FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (31st OCT. - 6th NOV. 1972)
This week's stories include the new community centre in New Street, the unhappy greengrocers in Water Street, a call not to be a Guy Fawkes goon, the angry St Helens taxi drivers that were thinking of packing it in, a reduction in working hours for council staff, an advertising feature on the new Access card and the toppling of a 130-foot chimney at the former Wood Pit in Haydock.
We begin on the 31st with a reminder of the health hazards that existed for much of the 20th century of living and working in a town like St Helens. At an inquest on Stanley Korzun from Thatto Heath, pathologist Francis Mooney said the former miner had no more dust in his lungs than was normal for someone living in a Lancashire industrial town.
Later Dr Mooney explained that in comparison with healthy lungs of people resident in rural areas, those in industrial urban districts were black. In the case of Mr Korzun, Dr Mooney said there was such a minimal amount of pneumoconiosis in his lungs that it was difficult to differentiate between that and the normal dust level.
At the monthly St Helens Town Council meeting on November 1st, there was a call for its white-collar council employees to work a 35-hour week. Since 1939 a 37½-hour working week had been in operation at the Town Hall and the council now proposed reducing those hours to 36. The reduction would be introduced in January 1973 – making it one of the shortest working weeks in the country. However, Councillor John Potter wanted an even further reduction to 35 hours, saying that was the target of every trade union – but his request was denied.
The Guardian announced on the 1st that the high stone walls that surrounded Rainhill Hospital were going to be reduced to a height of 2ft 9 inches. Since Britain's largest mental institution with 2,000 patients had been built 100 years earlier, 15 ft. high walls had enclosed the building.
It was announced this week that work on a new community centre for the New Street / Gerards Lane region of Sutton was likely to begin in the spring. The centre would include a library, an assembly hall, coffee lounge, drama and stage production facilities and workshops for metalwork, woodwork and other crafts. Six acres of land off New Street had been earmarked for the new centre and it would be part of a wider scheme that would include shops, car parking facilities and sheltered housing accommodation.
The Borough Engineer, George James, said: "It was felt that provision for facilities ought to be made with the housing development. The area has seen rapid development since the war with many new houses being built." The community centre would be designed to serve those living in the Robins Lane, Sherdley Park estate, St Nicholas estate, Leach Lane and Mill Lane areas.
On the 3rd the Liverpool Echo reported that a new Roman Catholic primary school was to be erected in Rainford Road in Dentons Green, behind Hamblett School. It would be a replacement for Windleshaw Infants School and cater for 180 children. Construction was expected to begin between 1973 and 1974 and take 12 months.
Reg Ashburner was pictured in the St Helens Reporter on the 3rd preparing for retirement after 51 years behind the bar. The landlord of the Derby Arms in Rainford had started working in a pub when only 13. In 1939 he moved from Warrington to run the Hawk and Buck in Peasley Cross and then eleven years later took over the Nelson in Bridge Street, St Helens.
In 1954 Reg and his wife May moved to the Green Dragon in Sutton Manor and then five years later they transferred to Rainford. The new mine host of the Derby Arms was going to be Roy Rigby who was moving from the Bath Springs Hotel in Prescot.
Young Alan Bridges also had his photo in the Reporter after being one of this year's first victims of Guy Fawkes Night. Over the last few weeks there had been a number of complaints about the premature lighting of bonfires in St Helens and the misuse of bangers and other fireworks. A reckless youth had thrown a lit firework at Alan and it had gone off inside his wellington boot, badly burning his leg. "Don't Be A Guy Fawkes Goon", was the Reporter's message.
It was also announced in the Reporter that Woodcock's Phoenix Foundry in Burtonhead Road had finally closed with the loss of 45 jobs. Six weeks ago the possibility had been floated that some of the workers would take over and run part of the business – but that had not proved possible.
Over the last few years the Reporter had published many photographs of tall chimneys frozen at around 45 degrees as they tumbled to the ground. This week a 130-foot chimney at the former Wood Pit in Haydock was shown as it was about to bite the dust and be converted into 300 tons of rubble. Built in 1866, the chimney was toppled by 15 charges of gelignite that explosives experts John Devlin and Arthur Pegg had set.
