FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (30th Sept. - 6th Oct. 1969)
This week's stories include another town centre redevelopment scheme, a new home for the Reginald Road gipsies, the bad old days at the Cannington Shaw bottle works, a "phantom postman's" poison-pen letters and how the St Helens Employment Exchange had pioneered Job Shops.
St Helens Corporation was continuing to issue compulsory purchase orders on old properties in the town as part of their extensive redevelopment plans. Many understandably did not like the prospect of a bulldozer knocking down the homes that they'd lived in for many years and so they'd object.
On September 30th a public inquiry was held at the Town Hall to consider St Helens Council's plans to redevelop part of the South Windle ward. This concerned 282 terraced properties that were currently occupied by nearly 700 people and 39 householders had formally objected to the compulsory purchase order. This was on the usual grounds that their homes were not unfit to live in or that hardship would be caused by having to move.
The houses involved in the scheme were in Duke Street, Albion Street, York Street and Place, Lowe Street, Barton Street, Wilson Street, Randon Street, Talbot Street, Fenton Street and Grant Street. The majority of the homes had been built between 1849 and 1881, with others erected between 1892 and 1906. Once they had been demolished the Corporation planned to redevelop the site with new modern homes, flats and a primary school.
The latter would be a replacement for the old St Mary's infants' school in York Street, as well as St Thomas' infants and a junior school in Peter Street. The scheme would also improve road safety by limiting traffic flow into the area. The inspector who hosted the inquiry visited some of the homes that were under threat and said he would make a decision as to whether he would approve the order in a few weeks time.
At a St Helens Town Council meeting on October 1st it was revealed that a new home had been found for the so-called gipsies of Reginald Road who for the past 12 months had been upsetting many locals. A site had been found at the junction of Sherdley Road and Dobsons Lane, which would be surrounded by a 6 ft. concrete fence.
However there would only be sufficient space for twelve caravans and so a special committee would likely be set up to vet the travellers that wished to move to the new site. Water, electricity and toilets would be laid on and the scheme, if approved by the Housing Ministry, would cost £5,280.
In the Liverpool Echo on the 1st there was an advert for new 3-bedroomed semi-detached dormer bungalows and houses in Clock Face. These were available for £3,750 with £100 of free furniture given to purchasers who signed up within two months. Oil-fired central heating was a feature of the new homes.
There was what was described as a special presentation of 'Jane Eyre' with Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine at the Capitol cinema on the 1st and 2nd. Meanwhile at the Theatre Royal from the 2nd, the local thespians The Unnamed Players performed 'An Air for Murder'. Tickets cost between 5 and 7 shillings. Schoolteacher Tony Hewitt – who had been in charge of the Players’ productions since 1947 – produced the play.
"Phantom Postman has Families in Grip of Fear" was the startling headline to a front-page article in the Reporter on the 3rd. It revealed how three families in St Helens had received 50 poison-pen letters over the past five months with some notes tied around the necks of bottles that had been thrown through windows.
The latest note said: "Danger Ha Ha, Husband got a woman. Windows soon Ha Ha." The allegation of unfaithfulness was said to be untrue but the individual tended to carry out his or her threats and the families said they feared that something might happen to their children.
The Reporter also described how police believed that kids had started a blaze at Windle Ashes Farm in Rainford that had destroyed a £1,000 barn. The arson attack also burnt up 180 tons of hay and some fertilizer inside the barn.
Rainford Council's warning to football clubs using the Silver Jubilee Recreation Ground off Church Road was also reported. A resident of The Avenue that runs alongside the pitch had complained about the use of bad language during games. So the council's clerk was told to write to the clubs that used the pitch to ask them to cut out the expletives. I was a regular on "the rec" – as we called it – during the ‘60s but was, of course, good as gold!
Prescot had their own version of the Black and White Minstrels, which were called the Black and White Concert Party. The Reporter stated that the troupe had recently been at the Parr Derby & Joan Club performing a "mixed bag of singing, dancing and comedy".
