FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (27 NOV - 3 DEC 1973)
This week's many stories include the issuing of petrol rationing coupons, the muck spreading in Burtonhead Road, Dave Lee Travis opens a new store in St Helens, a warning that modern technology was turning people into cabbages and St Helens Council is forced to buy back their old police station that they gave away for free.
This week Helena House's Pharmacy Department on Baldwin Street held a "Free Trial Week" of its mini-hearing aid. "Why accept poor hearing when a simple trial will convince you of the advantages of wearing a modern all-in-the-ear-aid," said their advert.
On the 29th Newtown Library was forced to close because dry rot had made the building dangerous to the public. Cllr. Eric Kerr said borrowers could use Central Library instead and appealed for volunteers to change books for "old people" unable to travel into the town centre. Repairs to Newtown Library were expected to cost £3,450.
Also on the 29th the Capitol had 'A Night With Elvis', a special double-header tribute to Elvis Presley who was still alive in 1973. The films were 'Elvis . . . That The Way It Is' and 'Speedway'.
It was also the day that post offices began issuing petrol rationing coupons. The motor fuel coupon books – to give them their correct title – were distributed on the 29th to persons with surnames beginning with A and B. Then on November 30th surnames starting with C received them, with the dole out ending on December 12th for those names beginning W, X, Y or Z. In the event they were not needed, as petrol rationing by the Government was never introduced.
But local forecourts were choosing to limit their sales to regular customers and some petrol stations were rationing what went in tanks. Broughtons of Knowsley Road said this week: "Some motorists have been greedy and kept tanks full. We are now rationing everybody to two gallons and closing on Sundays to preserve stocks." Ashalls in City Road said they were still supplying motorists with as much petrol as they wanted but if their deliveries stopped their pumps would go dry within three days. Motorists were also asked to take special care in St Helens over the weekend, as the Corporation was switching off some street lights to save electricity.
The St Helens Reporter's lead story on the 30th was not the developing fuel and electricity crisis but how ratepayers were having to buy back the building that they had been forced to give away. In 1969 St Helens Borough police force had merged with twelve other forces to form the new Lancashire Constabulary. By the Act of amalgamation St Helens Corporation was required to let Lancashire County Council have at no cost the part of the Town Hall that the police used, as well as the adjacent CID offices.
Earlier in 1973 St Helens police had relocated to a new building in College Street and had left their old police offices, cells and canteen vacant. However, the new St Helens District Council – that would come into effect in April 1974 when local government reorganisation kicked in – wanted the use of the old police base for their Town Clerk's department. And Lancashire County Council said they could have it back – at a price. £50,000 to be precise and that's around £800,000 in today's money! For their part the County Council insisted that they were required by law to sell their assets at the market rate.
Cllr. Eric Kerr told the paper: "This is happening all over the country. Our old building becomes their asset. We feel a bit disgruntled when we have to buy our own premises back. "But we've got to put up with it – it's the normal procedure and the law. All the older councillors are disheartened. Unfortunately, the ratepayers will have to pay out – and we can't do anything about it."
"Walk Around Tyrers the Family Christmas Gift Shop, Bridge Street, St Helens", said a brief ad in the Reporter, which suggested that you could wander round all day without buying anything!
John Roylance, the St Helens Youth Officer, was quoted in the paper as warning that modern technological society was slowly turning people into cabbages. Addressing the annual meeting of the local YWCA, Mr Roylance said: "We are living in an increasingly impersonal world with a complete lack of community involvement and feeling. The technicians and bureaucrats are continually trying to categorise people and isolate them.
"The pace of change is accelerating all the time and people are finding it harder to cope with innovations. Many old people find difficulty using a telephone. It was easy when they only had to remember a four figure number, but now some of them are running into ten figures. There is a complete breakdown in personal contact and communication. Loneliness is one of today's major problems, even among the young. People are feeling more and more isolated."
