FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (29th JUNE - 5th JULY 1970)
This week's 19 stories include the "I'm Alright, Jack" attitude of factory workers in St Helens, the town's ambulance crews go on strike, St Helens pubs call new fruit machine laws "diabolical" and there is a feature on garages in the Reporter.
We begin on the 30th when the Government announced that they were lifting restrictions on the sale of council houses. However St Helens Council stated that none of their stock of 12,000 homes would be made available for their tenants to buy.
Late on July 1st St Helens ambulance crews went on strike after hearing that the council's Health Committee had refused to meet their demands. They wanted the FAP (Federation of Ambulance Personnel) to be recognised as their official union in St Helens and a refund of wages to attendant Louis Barr. He had been suspended for 2½ days on half pay after being accused of refusing to clean out a drain.
On the following morning ambulance crews turned up at their Jackson Street depot (pictured above) prepared to respond to 999 calls. However they claimed their bosses would not let them enter the building until later in the day after the town's Medical Officer of Health had stepped into the row. Dr Julian Baines told the superintendents to let the strikers handle emergency calls and the 26 ambulance men then drew up a round-the-clock rota. As a result of the strike the ambulance outpatients service to hospitals was badly reduced, affecting about 100 cases a day.
This week St Helens Recs Rugby Union Club announced they were changing their name to Ruskin Park RFC. That was because of confusion with the similarly named amateur rugby league side and the Moss Lane Rugby Union club.
The first Thursday in July was always the 'Traders Holiday' in St Helens. Virtually all shops closed for the whole day (instead of the usual half-day) and staff went on coach excursions. This year it fell on July 2nd and even many post offices closed. However what was known as the central Post Office in Church Street remained open, as did sub-post-offices outside the borough boundaries.
Haydock Council met on that day and heard criticism from Councillor Reginald Shaw of a shortage of space in local infant schools. The councillors were also asking the police to keep a close watch on the Park Street Fields because of complaints of "blue language" being used. Mothers of young children had complained to them about swearing by older kids and adults.
On the 3rd the St Helens Reporter covered the story of Alan Varley on their front page. The 9-year-old from Newlands Road was recovering from a major heart operation and was a massive Manchester United fan. When winger Willy Morgan heard about Alan, he sent him autographed photos of the team and was arranging a VIP day out at one of the Manchester derby games.
The paper also described anger in the town about new gaming laws that were affecting fruit machines. This story has some similarity with the recent changes to fixed odds betting terminals in bookies. Ben McHugh, manager of the Fleece, told the Reporter that the new regulations would "cripple" takings from the two machines inside his Church Street hotel. "It is hardly worth having the machines, as takings will be reduced by 80 per cent", added Ben. "But we shall leave them in for the few customers who still want to play."
There were a total of 115 fruit machines in hotels, pubs, clubs and amusement arcades within St Helens. Tom Cowing, licensee of the Golden Lion in Rainford, said: "I think this new law is diabolical. I had my machines changed over a week ago and now no one goes near them. They are just in the way and I think the companies who own them will have to get rid of them." The new regulations stipulated a limit of 5 shillings as the top prize and prevented players from boosting their chances of getting a winning line.
Foster's florists had a notice in the paper informing readers that they'd transferred from Hardshaw Street to 41 Ormskirk Street. Thomas Foster also had premises at 37 Westfield Street and claimed to have been established since 1842.
The Reporter stated that the police in St Helens were complaining about the behaviour of bike owning factory workers. Almost all the half dozen reports of cycle thefts each month that the police received came from workmen who had left their bikes in cycle sheds. These often stored as many as a couple of hundred bikes and when the men finished work they would sometimes find their machine missing. It might simply have been moved or misplaced but instead of conducting a thorough search, the worker would often just take the next bike in the rack.
The owner of that machine might do the same when he found it missing and in most cases the "stolen" cycle or cycles would be back in the rack within a few days. However until then the police had to waste time investigating. Chief Inspector Bob Moores, head of St Helens CID, said: "It's a question of “I'm alright, Jack”. Something like the army – If somebody grabs your blanket you take the next man's."
