FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (2nd - 8th NOVEMBER 1970)
This week's many stories include the gipsies that threatened an invasion of St Helens town centre, Father Christmas arrives in style at Oxleys, there's a boost for the Theatre Royal, the days when cigarettes cost four a penny are remembered and there's criticism of the slum clearance scheme in St Helens.
We begin with a petition that was presented to Billinge Planning Committee on November 2nd from residents of Crank Road. The locals were up in arms over plans for a £60,000 youth centre at Bispham Hall, as they feared clashes between skinheads and the scouts that used the hall at weekends. Resident Alan Hampson said he was concerned about the prospect of "undesirable elements" coming to Billinge: "If we allow a youth centre to be built it will no doubt attract skinheads and motor cycles. It will be [a] living hell. Even the bowling green is bad enough and that is being used by grown men. Their language is terrible at times."
Also from the 2nd, the South West Lancs Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Society presented "Paint Your Wagon" at the Theatre Royal.
On the 3rd, the new St Helens mayor, Cllr. Eric Kerr, attended the inauguration ceremony of a new Territorial Army unit called the 'Helena Company'. The detachment of the Royal Army Medical Corps would be based in Mill Street and was about to begin a recruitment campaign, which was badly needed. That was because the five enrolled NCOs did not presently have any troops to boss about!
At a public health meeting in Ashton on the same day, Dr Peter Lee told councillors that ignorance was resulting in children not being vaccinated against measles. The Divisional Medical Officer said many parents felt the disease was of little importance, adding: "Many keep their children from being vaccinated because they fear the injections will be painful, the slight fever that might occur afterwards or the few spots that appear. But measles can sometimes leave some nasty after-effects, particularly about the eyes and ears."
Kamera had yet to take over the camera shop of F. George Laughton in Cotham Street and in 1970 had their premises in Bickerstaffe Street. As part of a push to promote the use of Kodak colour film, Kamera presented on the evening of the 3rd "Colour in Action – A Kodak Colour Show" at the Town Hall where there was free admission.
St Helens Town Council met on the 4th and decided to award the Theatre Royal a grant worth £25,000 over five years – around £4m in today's money. This was after there had been a poor response to a request for financial support from local firms. Alderman Joseph Hughes told the meeting: "It would have amounted to about £300 a year and you can't do much with that." Pilkingtons breathed new life into the Corporation Street theatre when it reopened in 1962 after it had lain derelict for five years. They spent £100,000 renovating the building but now wanted to reduce their involvement.
There was also criticism at the council meeting of the pace of the redevelopment programme in the town. Councillor Allan Lycett said that for some time they'd had slum clearance on the one hand and rebuilding of new properties on the other. However the two were not always matching up. Alderman James Hand said people were sick of looking at derelict sites in the town and added: "We are faced with sites lying empty with no rate return. Are we not moving too fast?"
He called for some of the clearances to be held up until more building work had taken place. Alderman James McDonnell was the Chairman of the Health Committee and he put the blame for the hold ups on choosy council tenants that had lost their homes: "The people themselves delay this business. They say “no” two or three times over before they are re-housed. But it will work if you have patience with it."
In his parish magazine this week the vicar of St Mark's in North Road called for people to fight against the planned closure of Cowley Hill Maternity Hospital. The Rev. Gordon Williams said: "If you do not raise a bleat soon, it may be too late."
On the 5th council officials watched by police evicted eight gipsy caravans off a site in Watery Lane in Sutton. The travellers had installed a makeshift barricade of bins, old prams and scrap, which were removed by officials. Then a council vehicle towed one caravan to the side of the road. The so-called gipsies soon realised the hopelessness of their situation and reluctantly used their own lorries to haul the remaining caravans into the roadway.
However Fred Price told the Reporter how furious he was at what had happened: "We have come here to wait until the gipsy site in Dobson's Lane is ready. We've only been here three weeks and are not harming anyone. Other places have sites ready, but not St. Helens. I think they are holding it up deliberately because they don't want us here. We want to stay in the town for the winter so that our children can get some schooling."
On the following day the St Helens Reporter was published and "Gipsies Threaten An Invasion" was the somewhat alarmist headline to its lead story on the front page. The article began: "Defiant gipsies were poised last night to move an army of 500 caravans into St. Helens. The threat to blockade the town centre came after gipsy families were turned off an encampment by council officials."