St Helens taxi drivers were the latest group of workers demanding more money. This week the St Helens Hackney Vehicle Proprietors Association accused the Corporation of giving them a raw deal. Their complaints centred on their regulated fare rates being too low and there being insufficient taxi ranks in Victoria Square. The association's secretary Bill Packard said:
"Some people are thinking of packing in. If they do, there will be a big shortage of taxis at Christmas and New Year. That will encourage the pirate – the man who comes out in his own car to earn a few bob but isn't insured to pick up passengers." Mr Packard claimed that the 13 members of his association – that operated the town's 44 Hackney cabs – had all run at a loss since April when bylaws controlling fare prices had been passed by St Helens Council.
Added Mr Packard: "There is no one trying to make a fortune out of the taxi business. But you expect a reasonable return. And you can't get it on these prices. We are dissatisfied with the treatment we have had from the council. We just don't feel we are getting a fair deal."
Part of the new market complex in St Helens was now open and receiving mixed reviews. Eight greengrocers had been moved to Water Street and six of them were threatening to quit after a disastrous drop in trade. Some claimed that their gross profits before paying rent had plummeted to £10 a week, with William Hudson saying:
"It's desolate where we are now – shoppers are a rarity. I'm not even making £2 a day to pay my rent, it's that bad. Unless it bucks up soon, I'll have to close down." Five of the stallholders added: "Our average rent is £14 a week each, but we can't make enough to pay that, let alone make a profit. We'll give it a bit longer, then we'll have to move."
The council's response was: "There wasn't anywhere to put them in the main shopping stream. This was generally considered to be the best site and it's pretty close to the town centre." However, the new St Mary's market in Church Street, which opened this week, was so far proving to be busy.
But there were more complaints about the stalls being too small, with Langley's complaining they were not able to accommodate their stock of books on their bookstall. Owner Catherine Harrison said: "I can't get all my goods on display. I'll lose hundreds of pounds a week."
There was a full-page advertising feature in the Reporter on Oxleys of Claughton Street (pictured above). Recently, the department store had opened "Kinema", which the Reporter called the "kinkiest, trendiest boutique this side of the M1 motorway". Now they were opening their "Matinee" boutique for the "tots and early teens".
The store was also putting the finishing touches to a new menswear department, that was described as "black-felted and trendy" but traditional in style. Another Oxleys innovation was the Wrangler "shop-within-a-shop". The Reporter wrote: "All these features – and more are planned – are helping the store to present an entirely new face to the shopping public of St Helens."
There was also a big feature on the “new shopping revolution". That was the Access card, which had only been introduced in Britain last month, six years after Barclaycard had first been issued. The name "Access" had been chosen from 1,000 suggestions and symbolised "a new era for traders and the British shopping public. It is a major step in the progression towards the cashless society."
Advertisers included F. & H. Warehouses, Duke Street ("Final week of sale, Access customers welcome"); Sexton Sons & Co, College Street ("A huge range of 3 piece suites – Access card welcomed here"); Spencer Brothers, Duke Street ("General ironmongers – Access card facilities available"); Tyrers, Bridge Street ("The home of good clothes for all the family") and Swan Mill Carpets, Duke Street ("Fantastic offer – with every carpet order of £100 or over we will give you free one ladies and one gents wristwatch").
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the plans to defeat vandals at the new Sherdley Park golf course, the Gamble's record library converts to stereo, the UGB furnace man's lucrative idea and Helena House's Christmas grotto opens for business.
We begin on the 31st with a reminder of the health hazards that existed for much of the 20th century of living and working in a town like St Helens. At an inquest on Stanley Korzun from Thatto Heath, pathologist Francis Mooney said the former miner had no more dust in his lungs than was normal for someone living in a Lancashire industrial town.
Later Dr Mooney explained that in comparison with healthy lungs of people resident in rural areas, those in industrial urban districts were black. In the case of Mr Korzun, Dr Mooney said there was such a minimal amount of pneumoconiosis in his lungs that it was difficult to differentiate between that and the normal dust level.
