FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (31 JULY - 6 AUGUST 1973)
This week's many stories include the new East Lancs underpass, the St Helens victims of the Summerland leisure centre disaster, the re-interment of prospective saints in a new Sutton church, the reincarnation of the scandal-hit Parr British Legion, the 91-year-old Rainhill woman forced out of her home by burglars and the customers that refused to leave a North Road chippy when a fire broke out.
We begin with a special meeting of St Helens Council's Planning and Development Committee in which it was decided to serve three more enforcement notices on Leathers Chemicals. That was after the Sutton sulphuric acid plant had been accused of breaking their planning conditions by permitting three emissions of sulphur dioxide on July 6th.
Residents near the Lancots Lane plant had been forced to take shelter in shops from the chemical fall-out. Leathers had already appealed against the first enforcement order, which had been issued in March. That was intended to force the firm to comply with the safety rules imposed when planning permission was granted and a public hearing would take place later in the year.
The Prescot Libraries Division included Eccleston and Whiston and it published its annual report this week. Their libraries had issued nearly a million books in 1972, with Eccleston opening a new building on Broadway and Whiston showing an increase in borrowing. But concern was expressed that the local government reorganisation planned for 1974 was creating much uncertainty within the division.
The Summerland leisure centre disaster in Douglas on the Isle of Man (pictured above - image Stuart Taylor) occurred during the evening of the 2nd. Fifty people were killed and among the 80 seriously injured were sisters Joyce (19) and Anne Quirk (16) of Brynn Street in St Helens. Both were machine operators with Kelmar Engineering in Sutton Road and had been spending a week's holiday on the island.
The fire also injured 58-year-old Ellen Palfrey of Waring Avenue in Parr. After visiting his mother in hospital her son Kenneth later said: "My mother told me that she and her sister had only been inside Summerland for five minutes when the fire broke out. A man smashed a window with a chair and told my mother and others to climb through."
Joan Manchester made the front-page of the St Helens Reporter on the 3rd angry about the antics of a bus crew. The 48-year-old from Brynn Street in St Helens had been visiting her daughter in Hinckley Road and had got the bus for the journey back to town. Mrs Manchester told the paper: "I paid my fare and the bus dropped a couple of passengers off, leaving me alone. I'd been on board about two minutes. Then I noticed that the driver kept turning and pointing. The conductor approached and asked if I would get off and catch another bus behind us."
Joan – who had recently spent five weeks in hospital suffering from meningitis – agreed to the request but the other bus drove straight past and she said she had to walk the rest of the way. "I complained because I was furious. An inspector said that the crew had probably wanted to get off early, and as I was the only one on the bus they got away with it." St Helens Corporation's Transport Department promised an investigation and said disciplinary action would be taken if it was needed.
Chip shop owner Tony Burke had a problem when his range started belching out black smoke. He couldn't get rid of his customers while he dealt with the fire. This is how the Reporter described what occurred:
"The fat was in the fire for chip shop owner Tony Burke when his range started belching black smoke. For the queue at the counter didn't budge – and one girl kept demanding pudding and chips. It was only when Tony said the place was going to blow up that they evacuated the shop. It was nearly midnight on Saturday when the black clouds started to fill the shop in North Road, St. Helens.
"Said Tony: “You wouldn't catch me standing about in a chippy full of smoke. But they stayed. I think they were frightened of losing their places in the queue. I told them the shop was going to blow up and that got them out.” Tony used a fire extinguisher and had the blaze under control when St. Helens firemen arrived."
The Reporter contained a sad story about the effect that intruders in the home can have on people – especially those that are very elderly. Florence Marsh was 91 and had been forced to put her home in Rainhill Road in Rainhill up for sale after being terrified by two sets of burglars within a month. Miss Marsh wept as she told the Reporter that she was too frightened to remain in her own house and had moved into a retirement home. "Here I feel safe and secure at nights," she said.
