FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (29th MARCH - 4th APRIL 1971)
This week's many stories include a major new Pilkington pay deal, the West Park schoolboys who took an overdose of sleeping pills, inquests are held into three tragedies and the men heavily fined for selling solid fuel under weight.
We begin on the 30th with a photo of Sutton Juniors football team in the St Helens Newspaper. The caption read: "The Sutton Juniors side, which has reached the semi-finals of the Ford Cup competition." A separate photo of another bunch of boys bore the caption: "LIKELY LADS… Sherdley Rovers and Sutton Juniors combined team, fast making headway among the younger schoolboy soccer sides. Back row (l to r): G. Fuller, G. Shawbins, G. Kane, I. Taylor, I. Haverty, K. Hallard and N. Roberts. Front (l to r): W. Johnson, M. Morris, K. Mellor, I. Johnson, M. Nuttall and J. Nuttall."
This week was the first anniversary of Eric Burrows' mistake in the wages department of Pilkingtons that triggered last year's glass strike. The innocent error by the 64-year-old clerk from Parr was seized upon by militants and used as a pretext to create what the St Helens Reporter dubbed "the biggest industrial disaster to hit St. Helens since the General Strike". After five weeks the dispute turned nasty, with the newspaper writing: "A heatwave of violence, bringing bloodshed, fear and anguish, has ripped a scar across the once-peaceful glass strike."
The then Mayor of St Helens, Tom Wilcock, pleaded: "For God's sake, let us settle these differences. This town has never known a strike like this – and let us hope we will never have to suffer the bitterness and hardship of another one." It was probably a coincidence that Pilkington's announcement this week of a major reform of their workers' wage structure coincided with the anniversary. However their 10,000 shop-floor workers may have wondered if the deal had come a year earlier, the town might have been spared the devastating strike.
In 1970 those at the lowest end of the pay scale claimed to have been only earning £12 a week before the strikers won a 10% rise. Under the proposed new pay structure, the basic wage for males over 18 would be £20 a week, with £16.80 for women – with sexual discrimination over pay then blatantly baked into such deals. There were various other changes proposed as well, including an improved system of shift, overtime and bonus payments and simpler job evaluation differentials. These changes – negotiated by the company and the General and Municipal Workers' Union after 11 days of talks – would now be put to a vote in a union ballot of members.
The inquest on Elizabeth Kugh of Frederick Street in Sutton was held on the 31st. The 61-year-old had tragically died after her cardigan caught fire on Christmas Day while cooking her dinner.
In writing how Burtonwood Parish Council was seeking land in Collins Green for a children's playing field, the Liverpool Echo on the 31st wrote: "Every parish councillor is out searching for a site." What really? The councillors were all roaming the streets on the hunt for a strip of land? Councillor Alice Fairclough told the paper: "It is just impossible to get anywhere. We have tried first one place and then another, but the result is always the same. We just cannot get a place."
An advertising feature on new homes in the Formby Times on the 31st included ones priced from £3,700 being built in Sutton Manor by the Sefton Building Company: "At St. Helens fine family houses are available on the fringe of the green belt. These are three-bedroomed semi-detached homes, situated at Chester Lane and Sutton Manor. Although in a country atmosphere, they are near to the main St. Helens – Widnes road, the A568, and an excellent bus service runs into St. Helens every 20 minutes. Adequate shopping facilities and schools are also situated in this pleasant area."
There was an odd event during the evening of April 1st when five pupils of West Park Grammar School (pictured above) were separately rushed to hospital after complaining to their parents of severe drowsiness. At least two of the sixth formers were reported to have been unconscious on admission. On the following day the three lads in St Helens Hospital were stated to be "quite comfortable" and the condition of the other two in Providence Hospital was given as "satisfactory."