The Guardian announced on the 1st that the high stone walls that surrounded Rainhill Hospital were going to be reduced to a height of 2ft 9 inches. Since Britain's largest mental institution with 2,000 patients had been built 100 years earlier, 15 ft. high walls had enclosed the building.
It was announced this week that work on a new community centre for the New Street / Gerards Lane region of Sutton was likely to begin in the spring. The centre would include a library, an assembly hall, coffee lounge, drama and stage production facilities and workshops for metalwork, woodwork and other crafts. Six acres of land off New Street had been earmarked for the new centre and it would be part of a wider scheme that would include shops, car parking facilities and sheltered housing accommodation.
The Borough Engineer, George James, said: "It was felt that provision for facilities ought to be made with the housing development. The area has seen rapid development since the war with many new houses being built." The community centre would be designed to serve those living in the Robins Lane, Sherdley Park estate, St Nicholas estate, Leach Lane and Mill Lane areas.
On the 3rd the Liverpool Echo reported that a new Roman Catholic primary school was to be erected in Rainford Road in Dentons Green, behind Hamblett School. It would be a replacement for Windleshaw Infants School and cater for 180 children. Construction was expected to begin between 1973 and 1974 and take 12 months.
Reg Ashburner was pictured in the St Helens Reporter on the 3rd preparing for retirement after 51 years behind the bar. The landlord of the Derby Arms in Rainford had started working in a pub when only 13. In 1939 he moved from Warrington to run the Hawk and Buck in Peasley Cross and then eleven years later took over the Nelson in Bridge Street, St Helens.
In 1954 Reg and his wife May moved to the Green Dragon in Sutton Manor and then five years later they transferred to Rainford. The new mine host of the Derby Arms was going to be Roy Rigby who was moving from the Bath Springs Hotel in Prescot.
Young Alan Bridges also had his photo in the Reporter after being one of this year's first victims of Guy Fawkes Night. Over the last few weeks there had been a number of complaints about the premature lighting of bonfires in St Helens and the misuse of bangers and other fireworks. A reckless youth had thrown a lit firework at Alan and it had gone off inside his wellington boot, badly burning his leg. "Don't Be A Guy Fawkes Goon", was the Reporter's message.
It was also announced in the Reporter that Woodcock's Phoenix Foundry in Burtonhead Road had finally closed with the loss of 45 jobs. Six weeks ago the possibility had been floated that some of the workers would take over and run part of the business – but that had not proved possible.
Over the last few years the Reporter had published many photographs of tall chimneys frozen at around 45 degrees as they tumbled to the ground. This week a 130-foot chimney at the former Wood Pit in Haydock was shown as it was about to bite the dust and be converted into 300 tons of rubble. Built in 1866, the chimney was toppled by 15 charges of gelignite that explosives experts John Devlin and Arthur Pegg had set.
St Helens taxi drivers were the latest group of workers demanding more money. This week the St Helens Hackney Vehicle Proprietors Association accused the Corporation of giving them a raw deal. Their complaints centred on their regulated fare rates being too low and there being insufficient taxi ranks in Victoria Square. The association's secretary Bill Packard said:
"Some people are thinking of packing in. If they do, there will be a big shortage of taxis at Christmas and New Year. That will encourage the pirate – the man who comes out in his own car to earn a few bob but isn't insured to pick up passengers." Mr Packard claimed that the 13 members of his association – that operated the town's 44 Hackney cabs – had all run at a loss since April when bylaws controlling fare prices had been passed by St Helens Council.
Added Mr Packard: "There is no one trying to make a fortune out of the taxi business. But you expect a reasonable return. And you can't get it on these prices. We are dissatisfied with the treatment we have had from the council. We just don't feel we are getting a fair deal."
Part of the new market complex in St Helens was now open and receiving mixed reviews. Eight greengrocers had been moved to Water Street and six of them were threatening to quit after a disastrous drop in trade. Some claimed that their gross profits before paying rent had plummeted to £10 a week, with William Hudson saying:
"It's desolate where we are now – shoppers are a rarity. I'm not even making £2 a day to pay my rent, it's that bad. Unless it bucks up soon, I'll have to close down." Five of the stallholders added: "Our average rent is £14 a week each, but we can't make enough to pay that, let alone make a profit. We'll give it a bit longer, then we'll have to move."