Mr Moores added that a dozen cars a month were reported stolen in St Helens, mainly from the town centre. The quarterly report of the Lancashire Chief Constable was also released this week and stated that car and cycle thefts and stealing from parked vehicles now accounted for 25% of all crime in the county (including St Helens).
Talking of cars there was a feature on garages in the Reporter this week. Those advertising included the Carr Mill Used Car Sales Service Centre, who dealt with exhaust systems "while you wait". Prices quoted were Minis £3 10s, Imps from £3 9s, Ford Anglia and Morris 1100 from £5. There were also "coach builders" Norman Ledwith from Sutton Road, Kings Garage of Station Road, Haydock, the Sutton Motor Company of Fisher Street, Wilber Motors of Sutton Road (offering "Crypton electronic tune up") and Enfield Street Garage, off Prescot Road ("specialists in servicing and repairing all types of Renault cars"). And the California Car Wash on Lock Street, off Merton Bank Road, "Fully automatic – No Waiting" – Only 4/- open 7 days a week".
I wonder if anyone uses telex anymore? The Reporter wrote that Liverpool’s telex service was continuing to expand with 921 lines at the end of May, an increase of 11% in 12 months.
"We’re Backing Bold" and "Join the Pace Makers at Parkside Colliery" were the titles of two adverts in the paper as the National Coal Board tried to persuade ex-miners to return to their jobs.
Six-year-old Dawn Rimmer was pictured in the Reporter's Snoopy Club with her 18-month-old St Bernard dog called Baron. He was a big 'un at 32 inches high and Dawn at 4ft wasn't that much bigger! The Snoopy Club was for children aged between four and eleven. It had been founded in March and now boasted over 400 members, many from outside St Helens – including abroad.
The Reporter also described how "three Rainford dolly-birds" had been selected for the final of the village’s Carnival Queen Contest after winning the first qualifying heat. They were Carol Haworth (14) of Heyes Avenue, Grace Foster (16) of Church Road and Sharon Christian (14) of Muncaster Drive. One of the judges was Warrington-born Barbara Law, who in her career sang on more than 500 BBC broadcasts and in 1961 had been voted TV Personality of the Year.
In April Terence Lennon had rung up Maclean and Appleton's garage to discover if his Rolls Royce was ready for collection after being serviced. The receptionist at the Prescot Road garage had to break the news that his £12,000 white Silver Shadow had been driven away several hours earlier. A man had imitated the millionaire businessman's voice over the telephone and told the garage he'd send someone to collect his custom-built car.
Within hours of the theft Interpol had been alerted but the police believed that international racketeers could have already taken the car abroad. However it never got any further than Harrogate and on the 4th two men appeared in St Helens Magistrates Court charged in connection with the theft and they were committed for trial at the Liverpool Quarter Sessions. In September one man would receive a two-year prison sentence and the other a conditional discharge.
It was the Herbert Street Independent Methodist Church of Sutton's annual walking day on the 4th, although they had to endure rain. During the evening the St Helens branch of the English Folk Dance and Song Society held a country dance at Nutgrove School with local band The Poachers performing (pictured above). The country dance band was led by Roy Hordley on fiddle and accordion. For around forty years the group played all over the North West at countless barn dances, ceilidhs etc.
And finally on the 5th the council's 'Bands In Parks' series continued with a performance in Sherdley Park by the Liverpool Premier Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra. It sounds like an interesting ensemble, although a Google search for them draws a blank.
Next week's stories will include the Pilkington post-strike neurosis, the juvenile delinquents that went outside of the borough for the first time, striking St Helens ambulance crews are threatened with the sack and bus fares are set to rise because of decimalisation.
We begin on the 30th when the Government announced that they were lifting restrictions on the sale of council houses. However St Helens Council stated that none of their stock of 12,000 homes would be made available for their tenants to buy.
Late on July 1st St Helens ambulance crews went on strike after hearing that the council's Health Committee had refused to meet their demands. They wanted the FAP (Federation of Ambulance Personnel) to be recognised as their official union in St Helens and a refund of wages to attendant Louis Barr. He had been suspended for 2½ days on half pay after being accused of refusing to clean out a drain.
This week St Helens Recs Rugby Union Club announced they were changing their name to Ruskin Park RFC. That was because of confusion with the similarly named amateur rugby league side and the Moss Lane Rugby Union club.
