FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (25th - 31st MAY 1970)
This week's stories include the repercussions of the Pilkington strike, a profile of the "egg and sausage artist" from Duke Street, self-service petrol comes to St Helens, the Whit Monday parades, alterations to Lowe House church and the Carr Mill boy who was a keen tegestologist.
First the aftermath of the Pilkington strike, which had now ended after seven weeks of turmoil. On Monday 25th it was reported that workers at Triplex were claiming victimisation for going on strike. At a meeting held in the works' car park on the previous day, they complained that a new shift system would mean a reduction in their wage packets of £5 to £7 a week. However the management explained that the revised working was simply due to the loss of orders from the car industry as a result of the dispute.
Some of the 200 workers at the meeting wanted to go back on strike. It was a Bank Holiday on the Monday and they were persuaded to return to their jobs on the Tuesday, so their leaders could engage in more talks with the TUC. On the 26th St Helens churches of all denominations held prayers for peace in the aftermath of the glass strike. The Reporter wrote that worshippers prayed for "tolerance and compassion in a town that lost its dignity".
During the evening of the 26th there were more allegations of victimisation after a 3-hour meeting between the company, shop stewards and the Rank and File Committee. Due to the loss of orders Pilkingtons planned to make 350 redundancies at Triplex and also change the pattern of shift working. After the meeting the strike leader Gerry Caughey said it had been "an absolute waste of time. We got nothing. It is victimisation all down the line for Pilkington workers."
The management wanted the redundancies to be amongst those that had belatedly returned to work, guaranteeing the jobs of those that went back before the strike ended. "If that is not victimisation, I do not know what is", said Mr Caughey. "The management want us to walk out so that the world can say we are the bad boys."
On the 27th another walkout at Triplex was averted after the Rank and File Committee again persuaded staff to stay at their jobs. A spokesman told the Liverpool Echo that the situation was "tense, to say the least". The glass giant also announced this week that the two-day Pilkington Gala at Ruskin Drive would not be taking place this year. They said they could not afford it after the strike.
In the Reporter on the 29th there was a picture of a puzzled Bill Callaghan from Eccleston Street who had found the word "scab" chalked on his back door. The 60-year-old had spent his working life at UGB and had never been employed at Pilks. Bill felt that children were probably responsible, writing a word that they had seen in TV news reports about the strike. And now for the rest of this week's news…
It was Whit Monday on the 25th, which the St Helens Reporter summed up as a: "Cavalcade of sun, bands and colourful Summer clothes – that was Whitsun walking day 1970-style in St. Helens." St Helens Parish, St Matthew's, Thatto Heath and St Peter's of Parr paraded separately through the town to their church fields in Rainford Road, St Matthew's Grove and Delta Road, respectively. The biggest gathering was at the Parish Church field in which over 600 enjoyed the sideshows and sports. St Anne's in Sutton also held a field day with a procession led by Redgate Boys Silver Band. There were stalls, sideshows and dancing.
At Windle Parish Council's meeting on the 26th it was decide to invite tenders from firms to line their wooden bus shelters with steel in order to stop vandals from kicking them to pieces.
On the 28th Chicken Shack performed at the Theatre Royal, although star vocalist Christine Perfect (McVie) had left the group during the previous year. The blues band still exists and according to Wikipedia have had forty-one members during their lifespan.
British Sidac announced a new wages and productivity agreement this week, which would give the lowest paid shift workers at the Sutton cellulose film manufacturer an average wage of £31 for a 42-hour week. That was a very high rate of pay and the news was placed on the front page of the St Helens Reporter.
The paper also revealed that Bold Colliery (pictured above) had won the Coal Board's national safety competition for pits employing over 1,000 men. The colliery with over 1,800 workers on its books had shown the biggest reduction in accident rates in the year ending in March. Parkside Colliery in Newton-le-Willows was the runner-up.
