FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 25 - 31 AUGUST 1975
This week's many stories include the Carr Mill boy searching for conkers who fell 40 feet, the storm over a proposed social club for Town Hall staff, the lay preacher angry over grass being mowed on a Sunday, the swan cut to pieces on Carr Mill Dam and why Arab countries could be coming to Rockware's rescue.
The saga of some young Pilks' workers who briefly got stranded at the seaside made the front page of the Reporter on the 29th. After winning a charity 'It's A Knock Out' contest for the third year in a row, the group had been celebrating in Blackpool. But when they arrived at the prearranged meeting place to return home at 11:40 pm they found their coach had not turned up. They waited for about an hour and then rang the lodgeman at Pilkington's works in Albert Street to see if some transport could be arranged.
But the night watchman thought the call was a practical joke and would not take them seriously. Even when a Blackpool policeman got on the line, the lodgeman still thought he was being hoaxed. But eventually the man was convinced and arranged for a cavalcade of seven taxis to bring the tired party home.
Stan Magowan, the managing director of Gavin Murrays, said: "We regret this incident. Apparently our driver was moved on by police three times and could not wait at the pre-arranged point." But Mr Magowan said they were going to reimburse all the taxi fares, as they felt responsible for what had happened.
"Town Hall Club Storm" was the Reporter's front-page headline. The piece described the fury of the Rainford Rates Action Group chairman Len Scott upon hearing that the council was thinking of opening a social club for Town Hall staff. That was because the Reporter had recently revealed that in next year's budget, the council was considering making drastic cuts in its services.
There can't be many firms today that still pay their workers their weekly wages in little buff envelopes with a piece of paper inserted stating the amount of pay and tax. But, of course, in the 1970s that was standard practice and Town Hall staff had recently found an extra bit of paper stuffed inside their wage packet. That was a questionnaire, which invited them to say what facilities a social club should provide. The employees were even asked whether car parking at the new facility should be provided for 50, 100, 150 or 200 cars.
But Rates Action Group chairman Len Scott was not impressed with expenditure on a club at a time of austerity, telling the Reporter: "I am astounded by the very fact that the local authority have been putting out these questionnaires in a time of economic crisis. It seems as though they're on a different planet from the rest of us. If this is going to be financed out of the rates there'll be hell to pay." However, Councillor Len Williams downplayed the chances of the social club being built in the near future.
Rockware at Pocket Nook (pictured above) had, like many St Helens firms, been receiving reduced orders through the recession. But this week the glass firm announced that they had launched a Middle East sales drive to win £500,000 worth of orders. Christopher Squires, the company's Director of Sales, said: "Some orders are already in the bag and we hope to win additional orders during the next few months". Rockware said their drive to sell soft drinks bottles to Arab countries had been launched when it was realised there were limits to what they could achieve in the UK in the present economic crisis.
Francis Pye of Hawes Avenue in Carr Mill was featured in the Reporter after the 12-year-old boy had fallen forty feet from a tree – and hardly received a scratch. Francis had climbed up a horse chestnut tree at Carr Mill in search of conkers but, as he reached for one, the lad slipped and plunged to the ground.
"We couldn't believe how little he was hurt," said his mother Ursula. "Someone called an ambulance, and when I saw them give him oxygen, I was terrified. He was in pain, but it was not as bad as we thought and there was nothing broken. A branch broke his fall, otherwise he would've been killed. It was very hard ground. The boy who was with Francis in the tree thought he was dead."
T. G. (Timothy) Franklin of Lugsmore Lane in St Helens was a prolific letter-writer whose name often appeared in local newspapers. During the 1960s the outspoken Franklin even had his own occasional column in the St Helens Reporter. That was not mentioned in the paper's account of his dispute with West Park rugby club.
Mr Franklin was a lay preacher who was furious after seeing the club's grass being mowed on a Sunday. So he sent an anonymous postcard to the club's secretary complaining of the work being done on the Sabbath, with the added message: "The wages of sin is Death!"
Now revealing his identity to the Reporter, Franklin – who called himself "one of the older Puritans" – said he simply wanted to draw the club's attention to the scripture which condemned work on Sundays. But the club thought his criticism unfair on Frank Cheetham who gave up his spare time to cut the grass prior to attending Mass. If I had been the Reporter journalist covering the story, I would have asked Mr Franklin why being a lay preacher on a Sunday was not considered work!
