FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 26 OCT - 1 NOV 1976
This week's many stories include the campaign against plans to add fluoride to the water supply, the planned extension to the Hotties safety patrol, a claim of insufficient hospital beds for elderly patients, the successful Trident placement scheme, the opponents to the creation of Scott Clinic suffer a blow and the Sutton parrot called Bimbo that had a heart of gold.
The decision to create a £2 million high security unit in the grounds of Rainhill Hospital, that would eventually be called Scott Clinic, was highly controversial. Members of the NUPE union were refusing to staff the unit, claiming the patients would be a danger to their members and to the local community.
NUPE were actively campaigning against its creation, despite a small, interim ward for such patients having already been opened in the hospital itself. But on the 26th they and other protesters suffered a blow when at their monthly meeting, the St Helens and Knowsley Community Health Council decided to support the controversial unit.
On the 27th what was described as a Mannequin Parade took place in Rainford Village Hall. The advert for the event said: "See what the smart woman will wear for Autumn". Tickets cost 40p, including refreshments, with proceeds in aid of Rainford Senior Citizens.
In the House of Commons this week, the St Helens MP, Leslie Spriggs, called for a government inquiry into what he described as a "dangerously low" allocation of nurses in the town. Spriggs said both the Area Health Authority and trade unions had reported an insufficient number of nurses, which could potentially be dangerous.
A 30-year-old Sutton parrot called Bimbo was profiled in the St Helens Reporter on the 29th: "He wolf whistles at passing girls, drinks cider and comes out with some shocking language – but he has a heart of gold."
That was because Bimbo and his parrot pal Fred were collecting money for a Christmas treat for Sutton pensioners. Both birds resided at the Sutton Corn Stores in Junction Lane and they supervised donations made to the Sutton Over 60s Club in the collecting boxes that were kept inside the shop.
Andrews Industrial Equipment of Haydock told the Reporter that they had received an unusual order from a Nigerian tribal chief. They had been commissioned to supply an electrical generator 10 times the size of one needed to power an average home. Company managing director Donald Turner said: "We have had to deal with some unusual orders in our time, but this one takes the biscuit. The chief must live in a mansion with a colour television in every room."
In September members of the St Helens and Knowsley Area Health Authority (AHA) had made the controversial decision to add fluoride to the water supply. Local dentists had been calling for fluoridation for years to reduce tooth decay in children but there were concerns over health risks.
The St Helens Reporter at the time had condemned the committee's decision, writing: "The decision to fluoridate the drinking water of St. Helens is ludicrous. It could be fatal. At best, fluoride is claimed to reduce or delay the onset of dental caries (tooth decay). At worst it can give people cancer." Cllr Len Williams, the leader of St Helens Council, was another opponent of what he called "enforced medication".
This week the Reporter described how opposition to fluoridation was growing and the council's Policy and Resources Committee had voted to send a delegation to meet Knowsley Council who were also opposing the scheme to discuss ways of jointly fighting the decision. The local Community Health Council had called for a referendum on the issue and the Town Clerk, Brian Lace, told the Policy and Resources Committee that a public vote would cost about £18,000.
However, even if the result was against adding fluoride, he said it was doubtful if the AHA decision could be reversed. Cllr Len Williams told the committee members that they were in a "shocking situation", as the deputation move was approved.
The Reporter said the Policy and Resources Committee had also decided to run their Hotties safety patrols over the Christmas holidays. They had started several years ago with the purpose of preventing children from swimming in the canal water that was warmed by effluent from Pilkingtons (pictured above).
However, the patrols only operated during the summer holidays. But after the death of a 9-year-old girl in the Hotties just prior to the summer patrols starting, the committee decided to extend them to safeguard kids who might be tempted to play in the water over Christmas.
In November 1975 a pioneering work placement scheme called Trident had begun in St Helens. The intention was to give schoolchildren their first taste of working life before returning to their desks. And this week in the Reporter, David Young, Trident's project co-ordinator, described how the voluntary scheme was proving very popular with both employers and the youngsters involved:
"The schoolchildren are really taking to Trident. They are very keen on the idea. The scheme is going really well. We have given more than 250 youngsters the chance of working experience during the last year. Currently there are 50 schoolchildren out working. And they are so keen that they stayed in their employment this week even though it was the school holidays."