The council's response was: "There wasn't anywhere to put them in the main shopping stream. This was generally considered to be the best site and it's pretty close to the town centre." However, the new St Mary's market in Church Street, which opened this week, was so far proving to be busy.
But there were more complaints about the stalls being too small, with Langley's complaining they were not able to accommodate their stock of books on their bookstall. Owner Catherine Harrison said: "I can't get all my goods on display. I'll lose hundreds of pounds a week."
The store was also putting the finishing touches to a new menswear department, that was described as "black-felted and trendy" but traditional in style. Another Oxleys innovation was the Wrangler "shop-within-a-shop". The Reporter wrote: "All these features – and more are planned – are helping the store to present an entirely new face to the shopping public of St Helens."
There was also a big feature on the “new shopping revolution". That was the Access card, which had only been introduced in Britain last month, six years after Barclaycard had first been issued. The name "Access" had been chosen from 1,000 suggestions and symbolised "a new era for traders and the British shopping public. It is a major step in the progression towards the cashless society."
Advertisers included F. & H. Warehouses, Duke Street ("Final week of sale, Access customers welcome"); Sexton Sons & Co, College Street ("A huge range of 3 piece suites – Access card welcomed here"); Spencer Brothers, Duke Street ("General ironmongers – Access card facilities available"); Tyrers, Bridge Street ("The home of good clothes for all the family") and Swan Mill Carpets, Duke Street ("Fantastic offer – with every carpet order of £100 or over we will give you free one ladies and one gents wristwatch").
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the plans to defeat vandals at the new Sherdley Park golf course, the Gamble's record library converts to stereo, the UGB furnace man's lucrative idea and Helena House's Christmas grotto opens for business.
This week's stories include the new community centre in New Street, the unhappy greengrocers in Water Street, a call not to be a Guy Fawkes goon, the unhappy St Helens taxi drivers that were thinking of packing it in, a reduction in working hours for council staff, an advertising feature on the new Access card and the toppling of a 130-foot chimney at the former Wood Pit in Haydock.
We begin on the 31st with a reminder of the health hazards that existed for much of the 20th century of living and working in a town like St Helens.
At an inquest on Stanley Korzun from Thatto Heath, pathologist Francis Mooney said the former miner had no more dust in his lungs than was normal for someone living in a Lancashire industrial town.
Later Dr Mooney explained that in comparison with healthy lungs of people resident in rural areas, those in industrial urban districts were black.
In the case of Mr Korzun, Dr Mooney said there was such a minimal amount of pneumoconiosis in his lungs that it was difficult to differentiate between that and the normal dust level.
At the monthly St Helens Town Council meeting on November 1st, there was a call for its white-collar council employees to work a 35-hour week.
Since 1939 a 37½-hour working week had been in operation at the Town Hall and the council now proposed reducing those hours to 36.
The reduction would be introduced in January 1973 – making it one of the shortest working weeks in the country.
However, Councillor John Potter wanted an even further reduction to 35 hours, saying that was the target of every trade union – but his request was denied.
The Guardian announced on the 1st that the high stone walls that surrounded Rainhill Hospital were going to be reduced to a height of 2ft 9 inches.
Since Britain's largest mental institution with 2,000 patients had been built 100 years earlier, 15 ft. high walls had enclosed the building.
It was announced this week that work on a new community centre for the New Street / Gerards Lane region of Sutton was likely to begin in the spring.
The centre would include a library, an assembly hall, coffee lounge, drama and stage production facilities and workshops for metalwork, woodwork and other crafts.
Six acres of land off New Street had been earmarked for the new centre and it would be part of a wider scheme that would include shops, car parking facilities and sheltered housing accommodation.
The Borough Engineer, George James, said: "It was felt that provision for facilities ought to be made with the housing development. The area has seen rapid development since the war with many new houses being built."
The community centre would be designed to serve those living in the Robins Lane, Sherdley Park estate, St Nicholas estate, Leach Lane and Mill Lane areas.
On the 3rd the Liverpool Echo reported that a new Roman Catholic primary school was to be erected in Rainford Road in Dentons Green, behind Hamblett School.