On the 3rd, with the lads still being cared for in hospital, the school's headmaster, Brother Leonard, told the press: "I understand that one of the senior boys brought his mother's sleeping tablets to school and passed them round. The boys took large doses, apparently as a dare." The overdoses had considerably alarmed the school governors who would meet next week to decide what steps to take – as Brother Leonard explained: "A meeting of the school governors will be held to discuss this matter and to decide upon any disciplinary action that might be taken."
On the 2nd a welder from Tennyson Street in Sutton Manor appeared in a Wigan magistrates court after running wild in two hospitals while high on amphetamine. The 20-year-old had smashed two windows, damaged a door and let off a fire extinguisher in what he claimed was a vendetta against drug makers. He told the police: "A man gave me some pills and he said that if I took them I would get some good vibrations. I thought I was taking it out on the people who make drugs. I am very sorry for the damage I did."
On the 3rd Peter Lacy of Ada Street and Anthony Atherton of Harris Street appeared before the magistrates at St Helens for selling solid fuel under weight. Their employers, the National Coal Board, were also charged. An inspector of weights and measures had made a spot check on the 42 sacks of coal on their lorry and found all but two were underweight. Lacy and Atherton told the court that the trouble arose when two bags fell off the lorry and the others became tilted when the load slid on a hill. The summonses against the NCB were dismissed but the men were both fined £5 on each of nine summonses, making a total of £45 each.
Two sad deaths were investigated at separate inquest hearings in Ashton-in-Makerfield on the 3rd. Dr Charles Hyde, who until five months earlier had been in practice, had shot himself with his .22 rifle. Mrs Hyde insisted that her husband had been cheerful with no worries and had never talked of taking his own life. However a pathologist said that in his view the 73-year-old doctor – who had been shot through the head – must have killed himself.
"He must have had the muzzle of the rifle in his mouth. It could not have happened any other way," he added. The coroner thought Dr Hyde could have committed suicide through being forced to retire sooner than planned owing to arthritis in his hands and knees. "Someone who has always led a very active life can find that retirement comes as a very great anti-climax," he said.
And Barbara Bailey had died from a rare complication after having an operation at Billinge Hospital to enable the 23-year-old to bear another child. The pathologist told her inquest that death had been due to dilutation of the intestines – a post-operational complication that few people ever contracted. He added: "It is one of the risks of surgery. It's very unusual for someone to die from it. The operation itself was clean and healthy, and was technically perfect."
What was described as "two star studded soccer teams" met at Ruskin Drive on the 4th to raise money for the Liverpool and District Multiple Sclerosis Society. Included in the sides were actors from a number of TV shows including 'Coronation Street', 'The Dustbin Men', 'Family at War' and 'Parkin's Patch'.
And finally vandalism in Liverpool had been a hot topic this week in the Echo, with this letter from "K.H.A." of Maghull arguing that corporal punishment was the solution to yobbish behaviour:
"Sir. – I am sure Liverpool is the worst city in England for vandalism, litter and loutish behaviour. The city authorities have recently appointed a young man who is to study the reasons for anti-social activities, but there is only one way to prevent vandalism and crimes of violence – physical punishment. I have friends who have recently returned from a holiday in Spain, where they have a dictator. They tell me one can walk about in Madrid or Barcelona at midnight without any fear of being molested – that is something we cannot do in Liverpool.
"Crimes of violence go up and up each year – vandalism is growing and will continue to grow until our police are backed up by the courts by realistic sentences. I am Liverpool born and bred – l was proud of my city, now I am tired of making excuses for it. I am sick of a city where eight out of ten public phones are out of order because of vandalism. Liverpool was a city of character – now it is a city noted for vandals, violence and strikes.
"Walk around Liverpool 8. Look at the once beautiful houses in the Falkner Square area and see the decadence and dirt. Pay a visit to any tower block in the city and draw your own conclusions. The whole city is an eyesore from Everton to Dingle – I can't believe any other city is quite as bad. The people of Liverpool are the greatest (that's why I like it here) but the yobs are taking over. In a very short time it will be too late."
