FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK 31 AUG - 6 SEPT 1976
This week's many stories include the rat-infested house in Owen Street, the opening at Rainhill Hospital of a special psychiatric ward for criminals, the new industrial relics in St Helens Museum, the drought-affected Pilks' Recreation Club Open Weekend and why the town's new holiday home in Abergele was already in danger of closing.
We begin with the news of a new boss at St Helens police station. After the retirement of Jack Watson as the town's police chief, Chief Superintendent Tom Phillips this week took over in the hot seat.
A meeting of St Helens Council's Housing and Building Committee took place this week where it was decided that eleven houses in Leicester Street in Thatto Heath would be demolished. Four of the terraced houses were unoccupied and said to be in a dilapidated condition. The properties adjoined houses in Elephant Lane that had recently been confirmed for demolition by the government. They were all to be compulsory purchased as part of the council's massive redevelopment scheme for the area.
The lead story in the St Helens Reporter that was published on the 3rd concerned the town's holiday home in Abergele which was said to be in danger of closing only months after opening. In April 1976 the Reporter had revealed that what was known as the Sunray project, had involved two years of fundraising.
Its purpose was then described as providing "deprived persons" from the borough with a holiday and £75,000 had been spent in renovating a suitable building. Then in July it was stated that the newly opened North Wales home was suffering from a lack of bookings. Organiser Reg Kershaw blamed that on a misunderstanding, telling the Reporter that any holidaymakers, not just so-called deprived people, could book the home for a week at a cost of £28 per person.
But this week's Reporter described the holiday home as "up to its eyes in debt" and was currently a "staggering" £79,500 short of what it had cost to convert and furnish the house. That amount had exceeded £100,000, with newly enforced fire regulations alone blamed for adding almost £14,000 to the bill. Bookings were said to still be low and it was predicted that the home in Abergele would lose over £15,000 in its first year. Now councillors were faced with a dilemma of whether to cut their losses and close the home – possibly only temporarily over the winter period – or ask ratepayers to bail it out.
The controversial opening at Rainhill Hospital (pictured above) of what the Reporter dubbed a "specially-converted ward for criminals" was another big story. It was the genesis of Scott Clinic, which was yet to be built but was being described as a prison-style unit that would cost £2 million which the NUPE trade union claimed would house psychiatric killers and dangerous criminals.
The National Union Of Public Employees (NUPE) had declared that they would not only refuse to staff the proposed stand-alone secure unit but were also "blacking" the new ward within the hospital itself that had cost £18,000 to convert. That was seen as a stepping-stone to the creation of the yet to be named Scott Clinic and would house 14 mentally ill criminals.
To the fury of NUPE, the new ward had been able to open because the Confederation of Health Service Employees (COHSE) had chosen to staff it. Bill Nixon was NUPE secretary at Rainhill and told the Reporter that he felt very bitter about COHSE's decision. But the latter said: "If people start blacking wards they will be blacking certain patients next. You can't just black wards in a hospital. People are having treatment there."
The Reporter described how St Helens Museum had preserved two industrial relics. One was a former Post Office handcart that had begun its career in Edwardian times and the other was a Greenall's hose cart, which also dated from the early 1900s and had been part of the brewery's fire fighting equipment in Hall Street.
The museum's curator was then Esme Lloyd and the collection was based in the Gamble Institute. It was not until 1980 that the Museum moved from the Gamble to Lincoln House in College Street and, subsequently, to the new The World Of Glass.
Quite often householders would tell the Reporter how they had regularly complained to the Council about an issue in their neighbourhood, only for the authority to tell the paper when questioned that they had no or little knowledge of the problem. This week Reg Smith from Owen Street blasted the Council for neglecting to clear up a health hazard.
Mr Smith said that for months residents had been complaining about a rat-infested house in their street which the Council had ignored since it became empty almost one year before. Mr Smith told the Reporter:
"Several months ago the smell from the house was so bad that we called the Council out. They found a dead dog in the kitchen. They took it away and haven't done anything else since. The house is in a disgusting condition. There is rotting food and filth lying everywhere, and the smell has started to come into the other houses. It is ridiculous and the Council has ignored it. It's time the Council did something."