Historian T. A. Owen had recently published a series of articles in the Reporter called "Memories of Old Days in the Bottle Works". These did not go down well with former bottle hand Albert Sephton who wrote a stinging letter to the paper. Albert felt they had been the bad old days and should be forgotten, describing his time at Cannington Shaw's Sherdley works during WW1 as "sweated slavery for poor pay".
He said he had to work a continuous fortnight on day shift from 6:30am to 5:30pm and then after a weekend off, switch to the night shift for another fortnight from 5:30pm to 6:30am. Despite this Mr Sephton said he never earned more than 29 shillings per week. "Good old days in the bottle works. Not on your Nellie!", concluded Albert.
'The Court' dancing school at 84 Prescot Road continued their advertising campaign in the Reporter. "2 Left Feet? Never!", was their latest headline, adding: "If you can walk, we'll teach you to dance."
The idea of having loads of cards in a room detailing job vacancies for those seeking work does not seem a revolutionary one but it was new in 1968. The Reporter revealed that when the St Helens Employment Exchange had introduced a Job Shop twelve months earlier it had been a pilot scheme for the rest of Britain's exchanges. They wrote:
"The ‘Shop’ provides people looking for fresh jobs with an informal atmosphere in which they can take their time looking at hundreds of vacancies displayed in a room. Having picked a job, only then do they approach an assistant, who makes a speedy introduction to the prospective employer – and off goes the job-hunter."
It was 'Beat Night' at the Geraldo Club in Albert Street (off College Street) during the evening of the 3rd featuring the oddly-named Henrey Ink Blot Smash.
Two Haydock licensees announced this week that they would be leaving their pubs. They were Mary Cunliffe of the Rams Head in Church Road and William Creevey of the Owls Nest Hotel in West End Road. The latter was retiring but Mrs Cunliffe was moving to the Bridge Inn in Rainford, having previously kept the Star Inn in the village for 14 years with her late husband.
The Friends of the Earth was founded in 1969 and Greenpeace would be formed in two years time. Although concern for the environment was nothing like today, it was beginning to get a bigger profile in St Helens. Another announcement this week came from the Corporation who said they were about to put a forester on their payroll. His job would be to look after the trees in the parks and the town in general.
In the Echo on the 4th G. & W. Collins of Haydock was advertising for a manager for their bacon and cheese department at their new discount supermarket in Clock Face. Pay was £20 per week plus bonus. Later that day a 'Folk and Dylan Music' evening was held at Christ Church Hall in Eccleston with the price of admission one shilling.
S. R. Pearson from Crag Grove in Moss Bank and H. Robinson from New Street in Sutton were two of the runners up in the Echo's 'Place the Ball' contest this week winning £54 1s 1d each.
One thousand men and boys took part in the annual Rosary Procession on the 5th, which began at the open market and ended with Benediction in Lowe House Church. At the ABC Savoy in Bridge Street from the 5th, Sergio Leone's 'Once Upon A Time in the West' started seven days of screenings. Meanwhile at the Capitol from the 6th, two X-rated films 'School for Sex' and 'Sweden Heaven and Hell' began six days of screenings at the Capitol.
And to end a few stories that were in the national newspapers this week. Barbara Castle, the Secretary of State for Employment, promised equal pay for women by 1975. Government surveys showed that half the women workers in Britain earned less than 5 shillings an hour. The Daily Mirror profiled a very experienced woman switchboard operator at one hospital who earned £12 12s basic pay a week, while a less experienced male operator at another hospital earned £14 12s.
A young female maths teacher at a school in Crawley in Sussex was ordered to go home and change after turning up for work in trousers. She was told her dress was improper, so she returned to the school wearing a 12-inch above the knee mini-skirt and received no objections. Especially from the schoolboys!
Fifty years ago the milkmen delivered milk seven days a week. There had been plans to cut out Sunday deliveries but it was announced this week that this had been scrapped. A pilot scheme had determined that requiring milkmen to deliver two days supply on a Saturday was too much to ask, as that was the day they collected payments from their customers. The vice-chairman of the Milk Distributive Council said: "In any case, the cow has to work a seven-day week." Very true!