For a while from 1930 St Helens had its own skating rink. It was called the Elite and located inside the Co-operative Hall in Baldwin Street. The Reporter this week described how another skating rink had almost been created – on the St Helens Ring Road. Last weekend police had been so concerned by a build up of mud on the ring road that they'd summoned the fire brigade to swill it away in case vehicles started skidding about.
Inspector Bill Lawrenson said: "There was a definite danger, and we had to act quickly. We are constantly in touch with haulage firms in an attempt to prevent this sort of thing. We believe that this problem was caused by wagons belonging to Pickavance. They are having to travel along Burtonhead Road, which is axle deep in mud and, therefore, spreading it throughout the area."
However, a spokesman for Pickavances said the council had insisted on their wagons using Burtonhead Road and he put the blame for the mud on a firm called Waste Clearance, saying: "They have a tip in Burtonhead Road but no equipment for washing the wheels of their wagons. Therefore, they bring the mud onto the road and our vehicles have to drive through it. It is unfortunate that the muck is being spread about but there is nothing we can do about it."
The council had contracted Pickavances to remove the so-called "Kimmicks" heaps off Jackson Street (pictured above). The 50-feet-high mounds of chemical waste were said to weigh one million tons and twenty 24-ton tipper lorries were dumping it all into old clay pits off Burtonhead Road – formerly used by the Old Teapot Brickworks.
On December 1st Dave Lee Travis signed over 300 autographs when he opened a new branch of the Countdown "man's shop" in St Mary's Precinct in St Helens. The Radio 1 DJ arrived at the boutique after what was described as a "lightning tour" of the town in a 1932 Austin Seven. The Reporter in its preview wrote:
"Dave will then introduce the Top Ten and play them to fans inside and outside the shop, where there will be loudspeakers so that everyone can join in the fun. Well-dressed men of all age groups, and from all walks of life will welcome the opening of the new boutique. For owner Dave Halliwell, 29, who runs a similar boutique in Wigan, plans to cater for everyone."
Corpus Christi School held a Christmas Fair on December 1st at their premises in Old Lane in Rainford. There were toys, fancy goods, and knitwear on sale as well as a grotto and sideshows. On the same day Rainford Guides and Brownies held their Christmas Fair in the Village Hall in which over £100 was raised. The proceeds went towards the cost of their new hut.
The Reporter also wrote: "The first real step towards making Eccleston Street, Prescot, a pedestrian haven should be taken in the New Year." An order to close the street to traffic from 10 am to 4 pm on Fridays and Saturdays was going to be sought by the council. The order if granted would initially only cover the stretch of Eccleston Street from the Prescot Parish Church to Leyland Street. Alternative delivery arrangements had been agreed with all the retailers at that location with the exception of one.
And finally, a film guide. From the 2nd 'Last Tango in Paris', starring Marlon Brando, replaced 'Jesus, Christ Superstar' at the ABC Savoy. Meanwhile, at the Capitol, their new film was a Kung Fu thriller called 'Ten Fingers of Steel'.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include a robbery outside the Seven Stars in Eccleston, angry garage owners hit out at selfish car drivers, the opening of Dingle Belles new store and there's an expansion of the one-way system in St Helens.
This week Helena House's Pharmacy Department on Baldwin Street held a "Free Trial Week" of its mini-hearing aid. "Why accept poor hearing when a simple trial will convince you of the advantages of wearing a modern all-in-the-ear-aid," said their advert.
On the 29th Newtown Library was forced to close because dry rot had made the building dangerous to the public. Cllr. Eric Kerr said borrowers could use Central Library instead and appealed for volunteers to change books for "old people" unable to travel into the town centre. Repairs to Newtown Library were expected to cost £3,450.
Also on the 29th the Capitol had 'A Night With Elvis', a special double-header tribute to Elvis Presley who was still alive in 1973. The films were 'Elvis . . . That The Way It Is' and 'Speedway'.