For many years Graham Smith was a fixture down Duke Street, based in his wife Shelagh's Christian Book Shop and later in his own Religious Shop, which was situated just a few doors away. A flamboyant dresser with his floppy hat and cravat, who, when interviewed in newspapers or on television, would invariably say: "I want to be famous". Graham would become known as the "Egg and Sausage Artist" and some would laugh at his eccentricities, not realising that these had been borne out of a severe nervous breakdown.
The 35-year-old painter from Windleshaw Road was profiled this week in the Reporter, seemingly after only recently moving to Duke Street from tiny premises in Dentons Green Lane. After beginning work as a labourer at Pilkingtons, Graham had obtained a job in their design department after one of his bosses had seen his paintings in an art show. Then he became ill and had to give up the job. Alan Whalley wrote: "Graham's courageous comeback is an example to all who are broken down by the pressures of modern living."
Graham's stunts – such as painting eggs and sausages, offering to sell his work for kisses and putting million pound price tags on paintings in the shop window – were still some years away. However his business inside the Christian Bookshop was called 'Smith's Publicity Service', suggesting that he was already gearing up for wacky ways to interest the media in his work.
There was a special full-page advertising feature in the Reporter on Hardshaw Garage of Corporation Street, which had the headline: "Space Age Petrol Pumps Arrive at the Garage." And what was this marvellous new invention in garage technology? It was self-service petrol, which was making its debut in St Helens. And this is how it worked (in case you don't know!):
"The customer will be able to serve himself by pressing a red signal button on the pump. This button transmits a signal to a kiosk inside the main building warning the attendant. The pump is unlocked automatically and the customer puts in as much petrol as he wants. As he fills his tank the gallonage and the price is recorded automatically on dials in the attendant's kiosk. He then replaces the pump, walks in and pays." Archie Brown had opened Hardshaw Garage in 1925 and by 1970 Lennon's offices were occupying its original site. Archie's son, Alex Brown, was now in charge of the business after his father's retirement.
The Reporter also revealed that Lowe House Church (pictured above) would be reopening in June after its interior alterations had been completed. The North Road church had been closed since March while the altar was moved forward to a position under the dome and a small chapel built on the original altar site. The purpose of the alterations was to help worshippers participate more in church services and the seating was being altered to fit in with the altar's new position.
Housewives in Cotswold Grove in Parr were complaining in the paper about what the Reporter dubbed "phantom tippers", who dumped waste behind their homes and then disappeared. Francis Finney said: "It's a real eyesore – right next to our back garden. They're using the land as a rubbish tip for scrap iron, old carpets, mattresses – all sorts of stuff."
Billy Clarke was also featured in the Reporter, as he was a keen tegestologist – i.e. a collector of beer mats. The 15-year-old's father Leo – who ran the Carr Mill Hotel – had stimulated Billy's interest in his hobby and the lad had now amassed 2,000 of them. The Grange Park pupil's beer mat collection took some organisation, as he explained to the Reporter: "You don't just pile them all together. They go into the various categories, and are then indexed into either sets, or under the name of the brewery."
Next week's stories will include a spectacular speedboat crash on Carr Mill Dam, a heatwave threatens the town's beer and water supplies, Saints' stars play cricket at Rainhill and why Billingers were up in arms over a Big Top.
First the aftermath of the Pilkington strike, which had now ended after seven weeks of turmoil. On Monday 25th it was reported that workers at Triplex were claiming victimisation for going on strike. At a meeting held in the works' car park on the previous day, they complained that a new shift system would mean a reduction in their wage packets of £5 to £7 a week. However the management explained that the revised working was simply due to the loss of orders from the car industry as a result of the dispute.
Some of the 200 workers at the meeting wanted to go back on strike. It was a Bank Holiday on the Monday and they were persuaded to return to their jobs on the Tuesday, so their leaders could engage in more talks with the TUC. On the 26th St Helens churches of all denominations held prayers for peace in the aftermath of the glass strike. The Reporter wrote that worshippers prayed for "tolerance and compassion in a town that lost its dignity".