The eight evicted caravans had moved from the site in Sutton to one in Park Road, joining forces with another group of travellers. One of them, Joe Young, told the Reporter: "If we get moved off here we will block the town centre. It will take us only 24 hours to bring 500 caravans into the town – and we will do it if they move us."
In the 'Whalley's World' column in the Reporter, Henry Scarisbrick was pictured with an old box of 'Wild Woodbine' cigarettes. The 71-year-old from Haresfinch had been handed the box in the Clarendon pub in College Street and was trying to establish its age. The label on the front said the cigarettes were four for a penny but the lowest price that Henry could ever recall was five for twopence. "It beats me, I can never remember cigs being so cheap", remarked Henry. "And I've been smoking since I was a nipper. About 60 years altogether." The answer came in the following week’s column. The four-a-penny promotion had been from September 1916 to April 1917.
It was the silver jubilee of the St Helens and District Snooker League this week. The competition had begun as a result of an advert placed by Jim Cunliffe in the Reporter. This led to representatives from thirteen clubs meeting up at Sutton Conservative Club to discuss the formation of a league.
The Reporter turned the anniversary into a feature with the advertisers including Kerr's Minerals of Barrow Street, "turf accountant" Bob Collins with head office in Borough Road and sports outfitters Ben Brooks of Duke Street. The latter had Joe Davis cues on sale – you have to be able to go back a bit to remember the pioneering snooker and billiards champion and his brother Fred! Also advertising were Emmet's Taxi Service of Corporation Street and Harold Stott of Westfield Street who was offering sound equipment installations for clubs and churches.
It was 'Fresh Meat Week' this week, which makes me wonder whether old meat was sold on other weeks? However it was another excuse for an advertising feature in the Reporter and these were some of the long-gone butchers taking part:
Reg Smith, Woodlands Road ("slaughtered locally to ensure freshness"); Jackies, Greenfield Road ("the popular butcher"); E. Roberts, Higher Parr Street ("established over 100 years"); Tunstalls, Baldwin Street & Millbrook Lane ("where the best costs less"); Litherland's, Kirkland Street ("for personal attention") and B. Daniels, West Street, Toll Bar ("home made sausage and barbeque chickens available daily").
There was also: Winstanley's, Wythburn Crescent, Carr Mill ("order your turkey for Christmas now"); Burrows and Sons, Duke Street ("suppliers of fresh meat for three generations"); Brian Ball, Westfield Street ("remember only the meat receives more attention than the customer") and Bessie Saville, Ellamsbridge Road ("family butcher").
Helena House's Xmas Grotto opened for business in their Baldwin Street basement on the 7th. And so did Oxleys, although their Santa arrived in their Claughton Street department store in some style! Redgate Boys Silver Band led the procession from Shaw Street station and along Church Street with Father Christmas travelling not in a sleigh but in what was described as the Royal Iris boat.
The man in the red cloak then took up pride of place in Oxleys Fairyland Grotto where there were free balloons and sweets and "bumper parcels" costing 3 shillings. Boys and girls too clever for their own good might have wondered why Father Christmas was sitting in his Magic Cave grotto in Helena House at 10am and then half-an-hour later was arriving at the train station on his way to Oxleys! He must have had a body double!
Next week's stories will include a call for park rangers to be armed with dogs to deal with skinheads, the Liverpool Road builders' lock out, the Bickerstaffe Street bus stop victory and the Sutton youths who smashed a stained glass window at St Nicholas Church.
We begin with a petition that was presented to Billinge Planning Committee on November 2nd from residents of Crank Road. The locals were up in arms over plans for a £60,000 youth centre at Bispham Hall, as they feared clashes between skinheads and the scouts that used the hall at weekends. Resident Alan Hampson said he was concerned about the prospect of "undesirable elements" coming to Billinge: "If we allow a youth centre to be built it will no doubt attract skinheads and motor cycles. It will be [a] living hell. Even the bowling green is bad enough and that is being used by grown men. Their language is terrible at times."
Also from the 2nd, the South West Lancs Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Society presented "Paint Your Wagon" at the Theatre Royal.
On the 3rd, the new St Helens mayor, Cllr. Eric Kerr, attended the inauguration ceremony of a new Territorial Army unit called the 'Helena Company'. The detachment of the Royal Army Medical Corps would be based in Mill Street and was about to begin a recruitment campaign, which was badly needed. That was because the five enrolled NCOs did not presently have any troops to boss about!