In the first break-in Miss Marsh had woken up and found a man in her bedroom. He immediately left and later she discovered that cash and jewellery had been stolen. On the second occasion another man appeared at her bedside and squeezed her throat and slapped her face. Both intruders were later arrested with one jailed for three years and the other for 2½. But Miss Marsh – who had moved into the Tree Tops Residential Home in Kings Road in St Helens – said: "It should have been 63 years."
The Reporter also described how the Parr British Legion was making a comeback after last year's scandal. The club in Ashcroft Street had been closed down by court order after the police had complained that five members of its committee were unfit for office. Now under its new name of the Fingerpost (St. Helens) Royal British Legion Club, the venue had reopened its doors after seven months of closure with a fresh committee in charge.
Club Secretary Walter Boughey said: "We're on trial now – but we'll get through." The new committee inherited a debt from its predecessors of £4,000, which had doubled during its closure, and the new officials had even needed to dig into their own pockets to help reopen the club.
The Reporter published an article about the new road under the East Lancs that was set to open on the 20th. The scheme along the route of an old railway line was an innovation for St Helens planners, with British Rail saying they knew of no similar one in the north-west. The line that used to run from Shaw Street to Rainford Junction had not been in use since 1951.
Work on the new underpass had begun in January and the old line had been transformed into a two-lane road called Scafell Road. That would join Washway Lane on the St Helens side and link up with Moss Bank Road near Sandy Lane, Victoria Avenue and Africander Road at the Moss Bank end. St Helens Road Safety Officer, Alan Collinson, said the Moss Bank junction handled about 4,000 cars per day. "This is a black spot. There were a dozen accidents there last year," he said.
Harold Stott was the service manager at Rothery Radio before starting his own business in 1963 at 18 Westfield Street. His ad in the Reporter was a reminder of the early days of colour television when most people rented their sets. It began: "Thinking of a colour T.V.? First see the fabulous Mitsubishi at Harold Stott's. Beautiful colour, pin point definition and easy to adjust. This is one of the finest sets we have handled and is highly recommended. RENT! At only £1.70 weekly. Call and see this wonderful Colour T.V. or ask for FREE home demonstration."
The paper also profiled radio presenter and singer-songwriter Alan Jackson who was the breakfast DJ on Radio Manx. Formerly of Bretherton Road in Prescot and a clerk at Pilkingtons, Alan also wrote an entertainment column for a Sunday newspaper.
And finally, the effect of subsidence on their existing church had led to the construction of a new St Anne's in Sutton. That building was due to be completed in November but on the 6th the bodies of a priest and nun that had died 100 years before were reinterred into a new shrine chapel. A rarely celebrated Mass of Re-interment preceded Fr Ignatius Spencer's transfer from the old crypt and Mother Mary Joseph's removal from St Anne's Churchyard.
The plan was for the tomb of the Blessed Dominic Barberi to join them under a new marble floor in the chapel. The founder of the Passionist Order had been beatified ten years before and it was hoped that Causes for the beatification of Father Ignatius and Mother Mary would soon be introduced. Church Rector Fr Eugene Kennan said that it was possible that in the future Sutton would have a unique church with three saints buried there.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the unknown man who saved a new church in Blackbrook from arson, the heatwave in St Helens and the child left in the lost children's marquee of the St Helens Show for 7 hours.
We begin with a special meeting of St Helens Council's Planning and Development Committee in which it was decided to serve three more enforcement notices on Leathers Chemicals. That was after the Sutton sulphuric acid plant had been accused of breaking their planning conditions by permitting three emissions of sulphur dioxide on July 6th.
Residents near the Lancots Lane plant had been forced to take shelter in shops from the chemical fall-out. Leathers had already appealed against the first enforcement order, which had been issued in March. That was intended to force the firm to comply with the safety rules imposed when planning permission was granted and a public hearing would take place later in the year.
The Prescot Libraries Division included Eccleston and Whiston and it published its annual report this week. Their libraries had issued nearly a million books in 1972, with Eccleston opening a new building on Broadway and Whiston showing an increase in borrowing. But concern was expressed that the local government reorganisation planned for 1974 was creating much uncertainty within the division.
