FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 26 MAY - 1 JUNE 1975
This week's many stories include the call for a doctor to be based on the Beth Avenue estate, a Clock Face girl is hurt at a Bay City Rollers concert, Saints criticise a lack of support by townsfolk, the dangerous Cumber Lane bridge in Whiston, the highlights of the 1975 St Helens Show are announced, Sidac claim they might have to quit St Helens if Leathers is closed and the Wombles Colouring Competition that had yo-yos as prizes.
There was another dimension to the long-running Leathers Chemicals saga this week with British Sidac suggesting that if Leathers was closed they might shut down their own plant in St Helens with the loss of 1,200 jobs. In a nutshell the present situation was that St Helens Council had issued a closure order against Leathers after many complaints of pollution. The sulphuric acid manufacturer had appealed to the government and they were soon expected to announce a public enquiry.
But Sidac were neighbours of Leathers in Lancots Lane and the latter were a key supplier to the cellulose wrappings company, as Dr George Britton of the firm explained: "We take 25,000 tons of acid from Leathers every year. There are very few alternative sources of supply on a long-term contractual basis. We are not trying to blackmail the council or the town. We are simply stating our own position logically."
However, Bill Paton, the chairman of St Helens Planning Committee, pointed out to the St Helens Reporter that Sidac had functioned satisfactorily for several decades before Leathers arrived in St Helens in 1969.
The mid-‘70s were, of course, the peak period for Bay City Roller hysteria and on the front page of the Reporter there was a call for such groups to be banned from playing in theatres. That was after Carolyn Appleton from Bushells Drive in Clock Face had been knocked unconscious in what the paper called a "tidal wave of Rollermania". The 15-year-old had been watching the group at a theatre in Southport when other youngsters scrambled over seats to try and reach the group.
Carolyn was knocked unconscious in the stampede and had to be taken to hospital suffering from concussion. She told the Reporter: "I was sitting in my seat, five rows from the stage, when children from the back surged forward over the seats. They knocked me over, and I banged my head." Carolyn's mother wanted pop concerts banned from theatres and felt the managers of such groups should be blamed for all the hysteria, saying:
"They build it all up and the girls don’t know what they're doing." However, a parental battle with her teenage child was looming after Mrs Appleton declared to the Reporter, "We won't let her go again." But Carolyn said she wanted to watch another Rollers concert, explaining: "I don't think it would happen twice, and I feel fine now."
The Reporter also described how angry residents had crowded into a meeting of the St Helens Community Health Council to press for a resident doctor to be based on the controversial Beth Avenue estate in Sutton. It was stated that its 3,500 residents needed to travel two miles to the nearest doctor or chemist.
However, a spokesman for the Family Practitioners Committee, who appointed doctors, said negotiations were taking place to set up a surgery at Beth Avenue but they had been having problems finding suitable premises.
Here's a question. How much did a pint of beer cost in St Helens in 1975? While you are reflecting on that poser, this is the Reporter's introduction to an article on the subject: "The sobering prospect of paying more for a pint of Greenall Whitley bitter, mild and pale ales will face thousands of St. Helens beer drinkers on Monday. The shock news comes just over a month after the 2p Budget increase and the extra 1p to 2p added by pub tenants in an effort to beat spiralling costs. It means that some beers have gone up by five pence a pint since Christmas."
The answer to my question was given by a Greenall's spokesman who said that the firm expected a pint of bitter to now cost 20p to 21p in public bars throughout St Helens with Guinness costing 26 to 27p. The brewery that intended to leave St Helens at the end of the year had also applied to the Government's Price Commission for permission to make a small further increase in the summer.
In 1970 the Reporter had launched their new column for kids, which dispensed with the usual uncle or auntie handle and targeted youngsters aged from 4 to 11. It was called 'The Snoopy Club' but had nothing to do with the pet beagle of Charlie Brown – instead Snoopy was a glove puppet penguin who could type! Probably Snoopy's finest moment was interviewing Bill Shankly, with the Liverpool football manager persuaded to stick his own paws up the puppet for a photo opportunity!
