FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 30 SEPT - 6 OCT 1974
This week's many stories include the non-paying pirate football teams in Whiston and Rainhill, Leslie Spriggs is involved in a car crash, there is a strike at British Sidac, a library book fines amnesty is planned to retrieve missing books, the wedding that took place on the site of the fire-ravaged parish church, the party from the Wheatsheaf in Westfield Street who were beaten up in Germany and there is another call for a linear park to be created in Rainford.
We begin at the Theatre Royal in St Helens where there were many attractions this week, with Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen performing on October 1st. Then on the following evening the Prague Chamber Orchestra was in concert in Corporation Street. In its review the Liverpool Echo described their performance as a "most joyful affair for players and listeners alike, a real oasis in a mad world." Then the Liverpool country group The Hillsiders appeared on the 3rd, with Scottish singer Moira Anderson on stage at the Theatre Royal on the 5th.
During the evening of September 30th Leslie Spriggs – the Labour Parliamentary candidate for St Helens in next week's general election and pictured above – was involved in a car crash. The former railwayman, who had been the town's MP for 18 years, was unhurt but his wife Freda was injured and had to be taken to hospital with cuts and abrasions to her legs and arms. So was Ivy Moyers of Philip Grove in Sutton but the driver of a Daimler that was involved in the three-car collision failed to stop.
On October 2nd a strike over pay began at the British Sidac cellulose packing film factory in Lancots Lane in Sutton. The firm claimed to have made an offer to the men that would lead to increases in their pay of between £7 to £14 a week. But the General and Municipal Workers Union said that because of the present "inflationary situation" they wanted an improved offer.
Inflation in 1974 stood at 16% and would rise to 24% in 1975 before dropping back to 16% in the following year. The firm countered that the amount the men wanted would put Sidac in an uncompetitive position and they expected to lose orders straight away if they gave in to their demands.
In January 1972 Rainford's Town Planning Committee heard that land surrounding the disused railway line that ran through the village might be turned into a park. A Divisional Planning Officer made the suggestion for what would become known as the "linear park" – and it was stated that the Government would pay 85% of the cost of its creation. Cllr. Audrey Berry had declared: "This is excellent news. The park would be an extra amenity for the residents of Rainford." But making the idea a reality was proving more difficult.
However, Robert Kilroy-Silk this week called for British Rail to release the land so that the park could be created. The Labour candidate for Ormskirk in the general election – whose constituency then included Rainford – told the St Helens Reporter that there was an ideal opportunity for planners to designate the land as part of an open spaces scheme, saying:
"There is an almost complete lack of this in Rainford at present. Although the former authority had plans for the reclamation of tip land, and there was talk of a linear park on part of the railway line, nothing was done." A spokesman for a St Helens Planning Department told the Reporter that if British Rail put the land – which extended over 26 acres – up for sale, they were obliged to offer it to the local authority first.
Three men claimed in the Reporter that bouncers in a Munich nightclub had attacked them after they had refused to pay the equivalent of £45 for three glasses of beer. They were members of a party of sixteen from the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Westfield Street who had travelled to Germany for the Oktoberfest beer festival.
The organiser Dennis Goodwin of Maxwell Street said that the threesome had been kicked, robbed, beaten with sticks and blinded with an aerosol chemical and had needed hospital treatment. Mr Goodwin was left with a gaping head wound and criticised the tourist agency courier for not advising them that near their hotel were some undesirable places.
Also in the Reporter the Charcoal Grill in Claughton Street was advertising that they were now accepting bookings for the festive season – staff parties, lunches and evening meals. "See you in the Sefton Arms Hotel, Baldwin Street" said another advert, "The INN place of St. Helens – Mine Hosts Joyce and Leo Donegan".
When the parish church burned down at the end of 1916 (pictured above), Sunday services were held in the assembly room of St Helens Town Hall until a replacement church could be built. But that would not have been licensed to conduct marriage services like today. I had assumed that weddings would have instead been held in other C of E churches in St Helens.
And probably many did but a Reporter article on the golden wedding celebrations of Harold and Maud Ashcroft of Shaw Street stated that the couple had married inside a small lean-to building that had been erected on the site of the fire-ravaged church. As a result they said only a few close relatives had been able to attend the ceremony in 1924.
Harold and Maud had first met in the tiny parish church hall where Harold was playing in a band and four years later they were married. "It was a hard struggle at first," Harold told the Reporter. "When we got married I worked at the local Greenall Whitley brewery in the delivery department for about a guinea per week."
