FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (31st Dec. 1968 - 6th Jan. 1969)
This week's stories include a 15-year-old in moral danger, the New Year dances in St Helens, good news for residents of Laffak Road, how you could buy a new house in Sutton for £175, the creation of the Duckeries park in Parr, the dawn of sheltered housing in St Helens and a claim that Rainford's hard water had boosted the number of new-born males.
However we begin in the Liverpool Echo on the 31st with a report that cricketer Ken Shuttleworth was to marry. The Lancashire fast bowler – who had taken 72 wickets for his county last season – lived in Martin Close in Rainhill and would wed Barbara Edwards in March. Ken had chosen fellow pace man Ken Higgs to be his best man.
A 15-year-old girl was before the St Helens Juvenile Panel on the 31st after having been placed in the care of the local authority in August 1967. This was because of concerns that she was being exposed to "moral danger" and so the girl was sent to several training convents. In these her behaviour was considered excellent, apart from two serious lapses. At one time she was found naked in bed with a youth in a camp chalet and she also admitted having had sex in a park with a stranger.
The girl's parents pleaded with the Panel to allow their daughter to be allowed to return to her St Helens' home, with her mother saying: "All I want is for her to come home to us, find a job, and settle down and live a decent life." The Panel agreed with the request and substituted their original fit persons order with a three-year supervision order.
The East Sutton Labour Club held a 'Grand Gala Dance' on New Year's Eve featuring Peter Gray's Showband, plus what they described as a "free and easy concert" with The Traffic. A 'Grand New Year's Eve' dance was held at St Joseph's Catholic Church's new club in Peasley Cross with admission 5 shillings. The West Park Old Boys Association also saw the New Year in with a dance in the school hall in Alder Hey Road. Meanwhile in Ormskirk Street the Blue Parrot Club was charging 15 shillings entry with entertainment provided by Josh White. The Liverpool comic would become better known in the 1970s when he appeared on ITV's 'The Comedians'.
On New Year's Day last year there had been so many babies born that the St Helens Reporter almost filled a page with photos of beaming mothers and bemused / sleeping / crying babies! However on the first day of 1969 not a single child was born to a mother that lived within the borough. That said a little boy was born at teatime at Cowley Hill Maternity Hospital to Maureen Burke from Ashton and at 10pm in Billinge Hospital Margaret Harrison from Bryn had a baby girl called Anne.
Perhaps the lack of births was because of something in the water? An article in the Guardian on the 1st stated that Rainford switching its water supply to hard water had drastically boosted the number of males being born. The change had apparently occurred in 1958 when water was drawn only from sandstone. From 1959 Rainford had an average gender ratio of 125 males to 100 female live births, when the average ratio in England and Wales was 106 male / 100 female births. The metallic content in sandstone was believed to have been responsible for the male bias.
The Echo reported on the 2nd that children attending Roman Catholic schools in St Helens would sit their final 11 plus examination in March. This would bring them into line with children at other schools in the town for which the exam had been scrapped almost two years earlier. The Dean of St Helens, the Very Rev. Hugh Fitzpatrick, said there would be 30 places available at West Park Grammar School for the boys that had passed the exam and 30 places for girls at Notre Dame.
All the rest would attend comprehensive secondary schools at St. Anselm's, St. Alban's, St. Cuthbert's, Blessed Edmund Campion and Our Lady of Mount Carmel. However at the age of 13-plus or 16-plus, parents could transfer their children to West Park, Notre Dame or Cowley.
I've learnt that cellulose-wrapping company British Sidac had a Reeling Department. Just what they did I am not quite sure. Perhaps they made the reels that its Rayophane product wrapped round? However I doubt it had anything to do with dancing! However staff from the Reeling Department at the Lancots Lane plant did enjoy a dinner dance in Helena House on the 2nd to celebrate the New Year. Another New Year's Day party was held on that day at the School for the Blind in Boundary Road in which Father Christmas made a somewhat belated appearance.