In this week's column there were two blasts from the past in the form of the Wombles and yo-yos. Snoopy wrote: "Hello Children: I hope you have all got your crayons and pencils ready, for here is the Wombles Colouring Competition I promised you last week. There are 18 Yo-Yos to be won – colourful, crazy Yo-Yos, that will give you hours and hours of fun." In my case it was always hours of frustration, as I could never get the pesky things to work properly!
Saints secretary Geoff Sutcliffe was complaining in the Reporter of a lack of support by townsfolk, saying: "We were running away with the League and playing some really attractive and spectacular football, but we were let down by the St. Helens people." Despite convincingly winning the Rugby League Championship, the average gate for the 1974 to ‘75 season had dropped by 347 to 5,247.
There was a picture in the Reporter of "pretty Barbara Drought" from Swan Avenue in Parr who this week had been selected as Miss Bold Colliery. Next month Barbara would represent the mine in the Lancashire Coal Queen Finals.
The Reporter also described how angry mothers pushing prams and holding babies in their arms had lined Cumber Lane bridge in Whiston to meet councillors and protest against safety conditions. They were demanding the immediate construction of a footpath alongside the bridge so that people could cross the road safely.
And after a fifteen-minute discussion with residents and a tour of the area, the councillors decided that Cumber Lane was indeed a priority area and agreed that traffic lights and a footpath were necessary. At present the Cumber Lane bridge was used by pedestrians and heavy traffic alike. There was no pavement and people were forced to walk in the road.
"This bridge is a death-trap," declared Hugh Jones of Selborne in Whiston. "We want something done now before someone is killed. We have been campaigning for some kind of safety measures for more than two years. Officials seem to pass the buck from one to another. It's high time something was done." And Hugh Carr, chairman of the County Highways and Tunnels Committee, promised the protesters that something would be done, with work, hopefully, starting within the next three months.
Guess what? The 1975 St Helens Show was going to be the "biggest and best" ever! I think they used that line every single year when the organisers of the Sherdley Park extravaganza announced their list of attractions. After criticism by Labour councillors of what was described as a "military takeover" of last year's show, only the Red Devils parachute team would be in action this time.
Other attractions would include the Dick Sheppard car stunt team; the Death Riders motorcycle team and a Wild West Show. And the Sherdley Park golf driving range was going to be taken over by the Tyldesley Model Flying Club who would present a Battle of Britain display using scale models of Spitfires and Messerschmitts in addition to World War I aircraft.
The Echo on the 29th reported that some St Helens binmen were refusing to pick up garden rubbish along with their normal collection of domestic refuse. The St Helens Director of Technical Services, Kenneth Perks, said the men claimed their incentive bonus was not sufficient to compensate them for all the garden refuse that they had to collect and they were demanding a flat £5 a week rise for each man.
During the summer of 1973 a three-week long football management course organised by the Professional Footballers Association was held at St Helens College of Technology's hall of residence at the Meads in Portico Lane. Bobby Charlton had attended, along with Ron Yeats and Ian St John, both formerly of Liverpool, and the managers tutoring the students included Don Revie and Jimmy Armfield.
On the 30th the Liverpool Echo reported that a one-day refresher course was being held at the Meads next week. The aforementioned Bill Shankly had agreed to give a talk and Terry Venables and Tony Book would also be in attendance.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the neighbourly row in Islands Brow, the contest for green-fingered council tenants, the vandalism at the Park Road greyhound course and the big bang on Carr Mill Dam that was like an underwater atomic explosion.
But Sidac were neighbours of Leathers in Lancots Lane and the latter were a key supplier to the cellulose wrappings company, as Dr George Britton of the firm explained: "We take 25,000 tons of acid from Leathers every year. There are very few alternative sources of supply on a long-term contractual basis. We are not trying to blackmail the council or the town. We are simply stating our own position logically."
However, Bill Paton, the chairman of St Helens Planning Committee, pointed out to the St Helens Reporter that Sidac had functioned satisfactorily for several decades before Leathers arrived in St Helens in 1969.