There was an advert in the Reporter for The Igloo frozen food centre in Walmesley Road in Eccleston. "Frozen and packed on the premises", said the ad and they were selling five pound packs of braising steak for 35p per pound and a two pound pack of New Zealand lamb chops for 36p per pound.
I had, of course, heard of pirate radio stations but not of pirate football teams! However, the Reporter said these existed in Rainhill and Whiston. They were playing on pitches in Two Butt Lane and Windy Arbor Road without paying for their use. The local parish council charged £16 per team per season for the hire of their pitches but Mr J. Kendrick, the council's clerk, told a meeting this week:
"I believe there are a few pirate teams playing there who haven't paid." The council agreed that notices should be displayed on the fields stating that teams could only play there with the permission of the parish council.
The St Helens libraries used to lose an awful lot of books. One of the reasons for their loss was the charges made for late returns. These could mount up and deter some people from ever bringing their books back. And so every now and then a brief fine amnesty was introduced as the value in getting the books back on the shelves outweighed the loss of fines.
On the 5th the Echo reported how Geoffrey Senior, the St Helens director of libraries, had announced a fines amnesty was going to be held throughout November. Mr Senior said no questions would be asked of people who returned overdue books. "Our main aim is to get the books back," he insisted.
And finally, from the 6th 'Papillon' starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman was screened at the ABC Savoy, while the Capitol Cinema started showing the 'Language of Love'. The Swedish production was advertised in the Reporter as, "The most explicit sex educational film – explains frankly and fully the techniques of love."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the general election, the Reporter goes compugraphic, the Eccleston church clock that struck 17 times, the vandalism in St Helens toilets and why a tiger had crossed a zebra crossing in Corporation Street.
We begin at the Theatre Royal in St Helens where there were many attractions this week, with Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen performing on October 1st. Then on the following evening the Prague Chamber Orchestra was in concert in Corporation Street. In its review the Liverpool Echo described their performance as a "most joyful affair for players and listeners alike, a real oasis in a mad world." Then the Liverpool country group The Hillsiders appeared on the 3rd, with Scottish singer Moira Anderson on stage at the Theatre Royal on the 5th.
On October 2nd a strike over pay began at the British Sidac cellulose packing film factory in Lancots Lane in Sutton. The firm claimed to have made an offer to the men that would lead to increases in their pay of between £7 to £14 a week. But the General and Municipal Workers Union said that because of the present "inflationary situation" they wanted an improved offer.
Inflation in 1974 stood at 16% and would rise to 24% in 1975 before dropping back to 16% in the following year. The firm countered that the amount the men wanted would put Sidac in an uncompetitive position and they expected to lose orders straight away if they gave in to their demands.
In January 1972 Rainford's Town Planning Committee heard that land surrounding the disused railway line that ran through the village might be turned into a park. A Divisional Planning Officer made the suggestion for what would become known as the "linear park" – and it was stated that the Government would pay 85% of the cost of its creation. Cllr. Audrey Berry had declared: "This is excellent news. The park would be an extra amenity for the residents of Rainford." But making the idea a reality was proving more difficult.
However, Robert Kilroy-Silk this week called for British Rail to release the land so that the park could be created. The Labour candidate for Ormskirk in the general election – whose constituency then included Rainford – told the St Helens Reporter that there was an ideal opportunity for planners to designate the land as part of an open spaces scheme, saying:
"There is an almost complete lack of this in Rainford at present. Although the former authority had plans for the reclamation of tip land, and there was talk of a linear park on part of the railway line, nothing was done." A spokesman for a St Helens Planning Department told the Reporter that if British Rail put the land – which extended over 26 acres – up for sale, they were obliged to offer it to the local authority first.
Three men claimed in the Reporter that bouncers in a Munich nightclub had attacked them after they had refused to pay the equivalent of £45 for three glasses of beer. They were members of a party of sixteen from the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Westfield Street who had travelled to Germany for the Oktoberfest beer festival.
The organiser Dennis Goodwin of Maxwell Street said that the threesome had been kicked, robbed, beaten with sticks and blinded with an aerosol chemical and had needed hospital treatment. Mr Goodwin was left with a gaping head wound and criticised the tourist agency courier for not advising them that near their hotel were some undesirable places.
Also in the Reporter the Charcoal Grill in Claughton Street was advertising that they were now accepting bookings for the festive season – staff parties, lunches and evening meals. "See you in the Sefton Arms Hotel, Baldwin Street" said another advert, "The INN place of St. Helens – Mine Hosts Joyce and Leo Donegan".
And probably many did but a Reporter article on the golden wedding celebrations of Harold and Maud Ashcroft of Shaw Street stated that the couple had married inside a small lean-to building that had been erected on the site of the fire-ravaged church. As a result they said only a few close relatives had been able to attend the ceremony in 1924.