The unpaid workers, who were mainly aged 15, were employed in garages, factories, canteens, hotels and offices. Julie Andrews and Lesley Hunking from St Cuthbert's High School were employed in the canteen at Pilks' Sheet Works. Julie told the Reporter: "We're really having a great time here. We don't really want to go back to school." And Eddie Walker who was employed in Pilks' timber yard said: "I have really enjoyed myself here. It's far better than school."
We hear a lot these days about shortages of beds in hospitals with patients kept for some time in corridors on trolleys. But there is nothing new in that. This week a geriatric consultant told the Reporter that he was resigning his position because elderly patients were dying before they reached hospital because of insufficient beds for them.
Dr Baidya Nayak was the consultant physician in geriatric medicine for St Helens and Knowsley and revealed that he was refusing to take responsibility for a service that he considered grossly deficient. He said: "I am frightened that if anything serious did happen because of inadequate facilities and service, I would be held responsible."
Harry Winstanley complained to the Reporter how Pilkingtons had bulldozed his allotment in Crossley Road that he had tended for 64 years. The 78-year-old from Elm Road claimed that the firm had not given him any warning that his allotment was to be destroyed.
"I went down to the garden and saw the bulldozer on my plot. I ran over and asked them to leave my greenhouse until I got my equipment out. They gave me an hour to get permission, so I rushed up to Pilkington and got a note giving me permission to move my things out before demolition. But when I got back everything was gone. The greenhouse was flattened and there were no plants left."
A spokesman for Pilks explained why they had decided to remove the allotments: "The local authority and ourselves have had numerous complaints about rats in the area, so we decided to clear it. We served notice on all legitimate tenants, but there was no record of a legitimate tenant on that particular plot."
On the 30th the Francoise discotheque in Waterloo Street held a Halloween Party hosted by "Ghostly Dave Sherlock and Creepy Rick Van Dyke". Their advert also promised "free admission to all ghosts, ghouls, witches and spooks", although those not of a supernatural nature needed to pay £1.25.
And on the 31st the Market Hotel held a Halloween Disco hosted by DJ Jimmy James. Describing themselves as "Greenall Whitley's New Potato Pub", the Bridge Street hotel wrote in their advert: "Come and try our fabulous hot potato menu".
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the earthquake that struck St Helens, Leathers' appeal against closure is upheld, the car parking at St Helens Hospital that was causing chaos and Whelans defend placing sweets at supermarket checkouts.
The decision to create a £2 million high security unit in the grounds of Rainhill Hospital, that would eventually be called Scott Clinic, was highly controversial. Members of the NUPE union were refusing to staff the unit, claiming the patients would be a danger to their members and to the local community.
NUPE were actively campaigning against its creation, despite a small, interim ward for such patients having already been opened in the hospital itself. But on the 26th they and other protesters suffered a blow when at their monthly meeting, the St Helens and Knowsley Community Health Council decided to support the controversial unit.
On the 27th what was described as a Mannequin Parade took place in Rainford Village Hall. The advert for the event said: "See what the smart woman will wear for Autumn". Tickets cost 40p, including refreshments, with proceeds in aid of Rainford Senior Citizens.
In the House of Commons this week, the St Helens MP, Leslie Spriggs, called for a government inquiry into what he described as a "dangerously low" allocation of nurses in the town. Spriggs said both the Area Health Authority and trade unions had reported an insufficient number of nurses, which could potentially be dangerous.
A 30-year-old Sutton parrot called Bimbo was profiled in the St Helens Reporter on the 29th: "He wolf whistles at passing girls, drinks cider and comes out with some shocking language – but he has a heart of gold."
That was because Bimbo and his parrot pal Fred were collecting money for a Christmas treat for Sutton pensioners. Both birds resided at the Sutton Corn Stores in Junction Lane and they supervised donations made to the Sutton Over 60s Club in the collecting boxes that were kept inside the shop.
Andrews Industrial Equipment of Haydock told the Reporter that they had received an unusual order from a Nigerian tribal chief. They had been commissioned to supply an electrical generator 10 times the size of one needed to power an average home. Company managing director Donald Turner said: "We have had to deal with some unusual orders in our time, but this one takes the biscuit. The chief must live in a mansion with a colour television in every room."
In September members of the St Helens and Knowsley Area Health Authority (AHA) had made the controversial decision to add fluoride to the water supply. Local dentists had been calling for fluoridation for years to reduce tooth decay in children but there were concerns over health risks.