At a public health meeting in Ashton on the same day, Dr Peter Lee told councillors that ignorance was resulting in children not being vaccinated against measles. The Divisional Medical Officer said many parents felt the disease was of little importance, adding: "Many keep their children from being vaccinated because they fear the injections will be painful, the slight fever that might occur afterwards or the few spots that appear. But measles can sometimes leave some nasty after-effects, particularly about the eyes and ears."
Kamera had yet to take over the camera shop of F. George Laughton in Cotham Street and in 1970 had their premises in Bickerstaffe Street. As part of a push to promote the use of Kodak colour film, Kamera presented on the evening of the 3rd "Colour in Action – A Kodak Colour Show" at the Town Hall where there was free admission.
St Helens Town Council met on the 4th and decided to award the Theatre Royal a grant worth £25,000 over five years – around £4m in today's money. This was after there had been a poor response to a request for financial support from local firms. Alderman Joseph Hughes told the meeting: "It would have amounted to about £300 a year and you can't do much with that." Pilkingtons breathed new life into the Corporation Street theatre when it reopened in 1962 after it had lain derelict for five years. They spent £100,000 renovating the building but now wanted to reduce their involvement.
There was also criticism at the council meeting of the pace of the redevelopment programme in the town. Councillor Allan Lycett said that for some time they'd had slum clearance on the one hand and rebuilding of new properties on the other. However the two were not always matching up. Alderman James Hand said people were sick of looking at derelict sites in the town and added: "We are faced with sites lying empty with no rate return. Are we not moving too fast?"
He called for some of the clearances to be held up until more building work had taken place. Alderman James McDonnell was the Chairman of the Health Committee and he put the blame for the hold ups on choosy council tenants that had lost their homes: "The people themselves delay this business. They say “no” two or three times over before they are re-housed. But it will work if you have patience with it."
St Mark's Church in North Road in St Helens and Oxleys store in Claughton Street, St Helens (see story below)
St Mark's Church in North Road and Oxleys store in Claughton Street
St Mark's Church and Oxleys store in St Helens
On the 5th council officials watched by police evicted eight gipsy caravans off a site in Watery Lane in Sutton. The travellers had installed a makeshift barricade of bins, old prams and scrap, which were removed by officials. Then a council vehicle towed one caravan to the side of the road. The so-called gipsies soon realised the hopelessness of their situation and reluctantly used their own lorries to haul the remaining caravans into the roadway.
However Fred Price told the Reporter how furious he was at what had happened: "We have come here to wait until the gipsy site in Dobson's Lane is ready. We've only been here three weeks and are not harming anyone. Other places have sites ready, but not St. Helens. I think they are holding it up deliberately because they don't want us here. We want to stay in the town for the winter so that our children can get some schooling."
On the following day the St Helens Reporter was published and "Gipsies Threaten An Invasion" was the somewhat alarmist headline to its lead story on the front page. The article began: "Defiant gipsies were poised last night to move an army of 500 caravans into St. Helens. The threat to blockade the town centre came after gipsy families were turned off an encampment by council officials."
The eight evicted caravans had moved from the site in Sutton to one in Park Road, joining forces with another group of travellers. One of them, Joe Young, told the Reporter: "If we get moved off here we will block the town centre. It will take us only 24 hours to bring 500 caravans into the town – and we will do it if they move us."
In the 'Whalley's World' column in the Reporter, Henry Scarisbrick was pictured with an old box of 'Wild Woodbine' cigarettes. The 71-year-old from Haresfinch had been handed the box in the Clarendon pub in College Street and was trying to establish its age. The label on the front said the cigarettes were four for a penny but the lowest price that Henry could ever recall was five for twopence. "It beats me, I can never remember cigs being so cheap", remarked Henry. "And I've been smoking since I was a nipper. About 60 years altogether." The answer came in the following week’s column. The four-a-penny promotion had been from September 1916 to April 1917.
It was the silver jubilee of the St Helens and District Snooker League this week. The competition had begun as a result of an advert placed by Jim Cunliffe in the Reporter. This led to representatives from thirteen clubs meeting up at Sutton Conservative Club to discuss the formation of a league.
The Reporter turned the anniversary into a feature with the advertisers including Kerr's Minerals of Barrow Street, "turf accountant" Bob Collins with head office in Borough Road and sports outfitters Ben Brooks of Duke Street. The latter had Joe Davis cues on sale – you have to be able to go back a bit to remember the pioneering snooker and billiards champion and his brother Fred! Also advertising were Emmet's Taxi Service of Corporation Street and Harold Stott of Westfield Street who was offering sound equipment installations for clubs and churches.