The first Thursday in July was always the 'Traders Holiday' in St Helens. Virtually all shops closed for the whole day (instead of the usual half-day) and staff went on coach excursions. This year it fell on July 2nd and even many post offices closed. However what was known as the central Post Office in Church Street remained open, as did sub-post-offices outside the borough boundaries.
Haydock Council met on that day and heard criticism from Councillor Reginald Shaw of a shortage of space in local infant schools. The councillors were also asking the police to keep a close watch on the Park Street Fields because of complaints of "blue language" being used. Mothers of young children had complained to them about swearing by older kids and adults.
On the 3rd the St Helens Reporter covered the story of Alan Varley on their front page. The 9-year-old from Newlands Road was recovering from a major heart operation and was a massive Manchester United fan. When winger Willy Morgan heard about Alan, he sent him autographed photos of the team and was arranging a VIP day out at one of the Manchester derby games.
The paper also described anger in the town about new gaming laws that were affecting fruit machines. This story has some similarity with the recent changes to fixed odds betting terminals in bookies. Ben McHugh, manager of the Fleece, told the Reporter that the new regulations would "cripple" takings from the two machines inside his Church Street hotel. "It is hardly worth having the machines, as takings will be reduced by 80 per cent", added Ben. "But we shall leave them in for the few customers who still want to play."
There were a total of 115 fruit machines in hotels, pubs, clubs and amusement arcades within St Helens. Tom Cowing, licensee of the Golden Lion in Rainford, said: "I think this new law is diabolical. I had my machines changed over a week ago and now no one goes near them. They are just in the way and I think the companies who own them will have to get rid of them." The new regulations stipulated a limit of 5 shillings as the top prize and prevented players from boosting their chances of getting a winning line.
Foster's florists had a notice in the paper informing readers that they'd transferred from Hardshaw Street to 41 Ormskirk Street. Thomas Foster also had premises at 37 Westfield Street and claimed to have been established since 1842.
The Reporter stated that the police in St Helens were complaining about the behaviour of bike owning factory workers. Almost all the half dozen reports of cycle thefts each month that the police received came from workmen who had left their bikes in cycle sheds. These often stored as many as a couple of hundred bikes and when the men finished work they would sometimes find their machine missing. It might simply have been moved or misplaced but instead of conducting a thorough search, the worker would often just take the next bike in the rack.
The owner of that machine might do the same when he found it missing and in most cases the "stolen" cycle or cycles would be back in the rack within a few days. However until then the police had to waste time investigating. Chief Inspector Bob Moores, head of St Helens CID, said: "It's a question of “I'm alright, Jack”. Something like the army – If somebody grabs your blanket you take the next man's."
Mr Moores added that a dozen cars a month were reported stolen in St Helens, mainly from the town centre. The quarterly report of the Lancashire Chief Constable was also released this week and stated that car and cycle thefts and stealing from parked vehicles now accounted for 25% of all crime in the county (including St Helens).
Talking of cars there was a feature on garages in the Reporter this week. Those advertising included the Carr Mill Used Car Sales Service Centre, who dealt with exhaust systems "while you wait". Prices quoted were Minis £3 10s, Imps from £3 9s, Ford Anglia and Morris 1100 from £5. There were also "coach builders" Norman Ledwith from Sutton Road, Kings Garage of Station Road, Haydock, the Sutton Motor Company of Fisher Street, Wilber Motors of Sutton Road (offering "Crypton electronic tune up") and Enfield Street Garage, off Prescot Road ("specialists in servicing and repairing all types of Renault cars"). And the California Car Wash on Lock Street, off Merton Bank Road, "Fully automatic – No Waiting" – Only 4/- open 7 days a week".
I wonder if anyone uses telex anymore? The Reporter wrote that Liverpool’s telex service was continuing to expand with 921 lines at the end of May, an increase of 11% in 12 months.
"We’re Backing Bold" and "Join the Pace Makers at Parkside Colliery" were the titles of two adverts in the paper as the National Coal Board tried to persuade ex-miners to return to their jobs.