The St Helens Reporter at the time had condemned the committee's decision, writing: "The decision to fluoridate the drinking water of St. Helens is ludicrous. It could be fatal. At best, fluoride is claimed to reduce or delay the onset of dental caries (tooth decay). At worst it can give people cancer." Cllr Len Williams, the leader of St Helens Council, was another opponent of what he called "enforced medication".
This week the Reporter described how opposition to fluoridation was growing and the council's Policy and Resources Committee had voted to send a delegation to meet Knowsley Council who were also opposing the scheme to discuss ways of jointly fighting the decision. The local Community Health Council had called for a referendum on the issue and the Town Clerk, Brian Lace, told the Policy and Resources Committee that a public vote would cost about £18,000.
However, even if the result was against adding fluoride, he said it was doubtful if the AHA decision could be reversed. Cllr Len Williams told the committee members that they were in a "shocking situation", as the deputation move was approved.
However, the patrols only operated during the summer holidays. But after the death of a 9-year-old girl in the Hotties just prior to the summer patrols starting, the committee decided to extend them to safeguard kids who might be tempted to play in the water over Christmas.
In November 1975 a pioneering work placement scheme called Trident had begun in St Helens. The intention was to give schoolchildren their first taste of working life before returning to their desks. And this week in the Reporter, David Young, Trident's project co-ordinator, described how the voluntary scheme was proving very popular with both employers and the youngsters involved:
"The schoolchildren are really taking to Trident. They are very keen on the idea. The scheme is going really well. We have given more than 250 youngsters the chance of working experience during the last year. Currently there are 50 schoolchildren out working. And they are so keen that they stayed in their employment this week even though it was the school holidays."
The unpaid workers, who were mainly aged 15, were employed in garages, factories, canteens, hotels and offices. Julie Andrews and Lesley Hunking from St Cuthbert's High School were employed in the canteen at Pilks' Sheet Works. Julie told the Reporter: "We're really having a great time here. We don't really want to go back to school." And Eddie Walker who was employed in Pilks' timber yard said: "I have really enjoyed myself here. It's far better than school."
We hear a lot these days about shortages of beds in hospitals with patients kept for some time in corridors on trolleys. But there is nothing new in that. This week a geriatric consultant told the Reporter that he was resigning his position because elderly patients were dying before they reached hospital because of insufficient beds for them.
Dr Baidya Nayak was the consultant physician in geriatric medicine for St Helens and Knowsley and revealed that he was refusing to take responsibility for a service that he considered grossly deficient. He said: "I am frightened that if anything serious did happen because of inadequate facilities and service, I would be held responsible."
Harry Winstanley complained to the Reporter how Pilkingtons had bulldozed his allotment in Crossley Road that he had tended for 64 years. The 78-year-old from Elm Road claimed that the firm had not given him any warning that his allotment was to be destroyed.
"I went down to the garden and saw the bulldozer on my plot. I ran over and asked them to leave my greenhouse until I got my equipment out. They gave me an hour to get permission, so I rushed up to Pilkington and got a note giving me permission to move my things out before demolition. But when I got back everything was gone. The greenhouse was flattened and there were no plants left."
A spokesman for Pilks explained why they had decided to remove the allotments: "The local authority and ourselves have had numerous complaints about rats in the area, so we decided to clear it. We served notice on all legitimate tenants, but there was no record of a legitimate tenant on that particular plot."
On the 30th the Francoise discotheque in Waterloo Street held a Halloween Party hosted by "Ghostly Dave Sherlock and Creepy Rick Van Dyke". Their advert also promised "free admission to all ghosts, ghouls, witches and spooks", although those not of a supernatural nature needed to pay £1.25.
And on the 31st the Market Hotel held a Halloween Disco hosted by DJ Jimmy James. Describing themselves as "Greenall Whitley's New Potato Pub", the Bridge Street hotel wrote in their advert: "Come and try our fabulous hot potato menu".
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the earthquake that struck St Helens, Leathers' appeal against closure is upheld, the car parking at St Helens Hospital that was causing chaos and Whelans defend placing sweets at supermarket checkouts.