Next week's stories will include the severe action taken by West Park governors over the sleeping pills incident, the party of 45 French schoolchildren at Billinge, the brave Haydock policemen and an invitation to join the Easter Parade and buy a new home.
We begin on the 30th with a photo of Sutton Juniors football team in the St Helens Newspaper. The caption read: "The Sutton Juniors side, which has reached the semi-finals of the Ford Cup competition." A separate photo of another bunch of boys bore the caption: "LIKELY LADS… Sherdley Rovers and Sutton Juniors combined team, fast making headway among the younger schoolboy soccer sides. Back row (l to r): G. Fuller, G. Shawbins, G. Kane, I. Taylor, I. Haverty, K. Hallard and N. Roberts. Front (l to r): W. Johnson, M. Morris, K. Mellor, I. Johnson, M. Nuttall and J. Nuttall."
This week was the first anniversary of Eric Burrows' mistake in the wages department of Pilkingtons that triggered last year's glass strike. The innocent error by the 64-year-old clerk from Parr was seized upon by militants and used as a pretext to create what the St Helens Reporter dubbed "the biggest industrial disaster to hit St. Helens since the General Strike". After five weeks the dispute turned nasty, with the newspaper writing: "A heatwave of violence, bringing bloodshed, fear and anguish, has ripped a scar across the once-peaceful glass strike."
The then Mayor of St Helens, Tom Wilcock, pleaded: "For God's sake, let us settle these differences. This town has never known a strike like this – and let us hope we will never have to suffer the bitterness and hardship of another one." It was probably a coincidence that Pilkington's announcement this week of a major reform of their workers' wage structure coincided with the anniversary. However their 10,000 shop-floor workers may have wondered if the deal had come a year earlier, the town might have been spared the devastating strike.
In 1970 those at the lowest end of the pay scale claimed to have been only earning £12 a week before the strikers won a 10% rise. Under the proposed new pay structure, the basic wage for males over 18 would be £20 a week, with £16.80 for women – with sexual discrimination over pay then blatantly baked into such deals. There were various other changes proposed as well, including an improved system of shift, overtime and bonus payments and simpler job evaluation differentials. These changes – negotiated by the company and the General and Municipal Workers' Union after 11 days of talks – would now be put to a vote in a union ballot of members.
The inquest on Elizabeth Kugh of Frederick Street in Sutton was held on the 31st. The 61-year-old had tragically died after her cardigan caught fire on Christmas Day while cooking her dinner.
In writing how Burtonwood Parish Council was seeking land in Collins Green for a children's playing field, the Liverpool Echo on the 31st wrote: "Every parish councillor is out searching for a site." What really? The councillors were all roaming the streets on the hunt for a strip of land? Councillor Alice Fairclough told the paper: "It is just impossible to get anywhere. We have tried first one place and then another, but the result is always the same. We just cannot get a place."
An advertising feature on new homes in the Formby Times on the 31st included ones priced from £3,700 being built in Sutton Manor by the Sefton Building Company: "At St. Helens fine family houses are available on the fringe of the green belt. These are three-bedroomed semi-detached homes, situated at Chester Lane and Sutton Manor. Although in a country atmosphere, they are near to the main St. Helens – Widnes road, the A568, and an excellent bus service runs into St. Helens every 20 minutes. Adequate shopping facilities and schools are also situated in this pleasant area."
On the 3rd, with the lads still being cared for in hospital, the school's headmaster, Brother Leonard, told the press: "I understand that one of the senior boys brought his mother's sleeping tablets to school and passed them round. The boys took large doses, apparently as a dare." The overdoses had considerably alarmed the school governors who would meet next week to decide what steps to take – as Brother Leonard explained: "A meeting of the school governors will be held to discuss this matter and to decide upon any disciplinary action that might be taken."