Harold and Maud had first met in the tiny parish church hall where Harold was playing in a band and four years later they were married. "It was a hard struggle at first," Harold told the Reporter. "When we got married I worked at the local Greenall Whitley brewery in the delivery department for about a guinea per week."
There was an advert in the Reporter for The Igloo frozen food centre in Walmesley Road in Eccleston. "Frozen and packed on the premises", said the ad and they were selling five pound packs of braising steak for 35p per pound and a two pound pack of New Zealand lamb chops for 36p per pound.
I had, of course, heard of pirate radio stations but not of pirate football teams! However, the Reporter said these existed in Rainhill and Whiston. They were playing on pitches in Two Butt Lane and Windy Arbor Road without paying for their use. The local parish council charged £16 per team per season for the hire of their pitches but Mr J. Kendrick, the council's clerk, told a meeting this week:
"I believe there are a few pirate teams playing there who haven't paid." The council agreed that notices should be displayed on the fields stating that teams could only play there with the permission of the parish council.
The St Helens libraries used to lose an awful lot of books. One of the reasons for their loss was the charges made for late returns. These could mount up and deter some people from ever bringing their books back. And so every now and then a brief fine amnesty was introduced as the value in getting the books back on the shelves outweighed the loss of fines.
On the 5th the Echo reported how Geoffrey Senior, the St Helens director of libraries, had announced a fines amnesty was going to be held throughout November. Mr Senior said no questions would be asked of people who returned overdue books. "Our main aim is to get the books back," he insisted.
And finally, from the 6th 'Papillon' starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman was screened at the ABC Savoy, while the Capitol Cinema started showing the 'Language of Love'. The Swedish production was advertised in the Reporter as, "The most explicit sex educational film – explains frankly and fully the techniques of love."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the general election, the Reporter goes compugraphic, the Eccleston church clock that struck 17 times, the vandalism in St Helens toilets and why a tiger had crossed a zebra crossing in Corporation Street.
This week's many stories include the non-paying pirate football teams in Whiston and Rainhill, Leslie Spriggs is involved in a car crash, there is a strike at British Sidac, a library book fines amnesty is planned to retrieve missing books, the wedding that took place on the site of the fire-ravaged parish church, the party from the Wheatsheaf in Westfield Street who were beaten up in Germany and there is another call for a linear park to be created in Rainford.
We begin at the Theatre Royal in St Helens where there were many attractions this week, with Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen performing on October 1st.
Then on the following evening the Prague Chamber Orchestra was in concert in Corporation Street.
In its review the Liverpool Echo described their performance as a "most joyful affair for players and listeners alike, a real oasis in a mad world."
Then the Liverpool country group The Hillsiders appeared on the 3rd, with Scottish singer Moira Anderson on stage at the Theatre Royal on the 5th.
During the evening of September 30th Leslie Spriggs – the Labour Parliamentary candidate for St Helens in next week's general election and pictured above – was involved in a car crash.
The former railwayman, who had been the town's MP for 18 years, was unhurt but his wife Freda was injured and had to be taken to hospital with cuts and abrasions to her legs and arms.
So was Ivy Moyers of Philip Grove in Sutton but the driver of a Daimler that was involved in the three-car collision failed to stop.
On October 2nd a strike over pay began at the British Sidac cellulose packing film factory in Lancots Lane in Sutton.
The firm claimed to have made an offer to the men that would lead to increases in their pay of between £7 to £14 a week.
But the General and Municipal Workers Union said that because of the present "inflationary situation" they wanted an improved offer.
Inflation in 1974 stood at 16% and would rise to 24% in 1975 before dropping back to 16% in the following year.
The firm countered that the amount the men wanted would put Sidac in an uncompetitive position and they expected to lose orders straight away if they gave in to their demands.
In January 1972 Rainford's Town Planning Committee heard that land surrounding the disused railway line that ran through the village might be turned into a park.
A Divisional Planning Officer made the suggestion for what would become known as the "linear park" – and it was stated that the Government would pay 85% of the cost of its creation.
Cllr. Audrey Berry had declared: "This is excellent news. The park would be an extra amenity for the residents of Rainford." But making the idea a reality was proving more difficult.
However, Robert Kilroy-Silk this week called for British Rail to release the land so that the park could be created.
The Labour candidate for Ormskirk in the general election – whose constituency then included Rainford – told the St Helens Reporter that there was an ideal opportunity for planners to designate the land as part of an open spaces scheme, saying:
"There is an almost complete lack of this in Rainford at present. Although the former authority had plans for the reclamation of tip land, and there was talk of a linear park on part of the railway line, nothing was done."