Next week's stories will include the controversy over fluoride in the St Helens' water supply, bad news for golfers in the town, a new textiles firm in Reginald Road, the Polish Pantomime Theatre at the Theatre Royal, what St Helens' folk thought of politicians and the lot of the bin men in the town.
St Helens Corporation was continuing to issue compulsory purchase orders on old properties in the town as part of their extensive redevelopment plans. Many understandably did not like the prospect of a bulldozer knocking down the homes that they'd lived in for many years and so they'd object.
On September 30th a public inquiry was held at the Town Hall to consider St Helens Council's plans to redevelop part of the South Windle ward. This concerned 282 terraced properties that were currently occupied by nearly 700 people and 39 householders had formally objected to the compulsory purchase order. This was on the usual grounds that their homes were not unfit to live in or that hardship would be caused by having to move.
The houses involved in the scheme were in Duke Street, Albion Street, York Street and Place, Lowe Street, Barton Street, Wilson Street, Randon Street, Talbot Street, Fenton Street and Grant Street. The majority of the homes had been built between 1849 and 1881, with others erected between 1892 and 1906. Once they had been demolished the Corporation planned to redevelop the site with new modern homes, flats and a primary school.
The latter would be a replacement for the old St Mary's infants' school in York Street, as well as St Thomas' infants and a junior school in Peter Street. The scheme would also improve road safety by limiting traffic flow into the area. The inspector who hosted the inquiry visited some of the homes that were under threat and said he would make a decision as to whether he would approve the order in a few weeks time.
At a St Helens Town Council meeting on October 1st it was revealed that a new home had been found for the so-called gipsies of Reginald Road who for the past 12 months had been upsetting many locals. A site had been found at the junction of Sherdley Road and Dobsons Lane, which would be surrounded by a 6 ft. concrete fence.
However there would only be sufficient space for twelve caravans and so a special committee would likely be set up to vet the travellers that wished to move to the new site. Water, electricity and toilets would be laid on and the scheme, if approved by the Housing Ministry, would cost £5,280.
In the Liverpool Echo on the 1st there was an advert for new 3-bedroomed semi-detached dormer bungalows and houses in Clock Face. These were available for £3,750 with £100 of free furniture given to purchasers who signed up within two months. Oil-fired central heating was a feature of the new homes.
There was what was described as a special presentation of 'Jane Eyre' with Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine at the Capitol cinema on the 1st and 2nd. Meanwhile at the Theatre Royal from the 2nd, the local thespians The Unnamed Players performed 'An Air for Murder'. Tickets cost between 5 and 7 shillings. Schoolteacher Tony Hewitt – who had been in charge of the Players’ productions since 1947 – produced the play.
"Phantom Postman has Families in Grip of Fear" was the startling headline to a front-page article in the Reporter on the 3rd. It revealed how three families in St Helens had received 50 poison-pen letters over the past five months with some notes tied around the necks of bottles that had been thrown through windows.
The latest note said: "Danger Ha Ha, Husband got a woman. Windows soon Ha Ha." The allegation of unfaithfulness was said to be untrue but the individual tended to carry out his or her threats and the families said they feared that something might happen to their children.
The Reporter also described how police believed that kids had started a blaze at Windle Ashes Farm in Rainford that had destroyed a £1,000 barn. The arson attack also burnt up 180 tons of hay and some fertilizer inside the barn.
Rainford Council's warning to football clubs using the Silver Jubilee Recreation Ground off Church Road was also reported. A resident of The Avenue that runs alongside the pitch had complained about the use of bad language during games. So the council's clerk was told to write to the clubs that used the pitch to ask them to cut out the expletives. I was a regular on "the rec" – as we called it – during the ‘60s but was, of course, good as gold!
Prescot had their own version of the Black and White Minstrels, which were called the Black and White Concert Party. The Reporter stated that the troupe had recently been at the Parr Derby & Joan Club performing a "mixed bag of singing, dancing and comedy".