It was also the day that post offices began issuing petrol rationing coupons. The motor fuel coupon books – to give them their correct title – were distributed on the 29th to persons with surnames beginning with A and B. Then on November 30th surnames starting with C received them, with the dole out ending on December 12th for those names beginning W, X, Y or Z. In the event they were not needed, as petrol rationing by the Government was never introduced.
But local forecourts were choosing to limit their sales to regular customers and some petrol stations were rationing what went in tanks. Broughtons of Knowsley Road said this week: "Some motorists have been greedy and kept tanks full. We are now rationing everybody to two gallons and closing on Sundays to preserve stocks." Ashalls in City Road said they were still supplying motorists with as much petrol as they wanted but if their deliveries stopped their pumps would go dry within three days. Motorists were also asked to take special care in St Helens over the weekend, as the Corporation was switching off some street lights to save electricity.
The St Helens Reporter's lead story on the 30th was not the developing fuel and electricity crisis but how ratepayers were having to buy back the building that they had been forced to give away. In 1969 St Helens Borough police force had merged with twelve other forces to form the new Lancashire Constabulary. By the Act of amalgamation St Helens Corporation was required to let Lancashire County Council have at no cost the part of the Town Hall that the police used, as well as the adjacent CID offices.
Earlier in 1973 St Helens police had relocated to a new building in College Street and had left their old police offices, cells and canteen vacant. However, the new St Helens District Council – that would come into effect in April 1974 when local government reorganisation kicked in – wanted the use of the old police base for their Town Clerk's department. And Lancashire County Council said they could have it back – at a price. £50,000 to be precise and that's around £800,000 in today's money! For their part the County Council insisted that they were required by law to sell their assets at the market rate.
Cllr. Eric Kerr told the paper: "This is happening all over the country. Our old building becomes their asset. We feel a bit disgruntled when we have to buy our own premises back. "But we've got to put up with it – it's the normal procedure and the law. All the older councillors are disheartened. Unfortunately, the ratepayers will have to pay out – and we can't do anything about it."
"Walk Around Tyrers the Family Christmas Gift Shop, Bridge Street, St Helens", said a brief ad in the Reporter, which suggested that you could wander round all day without buying anything!
John Roylance, the St Helens Youth Officer, was quoted in the paper as warning that modern technological society was slowly turning people into cabbages. Addressing the annual meeting of the local YWCA, Mr Roylance said: "We are living in an increasingly impersonal world with a complete lack of community involvement and feeling. The technicians and bureaucrats are continually trying to categorise people and isolate them.
"The pace of change is accelerating all the time and people are finding it harder to cope with innovations. Many old people find difficulty using a telephone. It was easy when they only had to remember a four figure number, but now some of them are running into ten figures. There is a complete breakdown in personal contact and communication. Loneliness is one of today's major problems, even among the young. People are feeling more and more isolated."
For a while from 1930 St Helens had its own skating rink. It was called the Elite and located inside the Co-operative Hall in Baldwin Street. The Reporter this week described how another skating rink had almost been created – on the St Helens Ring Road. Last weekend police had been so concerned by a build up of mud on the ring road that they'd summoned the fire brigade to swill it away in case vehicles started skidding about.
Inspector Bill Lawrenson said: "There was a definite danger, and we had to act quickly. We are constantly in touch with haulage firms in an attempt to prevent this sort of thing. We believe that this problem was caused by wagons belonging to Pickavance. They are having to travel along Burtonhead Road, which is axle deep in mud and, therefore, spreading it throughout the area."
However, a spokesman for Pickavances said the council had insisted on their wagons using Burtonhead Road and he put the blame for the mud on a firm called Waste Clearance, saying: "They have a tip in Burtonhead Road but no equipment for washing the wheels of their wagons. Therefore, they bring the mud onto the road and our vehicles have to drive through it. It is unfortunate that the muck is being spread about but there is nothing we can do about it."