The mid-‘70s were, of course, the peak period for Bay City Roller hysteria and on the front page of the Reporter there was a call for such groups to be banned from playing in theatres. That was after Carolyn Appleton from Bushells Drive in Clock Face had been knocked unconscious in what the paper called a "tidal wave of Rollermania". The 15-year-old had been watching the group at a theatre in Southport when other youngsters scrambled over seats to try and reach the group.
Carolyn was knocked unconscious in the stampede and had to be taken to hospital suffering from concussion. She told the Reporter: "I was sitting in my seat, five rows from the stage, when children from the back surged forward over the seats. They knocked me over, and I banged my head." Carolyn's mother wanted pop concerts banned from theatres and felt the managers of such groups should be blamed for all the hysteria, saying:
"They build it all up and the girls don’t know what they're doing." However, a parental battle with her teenage child was looming after Mrs Appleton declared to the Reporter, "We won't let her go again." But Carolyn said she wanted to watch another Rollers concert, explaining: "I don't think it would happen twice, and I feel fine now."
The Reporter also described how angry residents had crowded into a meeting of the St Helens Community Health Council to press for a resident doctor to be based on the controversial Beth Avenue estate in Sutton. It was stated that its 3,500 residents needed to travel two miles to the nearest doctor or chemist.
However, a spokesman for the Family Practitioners Committee, who appointed doctors, said negotiations were taking place to set up a surgery at Beth Avenue but they had been having problems finding suitable premises.
Here's a question. How much did a pint of beer cost in St Helens in 1975? While you are reflecting on that poser, this is the Reporter's introduction to an article on the subject: "The sobering prospect of paying more for a pint of Greenall Whitley bitter, mild and pale ales will face thousands of St. Helens beer drinkers on Monday. The shock news comes just over a month after the 2p Budget increase and the extra 1p to 2p added by pub tenants in an effort to beat spiralling costs. It means that some beers have gone up by five pence a pint since Christmas."
The answer to my question was given by a Greenall's spokesman who said that the firm expected a pint of bitter to now cost 20p to 21p in public bars throughout St Helens with Guinness costing 26 to 27p. The brewery that intended to leave St Helens at the end of the year had also applied to the Government's Price Commission for permission to make a small further increase in the summer.
In this week's column there were two blasts from the past in the form of the Wombles and yo-yos. Snoopy wrote: "Hello Children: I hope you have all got your crayons and pencils ready, for here is the Wombles Colouring Competition I promised you last week. There are 18 Yo-Yos to be won – colourful, crazy Yo-Yos, that will give you hours and hours of fun." In my case it was always hours of frustration, as I could never get the pesky things to work properly!
Saints secretary Geoff Sutcliffe was complaining in the Reporter of a lack of support by townsfolk, saying: "We were running away with the League and playing some really attractive and spectacular football, but we were let down by the St. Helens people." Despite convincingly winning the Rugby League Championship, the average gate for the 1974 to ‘75 season had dropped by 347 to 5,247.
There was a picture in the Reporter of "pretty Barbara Drought" from Swan Avenue in Parr who this week had been selected as Miss Bold Colliery. Next month Barbara would represent the mine in the Lancashire Coal Queen Finals.
The Reporter also described how angry mothers pushing prams and holding babies in their arms had lined Cumber Lane bridge in Whiston to meet councillors and protest against safety conditions. They were demanding the immediate construction of a footpath alongside the bridge so that people could cross the road safely.
And after a fifteen-minute discussion with residents and a tour of the area, the councillors decided that Cumber Lane was indeed a priority area and agreed that traffic lights and a footpath were necessary. At present the Cumber Lane bridge was used by pedestrians and heavy traffic alike. There was no pavement and people were forced to walk in the road.
"This bridge is a death-trap," declared Hugh Jones of Selborne in Whiston. "We want something done now before someone is killed. We have been campaigning for some kind of safety measures for more than two years. Officials seem to pass the buck from one to another. It's high time something was done." And Hugh Carr, chairman of the County Highways and Tunnels Committee, promised the protesters that something would be done, with work, hopefully, starting within the next three months.