On the 2nd a welder from Tennyson Street in Sutton Manor appeared in a Wigan magistrates court after running wild in two hospitals while high on amphetamine. The 20-year-old had smashed two windows, damaged a door and let off a fire extinguisher in what he claimed was a vendetta against drug makers. He told the police: "A man gave me some pills and he said that if I took them I would get some good vibrations. I thought I was taking it out on the people who make drugs. I am very sorry for the damage I did."
On the 3rd Peter Lacy of Ada Street and Anthony Atherton of Harris Street appeared before the magistrates at St Helens for selling solid fuel under weight. Their employers, the National Coal Board, were also charged. An inspector of weights and measures had made a spot check on the 42 sacks of coal on their lorry and found all but two were underweight. Lacy and Atherton told the court that the trouble arose when two bags fell off the lorry and the others became tilted when the load slid on a hill. The summonses against the NCB were dismissed but the men were both fined £5 on each of nine summonses, making a total of £45 each.
Two sad deaths were investigated at separate inquest hearings in Ashton-in-Makerfield on the 3rd. Dr Charles Hyde, who until five months earlier had been in practice, had shot himself with his .22 rifle. Mrs Hyde insisted that her husband had been cheerful with no worries and had never talked of taking his own life. However a pathologist said that in his view the 73-year-old doctor – who had been shot through the head – must have killed himself.
"He must have had the muzzle of the rifle in his mouth. It could not have happened any other way," he added. The coroner thought Dr Hyde could have committed suicide through being forced to retire sooner than planned owing to arthritis in his hands and knees. "Someone who has always led a very active life can find that retirement comes as a very great anti-climax," he said.
And Barbara Bailey had died from a rare complication after having an operation at Billinge Hospital to enable the 23-year-old to bear another child. The pathologist told her inquest that death had been due to dilutation of the intestines – a post-operational complication that few people ever contracted. He added: "It is one of the risks of surgery. It's very unusual for someone to die from it. The operation itself was clean and healthy, and was technically perfect."
What was described as "two star studded soccer teams" met at Ruskin Drive on the 4th to raise money for the Liverpool and District Multiple Sclerosis Society. Included in the sides were actors from a number of TV shows including 'Coronation Street', 'The Dustbin Men', 'Family at War' and 'Parkin's Patch'.
And finally vandalism in Liverpool had been a hot topic this week in the Echo, with this letter from "K.H.A." of Maghull arguing that corporal punishment was the solution to yobbish behaviour:
"Sir. – I am sure Liverpool is the worst city in England for vandalism, litter and loutish behaviour. The city authorities have recently appointed a young man who is to study the reasons for anti-social activities, but there is only one way to prevent vandalism and crimes of violence – physical punishment. I have friends who have recently returned from a holiday in Spain, where they have a dictator. They tell me one can walk about in Madrid or Barcelona at midnight without any fear of being molested – that is something we cannot do in Liverpool.
"Crimes of violence go up and up each year – vandalism is growing and will continue to grow until our police are backed up by the courts by realistic sentences. I am Liverpool born and bred – l was proud of my city, now I am tired of making excuses for it. I am sick of a city where eight out of ten public phones are out of order because of vandalism. Liverpool was a city of character – now it is a city noted for vandals, violence and strikes.
"Walk around Liverpool 8. Look at the once beautiful houses in the Falkner Square area and see the decadence and dirt. Pay a visit to any tower block in the city and draw your own conclusions. The whole city is an eyesore from Everton to Dingle – I can't believe any other city is quite as bad. The people of Liverpool are the greatest (that's why I like it here) but the yobs are taking over. In a very short time it will be too late."
Next week's stories will include the severe action taken by West Park governors over the sleeping pills incident, the party of 45 French schoolchildren at Billinge, the brave Haydock policemen and an invitation to join the Easter Parade and buy a new home.
This week's many stories include a major new Pilkington pay deal, the West Park schoolboys who took an overdose of sleeping pills, inquests are held into three tragedies and the men heavily fined for selling solid fuel under weight.