It would be a replacement for Windleshaw Infants School and cater for 180 children. Construction was expected to begin between 1973 and 1974 and take 12 months.
Reg Ashburner was pictured in the St Helens Reporter on the 3rd preparing for retirement after 51 years behind the bar.
The landlord of the Derby Arms in Rainford had started working in a pub when only 13.
In 1939 he moved from Warrington to run the Hawk and Buck in Peasley Cross and then eleven years later took over the Nelson in Bridge Street, St Helens.
In 1954 Reg and his wife May moved to the Green Dragon in Sutton Manor and then five years later they transferred to Rainford.
The new mine host of the Derby Arms was going to be Roy Rigby who was moving from the Bath Springs Hotel in Prescot.
Young Alan Bridges also had his photo in the Reporter after being one of this year's first victims of Guy Fawkes Night.
Over the last few weeks there had been a number of complaints about the premature lighting of bonfires in St Helens and the misuse of bangers and other fireworks.
A reckless youth had thrown a lit firework at Alan and it had gone off inside his wellington boot, badly burning his leg. "Don't Be A Guy Fawkes Goon", was the Reporter's message.
It was also announced in the Reporter that Woodcock's Phoenix Foundry in Burtonhead Road had finally closed with the loss of 45 jobs.
Six weeks ago the possibility had been floated that some of the workers would take over and run part of the business – but that had not proved possible.
Over the last few years the Reporter had published many photographs of tall chimneys frozen at around 45 degrees as they tumbled to the ground.
This week a 130-foot chimney at the former Wood Pit in Haydock was shown as it was about to bite the dust and be converted into 300 tons of rubble.
Built in 1866, the chimney was toppled by 15 charges of gelignite that explosives experts John Devlin and Arthur Pegg had set.
St Helens taxi drivers were the latest group of workers demanding more money.
This week the St Helens Hackney Vehicle Proprietors Association accused the Corporation of giving them a raw deal.
Their complaints centred on their regulated fare rates being too low and there being insufficient taxi ranks in Victoria Square. The association's secretary Bill Packard said:
"Some people are thinking of packing in. If they do, there will be a big shortage of taxis at Christmas and New Year. That will encourage the pirate – the man who comes out in his own car to earn a few bob but isn't insured to pick up passengers."
Mr Packard claimed that the thirteen members of his association – that operated the town's forty-four Hackney cabs – had all run at a loss since April when bylaws controlling fare prices had been passed by St Helens Council.
Added Mr Packard: "There is no one trying to make a fortune out of the taxi business. But you expect a reasonable return. And you can't get it on these prices.
"We are dissatisfied with the treatment we have had from the council. We just don't feel we are getting a fair deal."
Part of the new market complex in St Helens was now open and receiving mixed reviews.
Eight greengrocers had been moved to Water Street and six of them were threatening to quit after a disastrous drop in trade.
Some claimed that their gross profits before paying rent had plummeted to £10 a week, with William Hudson saying:
"It's desolate where we are now – shoppers are a rarity. I'm not even making £2 a day to pay my rent, it's that bad. Unless it bucks up soon, I'll have to close down."
Five of the stallholders added: "Our average rent is £14 a week each, but we can't make enough to pay that, let alone make a profit. We'll give it a bit longer, then we'll have to move."
The council's response was: "There wasn't anywhere to put them in the main shopping stream. This was generally considered to be the best site and it's pretty close to the town centre."
However, the new St Mary's market in Church Street, which opened this week, was so far proving to be busy.
But there were more complaints about the stalls being too small, with Langley's complaining they were not able to accommodate their stock of books on their bookstall.
Owner Catherine Harrison said: "I can't get all my goods on display. I'll lose hundreds of pounds a week."
There was a full-page advertising feature in the Reporter on Oxleys of Claughton Street (pictured above).
Recently, the department store had opened "Kinema", which the Reporter called the "kinkiest, trendiest boutique this side of the M1 motorway".
Now they were opening their "Matinee" boutique for the "tots and early teens". The store was also putting the finishing touches to a new menswear department, that was described as "black-felted and trendy" but traditional in style.