This week's many stories include the campaign against plans to add fluoride to the water supply, the planned extension to the Hotties safety patrol, a claim of insufficient hospital beds for elderly patients, the successful Trident placement scheme, the opponents to the creation of Scott Clinic suffer a blow and the Sutton parrot called Bimbo that had a heart of gold.
The decision to create a £2 million high security unit in the grounds of Rainhill Hospital, that would eventually be called Scott Clinic, was highly controversial.
Members of the NUPE union were refusing to staff the unit, claiming the patients would be a danger to their members and to the local community.
NUPE were actively campaigning against its creation, despite a small, interim ward for such patients having already been opened in the hospital itself.
But on the 26th they and other protesters suffered a blow when at their monthly meeting, the St Helens and Knowsley Community Health Council decided to support the controversial unit.
On the 27th what was described as a Mannequin Parade took place in Rainford Village Hall.
The advert for the event said: "See what the smart woman will wear for Autumn".
Tickets cost 40p, including refreshments, with proceeds in aid of Rainford Senior Citizens.
In the House of Commons this week, the St Helens MP, Leslie Spriggs, called for a government inquiry into what he described as a "dangerously low" allocation of nurses in the town.
Spriggs said both the Area Health Authority and trade unions had reported an insufficient number of nurses, which could potentially be dangerous.
A 30-year-old Sutton parrot called Bimbo was profiled in the St Helens Reporter on the 29th:
"He wolf whistles at passing girls, drinks cider and comes out with some shocking language – but he has a heart of gold."
That was because Bimbo and his parrot pal Fred were collecting money for a Christmas treat for Sutton pensioners.
Both birds resided at the Sutton Corn Stores in Junction Lane and they supervised donations made to the Sutton Over 60s Club in the collecting boxes that were kept inside the shop.
Andrews Industrial Equipment of Haydock told the Reporter that they had received an unusual order from a Nigerian tribal chief.
They had been commissioned to supply an electrical generator 10 times the size of one needed to power an average home.
Company managing director Donald Turner said: "We have had to deal with some unusual orders in our time, but this one takes the biscuit. The chief must live in a mansion with a colour television in every room."
In September members of the St Helens and Knowsley Area Health Authority (AHA) had made the controversial decision to add fluoride to the water supply.
Local dentists had been calling for fluoridation for years to reduce tooth decay in children but there were concerns over health risks.
The St Helens Reporter at the time had condemned the committee's decision, writing:
"The decision to fluoridate the drinking water of St. Helens is ludicrous. It could be fatal. At best, fluoride is claimed to reduce or delay the onset of dental caries (tooth decay). At worst it can give people cancer."
Cllr Len Williams, the leader of St Helens Council, was another opponent of what he called "enforced medication".
This week the Reporter described how opposition to fluoridation was growing and the council's Policy and Resources Committee had voted to send a delegation to meet Knowsley Council who were also opposing the scheme to discuss ways of jointly fighting the decision.
The local Community Health Council had called for a referendum on the issue and the Town Clerk, Brian Lace, told the Policy and Resources Committee that a public vote would cost about £18,000.
However, even if the result was against adding fluoride, he said it was doubtful if the AHA decision could be reversed.
Cllr Len Williams told the committee members that they were in a "shocking situation", as the deputation move was approved.
The Reporter said the Policy and Resources Committee had also decided to run their Hotties safety patrols over the Christmas holidays.
They had started several years ago with the purpose of preventing children from swimming in the canal water that was warmed by effluent from Pilkingtons (pictured above).
However, the patrols only operated during the summer holidays.
But after the death of a 9-year-old girl in the Hotties just prior to the summer patrols starting, the committee decided to extend them to safeguard kids who might be tempted to play in the water over Christmas.
In November 1975 a pioneering work placement scheme called Trident had begun in St Helens.
The intention was to give schoolchildren their first taste of working life before returning to their desks.
And this week in the Reporter, David Young, Trident's project co-ordinator, described how the voluntary scheme was proving very popular with both employers and the youngsters involved:
"The schoolchildren are really taking to Trident. They are very keen on the idea. The scheme is going really well. We have given more than 250 youngsters the chance of working experience during the last year.
"Currently there are 50 schoolchildren out working. And they are so keen that they stayed in their employment this week even though it was the school holidays."
The unpaid workers, who were mainly aged 15, were employed in garages, factories, canteens, hotels and offices.