Six-year-old Dawn Rimmer was pictured in the Reporter's Snoopy Club with her 18-month-old St Bernard dog called Baron. He was a big 'un at 32 inches high and Dawn at 4ft wasn't that much bigger! The Snoopy Club was for children aged between four and eleven. It had been founded in March and now boasted over 400 members, many from outside St Helens – including abroad.
The Reporter also described how "three Rainford dolly-birds" had been selected for the final of the village’s Carnival Queen Contest after winning the first qualifying heat. They were Carol Haworth (14) of Heyes Avenue, Grace Foster (16) of Church Road and Sharon Christian (14) of Muncaster Drive. One of the judges was Warrington-born Barbara Law, who in her career sang on more than 500 BBC broadcasts and in 1961 had been voted TV Personality of the Year.
In April Terence Lennon had rung up Maclean and Appleton's garage to discover if his Rolls Royce was ready for collection after being serviced. The receptionist at the Prescot Road garage had to break the news that his £12,000 white Silver Shadow had been driven away several hours earlier. A man had imitated the millionaire businessman's voice over the telephone and told the garage he'd send someone to collect his custom-built car.
Within hours of the theft Interpol had been alerted but the police believed that international racketeers could have already taken the car abroad. However it never got any further than Harrogate and on the 4th two men appeared in St Helens Magistrates Court charged in connection with the theft and they were committed for trial at the Liverpool Quarter Sessions. In September one man would receive a two-year prison sentence and the other a conditional discharge.
And finally on the 5th the council's 'Bands In Parks' series continued with a performance in Sherdley Park by the Liverpool Premier Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra. It sounds like an interesting ensemble, although a Google search for them draws a blank.
Next week's stories will include the Pilkington post-strike neurosis, the juvenile delinquents that went outside of the borough for the first time, striking St Helens ambulance crews are threatened with the sack and bus fares are set to rise because of decimalisation.
This week's 19 stories include the "I'm Alright, Jack" attitude of factory workers in St Helens, the town's ambulance crews go on strike, St Helens pubs call new fruit machine laws "diabolical" and there is a feature on garages in the Reporter.
We begin on the 30th when the Government announced that they were lifting restrictions on the sale of council houses.
However St Helens Council stated that none of their stock of 12,000 homes would be made available for their tenants to buy.
Late on July 1st St Helens ambulance crews went on strike after hearing that the council's Health Committee had refused to meet their demands.
They wanted the FAP (Federation of Ambulance Personnel) to be recognised as their official union in St Helens and a refund of wages to attendant Louis Barr.
He had been suspended for 2½ days on half pay after being accused of refusing to clean out a drain.
On the following morning ambulance crews turned up at their Jackson Street depot (pictured above) prepared to respond to 999 calls.
However they claimed their bosses would not let them enter the building until later in the day after the town's Medical Officer of Health had stepped into the row.
Dr Julian Baines told the superintendents to let the strikers handle emergency calls and the 26 ambulance men then drew up a round-the-clock rota.
As a result of the strike the ambulance outpatients service to hospitals was badly reduced, affecting about 100 cases a day.
This week St Helens Recs Rugby Union Club announced they were changing their name to Ruskin Park RFC.
That was because of confusion with the similarly named amateur rugby league side and the Moss Lane Rugby Union club.
The first Thursday in July was always the 'Traders Holiday' in St Helens.
Virtually all shops closed for the whole day (instead of the usual half-day) and staff went on coach excursions.
This year it fell on July 2nd and even many post offices closed.
However what was known as the central Post Office in Church Street remained open, as did sub-post-offices outside the borough boundaries.
Haydock Council met on that day and heard criticism from Councillor Reginald Shaw of a shortage of space in local infant schools.
The councillors were also asking the police to keep a close watch on the Park Street Fields because of complaints of "blue language" being used.
Mothers of young children had complained to them about swearing by older kids and adults.
On the 3rd the St Helens Reporter covered the story of Alan Varley on their front page.
The 9-year-old from Newlands Road was recovering from a major heart operation and was a massive Manchester United fan.
When winger Willy Morgan heard about Alan, he sent him autographed photos of the team and was arranging a VIP day out at one of the Manchester derby games.
The paper also described anger in the town about new gaming laws that were affecting fruit machines.
This story has some similarity with the recent changes to fixed odds betting terminals in bookies.