We begin on the 30th with a photo of Sutton Juniors football team in the St Helens Newspaper. The caption read:
"The Sutton Juniors side, which has reached the semi-finals of the Ford Cup competition."
A separate photo of another bunch of boys bore the caption:
"Likely lads… Sherdley Rovers and Sutton Juniors combined team, fast making headway among the younger schoolboy soccer sides. Back row (l to r): G. Fuller, G. Shawbins, G. Kane, I. Taylor, I. Haverty, K. Hallard and N. Roberts. Front (l to r): W. Johnson, M. Morris, K. Mellor, I. Johnson, M. Nuttall and J. Nuttall."
This week was the first anniversary of Eric Burrows' mistake in the wages department of Pilkingtons that triggered last year's glass strike.
The innocent error by the 64-year-old clerk from Parr was seized upon by militants and used as a pretext to create what the St Helens Reporter dubbed "the biggest industrial disaster to hit St. Helens since the General Strike".
After five weeks the dispute turned nasty, with the newspaper writing:
"A heatwave of violence, bringing bloodshed, fear and anguish, has ripped a scar across the once-peaceful glass strike."
The then Mayor of St Helens, Tom Wilcock, pleaded: "For God's sake, let us settle these differences. This town has never known a strike like this – and let us hope we will never have to suffer the bitterness and hardship of another one."
It was probably a coincidence that Pilkington's announcement this week of a major reform of their workers' wage structure coincided with the anniversary.
However their 10,000 shop-floor workers may have wondered if the deal had come a year earlier, the town might have been spared the devastating strike.
In 1970 those at the lowest end of the pay scale claimed to have been only earning £12 a week before the strikers won a 10% rise.
Under the proposed new pay structure, the basic wage for males over 18 would be £20 a week, with £16.80 for women – with sexual discrimination over pay then blatantly baked into such deals.
There were various other changes proposed as well, including an improved system of shift, overtime and bonus payments and simpler job evaluation differentials.
These changes – negotiated by the company and the General and Municipal Workers' Union after 11 days of talks – would now be put to a vote in a union ballot of members.
The inquest on Elizabeth Kugh of Frederick Street in Sutton was held on the 31st.
The 61-year-old had tragically died after her cardigan caught fire on Christmas Day while cooking her dinner.
In writing how Burtonwood Parish Council was seeking land in Collins Green for a children's playing field, the Liverpool Echo on the 31st wrote: "Every parish councillor is out searching for a site."
What really? The councillors were all roaming the streets on the hunt for a strip of land?
Councillor Alice Fairclough told the paper: "It is just impossible to get anywhere. We have tried first one place and then another, but the result is always the same. We just cannot get a place."
An advertising feature on new homes in the Formby Times on the 31st included ones priced from £3,700 being built in Sutton Manor by the Sefton Building Company:
"At St. Helens fine family houses are available on the fringe of the green belt. These are three-bedroomed semi-detached homes, situated at Chester Lane and Sutton Manor.
"Although in a country atmosphere, they are near to the main St. Helens – Widnes road, the A568, and an excellent bus service runs into St. Helens every 20 minutes.
"Adequate shopping facilities and schools are also situated in this pleasant area."
There was an odd event during the evening of April 1st when five pupils of West Park Grammar School (pictured above) were separately rushed to hospital after complaining to their parents of severe drowsiness.
At least two of the sixth formers were reported to have been unconscious on admission.
On the following day the three lads in St Helens Hospital were stated to be "quite comfortable" and the condition of the other two in Providence Hospital was given as "satisfactory."
On the 3rd, with the lads still being cared for in hospital, the school's headmaster, Brother Leonard, told the press:
"I understand that one of the senior boys brought his mother's sleeping tablets to school and passed them round. The boys took large doses, apparently as a dare."