Julie Andrews and Lesley Hunking from St Cuthbert's High School were employed in the canteen at Pilks' Sheet Works.
Julie told the Reporter: "We're really having a great time here. We don't really want to go back to school."
And Eddie Walker who was employed in Pilks' timber yard said: "I have really enjoyed myself here. It's far better than school."
We hear a lot these days about shortages of beds in hospitals with patients kept for some time in corridors on trolleys. But there is nothing new in that.
This week a geriatric consultant told the Reporter that he was resigning his position because elderly patients were dying before they reached hospital because of insufficient beds for them.
Dr Baidya Nayak was the consultant physician in geriatric medicine for St Helens and Knowsley and revealed that he was refusing to take responsibility for a service that he considered grossly deficient. He said:
"I am frightened that if anything serious did happen because of inadequate facilities and service, I would be held responsible."
Harry Winstanley complained to the Reporter how Pilkingtons had bulldozed his allotment in Crossley Road that he had tended for 64 years.
The 78-year-old from Elm Road claimed that the firm had not given him any warning that his allotment was to be destroyed.
"I went down to the garden and saw the bulldozer on my plot. I ran over and asked them to leave my greenhouse until I got my equipment out.
"They gave me an hour to get permission, so I rushed up to Pilkington and got a note giving me permission to move my things out before demolition.
"But when I got back everything was gone. The greenhouse was flattened and there were no plants left."
A spokesman for Pilks explained why they had decided to remove the allotments:
"The local authority and ourselves have had numerous complaints about rats in the area, so we decided to clear it.
"We served notice on all legitimate tenants, but there was no record of a legitimate tenant on that particular plot."
On the 30th the Francoise discotheque in Waterloo Street held a Halloween Party hosted by "Ghostly Dave Sherlock and Creepy Rick Van Dyke".
Their advert also promised "free admission to all ghosts, ghouls, witches and spooks", although those not of a supernatural nature needed to pay £1.25.
And on the 31st the Market Hotel held a Halloween Disco hosted by DJ Jimmy James. Describing themselves as "Greenall Whitley's New Potato Pub", the Bridge Street hotel wrote in their advert: "Come and try our fabulous hot potato menu".
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the earthquake that struck St Helens, Leathers' appeal against closure is upheld, the car parking at St Helens Hospital that was causing chaos and Whelans defend placing sweets at supermarket checkouts.
The decision to create a £2 million high security unit in the grounds of Rainhill Hospital, that would eventually be called Scott Clinic, was highly controversial.
Members of the NUPE union were refusing to staff the unit, claiming the patients would be a danger to their members and to the local community.
NUPE were actively campaigning against its creation, despite a small, interim ward for such patients having already been opened in the hospital itself.
But on the 26th they and other protesters suffered a blow when at their monthly meeting, the St Helens and Knowsley Community Health Council decided to support the controversial unit.
On the 27th what was described as a Mannequin Parade took place in Rainford Village Hall.
The advert for the event said: "See what the smart woman will wear for Autumn".
Tickets cost 40p, including refreshments, with proceeds in aid of Rainford Senior Citizens.
In the House of Commons this week, the St Helens MP, Leslie Spriggs, called for a government inquiry into what he described as a "dangerously low" allocation of nurses in the town.
Spriggs said both the Area Health Authority and trade unions had reported an insufficient number of nurses, which could potentially be dangerous.
A 30-year-old Sutton parrot called Bimbo was profiled in the St Helens Reporter on the 29th:
"He wolf whistles at passing girls, drinks cider and comes out with some shocking language – but he has a heart of gold."
That was because Bimbo and his parrot pal Fred were collecting money for a Christmas treat for Sutton pensioners.
Both birds resided at the Sutton Corn Stores in Junction Lane and they supervised donations made to the Sutton Over 60s Club in the collecting boxes that were kept inside the shop.
Andrews Industrial Equipment of Haydock told the Reporter that they had received an unusual order from a Nigerian tribal chief.
They had been commissioned to supply an electrical generator 10 times the size of one needed to power an average home.
Company managing director Donald Turner said: "We have had to deal with some unusual orders in our time, but this one takes the biscuit. The chief must live in a mansion with a colour television in every room."
In September members of the St Helens and Knowsley Area Health Authority (AHA) had made the controversial decision to add fluoride to the water supply.
