket – please permit my mother-in-law, Mrs ...................... to walk through Knowsley Safari Park. This ticket can be used once only."
That reminds me of the stallholder on St Helens Market who was reputed to shout: "All money taken today will go towards a mothers-in-laws outing. The more we take, the further we can send them."
And finally Billinge Field Day took place on the 28th at Greenfield House School – but did not go down well.
A highlight was a procession of 32 vintage cars – but there was confusion over the starting point, which caused a 45-minute delay.
The Ashton Trinity Girls Silver Band also went missing and then the heavens opened, drenching everyone. But otherwise all had a fun time!
Next week's stories will include Rainford's exotic bird show, the St Helens car washes, the expanding Lennon's supermarkets, the Pilkington Sub Aqua Club diver who almost died and the Haydock hole-in-the-heart father's dilemma.
We begin in Blackpool shortly after 9:30am on the morning of the 23rd, when a gang of robbers shot dead a police superintendent who had previously served at Newton-le-Willows.
Holidaymakers and shoppers ran for their lives as gunmen opened fire on Superintendent Gerald Richardson and his police colleagues.
The officers had rammed the robbers' getaway car after they'd committed an audacious £50,000 jewellery raid.
At the officer's funeral later in the week, an estimated 100,000 people lined the streets of Blackpool to pay their last respects to the courageous officer.
Throughout this week the latest film in the "carry on" franchise, 'Carry On Henry' – starring Sid James and Kenneth Williams – played at the ABC Savoy in St Helens.
And at the Capitol, 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' was shown.
John Spencer was the reigning world snooker champion and he performed in St Helens on the 23rd.
The prize money for winning the competition was £2,333. That, of course, is tiny compared to today – but there were decent earnings and plenty of practice for the top players on the club circuit.
For several years Spencer had taken on seven players from club teams and always given them a 200 points start.
If he won he took home his normal fee of £25 – but if he lost Spencer forfeited the fee and paid the club a similar sum.
At St Helens Transport Club the snooker ace took on a strong team in Walter Prescott, Gerald Greenall, Harry Burns, Bill Dennison, Jack Holcroft, Bernard Turner and Des Myler.
John Spencer would be making two more visits to St Helens next month, appearing at Lowe House Club on September 13th and St Anne's Club in Sutton on the 28th.
The 15 main courses that would begin next month included shorthand & typewriting; catering; hairdressing; hospital careers; pre-apprenticeship courses in building and engineering and HND sandwich courses for mechanical engineering and electrical engineering.
These were clearly the bread and butter vocational courses of the time.
Three years ago the college had learned that if they veered away from mainstream subjects they had to make them relevant to the times.
That was after abandoning a proposed "new brides" course after a lack of interest.
The course had nothing to do with weddings but might be summarised as "how to be a good, organised housewife after getting married".
It was the fourth time that St Helens College had tried to run a course for new brides – but on each occasion they had been thwarted by apathy.
On the 24th a charity evening was held held at the Plaza Theatre Club in Duke Street to raise money for the Providence Hospital Fighting Fund. Topping the bill was local artiste Harry Parker.
With unemployment increasing in St Helens, training courses were taking on an increased importance.
During this week the Department of Employment had a mobile office situated in Exchange Street promoting the work of Government training centres.
Edie Carter from Mill Lane was a regular contributor to the 'Whalley's World' column in the St Helens Star describing her memories of Sutton life. She never married and died at the age of 96.
On the 25th Edie had this letter published in the Liverpool Echo about the price of a day trip to New Brighton in the old pre-inflation days:
"Sir, – Do any of your older readers remember this song sung in a Liverpool pantomime years ago?
“Threepence I paid for a steamboat,
Down to New Brighton Pier,
Twopence I paid for a donkey,
To teach me how to steer,
A penny I paid for a roundabout,
Ninepence I paid for my tea,
Threepence I paid for another boat home.
And threepence is left you see.”
"Those were the days. – (Miss) E. Carter, 109 Mill Lane, Sutton Leach, St. Helens."
A fortnight earlier the Runcorn Weekly News had published this article:
"A Runcorn-born woman is helping to rewrite traditional fairy tales because she believes they have had a bad effect on children's attitudes to themselves and society.
"Twenty one years old Audrey Ackroyd, a staunch supporter of the Women's Liberation Movement, is working with four other members of the movement's Merseyside children's literature sub-group to produce a book, tentatively entitled 'Once and Future Fairy Tales'."