Historian T. A. Owen had recently published a series of articles in the Reporter called "Memories of Old Days in the Bottle Works". These did not go down well with former bottle hand Albert Sephton who wrote a stinging letter to the paper. Albert felt they had been the bad old days and should be forgotten, describing his time at Cannington Shaw's Sherdley works during WW1 as "sweated slavery for poor pay".
He said he had to work a continuous fortnight on day shift from 6:30am to 5:30pm and then after a weekend off, switch to the night shift for another fortnight from 5:30pm to 6:30am. Despite this Mr Sephton said he never earned more than 29 shillings per week. "Good old days in the bottle works. Not on your Nellie!", concluded Albert.
These advertisements for UG Glass Containers, UG Tableware and Beechams were published in the Liverpool Echo this week
These advertisements were published in the Liverpool Echo this week
Ads in the Liverpool Echo this week
The idea of having loads of cards in a room detailing job vacancies for those seeking work does not seem a revolutionary one but it was new in 1968. The Reporter revealed that when the St Helens Employment Exchange had introduced a Job Shop twelve months earlier it had been a pilot scheme for the rest of Britain's exchanges. They wrote:
"The ‘Shop’ provides people looking for fresh jobs with an informal atmosphere in which they can take their time looking at hundreds of vacancies displayed in a room. Having picked a job, only then do they approach an assistant, who makes a speedy introduction to the prospective employer – and off goes the job-hunter."
It was 'Beat Night' at the Geraldo Club in Albert Street (off College Street) during the evening of the 3rd featuring the oddly-named Henrey Ink Blot Smash.
Two Haydock licensees announced this week that they would be leaving their pubs. They were Mary Cunliffe of the Rams Head in Church Road and William Creevey of the Owls Nest Hotel in West End Road. The latter was retiring but Mrs Cunliffe was moving to the Bridge Inn in Rainford, having previously kept the Star Inn in the village for 14 years with her late husband.
The Friends of the Earth was founded in 1969 and Greenpeace would be formed in two years time. Although concern for the environment was nothing like today, it was beginning to get a bigger profile in St Helens. Another announcement this week came from the Corporation who said they were about to put a forester on their payroll. His job would be to look after the trees in the parks and the town in general.
In the Echo on the 4th G. & W. Collins of Haydock was advertising for a manager for their bacon and cheese department at their new discount supermarket in Clock Face. Pay was £20 per week plus bonus. Later that day a 'Folk and Dylan Music' evening was held at Christ Church Hall in Eccleston with the price of admission one shilling.
S. R. Pearson from Crag Grove in Moss Bank and H. Robinson from New Street in Sutton were two of the runners up in the Echo's 'Place the Ball' contest this week winning £54 1s 1d each.
One thousand men and boys took part in the annual Rosary Procession on the 5th, which began at the open market and ended with Benediction in Lowe House Church. At the ABC Savoy in Bridge Street from the 5th, Sergio Leone's 'Once Upon A Time in the West' started seven days of screenings. Meanwhile at the Capitol from the 6th, two X-rated films 'School for Sex' and 'Sweden Heaven and Hell' began six days of screenings at the Capitol.
And to end a few stories that were in the national newspapers this week. Barbara Castle, the Secretary of State for Employment, promised equal pay for women by 1975. Government surveys showed that half the women workers in Britain earned less than 5 shillings an hour. The Daily Mirror profiled a very experienced woman switchboard operator at one hospital who earned £12 12s basic pay a week, while a less experienced male operator at another hospital earned £14 12s.
Fifty years ago the milkmen delivered milk seven days a week. There had been plans to cut out Sunday deliveries but it was announced this week that this had been scrapped. A pilot scheme had determined that requiring milkmen to deliver two days supply on a Saturday was too much to ask, as that was the day they collected payments from their customers. The vice-chairman of the Milk Distributive Council said: "In any case, the cow has to work a seven-day week." Very true!
Next week's stories will include the controversy over fluoride in the St Helens' water supply, bad news for golfers in the town, a new textiles firm in Reginald Road, the Polish Pantomime Theatre at the Theatre Royal, what St Helens' folk thought of politicians and the lot of the bin men in the town.