Local dentists had been calling for fluoridation for years to reduce tooth decay in children but there were concerns over health risks.
The St Helens Reporter at the time had condemned the committee's decision, writing:
"The decision to fluoridate the drinking water of St. Helens is ludicrous. It could be fatal. At best, fluoride is claimed to reduce or delay the onset of dental caries (tooth decay). At worst it can give people cancer."
Cllr Len Williams, the leader of St Helens Council, was another opponent of what he called "enforced medication".
This week the Reporter described how opposition to fluoridation was growing and the council's Policy and Resources Committee had voted to send a delegation to meet Knowsley Council who were also opposing the scheme to discuss ways of jointly fighting the decision.
The local Community Health Council had called for a referendum on the issue and the Town Clerk, Brian Lace, told the Policy and Resources Committee that a public vote would cost about £18,000.
However, even if the result was against adding fluoride, he said it was doubtful if the AHA decision could be reversed.
Cllr Len Williams told the committee members that they were in a "shocking situation", as the deputation move was approved.
The Reporter said the Policy and Resources Committee had also decided to run their Hotties safety patrols over the Christmas holidays.
However, the patrols only operated during the summer holidays.
But after the death of a 9-year-old girl in the Hotties just prior to the summer patrols starting, the committee decided to extend them to safeguard kids who might be tempted to play in the water over Christmas.
In November 1975 a pioneering work placement scheme called Trident had begun in St Helens.
The intention was to give schoolchildren their first taste of working life before returning to their desks.
And this week in the Reporter, David Young, Trident's project co-ordinator, described how the voluntary scheme was proving very popular with both employers and the youngsters involved:
"The schoolchildren are really taking to Trident. They are very keen on the idea. The scheme is going really well. We have given more than 250 youngsters the chance of working experience during the last year.
"Currently there are 50 schoolchildren out working. And they are so keen that they stayed in their employment this week even though it was the school holidays."
The unpaid workers, who were mainly aged 15, were employed in garages, factories, canteens, hotels and offices.
Julie Andrews and Lesley Hunking from St Cuthbert's High School were employed in the canteen at Pilks' Sheet Works.
Julie told the Reporter: "We're really having a great time here. We don't really want to go back to school."
And Eddie Walker who was employed in Pilks' timber yard said: "I have really enjoyed myself here. It's far better than school."
We hear a lot these days about shortages of beds in hospitals with patients kept for some time in corridors on trolleys. But there is nothing new in that.
This week a geriatric consultant told the Reporter that he was resigning his position because elderly patients were dying before they reached hospital because of insufficient beds for them.
Dr Baidya Nayak was the consultant physician in geriatric medicine for St Helens and Knowsley and revealed that he was refusing to take responsibility for a service that he considered grossly deficient. He said:
"I am frightened that if anything serious did happen because of inadequate facilities and service, I would be held responsible."
Harry Winstanley complained to the Reporter how Pilkingtons had bulldozed his allotment in Crossley Road that he had tended for 64 years.
The 78-year-old from Elm Road claimed that the firm had not given him any warning that his allotment was to be destroyed.
"I went down to the garden and saw the bulldozer on my plot. I ran over and asked them to leave my greenhouse until I got my equipment out.
"They gave me an hour to get permission, so I rushed up to Pilkington and got a note giving me permission to move my things out before demolition.
"But when I got back everything was gone. The greenhouse was flattened and there were no plants left."
A spokesman for Pilks explained why they had decided to remove the allotments:
"The local authority and ourselves have had numerous complaints about rats in the area, so we decided to clear it.
"We served notice on all legitimate tenants, but there was no record of a legitimate tenant on that particular plot."
On the 30th the Francoise discotheque in Waterloo Street held a Halloween Party hosted by "Ghostly Dave Sherlock and Creepy Rick Van Dyke".
Their advert also promised "free admission to all ghosts, ghouls, witches and spooks", although those not of a supernatural nature needed to pay £1.25.
And on the 31st the Market Hotel held a Halloween Disco hosted by DJ Jimmy James. Describing themselves as "Greenall Whitley's New Potato Pub", the Bridge Street hotel wrote in their advert: "Come and try our fabulous hot potato menu".
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the earthquake that struck St Helens, Leathers' appeal against closure is upheld, the car parking at St Helens Hospital that was causing chaos and Whelans defend placing sweets at supermarket checkouts.