The fire also injured 58-year-old Ellen Palfrey of Waring Avenue in Parr. After visiting his mother in hospital her son Kenneth later said: "My mother told me that she and her sister had only been inside Summerland for five minutes when the fire broke out. A man smashed a window with a chair and told my mother and others to climb through."
Joan Manchester made the front-page of the St Helens Reporter on the 3rd angry about the antics of a bus crew. The 48-year-old from Brynn Street in St Helens had been visiting her daughter in Hinckley Road and had got the bus for the journey back to town. Mrs Manchester told the paper: "I paid my fare and the bus dropped a couple of passengers off, leaving me alone. I'd been on board about two minutes. Then I noticed that the driver kept turning and pointing. The conductor approached and asked if I would get off and catch another bus behind us."
Joan – who had recently spent five weeks in hospital suffering from meningitis – agreed to the request but the other bus drove straight past and she said she had to walk the rest of the way. "I complained because I was furious. An inspector said that the crew had probably wanted to get off early, and as I was the only one on the bus they got away with it." St Helens Corporation's Transport Department promised an investigation and said disciplinary action would be taken if it was needed.
Chip shop owner Tony Burke had a problem when his range started belching out black smoke. He couldn't get rid of his customers while he dealt with the fire. This is how the Reporter described what occurred:
"The fat was in the fire for chip shop owner Tony Burke when his range started belching black smoke. For the queue at the counter didn't budge – and one girl kept demanding pudding and chips. It was only when Tony said the place was going to blow up that they evacuated the shop. It was nearly midnight on Saturday when the black clouds started to fill the shop in North Road, St. Helens.
"Said Tony: “You wouldn't catch me standing about in a chippy full of smoke. But they stayed. I think they were frightened of losing their places in the queue. I told them the shop was going to blow up and that got them out.” Tony used a fire extinguisher and had the blaze under control when St. Helens firemen arrived."
The Reporter contained a sad story about the effect that intruders in the home can have on people – especially those that are very elderly. Florence Marsh was 91 and had been forced to put her home in Rainhill Road in Rainhill up for sale after being terrified by two sets of burglars within a month. Miss Marsh wept as she told the Reporter that she was too frightened to remain in her own house and had moved into a retirement home. "Here I feel safe and secure at nights," she said.
In the first break-in Miss Marsh had woken up and found a man in her bedroom. He immediately left and later she discovered that cash and jewellery had been stolen. On the second occasion another man appeared at her bedside and squeezed her throat and slapped her face. Both intruders were later arrested with one jailed for three years and the other for 2½. But Miss Marsh – who had moved into the Tree Tops Residential Home in Kings Road in St Helens – said: "It should have been 63 years."
The Reporter also described how the Parr British Legion was making a comeback after last year's scandal. The club in Ashcroft Street had been closed down by court order after the police had complained that five members of its committee were unfit for office. Now under its new name of the Fingerpost (St. Helens) Royal British Legion Club, the venue had reopened its doors after seven months of closure with a fresh committee in charge.
Club Secretary Walter Boughey said: "We're on trial now – but we'll get through." The new committee inherited a debt from its predecessors of £4,000, which had doubled during its closure, and the new officials had even needed to dig into their own pockets to help reopen the club.
The Reporter published an article about the new road under the East Lancs that was set to open on the 20th. The scheme along the route of an old railway line was an innovation for St Helens planners, with British Rail saying they knew of no similar one in the north-west. The line that used to run from Shaw Street to Rainford Junction had not been in use since 1951.
Work on the new underpass had begun in January and the old line had been transformed into a two-lane road called Scafell Road. That would join Washway Lane on the St Helens side and link up with Moss Bank Road near Sandy Lane, Victoria Avenue and Africander Road at the Moss Bank end. St Helens Road Safety Officer, Alan Collinson, said the Moss Bank junction handled about 4,000 cars per day. "This is a black spot. There were a dozen accidents there last year," he said.