Another Oxleys innovation was the Wrangler "shop-within-a-shop". The Reporter wrote: "All these features – and more are planned – are helping the store to present an entirely new face to the shopping public of St Helens."
There was also a big feature on the “new shopping revolution". That was the Access card, which had only been introduced in Britain last month, six years after Barclaycard had first been issued.
The name "Access" had been chosen from 1,000 suggestions and symbolised "a new era for traders and the British shopping public. It is a major step in the progression towards the cashless society."
Advertisers included F. & H. Warehouses, Duke Street ("Final week of sale, Access customers welcome"); Sexton Sons & Co, College Street ("A huge range of 3 piece suites – Access card welcomed here"); Spencer Brothers, Duke Street ("General ironmongers – Access card facilities available"); Tyrers, Bridge Street ("The home of good clothes for all the family") and Swan Mill Carpets, Duke Street ("Fantastic offer – with every carpet order of £100 or over we will give you free one ladies and one gents wristwatch").
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the plans to defeat vandals at the new Sherdley Park golf course, the Gamble's record library converts to stereo, the UGB furnace man's lucrative idea and Helena House's Christmas grotto opens for business.
We begin on the 31st with a reminder of the health hazards that existed for much of the 20th century of living and working in a town like St Helens.
At an inquest on Stanley Korzun from Thatto Heath, pathologist Francis Mooney said the former miner had no more dust in his lungs than was normal for someone living in a Lancashire industrial town.
Later Dr Mooney explained that in comparison with healthy lungs of people resident in rural areas, those in industrial urban districts were black.
In the case of Mr Korzun, Dr Mooney said there was such a minimal amount of pneumoconiosis in his lungs that it was difficult to differentiate between that and the normal dust level.
Since 1939 a 37½-hour working week had been in operation at the Town Hall and the council now proposed reducing those hours to 36.
The reduction would be introduced in January 1973 – making it one of the shortest working weeks in the country.
However, Councillor John Potter wanted an even further reduction to 35 hours, saying that was the target of every trade union – but his request was denied.
The Guardian announced on the 1st that the high stone walls that surrounded Rainhill Hospital were going to be reduced to a height of 2ft 9 inches.
Since Britain's largest mental institution with 2,000 patients had been built 100 years earlier, 15 ft. high walls had enclosed the building.
It was announced this week that work on a new community centre for the New Street / Gerards Lane region of Sutton was likely to begin in the spring.
The centre would include a library, an assembly hall, coffee lounge, drama and stage production facilities and workshops for metalwork, woodwork and other crafts.
Six acres of land off New Street had been earmarked for the new centre and it would be part of a wider scheme that would include shops, car parking facilities and sheltered housing accommodation.
The Borough Engineer, George James, said: "It was felt that provision for facilities ought to be made with the housing development. The area has seen rapid development since the war with many new houses being built."
The community centre would be designed to serve those living in the Robins Lane, Sherdley Park estate, St Nicholas estate, Leach Lane and Mill Lane areas.
On the 3rd the Liverpool Echo reported that a new Roman Catholic primary school was to be erected in Rainford Road in Dentons Green, behind Hamblett School.
It would be a replacement for Windleshaw Infants School and cater for 180 children. Construction was expected to begin between 1973 and 1974 and take 12 months.
Reg Ashburner was pictured in the St Helens Reporter on the 3rd preparing for retirement after 51 years behind the bar.
The landlord of the Derby Arms in Rainford had started working in a pub when only 13.
In 1939 he moved from Warrington to run the Hawk and Buck in Peasley Cross and then eleven years later took over the Nelson in Bridge Street, St Helens.
In 1954 Reg and his wife May moved to the Green Dragon in Sutton Manor and then five years later they transferred to Rainford.
The new mine host of the Derby Arms was going to be Roy Rigby who was moving from the Bath Springs Hotel in Prescot.
Young Alan Bridges also had his photo in the Reporter after being one of this year's first victims of Guy Fawkes Night.
Over the last few weeks there had been a number of complaints about the premature lighting of bonfires in St Helens and the misuse of bangers and other fireworks.
A reckless youth had thrown a lit firework at Alan and it had gone off inside his wellington boot, badly burning his leg. "Don't Be A Guy Fawkes Goon", was the Reporter's message.