During the evening of the 26th there were more allegations of victimisation after a 3-hour meeting between the company, shop stewards and the Rank and File Committee. Due to the loss of orders Pilkingtons planned to make 350 redundancies at Triplex and also change the pattern of shift working. After the meeting the strike leader Gerry Caughey said it had been "an absolute waste of time. We got nothing. It is victimisation all down the line for Pilkington workers."
The management wanted the redundancies to be amongst those that had belatedly returned to work, guaranteeing the jobs of those that went back before the strike ended. "If that is not victimisation, I do not know what is", said Mr Caughey. "The management want us to walk out so that the world can say we are the bad boys."
On the 27th another walkout at Triplex was averted after the Rank and File Committee again persuaded staff to stay at their jobs. A spokesman told the Liverpool Echo that the situation was "tense, to say the least". The glass giant also announced this week that the two-day Pilkington Gala at Ruskin Drive would not be taking place this year. They said they could not afford it after the strike.
In the Reporter on the 29th there was a picture of a puzzled Bill Callaghan from Eccleston Street who had found the word "scab" chalked on his back door. The 60-year-old had spent his working life at UGB and had never been employed at Pilks. Bill felt that children were probably responsible, writing a word that they had seen in TV news reports about the strike. And now for the rest of this week's news…
It was Whit Monday on the 25th, which the St Helens Reporter summed up as a: "Cavalcade of sun, bands and colourful Summer clothes – that was Whitsun walking day 1970-style in St. Helens." St Helens Parish, St Matthew's, Thatto Heath and St Peter's of Parr paraded separately through the town to their church fields in Rainford Road, St Matthew's Grove and Delta Road, respectively. The biggest gathering was at the Parish Church field in which over 600 enjoyed the sideshows and sports. St Anne's in Sutton also held a field day with a procession led by Redgate Boys Silver Band. There were stalls, sideshows and dancing.
At Windle Parish Council's meeting on the 26th it was decide to invite tenders from firms to line their wooden bus shelters with steel in order to stop vandals from kicking them to pieces.
On the 28th Chicken Shack performed at the Theatre Royal, although star vocalist Christine Perfect (McVie) had left the group during the previous year. The blues band still exists and according to Wikipedia have had forty-one members during their lifespan.
British Sidac announced a new wages and productivity agreement this week, which would give the lowest paid shift workers at the Sutton cellulose film manufacturer an average wage of £31 for a 42-hour week. That was a very high rate of pay and the news was placed on the front page of the St Helens Reporter.
For many years Graham Smith was a fixture down Duke Street, based in his wife Shelagh's Christian Book Shop and later in his own Religious Shop, which was situated just a few doors away. A flamboyant dresser with his floppy hat and cravat, who, when interviewed in newspapers or on television, would invariably say: "I want to be famous". Graham would become known as the "Egg and Sausage Artist" and some would laugh at his eccentricities, not realising that these had been borne out of a severe nervous breakdown.
The 35-year-old painter from Windleshaw Road was profiled this week in the Reporter, seemingly after only recently moving to Duke Street from tiny premises in Dentons Green Lane. After beginning work as a labourer at Pilkingtons, Graham had obtained a job in their design department after one of his bosses had seen his paintings in an art show. Then he became ill and had to give up the job. Alan Whalley wrote: "Graham's courageous comeback is an example to all who are broken down by the pressures of modern living."
Graham's stunts – such as painting eggs and sausages, offering to sell his work for kisses and putting million pound price tags on paintings in the shop window – were still some years away. However his business inside the Christian Bookshop was called 'Smith's Publicity Service', suggesting that he was already gearing up for wacky ways to interest the media in his work.