It was 'Fresh Meat Week' this week, which makes me wonder whether old meat was sold on other weeks? However it was another excuse for an advertising feature in the Reporter and these were some of the long-gone butchers taking part:
Reg Smith, Woodlands Road ("slaughtered locally to ensure freshness"); Jackies, Greenfield Road ("the popular butcher"); E. Roberts, Higher Parr Street ("established over 100 years"); Tunstalls, Baldwin Street & Millbrook Lane ("where the best costs less"); Litherland's, Kirkland Street ("for personal attention") and B. Daniels, West Street, Toll Bar ("home made sausage and barbeque chickens available daily").
There was also: Winstanley's, Wythburn Crescent, Carr Mill ("order your turkey for Christmas now"); Burrows and Sons, Duke Street ("suppliers of fresh meat for three generations"); Brian Ball, Westfield Street ("remember only the meat receives more attention than the customer") and Bessie Saville, Ellamsbridge Road ("family butcher").
Helena House's Xmas Grotto opened for business in their Baldwin Street basement on the 7th. And so did Oxleys, although their Santa arrived in their Claughton Street department store in some style! Redgate Boys Silver Band led the procession from Shaw Street station and along Church Street with Father Christmas travelling not in a sleigh but in what was described as the Royal Iris boat.
The man in the red cloak then took up pride of place in Oxleys Fairyland Grotto where there were free balloons and sweets and "bumper parcels" costing 3 shillings. Boys and girls too clever for their own good might have wondered why Father Christmas was sitting in his Magic Cave grotto in Helena House at 10am and then half-an-hour later was arriving at the train station on his way to Oxleys! He must have had a body double!
Next week's stories will include a call for park rangers to be armed with dogs to deal with skinheads, the Liverpool Road builders' lock out, the Bickerstaffe Street bus stop victory and the Sutton youths who smashed a stained glass window at St Nicholas Church.
This week's many stories include the gipsies that threatened an invasion of St Helens town centre, Father Christmas arrives in style at Oxleys, there's a boost for the Theatre Royal, the days when cigarettes cost four a penny are remembered and there's criticism of the slum clearance scheme in St Helens.
We begin with a petition that was presented to Billinge Planning Committee on November 2nd from residents of Crank Road.
The locals were up in arms over plans for a £60,000 youth centre at Bispham Hall, as they feared clashes between skinheads and the scouts that used the hall at weekends.
Resident Alan Hampson said he was concerned about the prospect of "undesirable elements" coming to Billinge:
"If we allow a youth centre to be built it will no doubt attract skinheads and motor cycles. It will be [a] living hell. Even the bowling green is bad enough and that is being used by grown men. Their language is terrible at times."
Also from the 2nd, the South West Lancs Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Society presented "Paint Your Wagon" at the Theatre Royal.
On the 3rd, the new St Helens mayor, Cllr. Eric Kerr, attended the inauguration ceremony of a new Territorial Army unit called the 'Helena Company'.
The detachment of the Royal Army Medical Corps would be based in Mill Street and was about to begin a recruitment campaign, which was badly needed.
That was because the five enrolled NCOs did not presently have any troops to boss about!
At a public health meeting in Ashton on the same day, Dr Peter Lee told councillors that ignorance was resulting in children not being vaccinated against measles.
The Divisional Medical Officer said many parents felt the disease was of little importance, adding:
"Many keep their children from being vaccinated because they fear the injections will be painful, the slight fever that might occur afterwards or the few spots that appear. But measles can sometimes leave some nasty after-effects, particularly about the eyes and ears."
Kamera had yet to take over the camera shop of F. George Laughton in Cotham Street and in 1970 had their premises in Bickerstaffe Street.
As part of a push to promote the use of Kodak colour film, Kamera presented on the evening of the 3rd "Colour in Action – A Kodak Colour Show" at the Town Hall where there was free admission.
St Helens Town Council met on the 4th and decided to award the Theatre Royal a grant worth £25,000 over five years – around £4m in today's money.
This was after there had been a poor response to a request for financial support from local firms.
Alderman Joseph Hughes told the meeting: "It would have amounted to about £300 a year and you can't do much with that."