It was also announced in the Reporter that Woodcock's Phoenix Foundry in Burtonhead Road had finally closed with the loss of 45 jobs.
Six weeks ago the possibility had been floated that some of the workers would take over and run part of the business – but that had not proved possible.
Over the last few years the Reporter had published many photographs of tall chimneys frozen at around 45 degrees as they tumbled to the ground.
This week a 130-foot chimney at the former Wood Pit in Haydock was shown as it was about to bite the dust and be converted into 300 tons of rubble.
Built in 1866, the chimney was toppled by 15 charges of gelignite that explosives experts John Devlin and Arthur Pegg had set.
St Helens taxi drivers were the latest group of workers demanding more money.
This week the St Helens Hackney Vehicle Proprietors Association accused the Corporation of giving them a raw deal.
Their complaints centred on their regulated fare rates being too low and there being insufficient taxi ranks in Victoria Square. The association's secretary Bill Packard said:
"Some people are thinking of packing in. If they do, there will be a big shortage of taxis at Christmas and New Year. That will encourage the pirate – the man who comes out in his own car to earn a few bob but isn't insured to pick up passengers."
Mr Packard claimed that the thirteen members of his association – that operated the town's forty-four Hackney cabs – had all run at a loss since April when bylaws controlling fare prices had been passed by St Helens Council.
Added Mr Packard: "There is no one trying to make a fortune out of the taxi business. But you expect a reasonable return. And you can't get it on these prices.
"We are dissatisfied with the treatment we have had from the council. We just don't feel we are getting a fair deal."
Part of the new market complex in St Helens was now open and receiving mixed reviews.
Eight greengrocers had been moved to Water Street and six of them were threatening to quit after a disastrous drop in trade.
Some claimed that their gross profits before paying rent had plummeted to £10 a week, with William Hudson saying:
"It's desolate where we are now – shoppers are a rarity. I'm not even making £2 a day to pay my rent, it's that bad. Unless it bucks up soon, I'll have to close down."
Five of the stallholders added: "Our average rent is £14 a week each, but we can't make enough to pay that, let alone make a profit. We'll give it a bit longer, then we'll have to move."
The council's response was: "There wasn't anywhere to put them in the main shopping stream. This was generally considered to be the best site and it's pretty close to the town centre."
However, the new St Mary's market in Church Street, which opened this week, was so far proving to be busy.
But there were more complaints about the stalls being too small, with Langley's complaining they were not able to accommodate their stock of books on their bookstall.
Owner Catherine Harrison said: "I can't get all my goods on display. I'll lose hundreds of pounds a week."
Recently, the department store had opened "Kinema", which the Reporter called the "kinkiest, trendiest boutique this side of the M1 motorway".
Now they were opening their "Matinee" boutique for the "tots and early teens". The store was also putting the finishing touches to a new menswear department, that was described as "black-felted and trendy" but traditional in style.
Another Oxleys innovation was the Wrangler "shop-within-a-shop". The Reporter wrote: "All these features – and more are planned – are helping the store to present an entirely new face to the shopping public of St Helens."
There was also a big feature on the “new shopping revolution". That was the Access card, which had only been introduced in Britain last month, six years after Barclaycard had first been issued.
The name "Access" had been chosen from 1,000 suggestions and symbolised "a new era for traders and the British shopping public. It is a major step in the progression towards the cashless society."
Advertisers included F. & H. Warehouses, Duke Street ("Final week of sale, Access customers welcome"); Sexton Sons & Co, College Street ("A huge range of 3 piece suites – Access card welcomed here"); Spencer Brothers, Duke Street ("General ironmongers – Access card facilities available"); Tyrers, Bridge Street ("The home of good clothes for all the family") and Swan Mill Carpets, Duke Street ("Fantastic offer – with every carpet order of £100 or over we will give you free one ladies and one gents wristwatch").
St Helens Reporter courtesy St Helens Archive Service at Eccleston Library
Next week's stories will include the plans to defeat vandals at the new Sherdley Park golf course, the Gamble's record library converts to stereo, the UGB furnace man's lucrative idea and Helena House's Christmas grotto opens for business.