Ben McHugh, manager of the Fleece, told the Reporter that the new regulations would "cripple" takings from the two machines inside his Church Street hotel.
"It is hardly worth having the machines, as takings will be reduced by 80 per cent", added Ben. "But we shall leave them in for the few customers who still want to play."
There were a total of 115 fruit machines in hotels, pubs, clubs and amusement arcades within St Helens. Tom Cowing, licensee of the Golden Lion in Rainford, said:
"I think this new law is diabolical. I had my machines changed over a week ago and now no one goes near them. They are just in the way and I think the companies who own them will have to get rid of them."
The new regulations stipulated a limit of 5 shillings as the top prize and prevented players from boosting their chances of getting a winning line.
Foster's florists had a notice in the paper informing readers that they'd transferred from Hardshaw Street to 41 Ormskirk Street.
Thomas Foster also had premises at 37 Westfield Street and claimed to have been established since 1842.
The Reporter stated that the police in St Helens were complaining about the behaviour of bike owning factory workers.
Almost all the half dozen reports of cycle thefts each month that the police received came from workmen who had left their bikes in cycle sheds.
These often stored as many as a couple of hundred bikes and when the men finished work they would sometimes find their machine missing.
It might simply have been moved or misplaced but instead of conducting a thorough search, the worker would often just take the next bike in the rack.
The owner of that machine might do the same when he found it missing and in most cases the "stolen" cycle or cycles would be back in the rack within a few days.
However until then the police had to waste time investigating.
Chief Inspector Bob Moores, head of St Helens CID, said: "It's a question of “I'm alright, Jack”. Something like the army – If somebody grabs your blanket you take the next man's."
Mr Moores added that a dozen cars a month were reported stolen in St Helens, mainly from the town centre.
The quarterly report of the Lancashire Chief Constable was also released this week and stated that car and cycle thefts and stealing from parked vehicles now accounted for 25% of all crime in the county (including St Helens).
Talking of cars there was a feature on garages in the Reporter this week.
Those advertising included the Carr Mill Used Car Sales Service Centre, who dealt with exhaust systems "while you wait".
Prices quoted were Minis £3 10s, Imps from £3 9s, Ford Anglia and Morris 1100 from £5.
There were also "coach builders" Norman Ledwith from Sutton Road, Kings Garage of Station Road, Haydock, the Sutton Motor Company of Fisher Street and Wilber Motors of Sutton Road (offering "Crypton electronic tune up”).
And Enfield Street Garage, off Prescot Road, ("specialists in servicing and repairing all types of Renault cars”) and the California Car Wash on Lock Street, off Merton Bank Road, "Fully automatic – No Waiting" – Only 4/- open 7 days a week".
I wonder if anyone uses telex anymore? The Reporter wrote that Liverpool’s telex service was continuing to expand with 921 lines at the end of May, an increase of 11% in 12 months.
"We’re Backing Bold" and "Join the Pace Makers at Parkside Colliery" were the titles of two adverts in the paper as the National Coal Board tried to persuade ex-miners to return to their jobs.
Six-year-old Dawn Rimmer was pictured in the Reporter's Snoopy Club with her 18-month-old St Bernard dog called Baron.
He was a big 'un at 32 inches high and Dawn at 4ft wasn't that much bigger!
The Snoopy Club was for children aged between four and eleven. It had been founded in March and now boasted over 400 members, many from outside St Helens – including abroad.
The Reporter also described how "three Rainford dolly-birds" had been selected for the final of the village’s Carnival Queen Contest after winning the first qualifying heat.
They were Carol Haworth (14) of Heyes Avenue, Grace Foster (16) of Church Road and Sharon Christian (14) of Muncaster Drive.
One of the judges was Warrington-born Barbara Law, who in her career sang on more than 500 BBC broadcasts and in 1961 had been voted TV Personality of the Year.
In April Terence Lennon had rung up Maclean and Appleton's garage to discover if his Rolls Royce was ready for collection after being serviced.
The receptionist at the Prescot Road garage had to break the news that his £12,000 white Silver Shadow had been driven away several hours earlier.
A man had imitated the millionaire businessman's voice over the telephone and told the garage he'd send someone to collect his custom-built car.
Within hours of the theft Interpol had been alerted but the police believed that international racketeers could have already taken the car abroad.