There was a special full-page advertising feature in the Reporter on Hardshaw Garage of Corporation Street, which had the headline: "Space Age Petrol Pumps Arrive at the Garage." And what was this marvellous new invention in garage technology? It was self-service petrol, which was making its debut in St Helens. And this is how it worked (in case you don't know!):
"The customer will be able to serve himself by pressing a red signal button on the pump. This button transmits a signal to a kiosk inside the main building warning the attendant. The pump is unlocked automatically and the customer puts in as much petrol as he wants. As he fills his tank the gallonage and the price is recorded automatically on dials in the attendant's kiosk. He then replaces the pump, walks in and pays." Archie Brown had opened Hardshaw Garage in 1925 and by 1970 Lennon's offices were occupying its original site. Archie's son, Alex Brown, was now in charge of the business after his father's retirement.
Housewives in Cotswold Grove in Parr were complaining in the paper about what the Reporter dubbed "phantom tippers", who dumped waste behind their homes and then disappeared. Francis Finney said: "It's a real eyesore – right next to our back garden. They're using the land as a rubbish tip for scrap iron, old carpets, mattresses – all sorts of stuff."
Billy Clarke was also featured in the Reporter, as he was a keen tegestologist – i.e. a collector of beer mats. The 15-year-old's father Leo – who ran the Carr Mill Hotel – had stimulated Billy's interest in his hobby and the lad had now amassed 2,000 of them. The Grange Park pupil's beer mat collection took some organisation, as he explained to the Reporter: "You don't just pile them all together. They go into the various categories, and are then indexed into either sets, or under the name of the brewery."
Next week's stories will include a spectacular speedboat crash on Carr Mill Dam, a heatwave threatens the town's beer and water supplies, Saints' stars play cricket at Rainhill and why Billingers were up in arms over a Big Top.
This week's stories include the repercussions of the Pilkington strike, a profile of the "egg and sausage artist" from Duke Street, self-service petrol comes to St Helens, the Whit Monday parades, alterations to Lowe House church and the Carr Mill boy who was a keen tegestologist.
First the aftermath of the Pilkington strike, which had now ended after seven weeks of turmoil.
On Monday 25th it was reported that workers at Triplex were claiming victimisation for going on strike.
At a meeting held in the works' car park on the previous day, they complained that a new shift system would mean a reduction in their wage packets of £5 to £7 a week.
However the management explained that the revised working was simply due to the loss of orders from the car industry as a result of the dispute.
Some of the two hundred workers at the meeting wanted to go back on strike.
It was a Bank Holiday on the Monday and they were persuaded to return to their jobs on the Tuesday, so their leaders could engage in more talks with the TUC.
On the 26th St Helens churches of all denominations held prayers for peace in the aftermath of the glass strike.
The Reporter wrote that worshippers prayed for "tolerance and compassion in a town that lost its dignity".
During the evening of the 26th there were more allegations of victimisation after a 3-hour meeting between the company, shop stewards and the Rank and File Committee.
Due to the loss of orders Pilkingtons planned to make 350 redundancies at Triplex and also change the pattern of shift working.
After the meeting the strike leader Gerry Caughey said it had been "an absolute waste of time. We got nothing. It is victimisation all down the line for Pilkington workers."
The management wanted the redundancies to be amongst those that had belatedly returned to work, guaranteeing the jobs of those that went back before the strike ended.
"If that is not victimisation, I do not know what is", said Mr Caughey. "The management want us to walk out so that the world can say we are the bad boys."
On the 27th another walkout at Triplex was averted after the Rank and File Committee again persuaded staff to stay at their jobs.
A spokesman told the Liverpool Echo that the situation was "tense, to say the least".
The glass giant also announced this week that the two-day Pilkington Gala at Ruskin Drive would not be taking place this year. They said they could not afford it after the strike.
In the Reporter on the 29th there was a picture of a puzzled Bill Callaghan from Eccleston Street who had found the word "scab" chalked on his back door.
The 60-year-old had spent his working life at UGB and had never been employed at Pilks.