Speedboats had been on Carr Mill Dam since 1930 and the noise they made had been the main criticism of their appearances on the water. But Wallace Wainwright, an official with St Helens Angling Association, described to the Reporter how a powerboat had recently cut a swan to pieces. "These people in their boats just don't care," declared Mr Wainwright of Hawes Avenue in Carr Mill. "It's about time these boats were cleared off the dam altogether, they are nothing but a nuisance. No wildlife will ever settle there while this lot are tearing about the place."
Mr Wainwright's ten-year-old son Ian had seen the swan's demise and his dad claimed to have witnesses who saw the driver make no attempt to avoid the bird. Wallace said he had reported the incident to the RSPCA who were investigating and claimed that two other swans had been killed and others injured in the past by speedboats.
"Believe it or not . . . prices are DOWN in St. Helens this week." So wrote the Reporter and with inflation in 1975 being 24%, any reduction was clearly welcome, albeit probably being very temporary. Pimblett's were praised for reducing their meat and potato pie prices from 12p to 11p and Pimmie's pasties were also down a halfpenny to 10p. The reductions were due to the price of potatoes having come down.
And Thatto Heath Labour Club in Elephant Lane had been selling a pint of bitter at the reduced price of 16p, with mild down to 15p and lager at 18p. However, their reductions were only for a fortnight and were a means of ploughing back their profits to members, something they did three times a year.
The Reporter also described how a well-known town centre newsagent, who had served factory workers for almost a quarter of a century, had died at the age of 59. James Griffiths of Hawes Avenue in Carr Mill had operated a newspaper kiosk outside Pilkington's Sheet Works in Canal Street for 24 years. (That's the third story this week that mentions Hawes Avenue.)
And finally, the ABC Savoy on the 31st replaced 'The Lady and the Tramp' with 'The Land That Time Forgot', starring Doug McClure. And the Capitol Cinema replaced 'Never Too Young To Rock' featuring Mud, the Glitter Band and the Rubettes with Mel Brooks' 'Blazing Saddles' and 'Confessions of a Window Cleaner'.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the radio station for St Helens Hospital, the damage done to a new Sutton sewer through acid corrosion, a call to end Thursday half-day closing and why women had taken over an old men's hut.
The saga of some young Pilks' workers who briefly got stranded at the seaside made the front page of the Reporter on the 29th. After winning a charity 'It's A Knock Out' contest for the third year in a row, the group had been celebrating in Blackpool. But when they arrived at the prearranged meeting place to return home at 11:40 pm they found their coach had not turned up. They waited for about an hour and then rang the lodgeman at Pilkington's works in Albert Street to see if some transport could be arranged.
But the night watchman thought the call was a practical joke and would not take them seriously. Even when a Blackpool policeman got on the line, the lodgeman still thought he was being hoaxed. But eventually the man was convinced and arranged for a cavalcade of seven taxis to bring the tired party home.
Stan Magowan, the managing director of Gavin Murrays, said: "We regret this incident. Apparently our driver was moved on by police three times and could not wait at the pre-arranged point." But Mr Magowan said they were going to reimburse all the taxi fares, as they felt responsible for what had happened.
"Town Hall Club Storm" was the Reporter's front-page headline. The piece described the fury of the Rainford Rates Action Group chairman Len Scott upon hearing that the council was thinking of opening a social club for Town Hall staff. That was because the Reporter had recently revealed that in next year's budget, the council was considering making drastic cuts in its services.
There can't be many firms today that still pay their workers their weekly wages in little buff envelopes with a piece of paper inserted stating the amount of pay and tax. But, of course, in the 1970s that was standard practice and Town Hall staff had recently found an extra bit of paper stuffed inside their wage packet. That was a questionnaire, which invited them to say what facilities a social club should provide. The employees were even asked whether car parking at the new facility should be provided for 50, 100, 150 or 200 cars.