Guess what? The 1975 St Helens Show was going to be the "biggest and best" ever! I think they used that line every single year when the organisers of the Sherdley Park extravaganza announced their list of attractions. After criticism by Labour councillors of what was described as a "military takeover" of last year's show, only the Red Devils parachute team would be in action this time.
Other attractions would include the Dick Sheppard car stunt team; the Death Riders motorcycle team and a Wild West Show. And the Sherdley Park golf driving range was going to be taken over by the Tyldesley Model Flying Club who would present a Battle of Britain display using scale models of Spitfires and Messerschmitts in addition to World War I aircraft.
The Echo on the 29th reported that some St Helens binmen were refusing to pick up garden rubbish along with their normal collection of domestic refuse. The St Helens Director of Technical Services, Kenneth Perks, said the men claimed their incentive bonus was not sufficient to compensate them for all the garden refuse that they had to collect and they were demanding a flat £5 a week rise for each man.
During the summer of 1973 a three-week long football management course organised by the Professional Footballers Association was held at St Helens College of Technology's hall of residence at the Meads in Portico Lane. Bobby Charlton had attended, along with Ron Yeats and Ian St John, both formerly of Liverpool, and the managers tutoring the students included Don Revie and Jimmy Armfield.
On the 30th the Liverpool Echo reported that a one-day refresher course was being held at the Meads next week. The aforementioned Bill Shankly had agreed to give a talk and Terry Venables and Tony Book would also be in attendance.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the neighbourly row in Islands Brow, the contest for green-fingered council tenants, the vandalism at the Park Road greyhound course and the big bang on Carr Mill Dam that was like an underwater atomic explosion.
This week's many stories include the call for a doctor to be based on the Beth Avenue estate, a Clock Face girl is hurt at a Bay City Rollers concert, Saints criticise a lack of support by townsfolk, the dangerous Cumber Lane bridge in Whiston, the highlights of the 1975 St Helens Show are announced, Sidac claim they might have to quit St Helens if Leathers is closed and the Wombles Colouring Competition that had yo-yos as prizes.
There was another dimension to the long-running Leathers Chemicals saga this week with British Sidac suggesting that if Leathers was closed they might shut down their own plant in St Helens with the loss of 1,200 jobs.
In a nutshell the present situation was that St Helens Council had issued a closure order against Leathers after many complaints of pollution.
The sulphuric acid manufacturer had appealed to the government and they were soon expected to announce a public enquiry.
But Sidac were neighbours of Leathers in Lancots Lane and the latter were a key supplier to the cellulose wrappings company, as Dr George Britton of the firm explained:
"We take 25,000 tons of acid from Leathers every year. There are very few alternative sources of supply on a long-term contractual basis. We are not trying to blackmail the council or the town. We are simply stating our own position logically."
However, Bill Paton, the chairman of St Helens Planning Committee, pointed out to the St Helens Reporter that Sidac had functioned satisfactorily for several decades before Leathers arrived in St Helens in 1969.
The mid-‘70s were, of course, the peak period for Bay City Roller hysteria and on the front page of the Reporter there was a call for such groups to be banned from playing in theatres.
That was after Carolyn Appleton from Bushells Drive in Clock Face had been knocked unconscious in what the paper called a "tidal wave of Rollermania".
The 15-year-old had been watching the group at a theatre in Southport when other youngsters scrambled over seats to try and reach the group.
Carolyn was knocked unconscious in the stampede and had to be taken to hospital suffering from concussion. She told the Reporter:
"I was sitting in my seat, five rows from the stage, when children from the back surged forward over the seats. They knocked me over, and I banged my head."
Carolyn's mother wanted pop concerts banned from theatres and felt the managers of such groups should be blamed for all the hysteria, saying: "They build it all up and the girls don’t know what they're doing."
However, a parental battle with her teenage child was looming after Mrs Appleton declared to the Reporter, "We won't let her go again."
But Carolyn said she wanted to watch another Rollers concert, explaining: "I don't think it would happen twice, and I feel fine now."