However, a St Helens Council spokesman confirmed to the Reporter that they had visited the house in June and did a lot of work but insisted they had received no complaints since. However, it was stated that they would now investigate.
In 1975 Pilkington's had announced that they were ending their grand biennial Gala, mainly because of the damage caused by the event to their ground at Ruskin Drive. Gala Committee Chairman David Wood said at the time: "We were compelled to take a new look at the gala when the Recreation Executive Maintenance Committee reported that gala damage to Ruskin Drive was rapidly reaching the stage where it could not be remedied by conventional means."
A number of the galas had been affected by bad weather and that had not done the ground at Ruskin Drive any favours when crowds had been tramping over it. Falling attendances and rising costs were other factors, with the 1974 Gala having cost almost 12 times as much as the inaugural 1965 show, which had more people in attendance.
The Pilkington Gala had replaced Pilks' more basic Recreation Club Open Weekend, which was now being revived at Ruskin Drive. That began again on the 3rd and 4th of this week, although some of the planned events were cancelled through the weather. But, ironically, it was not waterlogged fields that were likely to be ripped up by tramping feet – but the lack of rain.
The drought of 1976 caused by its hot summer was now hitting hard and consequently the planned tennis, hockey and most track events at Ruskin Drive had all needed to be cancelled. A spokesman for the groundsmen said: "If play was allowed on these areas it would do irreparable damage."
And the drought-hardened ground at Knowsley Road was creating a problem for Saints. Jolts on the toughened surface during training sessions in readiness for the new season were being blamed for a mounting injury toll. Among the casualties were Tony Karalius, Les Jones and Bill Benyon, with coach Eric Ashton saying this week: "All these injuries were probably caused by the hard ground."
And finally, from the 6th Elizabeth Larner starred in Agatha Christie's 'Spider's Web' at the Theatre Royal.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include a denial that killers would be coming to Rainhill, a magpie's reign of terror in Rivington Road, Dr Who comes to town, why there was no hope for Hope Street and the secret refuge for battered wives.
We begin with the news of a new boss at St Helens police station. After the retirement of Jack Watson as the town's police chief, Chief Superintendent Tom Phillips this week took over in the hot seat.
A meeting of St Helens Council's Housing and Building Committee took place this week where it was decided that eleven houses in Leicester Street in Thatto Heath would be demolished. Four of the terraced houses were unoccupied and said to be in a dilapidated condition. The properties adjoined houses in Elephant Lane that had recently been confirmed for demolition by the government. They were all to be compulsory purchased as part of the council's massive redevelopment scheme for the area.
The lead story in the St Helens Reporter that was published on the 3rd concerned the town's holiday home in Abergele which was said to be in danger of closing only months after opening. In April 1976 the Reporter had revealed that what was known as the Sunray project, had involved two years of fundraising.
Its purpose was then described as providing "deprived persons" from the borough with a holiday and £75,000 had been spent in renovating a suitable building. Then in July it was stated that the newly opened North Wales home was suffering from a lack of bookings. Organiser Reg Kershaw blamed that on a misunderstanding, telling the Reporter that any holidaymakers, not just so-called deprived people, could book the home for a week at a cost of £28 per person.
But this week's Reporter described the holiday home as "up to its eyes in debt" and was currently a "staggering" £79,500 short of what it had cost to convert and furnish the house. That amount had exceeded £100,000, with newly enforced fire regulations alone blamed for adding almost £14,000 to the bill. Bookings were said to still be low and it was predicted that the home in Abergele would lose over £15,000 in its first year. Now councillors were faced with a dilemma of whether to cut their losses and close the home – possibly only temporarily over the winter period – or ask ratepayers to bail it out.