On December 1st Dave Lee Travis signed over 300 autographs when he opened a new branch of the Countdown "man's shop" in St Mary's Precinct in St Helens. The Radio 1 DJ arrived at the boutique after what was described as a "lightning tour" of the town in a 1932 Austin Seven. The Reporter in its preview wrote:
"Dave will then introduce the Top Ten and play them to fans inside and outside the shop, where there will be loudspeakers so that everyone can join in the fun. Well-dressed men of all age groups, and from all walks of life will welcome the opening of the new boutique. For owner Dave Halliwell, 29, who runs a similar boutique in Wigan, plans to cater for everyone."
Corpus Christi School held a Christmas Fair on December 1st at their premises in Old Lane in Rainford. There were toys, fancy goods, and knitwear on sale as well as a grotto and sideshows. On the same day Rainford Guides and Brownies held their Christmas Fair in the Village Hall in which over £100 was raised. The proceeds went towards the cost of their new hut.
The Reporter also wrote: "The first real step towards making Eccleston Street, Prescot, a pedestrian haven should be taken in the New Year." An order to close the street to traffic from 10 am to 4 pm on Fridays and Saturdays was going to be sought by the council. The order if granted would initially only cover the stretch of Eccleston Street from the Prescot Parish Church to Leyland Street. Alternative delivery arrangements had been agreed with all the retailers at that location with the exception of one.
And finally, a film guide. From the 2nd 'Last Tango in Paris', starring Marlon Brando, replaced 'Jesus, Christ Superstar' at the ABC Savoy. Meanwhile, at the Capitol, their new film was a Kung Fu thriller called 'Ten Fingers of Steel'.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include a robbery outside the Seven Stars in Eccleston, angry garage owners hit out at selfish car drivers, the opening of Dingle Belles new store and there's an expansion of the one-way system in St Helens.
This week's many stories include the issuing of petrol rationing coupons, the muck spreading in Burtonhead Road, Dave Lee Travis opens a new store in St Helens, a warning that modern technology was turning people into cabbages and St Helens Council is forced to buy back their old police station that they gave away for free.
This week Helena House's Pharmacy Department on Baldwin Street held a "Free Trial Week" of its mini-hearing aid.
"Why accept poor hearing when a simple trial will convince you of the advantages of wearing a modern all-in-the-ear-aid," said their advert.
On the 29th Newtown Library was forced to close because dry rot had made the building dangerous to the public.
Cllr. Eric Kerr said borrowers could use Central Library instead and appealed for volunteers to change books for "old people" unable to travel into the town centre. Repairs to Newtown Library were expected to cost £3,450.
Also on the 29th the Capitol had 'A Night With Elvis', a special double-header tribute to Elvis Presley who was still alive in 1973. The films were 'Elvis . . . That The Way It Is' and 'Speedway'.
It was also the day that post offices began issuing petrol rationing coupons. The motor fuel coupon books – to give them their correct title – were distributed on the 29th to persons with surnames beginning with A and B.
Then on November 30th surnames starting with C received them, with the dole out ending on December 12th for those names beginning W, X, Y or Z. In the event they were not needed, as petrol rationing by the Government was never introduced.
But local forecourts were choosing to limit their sales to regular customers and some petrol stations were rationing what went in tanks.
Broughtons of Knowsley Road said this week: "Some motorists have been greedy and kept tanks full. We are now rationing everybody to two gallons and closing on Sundays to preserve stocks."
Ashalls in City Road said they were still supplying motorists with as much petrol as they wanted but if their deliveries stopped their pumps would go dry within three days.
Motorists were also asked to take special care in St Helens over the weekend, as the Corporation was switching off some street lights to save electricity.
The St Helens Reporter's lead story on the 30th was not the developing fuel and electricity crisis but how ratepayers were having to buy back the building that they had been forced to give away.