However it never got any further than Harrogate and on the 4th two men appeared in St Helens Magistrates Court charged in connection with the theft and they were committed for trial at the Liverpool Quarter Sessions.
In September one man would receive a two-year prison sentence and the other a conditional discharge.
It was the Herbert Street Independent Methodist Church of Sutton's annual walking day on the 4th, although they had to endure rain.
During the evening the St Helens branch of the English Folk Dance and Song Society held a country dance at Nutgrove School with local band The Poachers performing (pictured above).
The country dance band was led by Roy Hordley on fiddle and accordion.
For around forty years the group played all over the North West at countless barn dances, ceilidhs etc.
And finally on the 5th the council's 'Bands In Parks' series continued with a performance in Sherdley Park by the Liverpool Premier Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra.
It sounds like an interesting ensemble, although a Google search for them draws a blank.
Next week's stories will include the Pilkington post-strike neurosis, the juvenile delinquents that went outside of the borough for the first time, striking St Helens ambulance crews are threatened with the sack and bus fares are set to rise because of decimalisation.
We begin on the 30th when the Government announced that they were lifting restrictions on the sale of council houses.
However St Helens Council stated that none of their stock of 12,000 homes would be made available for their tenants to buy.
Late on July 1st St Helens ambulance crews went on strike after hearing that the council's Health Committee had refused to meet their demands.
They wanted the FAP (Federation of Ambulance Personnel) to be recognised as their official union in St Helens and a refund of wages to attendant Louis Barr.
He had been suspended for 2½ days on half pay after being accused of refusing to clean out a drain.
However they claimed their bosses would not let them enter the building until later in the day after the town's Medical Officer of Health had stepped into the row.
Dr Julian Baines told the superintendents to let the strikers handle emergency calls and the 26 ambulance men then drew up a round-the-clock rota.
As a result of the strike the ambulance outpatients service to hospitals was badly reduced, affecting about 100 cases a day.
This week St Helens Recs Rugby Union Club announced they were changing their name to Ruskin Park RFC.
That was because of confusion with the similarly named amateur rugby league side and the Moss Lane Rugby Union club.
The first Thursday in July was always the 'Traders Holiday' in St Helens.
Virtually all shops closed for the whole day (instead of the usual half-day) and staff went on coach excursions.
This year it fell on July 2nd and even many post offices closed.
However what was known as the central Post Office in Church Street remained open, as did sub-post-offices outside the borough boundaries.
Haydock Council met on that day and heard criticism from Councillor Reginald Shaw of a shortage of space in local infant schools.
The councillors were also asking the police to keep a close watch on the Park Street Fields because of complaints of "blue language" being used.
Mothers of young children had complained to them about swearing by older kids and adults.
On the 3rd the St Helens Reporter covered the story of Alan Varley on their front page.
The 9-year-old from Newlands Road was recovering from a major heart operation and was a massive Manchester United fan.
When winger Willy Morgan heard about Alan, he sent him autographed photos of the team and was arranging a VIP day out at one of the Manchester derby games.
The paper also described anger in the town about new gaming laws that were affecting fruit machines.
This story has some similarity with the recent changes to fixed odds betting terminals in bookies.
Ben McHugh, manager of the Fleece, told the Reporter that the new regulations would "cripple" takings from the two machines inside his Church Street hotel.
"It is hardly worth having the machines, as takings will be reduced by 80 per cent", added Ben. "But we shall leave them in for the few customers who still want to play."
There were a total of 115 fruit machines in hotels, pubs, clubs and amusement arcades within St Helens. Tom Cowing, licensee of the Golden Lion in Rainford, said:
"I think this new law is diabolical. I had my machines changed over a week ago and now no one goes near them. They are just in the way and I think the companies who own them will have to get rid of them."
The new regulations stipulated a limit of 5 shillings as the top prize and prevented players from boosting their chances of getting a winning line.
Foster's florists had a notice in the paper informing readers that they'd transferred from Hardshaw Street to 41 Ormskirk Street.
Thomas Foster also had premises at 37 Westfield Street and claimed to have been established since 1842.
The Reporter stated that the police in St Helens were complaining about the behaviour of bike owning factory workers.