The overdoses had considerably alarmed the school governors who would meet next week to decide what steps to take – as Brother Leonard explained:
"A meeting of the school governors will be held to discuss this matter and to decide upon any disciplinary action that might be taken."
On the 2nd a welder from Tennyson Street in Sutton Manor appeared in a Wigan magistrates court after running wild in two hospitals while high on amphetamine.
The 20-year-old had smashed two windows, damaged a door and let off a fire extinguisher in what he claimed was a vendetta against drug makers.
He told the police: "A man gave me some pills and he said that if I took them I would get some good vibrations. I thought I was taking it out on the people who make drugs. I am very sorry for the damage I did."
On the 3rd Peter Lacy of Ada Street and Anthony Atherton of Harris Street appeared before the magistrates at St Helens for selling solid fuel under weight. Their employers, the National Coal Board, were also charged.
An inspector of weights and measures had made a spot check on the 42 sacks of coal on their lorry and found all but two were underweight.
Lacy and Atherton told the court that the trouble arose when two bags fell off the lorry and the others became tilted when the load slid on a hill.
The summonses against the NCB were dismissed but the men were both fined £5 on each of nine summonses, making a total of £45 each.
Two sad deaths were investigated at separate inquest hearings in Ashton-in-Makerfield on the 3rd.
Dr Charles Hyde, who until five months earlier had been in practice, had shot himself with his .22 rifle.
Mrs Hyde insisted that her husband had been cheerful with no worries and had never talked of taking his own life.
However a pathologist said that in his view the 73-year-old doctor – who had been shot through the head – must have killed himself.
"He must have had the muzzle of the rifle in his mouth. It could not have happened any other way," he added.
The coroner thought Dr Hyde could have committed suicide through being forced to retire sooner than planned owing to arthritis in his hands and knees.
"Someone who has always led a very active life can find that retirement comes as a very great anti-climax," he said.
And Barbara Bailey had died from a rare complication after having an operation at Billinge Hospital to enable the 23-year-old to bear another child.
The pathologist told her inquest that death had been due to dilutation of the intestines – a post-operational complication that few people ever contracted.
He added: "It is one of the risks of surgery. It's very unusual for someone to die from it. The operation itself was clean and healthy, and was technically perfect."
What was described as "two star studded soccer teams" met at Ruskin Drive on the 4th to raise money for the Liverpool and District Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Included in the sides were actors from a number of TV shows including 'Coronation Street', 'The Dustbin Men', 'Family at War' and 'Parkin's Patch'.
And finally vandalism in Liverpool had been a hot topic this week in the Echo, with this letter from "K.H.A." of Maghull arguing that corporal punishment was the solution to yobbish behaviour:
"Sir. – I am sure Liverpool is the worst city in England for vandalism, litter and loutish behaviour.
"The city authorities have recently appointed a young man who is to study the reasons for anti-social activities, but there is only one way to prevent vandalism and crimes of violence – physical punishment.
"I have friends who have recently returned from a holiday in Spain, where they have a dictator.
"They tell me one can walk about in Madrid or Barcelona at midnight without any fear of being molested – that is something we cannot do in Liverpool.
"Crimes of violence go up and up each year – vandalism is growing and will continue to grow until our police are backed up by the courts by realistic sentences.
"I am Liverpool born and bred – l was proud of my city, now I am tired of making excuses for it.
"I am sick of a city where eight out of ten public phones are out of order because of vandalism.
"Liverpool was a city of character – now it is a city noted for vandals, violence and strikes.
"Walk around Liverpool 8. Look at the once beautiful houses in the Falkner Square area and see the decadence and dirt.
"Pay a visit to any tower block in the city and draw your own conclusions.
"The whole city is an eyesore from Everton to Dingle – I can't believe any other city is quite as bad.
"The people of Liverpool are the greatest (that's why I like it here) but the yobs are taking over. In a very short time it will be too late."
Next week's stories will include the severe action taken by West Park governors over the sleeping pills incident, the party of 45 French schoolchildren at Billinge, the brave Haydock policemen and an invitation to join the Easter Parade and buy a new home.
