FIFTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK (9th - 15th NOVEMBER 1970)
This week's stories include a call for St Helens park rangers to be armed with dogs to deal with troublesome skinheads, the Liverpool Road builders' lock out, the Bickerstaffe Street bus stop victory and the Sutton youths that smashed a stained glass window at St Nicholas Church.
We begin on the 9th with a meeting of the St Helens Water Committee in which members were told of a significant fire risk on the Reginald Road industrial estate. There were now a number of factories on the site in Sutton manufacturing highly inflammable materials. However the six-inch main that presently served the estate would not provide sufficient water to subdue an extensive blaze. Firemen could source an additional supply from the Sutton Mill Dam but that would take time. So the committee decided to lay a 500-yard, 12-inch main that would link up with a supply on Bold Road.
Also on the 9th more than eighty men turned up for work on a prestige building site in Liverpool Road. Five weeks earlier the construction workers had been dismissed from their jobs, after taking time off to join a protest march in support of sacked Pilkington staff. The men insisted that they had been given permission to join the demonstration and they had taken their case to the Building Trade Disputes Committee in Manchester. After a hearing the men were advised to turn up for work but found the site gates locked against them.
The employers were Rawlinson Construction of Stockport who had been commissioned to build 180 flats and maisonettes in Liverpool Road. Both management and unions normally accepted the findings of the Disputes Committee but Rawlinson's refused to meet their workers or explain themselves. So the unions involved were planning to hold joint talks to decide on their next move.
During the evening of the 9th Saints took on Australia at Knowsley Road and beat the tourists 37 - 10, with Alan Whittle scoring a hat-trick of tries. The ticket prices were 5 shillings (ground) and 6 to 7 shillings (stands).
A special sitting of St Helens Juvenile court was held on the 10th in which a ten-year-old boy was accused of setting fire to the Krazy Kuts store in Eccleston Road. Up to £4,000 worth of damage (around £70,000 in today's money) had been caused and the lad was also accused of entering a shop in Ormskirk Street and stealing £16 cash. The case was adjourned but Inspector McCall told the Bench that the police were worried about the boy being allowed home. "We don't want any more fires like this one", he said.
The council's Transport Committee met on the 10th and considered a petition that Elizabeth Welsby had submitted. The 72-year-old pensioner had been complaining for twelve months about the bus stops in Bickerstaffe Street where she lived. The noisy bus queues and sounds of engines revving up – along with the smell of sickly diesel fumes – led to Mrs Welsby organising the petition among her neighbours calling for the stops to be moved away from their homes.
And she won! The committee members decided that the stops would be relocated into Victoria Square, opposite the library. "I'm absolutely thrilled", declared Mrs Welsby, adding that the imposition of the bus stops 18 months ago had led to her life becoming a nightmare.
At a meeting of the St Helens Amenities Committee on the 11th, the Parks Director Sidney Adamson said there had been an alarming increase in vandalism in local parks. There were then twelve park rangers and Mr Adamson called for them to be given dogs due to the aggressive attitude of hooligan gangs: "By arming the rangers with dogs we might give them the protection they need and put an end to this trouble."
The Parks Director also reported a break-in at the Victoria Park greenhouses (shown above) in which £45 worth of orchids and tropical plants had been stolen and last month three turkeys had been taken from a pen in Sherdley Park. The parks, he said, were proving a target for gangs of youths who tore down tree branches, broke up seats and defaced public toilets.
In response Councillor Keith Lyon called for the return of corporal punishment, declaring: "We will never get anywhere until we make the punishment fit the crime. We should bring back the birch and give these people the flogging they deserve." The committee came to no decision on the use of dogs but condemned parents who allowed their children to behave maliciously and also blamed the media for helping to create a steady decline in morality.
After the meeting the Reporter spoke to Taylor Park ranger Kevin Toole about the problems in the parks. He said: "We have trouble in the park every night with skinheads. I've been threatened with flick knives and bottles and the situation is getting worse all the time. We definitely need dogs to stop this menace. These yobs would think twice before doing anything if they saw me patrolling the park with an alsatian."
At the Liverpool Quarter Sessions on the 11th, two 17-year-old youths and a 21-year-old man – all from the Hoghton Road district of Sutton – pleaded guilty to malicious damage. The prosecutor said after drinking in a pub near Sherdley Park – presumably the Bull and Dog – the trio had decided to "go skylarking". They first threw a brick through a stained glass window at St Nicholas Church (pictured above) causing £600 worth of damage (around £10,000 in today's money). The youths then returned to the pub and later went on Marshalls Cross Road, where they took pot shots at cars using bricks and stones. One driver stopped to remonstrate with the group but was beaten up.