Almost all the half dozen reports of cycle thefts each month that the police received came from workmen who had left their bikes in cycle sheds.
These often stored as many as a couple of hundred bikes and when the men finished work they would sometimes find their machine missing.
It might simply have been moved or misplaced but instead of conducting a thorough search, the worker would often just take the next bike in the rack.
The owner of that machine might do the same when he found it missing and in most cases the "stolen" cycle or cycles would be back in the rack within a few days.
However until then the police had to waste time investigating.
Chief Inspector Bob Moores, head of St Helens CID, said: "It's a question of “I'm alright, Jack”. Something like the army – If somebody grabs your blanket you take the next man's."
Mr Moores added that a dozen cars a month were reported stolen in St Helens, mainly from the town centre.
The quarterly report of the Lancashire Chief Constable was also released this week and stated that car and cycle thefts and stealing from parked vehicles now accounted for 25% of all crime in the county (including St Helens).
Talking of cars there was a feature on garages in the Reporter this week.
Those advertising included the Carr Mill Used Car Sales Service Centre, who dealt with exhaust systems "while you wait".
Prices quoted were Minis £3 10s, Imps from £3 9s, Ford Anglia and Morris 1100 from £5.
There were also "coach builders" Norman Ledwith from Sutton Road, Kings Garage of Station Road, Haydock, the Sutton Motor Company of Fisher Street and Wilber Motors of Sutton Road (offering "Crypton electronic tune up”).
And Enfield Street Garage, off Prescot Road, ("specialists in servicing and repairing all types of Renault cars”) and the California Car Wash on Lock Street, off Merton Bank Road, "Fully automatic – No Waiting" – Only 4/- open 7 days a week".
I wonder if anyone uses telex anymore? The Reporter wrote that Liverpool’s telex service was continuing to expand with 921 lines at the end of May, an increase of 11% in 12 months.
"We’re Backing Bold" and "Join the Pace Makers at Parkside Colliery" were the titles of two adverts in the paper as the National Coal Board tried to persuade ex-miners to return to their jobs.
Six-year-old Dawn Rimmer was pictured in the Reporter's Snoopy Club with her 18-month-old St Bernard dog called Baron.
He was a big 'un at 32 inches high and Dawn at 4ft wasn't that much bigger!
The Snoopy Club was for children aged between four and eleven. It had been founded in March and now boasted over 400 members, many from outside St Helens – including abroad.
The Reporter also described how "three Rainford dolly-birds" had been selected for the final of the village’s Carnival Queen Contest after winning the first qualifying heat.
They were Carol Haworth (14) of Heyes Avenue, Grace Foster (16) of Church Road and Sharon Christian (14) of Muncaster Drive.
One of the judges was Warrington-born Barbara Law, who in her career sang on more than 500 BBC broadcasts and in 1961 had been voted TV Personality of the Year.
In April Terence Lennon had rung up Maclean and Appleton's garage to discover if his Rolls Royce was ready for collection after being serviced.
The receptionist at the Prescot Road garage had to break the news that his £12,000 white Silver Shadow had been driven away several hours earlier.
A man had imitated the millionaire businessman's voice over the telephone and told the garage he'd send someone to collect his custom-built car.
Within hours of the theft Interpol had been alerted but the police believed that international racketeers could have already taken the car abroad.
However it never got any further than Harrogate and on the 4th two men appeared in St Helens Magistrates Court charged in connection with the theft and they were committed for trial at the Liverpool Quarter Sessions.
In September one man would receive a two-year prison sentence and the other a conditional discharge.
It was the Herbert Street Independent Methodist Church of Sutton's annual walking day on the 4th, although they had to endure rain.
The country dance band was led by Roy Hordley on fiddle and accordion.
For around forty years the group played all over the North West at countless barn dances, ceilidhs etc.
And finally on the 5th the council's 'Bands In Parks' series continued with a performance in Sherdley Park by the Liverpool Premier Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra.
It sounds like an interesting ensemble, although a Google search for them draws a blank.
Next week's stories will include the Pilkington post-strike neurosis, the juvenile delinquents that went outside of the borough for the first time, striking St Helens ambulance crews are threatened with the sack and bus fares are set to rise because of decimalisation.