We begin on the 30th with a photo of Sutton Juniors football team in the St Helens Newspaper. The caption read:
"The Sutton Juniors side, which has reached the semi-finals of the Ford Cup competition."
A separate photo of another bunch of boys bore the caption:
"Likely lads… Sherdley Rovers and Sutton Juniors combined team, fast making headway among the younger schoolboy soccer sides. Back row (l to r): G. Fuller, G. Shawbins, G. Kane, I. Taylor, I. Haverty, K. Hallard and N. Roberts. Front (l to r): W. Johnson, M. Morris, K. Mellor, I. Johnson, M. Nuttall and J. Nuttall."
This week was the first anniversary of Eric Burrows' mistake in the wages department of Pilkingtons that triggered last year's glass strike.
The innocent error by the 64-year-old clerk from Parr was seized upon by militants and used as a pretext to create what the St Helens Reporter dubbed "the biggest industrial disaster to hit St. Helens since the General Strike".
After five weeks the dispute turned nasty, with the newspaper writing:
"A heatwave of violence, bringing bloodshed, fear and anguish, has ripped a scar across the once-peaceful glass strike."
The then Mayor of St Helens, Tom Wilcock, pleaded: "For God's sake, let us settle these differences. This town has never known a strike like this – and let us hope we will never have to suffer the bitterness and hardship of another one."
It was probably a coincidence that Pilkington's announcement this week of a major reform of their workers' wage structure coincided with the anniversary.
However their 10,000 shop-floor workers may have wondered if the deal had come a year earlier, the town might have been spared the devastating strike.
In 1970 those at the lowest end of the pay scale claimed to have been only earning £12 a week before the strikers won a 10% rise.
Under the proposed new pay structure, the basic wage for males over 18 would be £20 a week, with £16.80 for women – with sexual discrimination over pay then blatantly baked into such deals.
There were various other changes proposed as well, including an improved system of shift, overtime and bonus payments and simpler job evaluation differentials.
These changes – negotiated by the company and the General and Municipal Workers' Union after 11 days of talks – would now be put to a vote in a union ballot of members.
The inquest on Elizabeth Kugh of Frederick Street in Sutton was held on the 31st.
The 61-year-old had tragically died after her cardigan caught fire on Christmas Day while cooking her dinner.
In writing how Burtonwood Parish Council was seeking land in Collins Green for a children's playing field, the Liverpool Echo on the 31st wrote: "Every parish councillor is out searching for a site."
What really? The councillors were all roaming the streets on the hunt for a strip of land?
Councillor Alice Fairclough told the paper: "It is just impossible to get anywhere. We have tried first one place and then another, but the result is always the same. We just cannot get a place."
An advertising feature on new homes in the Formby Times on the 31st included ones priced from £3,700 being built in Sutton Manor by the Sefton Building Company:
"At St. Helens fine family houses are available on the fringe of the green belt. These are three-bedroomed semi-detached homes, situated at Chester Lane and Sutton Manor.
"Although in a country atmosphere, they are near to the main St. Helens – Widnes road, the A568, and an excellent bus service runs into St. Helens every 20 minutes.
"Adequate shopping facilities and schools are also situated in this pleasant area."
At least two of the sixth formers were reported to have been unconscious on admission.
On the following day the three lads in St Helens Hospital were stated to be "quite comfortable" and the condition of the other two in Providence Hospital was given as "satisfactory."
On the 3rd, with the lads still being cared for in hospital, the school's headmaster, Brother Leonard, told the press:
"I understand that one of the senior boys brought his mother's sleeping tablets to school and passed them round. The boys took large doses, apparently as a dare."
The overdoses had considerably alarmed the school governors who would meet next week to decide what steps to take – as Brother Leonard explained:
"A meeting of the school governors will be held to discuss this matter and to decide upon any disciplinary action that might be taken."