The National Union Of Public Employees (NUPE) had declared that they would not only refuse to staff the proposed stand-alone secure unit but were also "blacking" the new ward within the hospital itself that had cost £18,000 to convert. That was seen as a stepping-stone to the creation of the yet to be named Scott Clinic and would house 14 mentally ill criminals.
To the fury of NUPE, the new ward had been able to open because the Confederation of Health Service Employees (COHSE) had chosen to staff it. Bill Nixon was NUPE secretary at Rainhill and told the Reporter that he felt very bitter about COHSE's decision. But the latter said: "If people start blacking wards they will be blacking certain patients next. You can't just black wards in a hospital. People are having treatment there."
The Reporter described how St Helens Museum had preserved two industrial relics. One was a former Post Office handcart that had begun its career in Edwardian times and the other was a Greenall's hose cart, which also dated from the early 1900s and had been part of the brewery's fire fighting equipment in Hall Street.
The museum's curator was then Esme Lloyd and the collection was based in the Gamble Institute. It was not until 1980 that the Museum moved from the Gamble to Lincoln House in College Street and, subsequently, to the new The World Of Glass.
Quite often householders would tell the Reporter how they had regularly complained to the Council about an issue in their neighbourhood, only for the authority to tell the paper when questioned that they had no or little knowledge of the problem. This week Reg Smith from Owen Street blasted the Council for neglecting to clear up a health hazard.
Mr Smith said that for months residents had been complaining about a rat-infested house in their street which the Council had ignored since it became empty almost one year before. Mr Smith told the Reporter:
"Several months ago the smell from the house was so bad that we called the Council out. They found a dead dog in the kitchen. They took it away and haven't done anything else since. The house is in a disgusting condition. There is rotting food and filth lying everywhere, and the smell has started to come into the other houses. It is ridiculous and the Council has ignored it. It's time the Council did something."
However, a St Helens Council spokesman confirmed to the Reporter that they had visited the house in June and did a lot of work but insisted they had received no complaints since. However, it was stated that they would now investigate.
In 1975 Pilkington's had announced that they were ending their grand biennial Gala, mainly because of the damage caused by the event to their ground at Ruskin Drive. Gala Committee Chairman David Wood said at the time: "We were compelled to take a new look at the gala when the Recreation Executive Maintenance Committee reported that gala damage to Ruskin Drive was rapidly reaching the stage where it could not be remedied by conventional means."
A number of the galas had been affected by bad weather and that had not done the ground at Ruskin Drive any favours when crowds had been tramping over it. Falling attendances and rising costs were other factors, with the 1974 Gala having cost almost 12 times as much as the inaugural 1965 show, which had more people in attendance.
The Pilkington Gala had replaced Pilks' more basic Recreation Club Open Weekend, which was now being revived at Ruskin Drive. That began again on the 3rd and 4th of this week, although some of the planned events were cancelled through the weather. But, ironically, it was not waterlogged fields that were likely to be ripped up by tramping feet – but the lack of rain.
The drought of 1976 caused by its hot summer was now hitting hard and consequently the planned tennis, hockey and most track events at Ruskin Drive had all needed to be cancelled. A spokesman for the groundsmen said: "If play was allowed on these areas it would do irreparable damage."
And the drought-hardened ground at Knowsley Road was creating a problem for Saints. Jolts on the toughened surface during training sessions in readiness for the new season were being blamed for a mounting injury toll. Among the casualties were Tony Karalius, Les Jones and Bill Benyon, with coach Eric Ashton saying this week: "All these injuries were probably caused by the hard ground."
And finally, from the 6th Elizabeth Larner starred in Agatha Christie's 'Spider's Web' at the Theatre Royal.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include a denial that killers would be coming to Rainhill, a magpie's reign of terror in Rivington Road, Dr Who comes to town, why there was no hope for Hope Street and the secret refuge for battered wives.