Harold Stott was the service manager at Rothery Radio before starting his own business in 1963 at 18 Westfield Street. His ad in the Reporter was a reminder of the early days of colour television when most people rented their sets. It began: "Thinking of a colour T.V.? First see the fabulous Mitsubishi at Harold Stott's. Beautiful colour, pin point definition and easy to adjust. This is one of the finest sets we have handled and is highly recommended. RENT! At only £1.70 weekly. Call and see this wonderful Colour T.V. or ask for FREE home demonstration."
The paper also profiled radio presenter and singer-songwriter Alan Jackson who was the breakfast DJ on Radio Manx. Formerly of Bretherton Road in Prescot and a clerk at Pilkingtons, Alan also wrote an entertainment column for a Sunday newspaper.
And finally, the effect of subsidence on their existing church had led to the construction of a new St Anne's in Sutton. That building was due to be completed in November but on the 6th the bodies of a priest and nun that had died 100 years before were reinterred into a new shrine chapel. A rarely celebrated Mass of Re-interment preceded Fr Ignatius Spencer's transfer from the old crypt and Mother Mary Joseph's removal from St Anne's Churchyard.
The plan was for the tomb of the Blessed Dominic Barberi to join them under a new marble floor in the chapel. The founder of the Passionist Order had been beatified ten years before and it was hoped that Causes for the beatification of Father Ignatius and Mother Mary would soon be introduced. Church Rector Fr Eugene Kennan said that it was possible that in the future Sutton would have a unique church with three saints buried there.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the unknown man who saved a new church in Blackbrook from arson, the heatwave in St Helens and the child left in the lost children's marquee of the St Helens Show for 7 hours.
This week's many stories include the new East Lancs underpass, the St Helens victims of the Summerland leisure centre disaster, the re-interment of prospective saints in a new Sutton church, the reincarnation of the scandal-hit Parr British Legion, the 91-year-old Rainhill woman forced out of her home by burglars and the customers that refused to leave a North Road chippy when a fire broke out.
We begin with a special meeting of St Helens Council's Planning and Development Committee in which it was decided to serve three more enforcement notices on Leathers Chemicals.
That was after the Sutton sulphuric acid plant had been accused of breaking their planning conditions by permitting three emissions of sulphur dioxide on July 6th.
Residents near the Lancots Lane plant had been forced to take shelter in shops from the chemical fall-out.
Leathers had already appealed against the first enforcement order, which had been issued in March.
That was intended to force the firm to comply with the safety rules imposed when planning permission was granted and a public hearing would take place later in the year.
The Prescot Libraries Division included Eccleston and Whiston and it published its annual report this week.
Their libraries had issued nearly a million books in 1972, with Eccleston opening a new building on Broadway and Whiston showing an increase in borrowing.
But concern was expressed that the local government reorganisation planned for 1974 was creating much uncertainty within the division.
The Summerland leisure centre disaster in Douglas on the Isle of Man (pictured above - image Stuart Taylor) occurred during the evening of the 2nd.
Fifty people were killed and among the 80 seriously injured were sisters Joyce (19) and Anne Quirk (16) of Brynn Street in St Helens.
Both were machine operators with Kelmar Engineering in Sutton Road and had been spending a week's holiday on the island.
The fire also injured 58-year-old Ellen Palfrey of Waring Avenue in Parr. After visiting his mother in hospital her son Kenneth later said:
"My mother told me that she and her sister had only been inside Summerland for five minutes when the fire broke out. A man smashed a window with a chair and told my mother and others to climb through."
Joan Manchester made the front-page of the St Helens Reporter on the 3rd angry about the antics of a bus crew.
The 48-year-old from Brynn Street in St Helens had been visiting her daughter in Hinckley Road and had got the bus for the journey back to town.
Mrs Manchester told the paper: "I paid my fare and the bus dropped a couple of passengers off, leaving me alone. I'd been on board about two minutes.