There was good news for the residents of Laffak Road this week. For months they had been complaining about potholes and ankle-deep mud soiling footwear. Christine Fogarty had to carry her two young children under her arms to the infants' school, so their shoes would not get muddy.
Pat Marsden said postmen were complaining and a deliveryman had fallen down a manhole. Even the beat bobby PC Derek Hurst, who also lived in Laffak Road, complained of the appalling state of the street. However the Borough Engineer George James had now told residents that there would be reconstruction and widening of the existing roads from Blackbrook to Carr Mill. These included Chain Lane, Laffak Road and Woodlands Road and improvements to the drainage system would also be made which should resolve all the issues.
Lennon's were fined £30 in St Helens Magistrates Court on the 3rd for keeping a door locked in their Ormskirk Street supermarket. Last June there had been a fire and a fireman needed access to a storeroom but found it locked. Four minutes was lost while staff obtained a key.
"Have you got or can you save £175 in the next 3 - 6 months? If so you can buy a delightful home at Sherdley Park, St. Helens." That was the headline to an advert in the Echo on the 3rd. If only it was that easy to buy a house these days! "Ideally situated with shops and schools nearby, as well as acres and acres of open parkland", continued the advert. £175 was all that was required as a deposit as the bungalows and semi-detached houses – that were priced from £3,495 – had 95% mortgages available.
The first St Helens Reporter of 1969 hailed the coming year as one of great progress for the town with a "boom in schemes for housing, recreation and road improvements". The planned projects included the "dualling" of Marshalls Cross Road and the building of a new bridge near the Bull and Dog to carry traffic over the railway and replace the existing narrow bridge. There would also be the completion of a new road from Knowsley Road to Burrows Lane via Millfields; the widening of Baxters Lane and installation of traffic lights on its bridge and the widening of Four Acre Lane, where council homes had recently been built.
Housing improvements included large estates of flats and maisonettes at Peasley Cross and in the town centre. There would be a scheme of "flatlets" for "old folk" at Kendal Drive in Moss Bank with an on-site warden. This would be the first such sheltered housing development in St Helens – although that term wasn't then being used.
Work would also continue on the Parr recreational area project on land "slap in the centre" of Parr. This had begun towards the end of 1968 and would convert the old Ashtons Green Colliery site into playing fields and open green space that is now known as The Duckeries. The new 54-acre park bordered by Derbyshire Hill Road, Swann Avenue, Fleet Lane and Ashtons Green Drive would not be open to the public until 1970. Already a dozen old pit shafts had been discovered by workmen – some under waste heaps – and these have had to be filled by hundreds of tons of earth and rock to make them safe.
Mrs G. Wilson from Berrys Lane had a letter published in the Reporter complaining about the lack of dances for teenagers over the recent Christmas period. She wrote that when she had been young she'd had a "whale of a time" but for those aged 16 or 17 – including her own daughter – there had been nowhere to go.
Another correspondent called for a plaque to be erected in Peasley Cross in honour of four local football players who during the 1920s had played for first division clubs. These were Tommy Lucas, Alex Finney, Tommy Bamber and a chap called Murphy, with three of them hailing from Manor Street. It was also reported in the paper that the council's Works Committee had approved in principle the installation of parking meters in St Helens town centre.
Saints coach Cliff Evans had his own column in the Echo and on the 4th commented on the Boxing Day debacle at Knowsley Road. The annual game against Wigan had to be abandoned after thirty-seven minutes to the fury of many fans. Cliff wrote:
"The old enemy Jack Frost, always an unwelcome visitor, turned up over the holidays and caused further disappointment and frustration. Those who saw only half a game on Boxing Day at Knowsley Road, when Saints entertained Wigan, will have the opportunity of seeing the rearranged match at a bargain price – that is if the Rugby League agree to the suggestion put forward by the Saints' board. At this time of the year it is also aggravating to have to stand by a ruling that all postponed games must be rearranged within 28 days. What's all the hurry about? ….Rules, rules, and more rules! Commonsense should prevail in circumstances like these, and the rule should be scrapped if clubs get together, protest, and prove their point."