Pilkingtons breathed new life into the Corporation Street theatre when it reopened in 1962 after it had lain derelict for five years.
They spent £100,000 renovating the building but now wanted to reduce their involvement.
There was also criticism at the council meeting of the pace of the redevelopment programme in the town.
Councillor Allan Lycett said that for some time they'd had slum clearance on the one hand and rebuilding of new properties on the other.
However the two were not always matching up. Alderman James Hand said people were sick of looking at derelict sites in the town and added:
"We are faced with sites lying empty with no rate return. Are we not moving too fast?"
He called for some of the clearances to be held up until more building work had taken place.
Alderman James McDonnell was the Chairman of the Health Committee and he put the blame for the hold ups on choosy council tenants that had lost their homes:
"The people themselves delay this business. They say “no” two or three times over before they are re-housed. But it will work if you have patience with it."
In his parish magazine this week the vicar of St Mark's in North Road called for people to fight against the planned closure of Cowley Hill Maternity Hospital.
The Rev. Gordon Williams said: "If you do not raise a bleat soon, it may be too late."
On the 5th council officials watched by police evicted eight gipsy caravans off a site in Watery Lane in Sutton.
The travellers had installed a makeshift barricade of bins, old prams and scrap, which were removed by officials.
Then a council vehicle towed one caravan to the side of the road.
The so-called gipsies soon realised the hopelessness of their situation and reluctantly used their own lorries to haul the remaining caravans into the roadway.
However Fred Price told the Reporter how furious he was at what had happened:
"We have come here to wait until the gipsy site in Dobson's Lane is ready. We've only been here three weeks and are not harming anyone.
"Other places have sites ready, but not St. Helens. I think they are holding it up deliberately because they don't want us here. We want to stay in the town for the winter so that our children can get some schooling."
On the following day the St Helens Reporter was published and "Gipsies Threaten An Invasion" was the somewhat alarmist headline to its lead story on the front page. The article began:
"Defiant gipsies were poised last night to move an army of 500 caravans into St. Helens. The threat to blockade the town centre came after gipsy families were turned off an encampment by council officials."
The eight evicted caravans had moved from the site in Sutton to one in Park Road, joining forces with another group of travellers. One of them, Joe Young, told the Reporter:
"If we get moved off here we will block the town centre. It will take us only 24 hours to bring 500 caravans into the town – and we will do it if they move us."
In the 'Whalley's World' column in the Reporter, Henry Scarisbrick was pictured with an old box of 'Wild Woodbine' cigarettes.
The 71-year-old from Haresfinch had been handed the box in the Clarendon pub in College Street and was trying to establish its age.
The label on the front said the cigarettes were four for a penny but the lowest price that Henry could ever recall was five for twopence.
"It beats me, I can never remember cigs being so cheap", remarked Henry. "And I've been smoking since I was a nipper. About 60 years altogether."
The answer came in the following week’s column. The four-a-penny promotion had been from September 1916 to April 1917.
It was the silver jubilee of the St Helens and District Snooker League this week. The competition had begun as a result of an advert placed by Jim Cunliffe in the Reporter.
This led to representatives from thirteen clubs meeting up at Sutton Conservative Club to discuss the formation of a league.
The Reporter turned the anniversary into a feature with the advertisers including Kerr's Minerals of Barrow Street, "turf accountant" Bob Collins with head office in Borough Road and sports outfitters Ben Brooks of Duke Street.
The latter had Joe Davis cues on sale – you have to be able to go back a bit to remember the pioneering snooker and billiards champion and his brother Fred!
Also advertising were Emmet's Taxi Service of Corporation Street and Harold Stott of Westfield Street who was offering sound equipment installations for clubs and churches.
It was 'Fresh Meat Week' this week, which makes me wonder whether old meat was sold on other weeks?
However it was another excuse for an advertising feature in the Reporter and these were some of the long-gone butchers taking part:
Reg Smith, Woodlands Road ("slaughtered locally to ensure freshness"); Jackies, Greenfield Road ("the popular butcher"); E. Roberts, Higher Parr Street ("established over 100 years"); Tunstalls, Baldwin Street & Millbrook Lane ("where the best costs less"); Litherland's, Kirkland Street ("for personal attention") and B. Daniels, West Street, Toll Bar ("home made sausage and barbeque chickens available daily").