Bill felt that children were probably responsible, writing a word that they had seen in TV news reports about the strike. And now for the rest of this week's news…
It was Whit Monday on the 25th, which the St Helens Reporter summed up as a: "Cavalcade of sun, bands and colourful Summer clothes – that was Whitsun walking day 1970-style in St. Helens."
St Helens Parish, St Matthew's, Thatto Heath and St Peter's of Parr paraded separately through the town to their church fields in Rainford Road, St Matthew's Grove and Delta Road, respectively.
The biggest gathering was at the Parish Church field in which over 600 enjoyed the sideshows and sports.
St Anne's in Sutton also held a field day with a procession led by Redgate Boys Silver Band. There were stalls, sideshows and dancing.
At Windle Parish Council's meeting on the 26th it was decide to invite tenders from firms to line their wooden bus shelters with steel in order to stop vandals from kicking them to pieces.
On the 28th Chicken Shack performed at the Theatre Royal, although star vocalist Christine Perfect (McVie) had left the group during the previous year.
The blues band still exists and according to Wikipedia have had forty-one members during their lifespan.
British Sidac announced a new wages and productivity agreement this week, which would give the lowest paid shift workers at the Sutton cellulose film manufacturer an average wage of £31 for a 42-hour week.
That was a very high rate of pay and the news was placed on the front page of the St Helens Reporter.
The paper also revealed that Bold Colliery (pictured above) had won the Coal Board's national safety competition for pits employing over 1,000 men.
The colliery with over 1,800 workers on its books had shown the biggest reduction in accident rates in the year ending in March. Parkside Colliery in Newton-le-Willows was the runner-up.
For many years Graham Smith was a fixture down Duke Street, based in his wife Shelagh's Christian Book Shop and later in his own Religious Shop, which was situated just a few doors away.
A flamboyant dresser with his floppy hat and cravat, who, when interviewed in newspapers or on television, would invariably say: "I want to be famous".
Graham would become known as the "Egg and Sausage Artist" and some would laugh at his eccentricities, not realising that these had been borne out of a severe nervous breakdown.
The 35-year-old painter from Windleshaw Road was profiled this week in the Reporter, seemingly after only recently moving to Duke Street from tiny premises in Dentons Green Lane.
After beginning work as a labourer at Pilkingtons, Graham had obtained a job in their design department after one of his bosses had seen his paintings in an art show.
Then he became ill and had to give up the job. Alan Whalley wrote: "Graham's courageous comeback is an example to all who are broken down by the pressures of modern living."
Graham's stunts – such as painting eggs and sausages, offering to sell his work for kisses and putting million pound price tags on paintings in the shop window – were still some years away.
However his business inside the Christian Bookshop was called 'Smith's Publicity Service', suggesting that he was already gearing up for wacky ways to interest the media in his work.
There was a special full-page advertising feature in the Reporter on Hardshaw Garage of Corporation Street, which had the headline: "Space Age Petrol Pumps Arrive at the Garage."
And what was this marvellous new invention in garage technology?
It was self-service petrol, which was making its debut in St Helens. And this is how it worked (in case you don't know!):
"The customer will be able to serve himself by pressing a red signal button on the pump. This button transmits a signal to a kiosk inside the main building warning the attendant.
"The pump is unlocked automatically and the customer puts in as much petrol as he wants. As he fills his tank the gallonage and the price is recorded automatically on dials in the attendant's kiosk. He then replaces the pump, walks in and pays."
Archie Brown had opened Hardshaw Garage in 1925 and by 1970 Lennon's offices were occupying its original site.
Archie's son, Alex Brown, was now in charge of the business after his father's retirement.
The Reporter also revealed that Lowe House Church (pictured above) would be reopening in June after its interior alterations had been completed.
The North Road church had been closed since March while the altar was moved forward to a position under the dome and a small chapel built on the original altar site.