In 1969 St Helens Borough police force had merged with twelve other forces to form the new Lancashire Constabulary.
By the Act of amalgamation St Helens Corporation was required to let Lancashire County Council have at no cost the part of the Town Hall that the police used, as well as the adjacent CID offices.
Earlier in 1973 St Helens police had relocated to a new building in College Street and had left their old police offices, cells and canteen vacant.
However, the new St Helens District Council – that would come into effect in April 1974 when local government reorganisation kicked in – wanted the use of the old police base for their Town Clerk's department.
And Lancashire County Council said they could have it back – at a price. £50,000 to be precise and that's around £800,000 in today's money!
For their part the County Council insisted that they were required by law to sell their assets at the market rate.
Cllr. Eric Kerr told the paper: "This is happening all over the country. Our old building becomes their asset. We feel a bit disgruntled when we have to buy our own premises back.
"But we've got to put up with it – it's the normal procedure and the law. All the older councillors are disheartened. Unfortunately, the ratepayers will have to pay out – and we can't do anything about it."
"Walk Around Tyrers the Family Christmas Gift Shop, Bridge Street, St Helens", said a brief ad in the Reporter, which suggested that you could wander round all day without buying anything!
John Roylance, the St Helens Youth Officer, was quoted in the paper as warning that modern technological society was slowly turning people into cabbages. Addressing the annual meeting of the local YWCA, Mr Roylance said:
"We are living in an increasingly impersonal world with a complete lack of community involvement and feeling. The technicians and bureaucrats are continually trying to categorise people and isolate them.
"The pace of change is accelerating all the time and people are finding it harder to cope with innovations.
"Many old people find difficulty using a telephone. It was easy when they only had to remember a four figure number, but now some of them are running into ten figures.
"There is a complete breakdown in personal contact and communication. Loneliness is one of today's major problems, even among the young. People are feeling more and more isolated."
For a while from 1930 St Helens had its own skating rink. It was called the Elite and located inside the Co-operative Hall in Baldwin Street.
The Reporter this week described how another skating rink had almost been created – on the St Helens Ring Road.
Last weekend police had been so concerned by a build up of mud on the ring road that they'd summoned the fire brigade to swill it away in case vehicles started skidding about.
Inspector Bill Lawrenson said: "There was a definite danger, and we had to act quickly. We are constantly in touch with haulage firms in an attempt to prevent this sort of thing.
"We believe that this problem was caused by wagons belonging to Pickavance. They are having to travel along Burtonhead Road, which is axle deep in mud and, therefore, spreading it throughout the area."
However, a spokesman for Pickavances said the council had insisted on their wagons using Burtonhead Road and he put the blame for the mud on a firm called Waste Clearance, saying:
"They have a tip in Burtonhead Road but no equipment for washing the wheels of their wagons. Therefore, they bring the mud onto the road and our vehicles have to drive through it.
"It is unfortunate that the muck is being spread about but there is nothing we can do about it."
The council had contracted Pickavances to remove the so-called "Kimmicks" heaps off Jackson Street (pictured above).
The 50-feet-high mounds of chemical waste were said to weigh one million tons and twenty 24-ton tipper lorries were dumping it all into old clay pits off Burtonhead Road – formerly used by the Old Teapot Brickworks.
On December 1st Dave Lee Travis signed over 300 autographs when he opened a new branch of the Countdown "man's shop" in St Mary's Precinct in St Helens.
The Radio 1 DJ arrived at the boutique after what was described as a "lightning tour" of the town in a 1932 Austin Seven. The Reporter in its preview wrote:
"Dave will then introduce the Top Ten and play them to fans inside and outside the shop, where there will be loudspeakers so that everyone can join in the fun.
"Well-dressed men of all age groups, and from all walks of life will welcome the opening of the new boutique. For owner Dave Halliwell, 29, who runs a similar boutique in Wigan, plans to cater for everyone."