But Rates Action Group chairman Len Scott was not impressed with expenditure on a club at a time of austerity, telling the Reporter: "I am astounded by the very fact that the local authority have been putting out these questionnaires in a time of economic crisis. It seems as though they're on a different planet from the rest of us. If this is going to be financed out of the rates there'll be hell to pay." However, Councillor Len Williams downplayed the chances of the social club being built in the near future.
Francis Pye of Hawes Avenue in Carr Mill was featured in the Reporter after the 12-year-old boy had fallen forty feet from a tree – and hardly received a scratch. Francis had climbed up a horse chestnut tree at Carr Mill in search of conkers but, as he reached for one, the lad slipped and plunged to the ground.
"We couldn't believe how little he was hurt," said his mother Ursula. "Someone called an ambulance, and when I saw them give him oxygen, I was terrified. He was in pain, but it was not as bad as we thought and there was nothing broken. A branch broke his fall, otherwise he would've been killed. It was very hard ground. The boy who was with Francis in the tree thought he was dead."
T. G. (Timothy) Franklin of Lugsmore Lane in St Helens was a prolific letter-writer whose name often appeared in local newspapers. During the 1960s the outspoken Franklin even had his own occasional column in the St Helens Reporter. That was not mentioned in the paper's account of his dispute with West Park rugby club.
Mr Franklin was a lay preacher who was furious after seeing the club's grass being mowed on a Sunday. So he sent an anonymous postcard to the club's secretary complaining of the work being done on the Sabbath, with the added message: "The wages of sin is Death!"
Now revealing his identity to the Reporter, Franklin – who called himself "one of the older Puritans" – said he simply wanted to draw the club's attention to the scripture which condemned work on Sundays. But the club thought his criticism unfair on Frank Cheetham who gave up his spare time to cut the grass prior to attending Mass. If I had been the Reporter journalist covering the story, I would have asked Mr Franklin why being a lay preacher on a Sunday was not considered work!
Speedboats had been on Carr Mill Dam since 1930 and the noise they made had been the main criticism of their appearances on the water. But Wallace Wainwright, an official with St Helens Angling Association, described to the Reporter how a powerboat had recently cut a swan to pieces. "These people in their boats just don't care," declared Mr Wainwright of Hawes Avenue in Carr Mill. "It's about time these boats were cleared off the dam altogether, they are nothing but a nuisance. No wildlife will ever settle there while this lot are tearing about the place."
Mr Wainwright's ten-year-old son Ian had seen the swan's demise and his dad claimed to have witnesses who saw the driver make no attempt to avoid the bird. Wallace said he had reported the incident to the RSPCA who were investigating and claimed that two other swans had been killed and others injured in the past by speedboats.
"Believe it or not . . . prices are DOWN in St. Helens this week." So wrote the Reporter and with inflation in 1975 being 24%, any reduction was clearly welcome, albeit probably being very temporary. Pimblett's were praised for reducing their meat and potato pie prices from 12p to 11p and Pimmie's pasties were also down a halfpenny to 10p. The reductions were due to the price of potatoes having come down.
And Thatto Heath Labour Club in Elephant Lane had been selling a pint of bitter at the reduced price of 16p, with mild down to 15p and lager at 18p. However, their reductions were only for a fortnight and were a means of ploughing back their profits to members, something they did three times a year.
The Reporter also described how a well-known town centre newsagent, who had served factory workers for almost a quarter of a century, had died at the age of 59. James Griffiths of Hawes Avenue in Carr Mill had operated a newspaper kiosk outside Pilkington's Sheet Works in Canal Street for 24 years. (That's the third story this week that mentions Hawes Avenue.)
And finally, the ABC Savoy on the 31st replaced 'The Lady and the Tramp' with 'The Land That Time Forgot', starring Doug McClure. And the Capitol Cinema replaced 'Never Too Young To Rock' featuring Mud, the Glitter Band and the Rubettes with Mel Brooks' 'Blazing Saddles' and 'Confessions of a Window Cleaner'.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the radio station for St Helens Hospital, the damage done to a new Sutton sewer through acid corrosion, a call to end Thursday half-day closing and why women had taken over an old men's hut.
This week's many stories include the Carr Mill boy searching for conkers who fell 40 feet, the storm over a proposed social club for Town Hall staff, the lay preacher angry over grass being mowed on a Sunday, the swan cut to pieces on Carr Mill Dam and why Arab countries could be coming to Rockware's rescue.