The purpose of the alterations was to help worshippers participate more in church services and the seating was being altered to fit in with the altar's new position.
Housewives in Cotswold Grove in Parr were complaining in the paper about what the Reporter dubbed "phantom tippers", who dumped waste behind their homes and then disappeared.
Francis Finney said: "It's a real eyesore – right next to our back garden. They're using the land as a rubbish tip for scrap iron, old carpets, mattresses – all sorts of stuff."
Billy Clarke was also featured in the Reporter, as he was a keen tegestologist – i.e. a collector of beer mats.
The 15-year-old's father Leo – who ran the Carr Mill Hotel – had stimulated Billy's interest in his hobby and the lad had now amassed 2,000 of them.
The Grange Park pupil's beer mat collection took some organisation, as he explained to the Reporter:
"You don't just pile them all together. They go into the various categories, and are then indexed into either sets, or under the name of the brewery."
Next week's stories will include a spectacular speedboat crash on Carr Mill Dam, a heatwave threatens the town's beer and water supplies, Saints' stars play cricket at Rainhill and why Billingers were up in arms over a Big Top.
First the aftermath of the Pilkington strike, which had now ended after seven weeks of turmoil.
On Monday 25th it was reported that workers at Triplex were claiming victimisation for going on strike.
At a meeting held in the works' car park on the previous day, they complained that a new shift system would mean a reduction in their wage packets of £5 to £7 a week.
However the management explained that the revised working was simply due to the loss of orders from the car industry as a result of the dispute.
Some of the two hundred workers at the meeting wanted to go back on strike.
It was a Bank Holiday on the Monday and they were persuaded to return to their jobs on the Tuesday, so their leaders could engage in more talks with the TUC.
On the 26th St Helens churches of all denominations held prayers for peace in the aftermath of the glass strike.
The Reporter wrote that worshippers prayed for "tolerance and compassion in a town that lost its dignity".
During the evening of the 26th there were more allegations of victimisation after a 3-hour meeting between the company, shop stewards and the Rank and File Committee.
Due to the loss of orders Pilkingtons planned to make 350 redundancies at Triplex and also change the pattern of shift working.
After the meeting the strike leader Gerry Caughey said it had been "an absolute waste of time. We got nothing. It is victimisation all down the line for Pilkington workers."
The management wanted the redundancies to be amongst those that had belatedly returned to work, guaranteeing the jobs of those that went back before the strike ended.
"If that is not victimisation, I do not know what is", said Mr Caughey. "The management want us to walk out so that the world can say we are the bad boys."
On the 27th another walkout at Triplex was averted after the Rank and File Committee again persuaded staff to stay at their jobs.
A spokesman told the Liverpool Echo that the situation was "tense, to say the least".
The glass giant also announced this week that the two-day Pilkington Gala at Ruskin Drive would not be taking place this year. They said they could not afford it after the strike.
In the Reporter on the 29th there was a picture of a puzzled Bill Callaghan from Eccleston Street who had found the word "scab" chalked on his back door.
The 60-year-old had spent his working life at UGB and had never been employed at Pilks.
Bill felt that children were probably responsible, writing a word that they had seen in TV news reports about the strike. And now for the rest of this week's news…
It was Whit Monday on the 25th, which the St Helens Reporter summed up as a: "Cavalcade of sun, bands and colourful Summer clothes – that was Whitsun walking day 1970-style in St. Helens."
St Helens Parish, St Matthew's, Thatto Heath and St Peter's of Parr paraded separately through the town to their church fields in Rainford Road, St Matthew's Grove and Delta Road, respectively.
The biggest gathering was at the Parish Church field in which over 600 enjoyed the sideshows and sports.
St Anne's in Sutton also held a field day with a procession led by Redgate Boys Silver Band. There were stalls, sideshows and dancing.
At Windle Parish Council's meeting on the 26th it was decide to invite tenders from firms to line their wooden bus shelters with steel in order to stop vandals from kicking them to pieces.