Next week’s '50 Years Ago' stories will include the damp state of many St Helens' houses, the demise of dawn queuing in the New Year sales, the Plaza Theatre Club is in court, 'Helga' is back in town, Sidac buy a computer costing £1 million in today's money, the mugging of a Prescot butcher's assistant and a Dentons Green man wins the Echo's 'Place the Ball' contest.
However we begin in the Liverpool Echo on the 31st with a report that cricketer Ken Shuttleworth was to marry. The Lancashire fast bowler – who had taken 72 wickets for his county last season – lived in Martin Close in Rainhill and would wed Barbara Edwards in March. Ken had chosen fellow pace man Ken Higgs to be his best man.
A 15-year-old girl was before the St Helens Juvenile Panel on the 31st after having been placed in the care of the local authority in August 1967. This was because of concerns that she was being exposed to "moral danger" and so the girl was sent to several training convents. In these her behaviour was considered excellent, apart from two serious lapses. At one time she was found naked in bed with a youth in a camp chalet and she also admitted having had sex in a park with a stranger.
The girl's parents pleaded with the Panel to allow their daughter to be allowed to return to her St Helens' home, with her mother saying: "All I want is for her to come home to us, find a job, and settle down and live a decent life." The Panel agreed with the request and substituted their original fit persons order with a three-year supervision order.
The East Sutton Labour Club held a 'Grand Gala Dance' on New Year's Eve featuring Peter Gray's Showband, plus what they described as a "free and easy concert" with The Traffic. A 'Grand New Year's Eve' dance was held at St Joseph's Catholic Church's new club in Peasley Cross with admission 5 shillings. The West Park Old Boys Association also saw the New Year in with a dance in the school hall in Alder Hey Road. Meanwhile in Ormskirk Street the Blue Parrot Club was charging 15 shillings entry with entertainment provided by Josh White. The Liverpool comic would become better known in the 1970s when he appeared on ITV's 'The Comedians'.
On New Year's Day last year there had been so many babies born that the St Helens Reporter almost filled a page with photos of beaming mothers and bemused / sleeping / crying babies! However on the first day of 1969 not a single child was born to a mother that lived within the borough. That said a little boy was born at teatime at Cowley Hill Maternity Hospital to Maureen Burke from Ashton and at 10pm in Billinge Hospital Margaret Harrison from Bryn had a baby girl called Anne.
Perhaps the lack of births was because of something in the water? An article in the Guardian on the 1st stated that Rainford switching its water supply to hard water had drastically boosted the number of males being born. The change had apparently occurred in 1958 when water was drawn only from sandstone. From 1959 Rainford had an average gender ratio of 125 males to 100 female live births, when the average ratio in England and Wales was 106 male / 100 female births. The metallic content in sandstone was believed to have been responsible for the male bias.
The Echo reported on the 2nd that children attending Roman Catholic schools in St Helens would sit their final 11 plus examination in March. This would bring them into line with children at other schools in the town for which the exam had been scrapped almost two years earlier. The Dean of St Helens, the Very Rev. Hugh Fitzpatrick, said there would be 30 places available at West Park Grammar School for the boys that had passed the exam and 30 places for girls at Notre Dame.
All the rest would attend comprehensive secondary schools at St. Anselm's, St. Alban's, St. Cuthbert's, Blessed Edmund Campion and Our Lady of Mount Carmel. However at the age of 13-plus or 16-plus, parents could transfer their children to West Park, Notre Dame or Cowley.
There was good news for the residents of Laffak Road this week. For months they had been complaining about potholes and ankle-deep mud soiling footwear. Christine Fogarty had to carry her two young children under her arms to the infants' school, so their shoes would not get muddy.