There was also: Winstanley's, Wythburn Crescent, Carr Mill ("order your turkey for Christmas now"); Burrows and Sons, Duke Street ("suppliers of fresh meat for three generations"); Brian Ball, Westfield Street ("remember only the meat receives more attention than the customer") and Bessie Saville, Ellamsbridge Road ("family butcher").
Helena House's Xmas Grotto opened for business in their Baldwin Street basement on the 7th.
And so did Oxleys, although their Santa arrived in their Claughton Street department store in some style!
Redgate Boys Silver Band led the procession from Shaw Street station and along Church Street with Father Christmas travelling not in a sleigh but in what was described as the Royal Iris boat.
The man in the red cloak then took up pride of place in Oxleys Fairyland Grotto where there were free balloons and sweets and "bumper parcels" costing 3 shillings.
Boys and girls too clever for their own good might have wondered why Father Christmas was sitting in his Magic Cave grotto in Helena House at 10am and then half-an-hour later was arriving at the train station on his way to Oxleys! He must have had a body double!
Next week's stories will include a call for park rangers to be armed with dogs to deal with skinheads, the Liverpool Road builders' lock out, the Bickerstaffe Street bus stop victory and the Sutton youths who smashed a stained glass window at St Nicholas Church.
We begin with a petition that was presented to Billinge Planning Committee on November 2nd from residents of Crank Road.
The locals were up in arms over plans for a £60,000 youth centre at Bispham Hall, as they feared clashes between skinheads and the scouts that used the hall at weekends.
Resident Alan Hampson said he was concerned about the prospect of "undesirable elements" coming to Billinge:
"If we allow a youth centre to be built it will no doubt attract skinheads and motor cycles. It will be [a] living hell. Even the bowling green is bad enough and that is being used by grown men. Their language is terrible at times."
Also from the 2nd, the South West Lancs Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Society presented "Paint Your Wagon" at the Theatre Royal.
On the 3rd, the new St Helens mayor, Cllr. Eric Kerr, attended the inauguration ceremony of a new Territorial Army unit called the 'Helena Company'.
The detachment of the Royal Army Medical Corps would be based in Mill Street and was about to begin a recruitment campaign, which was badly needed.
That was because the five enrolled NCOs did not presently have any troops to boss about!
At a public health meeting in Ashton on the same day, Dr Peter Lee told councillors that ignorance was resulting in children not being vaccinated against measles.
The Divisional Medical Officer said many parents felt the disease was of little importance, adding:
"Many keep their children from being vaccinated because they fear the injections will be painful, the slight fever that might occur afterwards or the few spots that appear. But measles can sometimes leave some nasty after-effects, particularly about the eyes and ears."
Kamera had yet to take over the camera shop of F. George Laughton in Cotham Street and in 1970 had their premises in Bickerstaffe Street.
As part of a push to promote the use of Kodak colour film, Kamera presented on the evening of the 3rd "Colour in Action – A Kodak Colour Show" at the Town Hall where there was free admission.
St Helens Town Council met on the 4th and decided to award the Theatre Royal a grant worth £25,000 over five years – around £4m in today's money.
This was after there had been a poor response to a request for financial support from local firms.
Alderman Joseph Hughes told the meeting: "It would have amounted to about £300 a year and you can't do much with that."
Pilkingtons breathed new life into the Corporation Street theatre when it reopened in 1962 after it had lain derelict for five years.
They spent £100,000 renovating the building but now wanted to reduce their involvement.
There was also criticism at the council meeting of the pace of the redevelopment programme in the town.
Councillor Allan Lycett said that for some time they'd had slum clearance on the one hand and rebuilding of new properties on the other.
However the two were not always matching up. Alderman James Hand said people were sick of looking at derelict sites in the town and added:
"We are faced with sites lying empty with no rate return. Are we not moving too fast?"
He called for some of the clearances to be held up until more building work had taken place.
Alderman James McDonnell was the Chairman of the Health Committee and he put the blame for the hold ups on choosy council tenants that had lost their homes:
"The people themselves delay this business. They say “no” two or three times over before they are re-housed. But it will work if you have patience with it."
St Mark's Church in North Road in St Helens and Oxleys store in Claughton Street, St Helens (see story below)
St Mark's Church in North Road and Oxleys store in Claughton Street
St Mark's Church and Oxleys store in St Helens
The Rev. Gordon Williams said: "If you do not raise a bleat soon, it may be too late."
On the 5th council officials watched by police evicted eight gipsy caravans off a site in Watery Lane in Sutton.