On the 28th Chicken Shack performed at the Theatre Royal, although star vocalist Christine Perfect (McVie) had left the group during the previous year.
The blues band still exists and according to Wikipedia have had forty-one members during their lifespan.
British Sidac announced a new wages and productivity agreement this week, which would give the lowest paid shift workers at the Sutton cellulose film manufacturer an average wage of £31 for a 42-hour week.
That was a very high rate of pay and the news was placed on the front page of the St Helens Reporter.
The colliery with over 1,800 workers on its books had shown the biggest reduction in accident rates in the year ending in March. Parkside Colliery in Newton-le-Willows was the runner-up.
For many years Graham Smith was a fixture down Duke Street, based in his wife Shelagh's Christian Book Shop and later in his own Religious Shop, which was situated just a few doors away.
A flamboyant dresser with his floppy hat and cravat, who, when interviewed in newspapers or on television, would invariably say: "I want to be famous".
Graham would become known as the "Egg and Sausage Artist" and some would laugh at his eccentricities, not realising that these had been borne out of a severe nervous breakdown.
The 35-year-old painter from Windleshaw Road was profiled this week in the Reporter, seemingly after only recently moving to Duke Street from tiny premises in Dentons Green Lane.
After beginning work as a labourer at Pilkingtons, Graham had obtained a job in their design department after one of his bosses had seen his paintings in an art show.
Then he became ill and had to give up the job. Alan Whalley wrote: "Graham's courageous comeback is an example to all who are broken down by the pressures of modern living."
Graham's stunts – such as painting eggs and sausages, offering to sell his work for kisses and putting million pound price tags on paintings in the shop window – were still some years away.
However his business inside the Christian Bookshop was called 'Smith's Publicity Service', suggesting that he was already gearing up for wacky ways to interest the media in his work.
There was a special full-page advertising feature in the Reporter on Hardshaw Garage of Corporation Street, which had the headline: "Space Age Petrol Pumps Arrive at the Garage."
And what was this marvellous new invention in garage technology?
It was self-service petrol, which was making its debut in St Helens. And this is how it worked (in case you don't know!):
"The customer will be able to serve himself by pressing a red signal button on the pump. This button transmits a signal to a kiosk inside the main building warning the attendant.
"The pump is unlocked automatically and the customer puts in as much petrol as he wants. As he fills his tank the gallonage and the price is recorded automatically on dials in the attendant's kiosk. He then replaces the pump, walks in and pays."
Archie Brown had opened Hardshaw Garage in 1925 and by 1970 Lennon's offices were occupying its original site.
Archie's son, Alex Brown, was now in charge of the business after his father's retirement.
The North Road church had been closed since March while the altar was moved forward to a position under the dome and a small chapel built on the original altar site.
The purpose of the alterations was to help worshippers participate more in church services and the seating was being altered to fit in with the altar's new position.
Housewives in Cotswold Grove in Parr were complaining in the paper about what the Reporter dubbed "phantom tippers", who dumped waste behind their homes and then disappeared.
Francis Finney said: "It's a real eyesore – right next to our back garden. They're using the land as a rubbish tip for scrap iron, old carpets, mattresses – all sorts of stuff."
Billy Clarke was also featured in the Reporter, as he was a keen tegestologist – i.e. a collector of beer mats.
The 15-year-old's father Leo – who ran the Carr Mill Hotel – had stimulated Billy's interest in his hobby and the lad had now amassed 2,000 of them.
The Grange Park pupil's beer mat collection took some organisation, as he explained to the Reporter:
"You don't just pile them all together. They go into the various categories, and are then indexed into either sets, or under the name of the brewery."
Next week's stories will include a spectacular speedboat crash on Carr Mill Dam, a heatwave threatens the town's beer and water supplies, Saints' stars play cricket at Rainhill and why Billingers were up in arms over a Big Top.