The saga of some young Pilks' workers who briefly got stranded at the seaside made the front page of the Reporter on the 29th.
After winning a charity 'It's A Knock Out' contest for the third year in a row, the group had been celebrating in Blackpool.
But when they arrived at the prearranged meeting place to return home at 11:40 pm they found their coach had not turned up.
They waited for about an hour and then rang the lodgeman at Pilkington's works in Albert Street to see if some transport could be arranged.
But the night watchman thought the call was a practical joke and would not take them seriously.
Even when a Blackpool policeman got on the line, the lodgeman still thought he was being hoaxed.
But eventually the man was convinced and arranged for a cavalcade of seven taxis to bring the tired party home.
Stan Magowan, the managing director of Gavin Murrays, said: "We regret this incident. Apparently our driver was moved on by police three times and could not wait at the pre-arranged point."
But Mr Magowan said they were going to reimburse all the taxi fares, as they felt responsible for what had happened.
"Town Hall Club Storm" was the Reporter's front-page headline. The piece described the fury of the Rainford Rates Action Group chairman Len Scott upon hearing that the council was thinking of opening a social club for Town Hall staff.
That was because the Reporter had recently revealed that in next year's budget, the council was considering making drastic cuts in its services.
There can't be many firms today that still pay their workers their weekly wages in little buff envelopes with a piece of paper inserted stating the amount of pay and tax.
But, of course, in the 1970s that was standard practice and Town Hall staff had recently found an extra bit of paper stuffed inside their wage packet.
That was a questionnaire, which invited them to say what facilities a social club should provide.
The employees were even asked whether car parking at the new facility should be provided for 50, 100, 150 or 200 cars.
But Rates Action Group chairman Len Scott was not impressed with expenditure on a club at a time of austerity, telling the Reporter:
"I am astounded by the very fact that the local authority have been putting out these questionnaires in a time of economic crisis. It seems as though they're on a different planet from the rest of us. If this is going to be financed out of the rates there'll be hell to pay."
However, Councillor Len Williams downplayed the chances of the social club being built in the near future.
Rockware at Pocket Nook (pictured above) had, like many St Helens firms, been receiving reduced orders through the recession.
But this week the glass firm announced that they had launched a Middle East sales drive to win £500,000 worth of orders.
Christopher Squires, the company's Director of Sales, said: "Some orders are already in the bag and we hope to win additional orders during the next few months".
Rockware said their drive to sell soft drinks bottles to Arab countries had been launched when it was realised there were limits to what they could achieve in the UK in the present economic crisis.
Francis Pye of Hawes Avenue in Carr Mill was featured in the Reporter after the 12-year-old boy had fallen forty feet from a tree – and hardly received a scratch.
Francis had climbed up a horse chestnut tree at Carr Mill in search of conkers but, as he reached for one, the lad slipped and plunged to the ground.
"We couldn't believe how little he was hurt," said his mother Ursula.
"Someone called an ambulance, and when I saw them give him oxygen, I was terrified. He was in pain, but it was not as bad as we thought and there was nothing broken.
"A branch broke his fall, otherwise he would've been killed. It was very hard ground. The boy who was with Francis in the tree thought he was dead."
T. G. (Timothy) Franklin of Lugsmore Lane in St Helens was a prolific letter-writer whose name often appeared in local newspapers.
During the 1960s the outspoken Franklin even had his own occasional column in the St Helens Reporter.
That was not mentioned in the paper's account of his dispute with West Park rugby club.
Mr Franklin was a lay preacher who was furious after seeing the club's grass being mowed on a Sunday.
So he sent an anonymous postcard to the club's secretary complaining of the work being done on the Sabbath, with the added message: "The wages of sin is Death!"
Now revealing his identity to the Reporter, Franklin – who called himself "one of the older Puritans" – said he simply wanted to draw the club's attention to the scripture which condemned work on Sundays.
But the club thought his criticism unfair on Frank Cheetham who gave up his spare time to cut the grass prior to attending Mass.
If I had been the Reporter journalist covering the story, I would have asked Mr Franklin why being a lay preacher on a Sunday was not considered work!