"Then I noticed that the driver kept turning and pointing. The conductor approached and asked if I would get off and catch another bus behind us."
Joan – who had recently spent five weeks in hospital suffering from meningitis – agreed to the request but the other bus drove straight past and she said she had to walk the rest of the way.
"I complained because I was furious. An inspector said that the crew had probably wanted to get off early, and as I was the only one on the bus they got away with it."
St Helens Corporation's Transport Department promised an investigation and said disciplinary action would be taken if it was needed.
Chip shop owner Tony Burke had a problem when his range started belching out black smoke. He couldn't get rid of his customers while he dealt with the fire. This is how the Reporter described what occurred:
"The fat was in the fire for chip shop owner Tony Burke when his range started belching black smoke. For the queue at the counter didn't budge – and one girl kept demanding pudding and chips.
"It was only when Tony said the place was going to blow up that they evacuated the shop. It was nearly midnight on Saturday when the black clouds started to fill the shop in North Road, St. Helens.
"Said Tony: “You wouldn't catch me standing about in a chippy full of smoke. But they stayed. I think they were frightened of losing their places in the queue. I told them the shop was going to blow up and that got them out.”
"Tony used a fire extinguisher and had the blaze under control when St. Helens firemen arrived."
The Reporter contained a sad story about the effect that intruders in the home can have on people – especially those that are very elderly.
Florence Marsh was 91 and had been forced to put her home in Rainhill Road in Rainhill up for sale after being terrified by two sets of burglars within a month.
Miss Marsh wept as she told the Reporter that she was too frightened to remain in her own house and had moved into a retirement home. "Here I feel safe and secure at nights," she said.
In the first break-in Miss Marsh had woken up and found a man in her bedroom. He immediately left and later she discovered that cash and jewellery had been stolen.
On the second occasion another man appeared at her bedside and squeezed her throat and slapped her face.
Both intruders were later arrested with one jailed for three years and the other for 2½. But Miss Marsh – who had moved into the Tree Tops Residential Home in Kings Road in St Helens – said: "It should have been 63 years."
The Reporter also described how the Parr British Legion was making a comeback after last year's scandal.
The club in Ashcroft Street had been closed down by court order after the police had complained that five members of its committee were unfit for office.
Now under its new name of the Fingerpost (St. Helens) Royal British Legion Club, the venue had reopened its doors after seven months of closure with a fresh committee in charge.
Club Secretary Walter Boughey said: "We're on trial now – but we'll get through."
The new committee inherited a debt from its predecessors of £4,000, which had doubled during its closure, and the new officials had even needed to dig into their own pockets to help reopen the club.
The Reporter published an article about the new road under the East Lancs that was set to open on the 20th.
The scheme along the route of an old railway line was an innovation for St Helens planners, with British Rail saying they knew of no similar one in the north-west.
The line that used to run from Shaw Street to Rainford Junction had not been in use since 1951.
Work on the new underpass had begun in January and the old line had been transformed into a two-lane road called Scafell Road.
That would join Washway Lane on the St Helens side and link up with Moss Bank Road near Sandy Lane, Victoria Avenue and Africander Road at the Moss Bank end.
St Helens Road Safety Officer, Alan Collinson, said the Moss Bank junction handled about 4,000 cars per day. "This is a black spot. There were a dozen accidents there last year," he said.
Harold Stott was the service manager at Rothery Radio before starting his own business in 1963 at 18 Westfield Street. His ad in the Reporter was a reminder of the early days of colour television when most people rented their sets. It began:
"Thinking of a colour T.V.? First see the fabulous Mitsubishi at Harold Stott's. Beautiful colour, pin point definition and easy to adjust. This is one of the finest sets we have handled and is highly recommended. RENT! At only £1.70 weekly. Call and see this wonderful Colour T.V. or ask for FREE home demonstration."
The paper also profiled radio presenter and singer-songwriter Alan Jackson who was the breakfast DJ on Radio Manx.