A spokesman for a St Helens Planning Department told the Reporter that if British Rail put the land – which extended over 26 acres – up for sale, they were obliged to offer it to the local authority first.
Three men claimed in the Reporter that bouncers in a Munich nightclub had attacked them after they had refused to pay the equivalent of £45 for three glasses of beer.
They were members of a party of sixteen from the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Westfield Street who had travelled to Germany for the Oktoberfest beer festival.
The organiser Dennis Goodwin of Maxwell Street said that the threesome had been kicked, robbed, beaten with sticks and blinded with an aerosol chemical and had needed hospital treatment.
Mr Goodwin was left with a gaping head wound and criticised the tourist agency courier for not advising them that near their hotel were some undesirable places.
Also in the Reporter the Charcoal Grill in Claughton Street was advertising that they were now accepting bookings for the festive season – staff parties, lunches and evening meals.
"See you in the Sefton Arms Hotel, Baldwin Street" said another advert, "The INN place of St. Helens – Mine Hosts Joyce and Leo Donegan".
When the parish church burned down at the end of 1916 (pictured above), Sunday services were held in the assembly room of St Helens Town Hall until a replacement church could be built.
But that would not have been licensed to conduct marriage services like today.
I had assumed that weddings would have instead been held in other C of E churches in St Helens.
And probably many did but a Reporter article on the golden wedding celebrations of Harold and Maud Ashcroft of Shaw Street stated that the couple had married inside a small lean-to building that had been erected on the site of the fire-ravaged church.
As a result they said only a few close relatives had been able to attend the ceremony in 1924.
Harold and Maud had first met in the tiny parish church hall where Harold was playing in a band and four years later they were married.
"It was a hard struggle at first," Harold told the Reporter. "When we got married I worked at the local Greenall Whitley brewery in the delivery department for about a guinea per week."
There was an advert in the Reporter for The Igloo frozen food centre in Walmesley Road in Eccleston.
"Frozen and packed on the premises", said the ad and they were selling five pound packs of braising steak for 35p per pound and a two pound pack of New Zealand lamb chops for 36p per pound.
I had, of course, heard of pirate radio stations but not of pirate football teams! However, the Reporter said these existed in Rainhill and Whiston.
They were playing on pitches in Two Butt Lane and Windy Arbor Road without paying for their use.
The local parish council charged £16 per team per season for the hire of their pitches but Mr J. Kendrick, the council's clerk, told a meeting this week:
"I believe there are a few pirate teams playing there who haven't paid."
The council agreed that notices should be displayed on the fields stating that teams could only play there with the permission of the parish council.
The St Helens libraries used to lose an awful lot of books. One of the reasons for their loss was the charges made for late returns.
These could mount up and deter some people from ever bringing their books back. And so every now and then a brief fine amnesty was introduced as the value in getting the books back on the shelves outweighed the loss of fines.
On the 5th the Echo reported how Geoffrey Senior, the St Helens director of libraries, had announced a fines amnesty was going to be held throughout November.
Mr Senior said no questions would be asked of people who returned overdue books. "Our main aim is to get the books back," he insisted.
And finally, from the 6th 'Papillon' starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman was screened at the ABC Savoy, while the Capitol Cinema started showing the 'Language of Love'.
The Swedish production was advertised in the Reporter as, "The most explicit sex educational film – explains frankly and fully the techniques of love."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the general election, the Reporter goes compugraphic, the Eccleston church clock that struck 17 times, the vandalism in St Helens toilets and why a tiger had crossed a zebra crossing in Corporation Street.
We begin at the Theatre Royal in St Helens where there were many attractions this week, with Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen performing on October 1st.
Then on the following evening the Prague Chamber Orchestra was in concert in Corporation Street.
In its review the Liverpool Echo described their performance as a "most joyful affair for players and listeners alike, a real oasis in a mad world."
Then the Liverpool country group The Hillsiders appeared on the 3rd, with Scottish singer Moira Anderson on stage at the Theatre Royal on the 5th.
The former railwayman, who had been the town's MP for 18 years, was unhurt but his wife Freda was injured and had to be taken to hospital with cuts and abrasions to her legs and arms.
So was Ivy Moyers of Philip Grove in Sutton but the driver of a Daimler that was involved in the three-car collision failed to stop.
On October 2nd a strike over pay began at the British Sidac cellulose packing film factory in Lancots Lane in Sutton.
The firm claimed to have made an offer to the men that would lead to increases in their pay of between £7 to £14 a week.