Speedboats had been on Carr Mill Dam since 1930 and the noise they made had been the main criticism of their appearances on the water.
But Wallace Wainwright, an official with St Helens Angling Association, described to the Reporter how a powerboat had recently cut a swan to pieces.
"These people in their boats just don't care," declared Mr Wainwright of Hawes Avenue in Carr Mill.
"It's about time these boats were cleared off the dam altogether, they are nothing but a nuisance. No wildlife will ever settle there while this lot are tearing about the place."
Mr Wainwright's ten-year-old son Ian had seen the swan's demise and his dad claimed to have witnesses who saw the driver make no attempt to avoid the bird.
Wallace said he had reported the incident to the RSPCA who were investigating and claimed that two other swans had been killed and others injured in the past by speedboats.
"Believe it or not . . . prices are DOWN in St. Helens this week." So wrote the Reporter and with inflation in 1975 being 24%, any reduction was clearly welcome, albeit probably being very temporary.
Pimblett's were praised for reducing their meat and potato pie prices from 12p to 11p and Pimmie's pasties were also down a halfpenny to 10p. The reductions were due to the price of potatoes having come down.
And Thatto Heath Labour Club in Elephant Lane had been selling a pint of bitter at the reduced price of 16p, with mild down to 15p and lager at 18p.
However, their reductions were only for a fortnight and were a means of ploughing back their profits to members, something they did three times a year.
The Reporter also described how a well-known town centre newsagent, who had served factory workers for almost a quarter of a century, had died at the age of 59.
James Griffiths of Hawes Avenue in Carr Mill had operated a newspaper kiosk outside Pilkington's Sheet Works in Canal Street for 24 years. (That's the third story this week that mentions Hawes Avenue.)
And finally, the ABC Savoy on the 31st replaced 'The Lady and the Tramp' with 'The Land That Time Forgot', starring Doug McClure.
And the Capitol Cinema replaced 'Never Too Young To Rock' featuring Mud, the Glitter Band and the Rubettes with Mel Brooks' 'Blazing Saddles' and 'Confessions of a Window Cleaner'.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the radio station for St Helens Hospital, the damage done to a new Sutton sewer through acid corrosion, a call to end Thursday half-day closing and why women had taken over an old men's hut.
The saga of some young Pilks' workers who briefly got stranded at the seaside made the front page of the Reporter on the 29th.
After winning a charity 'It's A Knock Out' contest for the third year in a row, the group had been celebrating in Blackpool.
But when they arrived at the prearranged meeting place to return home at 11:40 pm they found their coach had not turned up.
They waited for about an hour and then rang the lodgeman at Pilkington's works in Albert Street to see if some transport could be arranged.
But the night watchman thought the call was a practical joke and would not take them seriously.
Even when a Blackpool policeman got on the line, the lodgeman still thought he was being hoaxed.
But eventually the man was convinced and arranged for a cavalcade of seven taxis to bring the tired party home.
Stan Magowan, the managing director of Gavin Murrays, said: "We regret this incident. Apparently our driver was moved on by police three times and could not wait at the pre-arranged point."
But Mr Magowan said they were going to reimburse all the taxi fares, as they felt responsible for what had happened.
"Town Hall Club Storm" was the Reporter's front-page headline. The piece described the fury of the Rainford Rates Action Group chairman Len Scott upon hearing that the council was thinking of opening a social club for Town Hall staff.
That was because the Reporter had recently revealed that in next year's budget, the council was considering making drastic cuts in its services.
There can't be many firms today that still pay their workers their weekly wages in little buff envelopes with a piece of paper inserted stating the amount of pay and tax.
But, of course, in the 1970s that was standard practice and Town Hall staff had recently found an extra bit of paper stuffed inside their wage packet.
That was a questionnaire, which invited them to say what facilities a social club should provide.
The employees were even asked whether car parking at the new facility should be provided for 50, 100, 150 or 200 cars.
But Rates Action Group chairman Len Scott was not impressed with expenditure on a club at a time of austerity, telling the Reporter:
"I am astounded by the very fact that the local authority have been putting out these questionnaires in a time of economic crisis. It seems as though they're on a different planet from the rest of us. If this is going to be financed out of the rates there'll be hell to pay."
However, Councillor Len Williams downplayed the chances of the social club being built in the near future.