Formerly of Bretherton Road in Prescot and a clerk at Pilkingtons, Alan also wrote an entertainment column for a Sunday newspaper.
And finally, the effect of subsidence on their existing church had led to the construction of a new St Anne's in Sutton.
That building was due to be completed in November but on the 6th the bodies of a priest and nun that had died 100 years before were reinterred into a new shrine chapel.
A rarely celebrated Mass of Re-interment preceded Fr Ignatius Spencer's transfer from the old crypt and Mother Mary Joseph's removal from St Anne's Churchyard.
The plan was for the tomb of the Blessed Dominic Barberi to join them under a new marble floor in the chapel.
The founder of the Passionist Order had been beatified ten years before and it was hoped that Causes for the beatification of Father Ignatius and Mother Mary would soon be introduced.
Church Rector Fr Eugene Kennan said that it was possible that in the future Sutton would have a unique church with three saints buried there.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the unknown man who saved a new church in Blackbrook from arson, a poor pensioner is inundated with gifts of clothes, the heatwave in St Helens and the child left in the lost children's marquee of the St Helens Show for 7 hours.
We begin with a special meeting of St Helens Council's Planning and Development Committee in which it was decided to serve three more enforcement notices on Leathers Chemicals.
That was after the Sutton sulphuric acid plant had been accused of breaking their planning conditions by permitting three emissions of sulphur dioxide on July 6th.
Residents near the Lancots Lane plant had been forced to take shelter in shops from the chemical fall-out.
Leathers had already appealed against the first enforcement order, which had been issued in March.
That was intended to force the firm to comply with the safety rules imposed when planning permission was granted and a public hearing would take place later in the year.
The Prescot Libraries Division included Eccleston and Whiston and it published its annual report this week.
Their libraries had issued nearly a million books in 1972, with Eccleston opening a new building on Broadway and Whiston showing an increase in borrowing.
But concern was expressed that the local government reorganisation planned for 1974 was creating much uncertainty within the division.
Fifty people were killed and among the 80 seriously injured were sisters Joyce (19) and Anne Quirk (16) of Brynn Street in St Helens.
Both were machine operators with Kelmar Engineering in Sutton Road and had been spending a week's holiday on the island.
The fire also injured 58-year-old Ellen Palfrey of Waring Avenue in Parr. After visiting his mother in hospital her son Kenneth later said:
"My mother told me that she and her sister had only been inside Summerland for five minutes when the fire broke out. A man smashed a window with a chair and told my mother and others to climb through."
Joan Manchester made the front-page of the St Helens Reporter on the 3rd angry about the antics of a bus crew.
The 48-year-old from Brynn Street in St Helens had been visiting her daughter in Hinckley Road and had got the bus for the journey back to town.
Mrs Manchester told the paper: "I paid my fare and the bus dropped a couple of passengers off, leaving me alone. I'd been on board about two minutes.
"Then I noticed that the driver kept turning and pointing. The conductor approached and asked if I would get off and catch another bus behind us."
Joan – who had recently spent five weeks in hospital suffering from meningitis – agreed to the request but the other bus drove straight past and she said she had to walk the rest of the way.
"I complained because I was furious. An inspector said that the crew had probably wanted to get off early, and as I was the only one on the bus they got away with it."
St Helens Corporation's Transport Department promised an investigation and said disciplinary action would be taken if it was needed.
Chip shop owner Tony Burke had a problem when his range started belching out black smoke. He couldn't get rid of his customers while he dealt with the fire. This is how the Reporter described what occurred:
"The fat was in the fire for chip shop owner Tony Burke when his range started belching black smoke. For the queue at the counter didn't budge – and one girl kept demanding pudding and chips.
"It was only when Tony said the place was going to blow up that they evacuated the shop. It was nearly midnight on Saturday when the black clouds started to fill the shop in North Road, St. Helens.
"Said Tony: “You wouldn't catch me standing about in a chippy full of smoke. But they stayed. I think they were frightened of losing their places in the queue. I told them the shop was going to blow up and that got them out.”