This week's many stories include the rat-infested house in Owen Street, the opening at Rainhill Hospital of a special psychiatric ward for criminals, the new industrial relics in St Helens Museum, the drought-affected Pilks' Recreation Club Open Weekend and why the town's new holiday home in Abergele was already in danger of closing.
We begin with the news of a new boss at St Helens police station.
After the retirement of Jack Watson as the town's police chief, Chief Superintendent Tom Phillips this week took over in the hot seat.
A meeting of St Helens Council's Housing and Building Committee took place this week where it was decided that eleven houses in Leicester Street in Thatto Heath would be demolished.
Four of the terraced houses were unoccupied and said to be in a dilapidated condition.
The properties adjoined houses in Elephant Lane that had recently been confirmed for demolition by the government.
They were all to be compulsory purchased as part of the council's massive redevelopment scheme for the area.
The lead story in the St Helens Reporter that was published on the 3rd concerned the town's holiday home in Abergele which was said to be in danger of closing only months after opening.
In April 1976 the Reporter had revealed that what was known as the Sunray project, had involved two years of fundraising.
Its purpose was then described as providing "deprived persons" from the borough with a holiday and £75,000 had been spent in renovating a suitable building.
Then in July it was stated that the newly opened North Wales home was suffering from a lack of bookings.
Organiser Reg Kershaw blamed that on a misunderstanding, telling the Reporter that any holidaymakers, not just so-called deprived people, could book the home for a week at a cost of £28 per person.
But this week's Reporter described the holiday home as "up to its eyes in debt" and was currently a "staggering" £79,500 short of what it had cost to convert and furnish the house.
That amount had exceeded £100,000, with newly enforced fire regulations alone blamed for adding almost £14,000 to the bill.
Bookings were said to still be low and it was predicted that the home in Abergele would lose over £15,000 in its first year.
Now councillors were faced with a dilemma of whether to cut their losses and close the home – possibly only temporarily over the winter period – or ask ratepayers to bail it out.
The controversial opening at Rainhill Hospital (pictured above) of what the Reporter dubbed a "specially-converted ward for criminals" was another big story.
It was the genesis of Scott Clinic, which was yet to be built but was being described as a prison-style unit that would cost £2 million which the NUPE trade union claimed would house psychiatric killers and dangerous criminals.
The National Union Of Public Employees (NUPE) had declared that they would not only refuse to staff the proposed stand-alone secure unit but were also "blacking" the new ward within the hospital itself that had cost £18,000 to convert.
That was seen as a stepping-stone to the creation of the yet to be named Scott Clinic and would house 14 mentally ill criminals.
To the fury of NUPE, the new ward had been able to open because the Confederation of Health Service Employees (COHSE) had chosen to staff it.
Bill Nixon was NUPE secretary at Rainhill and told the Reporter that he felt very bitter about COHSE's decision.
But the latter said: "If people start blacking wards they will be blacking certain patients next. You can't just black wards in a hospital. People are having treatment there."
The Reporter described how St Helens Museum had preserved two industrial relics.
One was a former Post Office handcart that had begun its career in Edwardian times and the other was a Greenall's hose cart, which also dated from the early 1900s and had been part of the brewery's fire fighting equipment in Hall Street.
The museum's curator was then Esme Lloyd and the collection was based in the Gamble Institute.
It was not until 1980 that the Museum moved from the Gamble to Lincoln House in College Street and, subsequently, to the new The World Of Glass.
Quite often householders would tell the Reporter how they had regularly complained to the Council about an issue in their neighbourhood, only for the authority to tell the paper when questioned that they had no or little knowledge of the problem.
This week Reg Smith from Owen Street blasted the Council for neglecting to clear up a health hazard.
Mr Smith said that for months residents had been complaining about a rat-infested house in their street which the Council had ignored since it became empty almost one year before. Mr Smith told the Reporter:
"Several months ago the smell from the house was so bad that we called the Council out. They found a dead dog in the kitchen. They took it away and haven't done anything else since.
"The house is in a disgusting condition. There is rotting food and filth lying everywhere, and the smell has started to come into the other houses. It is ridiculous and the Council has ignored it. It's time the Council did something."