On the 2nd a welder from Tennyson Street in Sutton Manor appeared in a Wigan magistrates court after running wild in two hospitals while high on amphetamine.
The 20-year-old had smashed two windows, damaged a door and let off a fire extinguisher in what he claimed was a vendetta against drug makers.
He told the police: "A man gave me some pills and he said that if I took them I would get some good vibrations. I thought I was taking it out on the people who make drugs. I am very sorry for the damage I did."
On the 3rd Peter Lacy of Ada Street and Anthony Atherton of Harris Street appeared before the magistrates at St Helens for selling solid fuel under weight. Their employers, the National Coal Board, were also charged.
An inspector of weights and measures had made a spot check on the 42 sacks of coal on their lorry and found all but two were underweight.
Lacy and Atherton told the court that the trouble arose when two bags fell off the lorry and the others became tilted when the load slid on a hill.
The summonses against the NCB were dismissed but the men were both fined £5 on each of nine summonses, making a total of £45 each.
Two sad deaths were investigated at separate inquest hearings in Ashton-in-Makerfield on the 3rd.
Dr Charles Hyde, who until five months earlier had been in practice, had shot himself with his .22 rifle.
Mrs Hyde insisted that her husband had been cheerful with no worries and had never talked of taking his own life.
However a pathologist said that in his view the 73-year-old doctor – who had been shot through the head – must have killed himself.
"He must have had the muzzle of the rifle in his mouth. It could not have happened any other way," he added.
The coroner thought Dr Hyde could have committed suicide through being forced to retire sooner than planned owing to arthritis in his hands and knees.
"Someone who has always led a very active life can find that retirement comes as a very great anti-climax," he said.
And Barbara Bailey had died from a rare complication after having an operation at Billinge Hospital to enable the 23-year-old to bear another child.
The pathologist told her inquest that death had been due to dilutation of the intestines – a post-operational complication that few people ever contracted.
He added: "It is one of the risks of surgery. It's very unusual for someone to die from it. The operation itself was clean and healthy, and was technically perfect."
What was described as "two star studded soccer teams" met at Ruskin Drive on the 4th to raise money for the Liverpool and District Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Included in the sides were actors from a number of TV shows including 'Coronation Street', 'The Dustbin Men', 'Family at War' and 'Parkin's Patch'.
And finally vandalism in Liverpool had been a hot topic this week in the Echo, with this letter from "K.H.A." of Maghull arguing that corporal punishment was the solution to yobbish behaviour:
"Sir. – I am sure Liverpool is the worst city in England for vandalism, litter and loutish behaviour.
"The city authorities have recently appointed a young man who is to study the reasons for anti-social activities, but there is only one way to prevent vandalism and crimes of violence – physical punishment.
"I have friends who have recently returned from a holiday in Spain, where they have a dictator.
"They tell me one can walk about in Madrid or Barcelona at midnight without any fear of being molested – that is something we cannot do in Liverpool.
"Crimes of violence go up and up each year – vandalism is growing and will continue to grow until our police are backed up by the courts by realistic sentences.
"I am Liverpool born and bred – l was proud of my city, now I am tired of making excuses for it.
"I am sick of a city where eight out of ten public phones are out of order because of vandalism.
"Liverpool was a city of character – now it is a city noted for vandals, violence and strikes.
"Walk around Liverpool 8. Look at the once beautiful houses in the Falkner Square area and see the decadence and dirt.
"Pay a visit to any tower block in the city and draw your own conclusions.
"The whole city is an eyesore from Everton to Dingle – I can't believe any other city is quite as bad.
"The people of Liverpool are the greatest (that's why I like it here) but the yobs are taking over. In a very short time it will be too late."
Next week's stories will include the severe action taken by West Park governors over the sleeping pills incident, the party of 45 French schoolchildren at Billinge, the brave Haydock policemen and an invitation to join the Easter Parade and buy a new home.