Pat Marsden said postmen were complaining and a deliveryman had fallen down a manhole. Even the beat bobby PC Derek Hurst, who also lived in Laffak Road, complained of the appalling state of the street. However the Borough Engineer George James had now told residents that there would be reconstruction and widening of the existing roads from Blackbrook to Carr Mill. These included Chain Lane, Laffak Road and Woodlands Road and improvements to the drainage system would also be made which should resolve all the issues.
Lennon's were fined £30 in St Helens Magistrates Court on the 3rd for keeping a door locked in their Ormskirk Street supermarket. Last June there had been a fire and a fireman needed access to a storeroom but found it locked. Four minutes was lost while staff obtained a key.
The first St Helens Reporter of 1969 hailed the coming year as one of great progress for the town with a "boom in schemes for housing, recreation and road improvements". The planned projects included the "dualling" of Marshalls Cross Road and the building of a new bridge near the Bull and Dog to carry traffic over the railway and replace the existing narrow bridge. There would also be the completion of a new road from Knowsley Road to Burrows Lane via Millfields; the widening of Baxters Lane and installation of traffic lights on its bridge and the widening of Four Acre Lane, where council homes had recently been built.
Housing improvements included large estates of flats and maisonettes at Peasley Cross and in the town centre. There would be a scheme of "flatlets" for "old folk" at Kendal Drive in Moss Bank with an on-site warden. This would be the first such sheltered housing development in St Helens – although that term wasn't then being used.
Work would also continue on the Parr recreational area project on land "slap in the centre" of Parr. This had begun towards the end of 1968 and would convert the old Ashtons Green Colliery site into playing fields and open green space that is now known as The Duckeries. The new 54-acre park bordered by Derbyshire Hill Road, Swann Avenue, Fleet Lane and Ashtons Green Drive would not be open to the public until 1970. Already a dozen old pit shafts had been discovered by workmen – some under waste heaps – and these have had to be filled by hundreds of tons of earth and rock to make them safe.
Mrs G. Wilson from Berrys Lane had a letter published in the Reporter complaining about the lack of dances for teenagers over the recent Christmas period. She wrote that when she had been young she'd had a "whale of a time" but for those aged 16 or 17 – including her own daughter – there had been nowhere to go.
Another correspondent called for a plaque to be erected in Peasley Cross in honour of four local football players who during the 1920s had played for first division clubs. These were Tommy Lucas, Alex Finney, Tommy Bamber and a chap called Murphy, with three of them hailing from Manor Street. It was also reported in the paper that the council's Works Committee had approved in principle the installation of parking meters in St Helens town centre.
Saints coach Cliff Evans had his own column in the Echo and on the 4th commented on the Boxing Day debacle at Knowsley Road. The annual game against Wigan had to be abandoned after thirty-seven minutes to the fury of many fans. Cliff wrote:
"The old enemy Jack Frost, always an unwelcome visitor, turned up over the holidays and caused further disappointment and frustration. Those who saw only half a game on Boxing Day at Knowsley Road, when Saints entertained Wigan, will have the opportunity of seeing the rearranged match at a bargain price – that is if the Rugby League agree to the suggestion put forward by the Saints' board. At this time of the year it is also aggravating to have to stand by a ruling that all postponed games must be rearranged within 28 days. What's all the hurry about? ….Rules, rules, and more rules! Commonsense should prevail in circumstances like these, and the rule should be scrapped if clubs get together, protest, and prove their point."
Next week’s '50 Years Ago' stories will include the damp state of many St Helens' houses, the demise of dawn queuing in the New Year sales, the Plaza Theatre Club is in court, 'Helga' is back in town, Sidac buy a computer costing £1 million in today's money, the mugging of a Prescot butcher's assistant and a Dentons Green man wins the Echo's 'Place the Ball' contest.