The Reporter also described how angry residents had crowded into a meeting of the St Helens Community Health Council to press for a resident doctor to be based on the controversial Beth Avenue estate in Sutton.
It was stated that its 3,500 residents needed to travel two miles to the nearest doctor or chemist.
However, a spokesman for the Family Practitioners Committee, who appointed doctors, said negotiations were taking place to set up a surgery at Beth Avenue but they had been having problems finding suitable premises.
Here's a question. How much did a pint of beer cost in St Helens in 1975?
While you are reflecting on that poser, this is the Reporter's introduction to an article on the subject:
"The sobering prospect of paying more for a pint of Greenall Whitley bitter, mild and pale ales will face thousands of St. Helens beer drinkers on Monday.
"The shock news comes just over a month after the 2p Budget increase and the extra 1p to 2p added by pub tenants in an effort to beat spiralling costs. It means that some beers have gone up by five pence a pint since Christmas."
The answer to my question was given by a Greenall's spokesman who said that the firm expected a pint of bitter to now cost 20p to 21p in public bars throughout St Helens with Guinness costing 26 to 27p.
The brewery that intended to leave St Helens at the end of the year had also applied to the Government's Price Commission for permission to make a small further increase in the summer.
In 1970 the Reporter had launched their new column for kids, which dispensed with the usual uncle or auntie handle and targeted youngsters aged from 4 to 11.
It was called 'The Snoopy Club' but had nothing to do with the pet beagle of Charlie Brown – instead Snoopy was a glove puppet penguin who could type!
Probably Snoopy's finest moment was interviewing Bill Shankly, with the Liverpool football manager persuaded to stick his own paws up the puppet for a photo opportunity!
In this week's column there were two blasts from the past in the form of the Wombles and yo-yos. Snoopy wrote:
"Hello Children: I hope you have all got your crayons and pencils ready, for here is the Wombles Colouring Competition I promised you last week.
"There are 18 Yo-Yos to be won – colourful, crazy Yo-Yos, that will give you hours and hours of fun."
In my case it was always hours of frustration, as I could never get the pesky things to work properly!
Saints secretary Geoff Sutcliffe was complaining in the Reporter of a lack of support by townsfolk, saying:
"We were running away with the League and playing some really attractive and spectacular football, but we were let down by the St. Helens people."
Despite convincingly winning the Rugby League Championship, the average gate for the 1974 to ‘75 season had dropped by 347 to 5,247.
There was a picture in the Reporter of "pretty Barbara Drought" from Swan Avenue in Parr who this week had been selected as Miss Bold Colliery.
Next month Barbara would represent the mine in the Lancashire Coal Queen Finals.
The Reporter also described how angry mothers pushing prams and holding babies in their arms had lined Cumber Lane bridge in Whiston to meet councillors and protest against safety conditions.
They were demanding the immediate construction of a footpath alongside the bridge so that people could cross the road safely.
And after a fifteen-minute discussion with residents and a tour of the area, the councillors decided that Cumber Lane was indeed a priority area and agreed that traffic lights and a footpath were necessary.
At present the Cumber Lane bridge was used by pedestrians and heavy traffic alike. There was no pavement and people were forced to walk in the road.
"This bridge is a death-trap," declared Hugh Jones of Selborne in Whiston. "We want something done now before someone is killed.
"We have been campaigning for some kind of safety measures for more than two years. Officials seem to pass the buck from one to another. It's high time something was done."
And Hugh Carr, chairman of the County Highways and Tunnels Committee, promised the protesters that something would be done, with work, hopefully, starting within the next three months.
Guess what? The 1975 St Helens Show was going to be the "biggest and best" ever!
I think they used that line every single year when the organisers of the Sherdley Park extravaganza announced their list of attractions.
After criticism by Labour councillors of what was described as a "military takeover" of last year's show, only the Red Devils parachute team would be in action this time.
Other attractions would include the Dick Sheppard car stunt team; the Death Riders motorcycle team and a Wild West Show.