However, a St Helens Council spokesman confirmed to the Reporter that they had visited the house in June and did a lot of work but insisted they had received no complaints since. However, it was stated that they would now investigate.
In 1975 Pilkington's had announced that they were ending their grand biennial Gala, mainly because of the damage caused by the event to their ground at Ruskin Drive.
Gala Committee Chairman David Wood said at the time: "We were compelled to take a new look at the gala when the Recreation Executive Maintenance Committee reported that gala damage to Ruskin Drive was rapidly reaching the stage where it could not be remedied by conventional means."
A number of the galas had been affected by bad weather and that had not done the ground at Ruskin Drive any favours when crowds had been tramping over it.
Falling attendances and rising costs were other factors, with the 1974 Gala having cost almost 12 times as much as the inaugural 1965 show, which had more people in attendance.
The Pilkington Gala had replaced Pilks' more basic Recreation Club Open Weekend, which was now being revived at Ruskin Drive.
That began again on the 3rd and 4th of this week, although some of the planned events were cancelled through the weather.
But, ironically, it was not waterlogged fields that were likely to be ripped up by tramping feet – but the lack of rain.
The drought of 1976 caused by its hot summer was now hitting hard and consequently the planned tennis, hockey and most track events at Ruskin Drive had all needed to be cancelled.
A spokesman for the groundsmen said: "If play was allowed on these areas it would do irreparable damage."
And the drought-hardened ground at Knowsley Road was creating a problem for Saints.
Jolts on the toughened surface during training sessions in readiness for the new season were being blamed for a mounting injury toll.
Among the casualties were Tony Karalius, Les Jones and Bill Benyon, with coach Eric Ashton saying this week:
"All these injuries were probably caused by the hard ground."
And finally, from the 6th Elizabeth Larner starred in Agatha Christie's 'Spider's Web' at the Theatre Royal.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include a denial that killers would be coming to Rainhill, a magpie's reign of terror in Rivington Road, Dr Who comes to town, why there was no hope for Hope Street and the secret refuge for battered wives.
We begin with the news of a new boss at St Helens police station.
After the retirement of Jack Watson as the town's police chief, Chief Superintendent Tom Phillips this week took over in the hot seat.
A meeting of St Helens Council's Housing and Building Committee took place this week where it was decided that eleven houses in Leicester Street in Thatto Heath would be demolished.
Four of the terraced houses were unoccupied and said to be in a dilapidated condition.
The properties adjoined houses in Elephant Lane that had recently been confirmed for demolition by the government.
They were all to be compulsory purchased as part of the council's massive redevelopment scheme for the area.
The lead story in the St Helens Reporter that was published on the 3rd concerned the town's holiday home in Abergele which was said to be in danger of closing only months after opening.
In April 1976 the Reporter had revealed that what was known as the Sunray project, had involved two years of fundraising.
Its purpose was then described as providing "deprived persons" from the borough with a holiday and £75,000 had been spent in renovating a suitable building.
Then in July it was stated that the newly opened North Wales home was suffering from a lack of bookings.
Organiser Reg Kershaw blamed that on a misunderstanding, telling the Reporter that any holidaymakers, not just so-called deprived people, could book the home for a week at a cost of £28 per person.
But this week's Reporter described the holiday home as "up to its eyes in debt" and was currently a "staggering" £79,500 short of what it had cost to convert and furnish the house.
That amount had exceeded £100,000, with newly enforced fire regulations alone blamed for adding almost £14,000 to the bill.
Bookings were said to still be low and it was predicted that the home in Abergele would lose over £15,000 in its first year.
Now councillors were faced with a dilemma of whether to cut their losses and close the home – possibly only temporarily over the winter period – or ask ratepayers to bail it out.
It was the genesis of Scott Clinic, which was yet to be built but was being described as a prison-style unit that would cost £2 million which the NUPE trade union claimed would house psychiatric killers and dangerous criminals.