But this week the glass firm announced that they had launched a Middle East sales drive to win £500,000 worth of orders.
Christopher Squires, the company's Director of Sales, said: "Some orders are already in the bag and we hope to win additional orders during the next few months".
Rockware said their drive to sell soft drinks bottles to Arab countries had been launched when it was realised there were limits to what they could achieve in the UK in the present economic crisis.
Francis Pye of Hawes Avenue in Carr Mill was featured in the Reporter after the 12-year-old boy had fallen forty feet from a tree – and hardly received a scratch.
Francis had climbed up a horse chestnut tree at Carr Mill in search of conkers but, as he reached for one, the lad slipped and plunged to the ground.
"We couldn't believe how little he was hurt," said his mother Ursula.
"Someone called an ambulance, and when I saw them give him oxygen, I was terrified. He was in pain, but it was not as bad as we thought and there was nothing broken.
"A branch broke his fall, otherwise he would've been killed. It was very hard ground. The boy who was with Francis in the tree thought he was dead."
T. G. (Timothy) Franklin of Lugsmore Lane in St Helens was a prolific letter-writer whose name often appeared in local newspapers.
During the 1960s the outspoken Franklin even had his own occasional column in the St Helens Reporter.
That was not mentioned in the paper's account of his dispute with West Park rugby club.
Mr Franklin was a lay preacher who was furious after seeing the club's grass being mowed on a Sunday.
So he sent an anonymous postcard to the club's secretary complaining of the work being done on the Sabbath, with the added message: "The wages of sin is Death!"
Now revealing his identity to the Reporter, Franklin – who called himself "one of the older Puritans" – said he simply wanted to draw the club's attention to the scripture which condemned work on Sundays.
But the club thought his criticism unfair on Frank Cheetham who gave up his spare time to cut the grass prior to attending Mass.
If I had been the Reporter journalist covering the story, I would have asked Mr Franklin why being a lay preacher on a Sunday was not considered work!
Speedboats had been on Carr Mill Dam since 1930 and the noise they made had been the main criticism of their appearances on the water.
But Wallace Wainwright, an official with St Helens Angling Association, described to the Reporter how a powerboat had recently cut a swan to pieces.
"These people in their boats just don't care," declared Mr Wainwright of Hawes Avenue in Carr Mill.
"It's about time these boats were cleared off the dam altogether, they are nothing but a nuisance. No wildlife will ever settle there while this lot are tearing about the place."
Mr Wainwright's ten-year-old son Ian had seen the swan's demise and his dad claimed to have witnesses who saw the driver make no attempt to avoid the bird.
Wallace said he had reported the incident to the RSPCA who were investigating and claimed that two other swans had been killed and others injured in the past by speedboats.
"Believe it or not . . . prices are DOWN in St. Helens this week." So wrote the Reporter and with inflation in 1975 being 24%, any reduction was clearly welcome, albeit probably being very temporary.
Pimblett's were praised for reducing their meat and potato pie prices from 12p to 11p and Pimmie's pasties were also down a halfpenny to 10p. The reductions were due to the price of potatoes having come down.
And Thatto Heath Labour Club in Elephant Lane had been selling a pint of bitter at the reduced price of 16p, with mild down to 15p and lager at 18p.
However, their reductions were only for a fortnight and were a means of ploughing back their profits to members, something they did three times a year.
The Reporter also described how a well-known town centre newsagent, who had served factory workers for almost a quarter of a century, had died at the age of 59.
James Griffiths of Hawes Avenue in Carr Mill had operated a newspaper kiosk outside Pilkington's Sheet Works in Canal Street for 24 years. (That's the third story this week that mentions Hawes Avenue.)
And finally, the ABC Savoy on the 31st replaced 'The Lady and the Tramp' with 'The Land That Time Forgot', starring Doug McClure.
And the Capitol Cinema replaced 'Never Too Young To Rock' featuring Mud, the Glitter Band and the Rubettes with Mel Brooks' 'Blazing Saddles' and 'Confessions of a Window Cleaner'.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the radio station for St Helens Hospital, the damage done to a new Sutton sewer through acid corrosion, a call to end Thursday half-day closing and why women had taken over an old men's hut.