Mr T. G. Franklin of Lugsmore Lane in St Helens was another prolific letter-writer with his own occasional column in the St Helens Reporter.
He was clearly not happy with the tampering of great literature and had this stinging missive published in the Weekly News on the 26th:
"So Women's Lib. is on the warpath again – this time against children's fairy stories. We can't help it if Miss Ackroyd has seen fairies at the bottom of her garden, but when she comes to attack the creations of Hans Anderson and the Brothers Grimm – well, that's too much.
"The Ugly Duckling and Rumpelstiltskin will continue to have their youthful (and not so youthful) admirers long after Women's Lib. has passed into oblivion.
"The World of Fantasy and make believe is natural for children. Women's Lib is an unnatural movement made up of people with frustrated egos".
There was a nice story on the front page of the Reporter on the 27th. Liverpool's star player John Toshack had invited Keith Hughes to his home in Formby to play some footie.
The six-year-old from North Road was disabled or – as the Reporter put it – had been "crippled since birth".
Keith usually played football on his own on a patch of wasteland near his home. The star Welsh international striker got to hear of him and so invited the lad to keep goal in his back garden.
"It was great", said Keith. "And I managed to save a few of Mr. Toshack's shots."
But the lead story in the Reporter was that Billinge Council had taken out an injunction to stop blasting operations on Billinge Hill.
The writ was against the quarrying firm of Joseph Pickavance who were accused of making excessive noise and damaging roads.
"No better place to live", was the verdict on Rainford from Mel Davies of Beavan Maples in an advertising feature on the village.
The Church Road estate agent pointed out that he had inadvertently left some toys out in his garden overnight and they were still there on the following day. "I know of nowhere else that could have happened", said Mel.
Other advertisers included builder's W. Carter of Ormskirk Road; Fashion Flair of Ormskirk Road; Wainwrights Electrical Services of Church Road and building contractors Thomas Winstanley.
The weekly Friday evening races were held on the 27th at the St Helens Greyhound Track in Park Road.
As usual some of the names of the dogs that were running referenced television programmes, films and music of the time.
So among those animals furiously chasing after a mechanical hare were 'Rawhide', 'Lassie', 'Skippy', 'High Noon' and 'Deep Purple'.
There was also 'Little Weed', which I presume derived its name from 'Bill and Ben The Flower Pot Men' and not from cannabis!
However I'm pleased to say that 'Hopeless' defied its moniker and won yet again. You know what they say about giving a dog a bad name!
The paper was always full of praise for both the acts that were booked to play the Corporation Street venue and their theatrical presentation.
The Echo's longstanding arts correspondent George Harrison wrote this on the 28th:
"I take off my tatty trilby in admiration of the Theatre Royal, St. Helens, which is run by the glass firm of Pilkington's and managed by Jimmy Lovelace in the manner of a top-circuit production house.
"Not only do they beat Liverpool's shutdown theatres stone cold in the presentation of plays and such, but they also provide celebrity concerts of sufficient magnitude to fill Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall.
"Their opening concert is not for another month, on October 6, but already every seat for it has been sold.
"I don't know what they are paying that glorious singer, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, for her appearance that night, but it is a certainty right now that they can't lose.
"They tell me in St. Helens it's harder to get tickets for her show than it ever was for the Wembley Cup Final.
"Jimmy Lovelace told me: “We could have sold the theatre twice over for her performance. In fact, the overall demand for tickets for our series of five celebrity concerts has been so phenomenal that we are now planning on having two series next year.”
"Their other international artists in the new season include John Ogdon, Alberto Remedios, and the Halle Orchestra."
George also wrote that on the reverse side of a Liverpool firm's advertising card there was this comic message:
"Complimentary Ticket – please permit my mother-in-law, Mrs ...................... to walk through Knowsley Safari Park. This ticket can be used once only."
That reminds me of the stallholder on St Helens Market who was reputed to shout: "All money taken today will go towards a mothers-in-laws outing. The more we take, the further we can send them."
And finally Billinge Field Day took place on the 28th at Greenfield House School – but did not go down well.
A highlight was a procession of 32 vintage cars – but there was confusion over the starting point, which caused a 45-minute delay.
The Ashton Trinity Girls Silver Band also went missing and then the heavens opened, drenching everyone. But otherwise all had a fun time!
Next week's stories will include Rainford's exotic bird show, the St Helens car washes, the expanding Lennon's supermarkets, the Pilkington Sub Aqua Club diver who almost died and the Haydock hole-in-the-heart father's dilemma.