The National Union Of Public Employees (NUPE) had declared that they would not only refuse to staff the proposed stand-alone secure unit but were also "blacking" the new ward within the hospital itself that had cost £18,000 to convert.
That was seen as a stepping-stone to the creation of the yet to be named Scott Clinic and would house 14 mentally ill criminals.
To the fury of NUPE, the new ward had been able to open because the Confederation of Health Service Employees (COHSE) had chosen to staff it.
Bill Nixon was NUPE secretary at Rainhill and told the Reporter that he felt very bitter about COHSE's decision.
But the latter said: "If people start blacking wards they will be blacking certain patients next. You can't just black wards in a hospital. People are having treatment there."
The Reporter described how St Helens Museum had preserved two industrial relics.
One was a former Post Office handcart that had begun its career in Edwardian times and the other was a Greenall's hose cart, which also dated from the early 1900s and had been part of the brewery's fire fighting equipment in Hall Street.
The museum's curator was then Esme Lloyd and the collection was based in the Gamble Institute.
It was not until 1980 that the Museum moved from the Gamble to Lincoln House in College Street and, subsequently, to the new The World Of Glass.
Quite often householders would tell the Reporter how they had regularly complained to the Council about an issue in their neighbourhood, only for the authority to tell the paper when questioned that they had no or little knowledge of the problem.
This week Reg Smith from Owen Street blasted the Council for neglecting to clear up a health hazard.
Mr Smith said that for months residents had been complaining about a rat-infested house in their street which the Council had ignored since it became empty almost one year before. Mr Smith told the Reporter:
"Several months ago the smell from the house was so bad that we called the Council out. They found a dead dog in the kitchen. They took it away and haven't done anything else since.
"The house is in a disgusting condition. There is rotting food and filth lying everywhere, and the smell has started to come into the other houses. It is ridiculous and the Council has ignored it. It's time the Council did something."
However, a St Helens Council spokesman confirmed to the Reporter that they had visited the house in June and did a lot of work but insisted they had received no complaints since. However, it was stated that they would now investigate.
In 1975 Pilkington's had announced that they were ending their grand biennial Gala, mainly because of the damage caused by the event to their ground at Ruskin Drive.
Gala Committee Chairman David Wood said at the time: "We were compelled to take a new look at the gala when the Recreation Executive Maintenance Committee reported that gala damage to Ruskin Drive was rapidly reaching the stage where it could not be remedied by conventional means."
A number of the galas had been affected by bad weather and that had not done the ground at Ruskin Drive any favours when crowds had been tramping over it.
Falling attendances and rising costs were other factors, with the 1974 Gala having cost almost 12 times as much as the inaugural 1965 show, which had more people in attendance.
The Pilkington Gala had replaced Pilks' more basic Recreation Club Open Weekend, which was now being revived at Ruskin Drive.
That began again on the 3rd and 4th of this week, although some of the planned events were cancelled through the weather.
But, ironically, it was not waterlogged fields that were likely to be ripped up by tramping feet – but the lack of rain.
The drought of 1976 caused by its hot summer was now hitting hard and consequently the planned tennis, hockey and most track events at Ruskin Drive had all needed to be cancelled.
A spokesman for the groundsmen said: "If play was allowed on these areas it would do irreparable damage."
And the drought-hardened ground at Knowsley Road was creating a problem for Saints.
Jolts on the toughened surface during training sessions in readiness for the new season were being blamed for a mounting injury toll.
Among the casualties were Tony Karalius, Les Jones and Bill Benyon, with coach Eric Ashton saying this week:
"All these injuries were probably caused by the hard ground."
And finally, from the 6th Elizabeth Larner starred in Agatha Christie's 'Spider's Web' at the Theatre Royal.
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next Week's stories will include a denial that killers would be coming to Rainhill, a magpie's reign of terror in Rivington Road, Dr Who comes to town, why there was no hope for Hope Street and the secret refuge for battered wives.