The travellers had installed a makeshift barricade of bins, old prams and scrap, which were removed by officials.
Then a council vehicle towed one caravan to the side of the road.
The so-called gipsies soon realised the hopelessness of their situation and reluctantly used their own lorries to haul the remaining caravans into the roadway.
However Fred Price told the Reporter how furious he was at what had happened:
"We have come here to wait until the gipsy site in Dobson's Lane is ready. We've only been here three weeks and are not harming anyone.
"Other places have sites ready, but not St. Helens. I think they are holding it up deliberately because they don't want us here. We want to stay in the town for the winter so that our children can get some schooling."
On the following day the St Helens Reporter was published and "Gipsies Threaten An Invasion" was the somewhat alarmist headline to its lead story on the front page. The article began:
"Defiant gipsies were poised last night to move an army of 500 caravans into St. Helens. The threat to blockade the town centre came after gipsy families were turned off an encampment by council officials."
The eight evicted caravans had moved from the site in Sutton to one in Park Road, joining forces with another group of travellers. One of them, Joe Young, told the Reporter:
"If we get moved off here we will block the town centre. It will take us only 24 hours to bring 500 caravans into the town – and we will do it if they move us."
In the 'Whalley's World' column in the Reporter, Henry Scarisbrick was pictured with an old box of 'Wild Woodbine' cigarettes.
The 71-year-old from Haresfinch had been handed the box in the Clarendon pub in College Street and was trying to establish its age.
The label on the front said the cigarettes were four for a penny but the lowest price that Henry could ever recall was five for twopence.
"It beats me, I can never remember cigs being so cheap", remarked Henry. "And I've been smoking since I was a nipper. About 60 years altogether."
The answer came in the following week’s column. The four-a-penny promotion had been from September 1916 to April 1917.
It was the silver jubilee of the St Helens and District Snooker League this week. The competition had begun as a result of an advert placed by Jim Cunliffe in the Reporter.
This led to representatives from thirteen clubs meeting up at Sutton Conservative Club to discuss the formation of a league.
The Reporter turned the anniversary into a feature with the advertisers including Kerr's Minerals of Barrow Street, "turf accountant" Bob Collins with head office in Borough Road and sports outfitters Ben Brooks of Duke Street.
The latter had Joe Davis cues on sale – you have to be able to go back a bit to remember the pioneering snooker and billiards champion and his brother Fred!
Also advertising were Emmet's Taxi Service of Corporation Street and Harold Stott of Westfield Street who was offering sound equipment installations for clubs and churches.
It was 'Fresh Meat Week' this week, which makes me wonder whether old meat was sold on other weeks?
However it was another excuse for an advertising feature in the Reporter and these were some of the long-gone butchers taking part:
Reg Smith, Woodlands Road ("slaughtered locally to ensure freshness"); Jackies, Greenfield Road ("the popular butcher"); E. Roberts, Higher Parr Street ("established over 100 years"); Tunstalls, Baldwin Street & Millbrook Lane ("where the best costs less"); Litherland's, Kirkland Street ("for personal attention") and B. Daniels, West Street, Toll Bar ("home made sausage and barbeque chickens available daily").
There was also: Winstanley's, Wythburn Crescent, Carr Mill ("order your turkey for Christmas now"); Burrows and Sons, Duke Street ("suppliers of fresh meat for three generations"); Brian Ball, Westfield Street ("remember only the meat receives more attention than the customer") and Bessie Saville, Ellamsbridge Road ("family butcher").
Helena House's Xmas Grotto opened for business in their Baldwin Street basement on the 7th.
And so did Oxleys, although their Santa arrived in their Claughton Street department store in some style!
Redgate Boys Silver Band led the procession from Shaw Street station and along Church Street with Father Christmas travelling not in a sleigh but in what was described as the Royal Iris boat.
The man in the red cloak then took up pride of place in Oxleys Fairyland Grotto where there were free balloons and sweets and "bumper parcels" costing 3 shillings.
Boys and girls too clever for their own good might have wondered why Father Christmas was sitting in his Magic Cave grotto in Helena House at 10am and then half-an-hour later was arriving at the train station on his way to Oxleys! He must have had a body double!
Next week's stories will include a call for park rangers to be armed with dogs to deal with skinheads, the Liverpool Road builders' lock out, the Bickerstaffe Street bus stop victory and the Sutton youths who smashed a stained glass window at St Nicholas Church.