Corpus Christi School held a Christmas Fair on December 1st at their premises in Old Lane in Rainford.
There were toys, fancy goods, and knitwear on sale as well as a grotto and sideshows.
On the same day Rainford Guides and Brownies held their Christmas Fair in the Village Hall in which over £100 was raised. The proceeds went towards the cost of their new hut.
The Reporter also wrote: "The first real step towards making Eccleston Street, Prescot, a pedestrian haven should be taken in the New Year."
An order to close the street to traffic from 10 am to 4 pm on Fridays and Saturdays was going to be sought by the council.
The order if granted would initially only cover the stretch of Eccleston Street from the Prescot Parish Church to Leyland Street.
And finally, a film guide. From the 2nd 'Last Tango in Paris', starring Marlon Brando, replaced 'Jesus, Christ Superstar' at the ABC Savoy.
Meanwhile, at the Capitol, their new film was a Kung Fu thriller called 'Ten Fingers of Steel'.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include a robbery outside the Seven Stars in Eccleston, angry garage owners hit out at selfish car drivers, the opening of Dingle Belles new store and there's an expansion of the one-way system in St Helens.
This week Helena House's Pharmacy Department on Baldwin Street held a "Free Trial Week" of its mini-hearing aid.
"Why accept poor hearing when a simple trial will convince you of the advantages of wearing a modern all-in-the-ear-aid," said their advert.
On the 29th Newtown Library was forced to close because dry rot had made the building dangerous to the public.
Cllr. Eric Kerr said borrowers could use Central Library instead and appealed for volunteers to change books for "old people" unable to travel into the town centre. Repairs to Newtown Library were expected to cost £3,450.
Also on the 29th the Capitol had 'A Night With Elvis', a special double-header tribute to Elvis Presley who was still alive in 1973. The films were 'Elvis . . . That The Way It Is' and 'Speedway'.
It was also the day that post offices began issuing petrol rationing coupons. The motor fuel coupon books – to give them their correct title – were distributed on the 29th to persons with surnames beginning with A and B.
Then on November 30th surnames starting with C received them, with the dole out ending on December 12th for those names beginning W, X, Y or Z. In the event they were not needed, as petrol rationing by the Government was never introduced.
But local forecourts were choosing to limit their sales to regular customers and some petrol stations were rationing what went in tanks.
Broughtons of Knowsley Road said this week: "Some motorists have been greedy and kept tanks full. We are now rationing everybody to two gallons and closing on Sundays to preserve stocks."
Ashalls in City Road said they were still supplying motorists with as much petrol as they wanted but if their deliveries stopped their pumps would go dry within three days.
Motorists were also asked to take special care in St Helens over the weekend, as the Corporation was switching off some street lights to save electricity.
The St Helens Reporter's lead story on the 30th was not the developing fuel and electricity crisis but how ratepayers were having to buy back the building that they had been forced to give away.
In 1969 St Helens Borough police force had merged with twelve other forces to form the new Lancashire Constabulary.
By the Act of amalgamation St Helens Corporation was required to let Lancashire County Council have at no cost the part of the Town Hall that the police used, as well as the adjacent CID offices.
Earlier in 1973 St Helens police had relocated to a new building in College Street and had left their old police offices, cells and canteen vacant.
However, the new St Helens District Council – that would come into effect in April 1974 when local government reorganisation kicked in – wanted the use of the old police base for their Town Clerk's department.
And Lancashire County Council said they could have it back – at a price. £50,000 to be precise and that's around £800,000 in today's money!
For their part the County Council insisted that they were required by law to sell their assets at the market rate.
Cllr. Eric Kerr told the paper: "This is happening all over the country. Our old building becomes their asset. We feel a bit disgruntled when we have to buy our own premises back.
"But we've got to put up with it – it's the normal procedure and the law. All the older councillors are disheartened. Unfortunately, the ratepayers will have to pay out – and we can't do anything about it."