And the Sherdley Park golf driving range was going to be taken over by the Tyldesley Model Flying Club who would present a Battle of Britain display using scale models of Spitfires and Messerschmitts in addition to World War I aircraft.
The Echo on the 29th reported that some St Helens binmen were refusing to pick up garden rubbish along with their normal collection of domestic refuse.
The St Helens Director of Technical Services, Kenneth Perks, said the men claimed their incentive bonus was not sufficient to compensate them for all the garden refuse that they had to collect and they were demanding a flat £5 a week rise for each man.
During the summer of 1973 a three-week long football management course organised by the Professional Footballers Association was held at St Helens College of Technology's hall of residence at the Meads in Portico Lane.
Bobby Charlton had attended, along with Ron Yeats and Ian St John, both formerly of Liverpool, and the managers tutoring the students included Don Revie and Jimmy Armfield.
On the 30th the Liverpool Echo reported that a one-day refresher course was being held at the Meads next week.
The aforementioned Bill Shankly had agreed to give a talk and Terry Venables and Tony Book would also be in attendance.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the neighbourly row in Islands Brow, the contest for green-fingered council tenants, the vandalism at the Park Road greyhound course and the big bang on Carr Mill Dam that was like an underwater atomic explosion.
In a nutshell the present situation was that St Helens Council had issued a closure order against Leathers after many complaints of pollution.
The sulphuric acid manufacturer had appealed to the government and they were soon expected to announce a public enquiry.
But Sidac were neighbours of Leathers in Lancots Lane and the latter were a key supplier to the cellulose wrappings company, as Dr George Britton of the firm explained:
"We take 25,000 tons of acid from Leathers every year. There are very few alternative sources of supply on a long-term contractual basis. We are not trying to blackmail the council or the town. We are simply stating our own position logically."
However, Bill Paton, the chairman of St Helens Planning Committee, pointed out to the St Helens Reporter that Sidac had functioned satisfactorily for several decades before Leathers arrived in St Helens in 1969.
The mid-‘70s were, of course, the peak period for Bay City Roller hysteria and on the front page of the Reporter there was a call for such groups to be banned from playing in theatres.
That was after Carolyn Appleton from Bushells Drive in Clock Face had been knocked unconscious in what the paper called a "tidal wave of Rollermania".
The 15-year-old had been watching the group at a theatre in Southport when other youngsters scrambled over seats to try and reach the group.
Carolyn was knocked unconscious in the stampede and had to be taken to hospital suffering from concussion. She told the Reporter:
"I was sitting in my seat, five rows from the stage, when children from the back surged forward over the seats. They knocked me over, and I banged my head."
Carolyn's mother wanted pop concerts banned from theatres and felt the managers of such groups should be blamed for all the hysteria, saying: "They build it all up and the girls don’t know what they're doing."
However, a parental battle with her teenage child was looming after Mrs Appleton declared to the Reporter, "We won't let her go again."
But Carolyn said she wanted to watch another Rollers concert, explaining: "I don't think it would happen twice, and I feel fine now."
The Reporter also described how angry residents had crowded into a meeting of the St Helens Community Health Council to press for a resident doctor to be based on the controversial Beth Avenue estate in Sutton.
It was stated that its 3,500 residents needed to travel two miles to the nearest doctor or chemist.
However, a spokesman for the Family Practitioners Committee, who appointed doctors, said negotiations were taking place to set up a surgery at Beth Avenue but they had been having problems finding suitable premises.
Here's a question. How much did a pint of beer cost in St Helens in 1975?
While you are reflecting on that poser, this is the Reporter's introduction to an article on the subject:
"The sobering prospect of paying more for a pint of Greenall Whitley bitter, mild and pale ales will face thousands of St. Helens beer drinkers on Monday.
"The shock news comes just over a month after the 2p Budget increase and the extra 1p to 2p added by pub tenants in an effort to beat spiralling costs. It means that some beers have gone up by five pence a pint since Christmas."
The answer to my question was given by a Greenall's spokesman who said that the firm expected a pint of bitter to now cost 20p to 21p in public bars throughout St Helens with Guinness costing 26 to 27p.