But the General and Municipal Workers Union said that because of the present "inflationary situation" they wanted an improved offer.
Inflation in 1974 stood at 16% and would rise to 24% in 1975 before dropping back to 16% in the following year.
The firm countered that the amount the men wanted would put Sidac in an uncompetitive position and they expected to lose orders straight away if they gave in to their demands.
In January 1972 Rainford's Town Planning Committee heard that land surrounding the disused railway line that ran through the village might be turned into a park.
A Divisional Planning Officer made the suggestion for what would become known as the "linear park" – and it was stated that the Government would pay 85% of the cost of its creation.
Cllr. Audrey Berry had declared: "This is excellent news. The park would be an extra amenity for the residents of Rainford." But making the idea a reality was proving more difficult.
However, Robert Kilroy-Silk this week called for British Rail to release the land so that the park could be created.
The Labour candidate for Ormskirk in the general election – whose constituency then included Rainford – told the St Helens Reporter that there was an ideal opportunity for planners to designate the land as part of an open spaces scheme, saying:
"There is an almost complete lack of this in Rainford at present. Although the former authority had plans for the reclamation of tip land, and there was talk of a linear park on part of the railway line, nothing was done."
A spokesman for a St Helens Planning Department told the Reporter that if British Rail put the land – which extended over 26 acres – up for sale, they were obliged to offer it to the local authority first.
Three men claimed in the Reporter that bouncers in a Munich nightclub had attacked them after they had refused to pay the equivalent of £45 for three glasses of beer.
They were members of a party of sixteen from the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Westfield Street who had travelled to Germany for the Oktoberfest beer festival.
The organiser Dennis Goodwin of Maxwell Street said that the threesome had been kicked, robbed, beaten with sticks and blinded with an aerosol chemical and had needed hospital treatment.
Mr Goodwin was left with a gaping head wound and criticised the tourist agency courier for not advising them that near their hotel were some undesirable places.
Also in the Reporter the Charcoal Grill in Claughton Street was advertising that they were now accepting bookings for the festive season – staff parties, lunches and evening meals.
"See you in the Sefton Arms Hotel, Baldwin Street" said another advert, "The INN place of St. Helens – Mine Hosts Joyce and Leo Donegan".
But that would not have been licensed to conduct marriage services like today.
I had assumed that weddings would have instead been held in other C of E churches in St Helens.
And probably many did but a Reporter article on the golden wedding celebrations of Harold and Maud Ashcroft of Shaw Street stated that the couple had married inside a small lean-to building that had been erected on the site of the fire-ravaged church.
As a result they said only a few close relatives had been able to attend the ceremony in 1924.
Harold and Maud had first met in the tiny parish church hall where Harold was playing in a band and four years later they were married.
"It was a hard struggle at first," Harold told the Reporter. "When we got married I worked at the local Greenall Whitley brewery in the delivery department for about a guinea per week."
There was an advert in the Reporter for The Igloo frozen food centre in Walmesley Road in Eccleston.
"Frozen and packed on the premises", said the ad and they were selling five pound packs of braising steak for 35p per pound and a two pound pack of New Zealand lamb chops for 36p per pound.
I had, of course, heard of pirate radio stations but not of pirate football teams! However, the Reporter said these existed in Rainhill and Whiston.
They were playing on pitches in Two Butt Lane and Windy Arbor Road without paying for their use.
The local parish council charged £16 per team per season for the hire of their pitches but Mr J. Kendrick, the council's clerk, told a meeting this week:
"I believe there are a few pirate teams playing there who haven't paid."
The council agreed that notices should be displayed on the fields stating that teams could only play there with the permission of the parish council.
The St Helens libraries used to lose an awful lot of books. One of the reasons for their loss was the charges made for late returns.
These could mount up and deter some people from ever bringing their books back. And so every now and then a brief fine amnesty was introduced as the value in getting the books back on the shelves outweighed the loss of fines.
On the 5th the Echo reported how Geoffrey Senior, the St Helens director of libraries, had announced a fines amnesty was going to be held throughout November.
Mr Senior said no questions would be asked of people who returned overdue books. "Our main aim is to get the books back," he insisted.
And finally, from the 6th 'Papillon' starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman was screened at the ABC Savoy, while the Capitol Cinema started showing the 'Language of Love'.
The Swedish production was advertised in the Reporter as, "The most explicit sex educational film – explains frankly and fully the techniques of love."
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the general election, the Reporter goes compugraphic, the Eccleston church clock that struck 17 times, the vandalism in St Helens toilets and why a tiger had crossed a zebra crossing in Corporation Street.