"Tony used a fire extinguisher and had the blaze under control when St. Helens firemen arrived."
The Reporter contained a sad story about the effect that intruders in the home can have on people – especially those that are very elderly.
Florence Marsh was 91 and had been forced to put her home in Rainhill Road in Rainhill up for sale after being terrified by two sets of burglars within a month.
Miss Marsh wept as she told the Reporter that she was too frightened to remain in her own house and had moved into a retirement home. "Here I feel safe and secure at nights," she said.
In the first break-in Miss Marsh had woken up and found a man in her bedroom. He immediately left and later she discovered that cash and jewellery had been stolen.
On the second occasion another man appeared at her bedside and squeezed her throat and slapped her face.
Both intruders were later arrested with one jailed for three years and the other for 2½. But Miss Marsh – who had moved into the Tree Tops Residential Home in Kings Road in St Helens – said: "It should have been 63 years."
The Reporter also described how the Parr British Legion was making a comeback after last year's scandal.
The club in Ashcroft Street had been closed down by court order after the police had complained that five members of its committee were unfit for office.
Now under its new name of the Fingerpost (St. Helens) Royal British Legion Club, the venue had reopened its doors after seven months of closure with a fresh committee in charge.
Club Secretary Walter Boughey said: "We're on trial now – but we'll get through."
The new committee inherited a debt from its predecessors of £4,000, which had doubled during its closure, and the new officials had even needed to dig into their own pockets to help reopen the club.
The Reporter published an article about the new road under the East Lancs that was set to open on the 20th.
The scheme along the route of an old railway line was an innovation for St Helens planners, with British Rail saying they knew of no similar one in the north-west.
The line that used to run from Shaw Street to Rainford Junction had not been in use since 1951.
Work on the new underpass had begun in January and the old line had been transformed into a two-lane road called Scafell Road.
That would join Washway Lane on the St Helens side and link up with Moss Bank Road near Sandy Lane, Victoria Avenue and Africander Road at the Moss Bank end.
St Helens Road Safety Officer, Alan Collinson, said the Moss Bank junction handled about 4,000 cars per day. "This is a black spot. There were a dozen accidents there last year," he said.
Harold Stott was the service manager at Rothery Radio before starting his own business in 1963 at 18 Westfield Street. His ad in the Reporter was a reminder of the early days of colour television when most people rented their sets. It began:
"Thinking of a colour T.V.? First see the fabulous Mitsubishi at Harold Stott's. Beautiful colour, pin point definition and easy to adjust. This is one of the finest sets we have handled and is highly recommended. RENT! At only £1.70 weekly. Call and see this wonderful Colour T.V. or ask for FREE home demonstration."
The paper also profiled radio presenter and singer-songwriter Alan Jackson who was the breakfast DJ on Radio Manx.
Formerly of Bretherton Road in Prescot and a clerk at Pilkingtons, Alan also wrote an entertainment column for a Sunday newspaper.
And finally, the effect of subsidence on their existing church had led to the construction of a new St Anne's in Sutton.
That building was due to be completed in November but on the 6th the bodies of a priest and nun that had died 100 years before were reinterred into a new shrine chapel.
A rarely celebrated Mass of Re-interment preceded Fr Ignatius Spencer's transfer from the old crypt and Mother Mary Joseph's removal from St Anne's Churchyard.
The plan was for the tomb of the Blessed Dominic Barberi to join them under a new marble floor in the chapel.
The founder of the Passionist Order had been beatified ten years before and it was hoped that Causes for the beatification of Father Ignatius and Mother Mary would soon be introduced.
Church Rector Fr Eugene Kennan said that it was possible that in the future Sutton would have a unique church with three saints buried there.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include the unknown man who saved a new church in Blackbrook from arson, a poor pensioner is inundated with gifts of clothes, the heatwave in St Helens and the child left in the lost children's marquee of the St Helens Show for 7 hours.