The brewery that intended to leave St Helens at the end of the year had also applied to the Government's Price Commission for permission to make a small further increase in the summer.
It was called 'The Snoopy Club' but had nothing to do with the pet beagle of Charlie Brown – instead Snoopy was a glove puppet penguin who could type!
Probably Snoopy's finest moment was interviewing Bill Shankly, with the Liverpool football manager persuaded to stick his own paws up the puppet for a photo opportunity!
In this week's column there were two blasts from the past in the form of the Wombles and yo-yos. Snoopy wrote:
"Hello Children: I hope you have all got your crayons and pencils ready, for here is the Wombles Colouring Competition I promised you last week.
"There are 18 Yo-Yos to be won – colourful, crazy Yo-Yos, that will give you hours and hours of fun."
In my case it was always hours of frustration, as I could never get the pesky things to work properly!
Saints secretary Geoff Sutcliffe was complaining in the Reporter of a lack of support by townsfolk, saying:
"We were running away with the League and playing some really attractive and spectacular football, but we were let down by the St. Helens people."
Despite convincingly winning the Rugby League Championship, the average gate for the 1974 to ‘75 season had dropped by 347 to 5,247.
There was a picture in the Reporter of "pretty Barbara Drought" from Swan Avenue in Parr who this week had been selected as Miss Bold Colliery.
Next month Barbara would represent the mine in the Lancashire Coal Queen Finals.
The Reporter also described how angry mothers pushing prams and holding babies in their arms had lined Cumber Lane bridge in Whiston to meet councillors and protest against safety conditions.
They were demanding the immediate construction of a footpath alongside the bridge so that people could cross the road safely.
And after a fifteen-minute discussion with residents and a tour of the area, the councillors decided that Cumber Lane was indeed a priority area and agreed that traffic lights and a footpath were necessary.
At present the Cumber Lane bridge was used by pedestrians and heavy traffic alike. There was no pavement and people were forced to walk in the road.
"This bridge is a death-trap," declared Hugh Jones of Selborne in Whiston. "We want something done now before someone is killed.
"We have been campaigning for some kind of safety measures for more than two years. Officials seem to pass the buck from one to another. It's high time something was done."
And Hugh Carr, chairman of the County Highways and Tunnels Committee, promised the protesters that something would be done, with work, hopefully, starting within the next three months.
Guess what? The 1975 St Helens Show was going to be the "biggest and best" ever!
I think they used that line every single year when the organisers of the Sherdley Park extravaganza announced their list of attractions.
After criticism by Labour councillors of what was described as a "military takeover" of last year's show, only the Red Devils parachute team would be in action this time.
Other attractions would include the Dick Sheppard car stunt team; the Death Riders motorcycle team and a Wild West Show.
And the Sherdley Park golf driving range was going to be taken over by the Tyldesley Model Flying Club who would present a Battle of Britain display using scale models of Spitfires and Messerschmitts in addition to World War I aircraft.
The Echo on the 29th reported that some St Helens binmen were refusing to pick up garden rubbish along with their normal collection of domestic refuse.
The St Helens Director of Technical Services, Kenneth Perks, said the men claimed their incentive bonus was not sufficient to compensate them for all the garden refuse that they had to collect and they were demanding a flat £5 a week rise for each man.
During the summer of 1973 a three-week long football management course organised by the Professional Footballers Association was held at St Helens College of Technology's hall of residence at the Meads in Portico Lane.
Bobby Charlton had attended, along with Ron Yeats and Ian St John, both formerly of Liverpool, and the managers tutoring the students included Don Revie and Jimmy Armfield.
On the 30th the Liverpool Echo reported that a one-day refresher course was being held at the Meads next week.
The aforementioned Bill Shankly had agreed to give a talk and Terry Venables and Tony Book would also be in attendance.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the neighbourly row in Islands Brow, the contest for green-fingered council tenants, the vandalism at the Park Road greyhound course and the big bang on Carr Mill Dam that was like an underwater atomic explosion.