"Walk Around Tyrers the Family Christmas Gift Shop, Bridge Street, St Helens", said a brief ad in the Reporter, which suggested that you could wander round all day without buying anything!
John Roylance, the St Helens Youth Officer, was quoted in the paper as warning that modern technological society was slowly turning people into cabbages. Addressing the annual meeting of the local YWCA, Mr Roylance said:
"We are living in an increasingly impersonal world with a complete lack of community involvement and feeling. The technicians and bureaucrats are continually trying to categorise people and isolate them.
"The pace of change is accelerating all the time and people are finding it harder to cope with innovations.
"Many old people find difficulty using a telephone. It was easy when they only had to remember a four figure number, but now some of them are running into ten figures.
"There is a complete breakdown in personal contact and communication. Loneliness is one of today's major problems, even among the young. People are feeling more and more isolated."
For a while from 1930 St Helens had its own skating rink. It was called the Elite and located inside the Co-operative Hall in Baldwin Street.
The Reporter this week described how another skating rink had almost been created – on the St Helens Ring Road.
Last weekend police had been so concerned by a build up of mud on the ring road that they'd summoned the fire brigade to swill it away in case vehicles started skidding about.
Inspector Bill Lawrenson said: "There was a definite danger, and we had to act quickly. We are constantly in touch with haulage firms in an attempt to prevent this sort of thing.
"We believe that this problem was caused by wagons belonging to Pickavance. They are having to travel along Burtonhead Road, which is axle deep in mud and, therefore, spreading it throughout the area."
However, a spokesman for Pickavances said the council had insisted on their wagons using Burtonhead Road and he put the blame for the mud on a firm called Waste Clearance, saying:
"They have a tip in Burtonhead Road but no equipment for washing the wheels of their wagons. Therefore, they bring the mud onto the road and our vehicles have to drive through it.
"It is unfortunate that the muck is being spread about but there is nothing we can do about it."
The 50-feet-high mounds of chemical waste were said to weigh one million tons and twenty 24-ton tipper lorries were dumping it all into old clay pits off Burtonhead Road – formerly used by the Old Teapot Brickworks.
On December 1st Dave Lee Travis signed over 300 autographs when he opened a new branch of the Countdown "man's shop" in St Mary's Precinct in St Helens.
The Radio 1 DJ arrived at the boutique after what was described as a "lightning tour" of the town in a 1932 Austin Seven. The Reporter in its preview wrote:
"Dave will then introduce the Top Ten and play them to fans inside and outside the shop, where there will be loudspeakers so that everyone can join in the fun.
"Well-dressed men of all age groups, and from all walks of life will welcome the opening of the new boutique. For owner Dave Halliwell, 29, who runs a similar boutique in Wigan, plans to cater for everyone."
Corpus Christi School held a Christmas Fair on December 1st at their premises in Old Lane in Rainford.
There were toys, fancy goods, and knitwear on sale as well as a grotto and sideshows.
On the same day Rainford Guides and Brownies held their Christmas Fair in the Village Hall in which over £100 was raised. The proceeds went towards the cost of their new hut.
The Reporter also wrote: "The first real step towards making Eccleston Street, Prescot, a pedestrian haven should be taken in the New Year."
An order to close the street to traffic from 10 am to 4 pm on Fridays and Saturdays was going to be sought by the council.
The order if granted would initially only cover the stretch of Eccleston Street from the Prescot Parish Church to Leyland Street.
And finally, a film guide. From the 2nd 'Last Tango in Paris', starring Marlon Brando, replaced 'Jesus, Christ Superstar' at the ABC Savoy.
Meanwhile, at the Capitol, their new film was a Kung Fu thriller called 'Ten Fingers of Steel'.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include a robbery outside the Seven Stars in Eccleston, angry garage owners hit out at selfish car drivers, the opening of Dingle Belles new store and there's an expansion of the one-way system in St Helens.