DC Brian Railton told the court that the only explanation he could offer for their behaviour was that one of their mothers was strongly attached to the church and so there may have been a family dispute. One youth was sent to Borstal and another to a detention centre for three months. The 21-year-old was given a 6 months suspended sentence, with the judge criticising the House of Commons for not allowing him to impose an actual custodial sentence for that offence. "People who throw bricks through church windows should go to prison", he declared.
Also in court was a man from Juddfield Street in Haydock who told St Helens magistrates: "I'll bring some law and order to this town if I die in the act." The 55-year-old was making his 32nd appearance for drunkenness and claimed that he got drunk because the police told a lot of lies about him. When arrested for being drunk and disorderly in Victoria Square, the man had told the police: "There's going to be a bloody revolution and I'm going to rule".
In the Reporter on the 13th the Whalley's World column described the "golden days of pigs' heads, trotters and tripe", when publishing a photo of butcher's R. Roberts of Higher Parr Street. Their window was full of startled-looking "porker heads" and sides of bacon with a sign that said: "Bred and fed by Mr. Samuel Mercer of Park Street." Alan Whalley wrote: "None of your Danish stamped business those days. You could see your meal on the hoof, round the corner, before having it served up in greaseproof paper."
Alan also continued his critique of the mini-skirt that he had begun last week, describing the mini as "boring" and leading to an "abundance of over-exposed girlie bottoms". The much-missed scribe argued that the maxi and midi had "more subtle sex appeal, more class and more mystique than any of those outdated, common pelmets that masquerade as skirts." Although Alan found that most males did not agree with his views, he had received a number of supportive letters from women.
Catherine Pennington was certainly a supporter of the midi. She turned 99 in a few days time and was pictured in a separate section of the paper stating her belief that a woman's longevity was linked to the length of her skirt. "I don't like mini-skirts", Catherine said. "They're not proper. Midi and maxi skirts are much better and look how long my life has lasted." Born in Rainford, Catherine had spent most of her life working on Mossborough Hall Farm but was now living in Adelaide Avenue in Thatto Heath.
"Prepare Your Car For Winter", was the title of a feature in the Reporter. The garages advertising included: Les Rigby (Motor Engineers) of Pendlebury Street in Sutton Manor ("A complete service for £2, plus parts during November"); Dentons, Dentons Green Lane ("Go to Dentons before you have a breakdown") and Wilber Motors, Sutton Road ("Crypton electronic tune up").
There were also Burmah Vista Autopoint, Vista Road, Newton ("No job too big or small"); McLean & Appleton, Prescot Road ("My Daddy has his car serviced at a garage he knows he can trust!") and Hardshaw Garage, Corporation Street ("The Esso action station").
Jeanette Pimblett from Hinckley Road was pictured in the paper after coming first in a National Clean Air competition at Rivington Road secondary school. The 12-year-old won a bike and a £5 voucher after composing 50 words describing the importance of health in relation to clean air.
And finally the Reporter stated that a geologist commissioned to study the safety of Beacon Hill in Billinge had warned that the beauty spot was in danger of collapsing. Iain Williamson had been brought in after cracks appeared in the quarry face and his report found that unless quarrying was strictly controlled, there would be a serious threat to the hill.
Next week's stories will include a Carr Mill geography lesson from the air, the "landlord of the flies" of Newton Road, Pilks go public and why a huge hole that appeared on a Parr housing estate was blamed on the 1926 miners strike.
We begin on the 9th with a meeting of the St Helens Water Committee in which members were told of a significant fire risk on the Reginald Road industrial estate. There were now a number of factories on the site in Sutton manufacturing highly inflammable materials. However the six-inch main that presently served the estate would not provide sufficient water to subdue an extensive blaze. Firemen could source an additional supply from the Sutton Mill Dam but that would take time. So the committee decided to lay a 500-yard, 12-inch main that would link up with a supply on Bold Road.
Also on the 9th more than eighty men turned up for work on a prestige building site in Liverpool Road. Five weeks earlier the construction workers had been dismissed from their jobs, after taking time off to join a protest march in support of sacked Pilkington staff. The men insisted that they had been given permission to join the demonstration and they had taken their case to the Building Trade Disputes Committee in Manchester. After a hearing the men were advised to turn up for work but found the site gates locked against them.
The employers were Rawlinson Construction of Stockport who had been commissioned to build 180 flats and maisonettes in Liverpool Road. Both management and unions normally accepted the findings of the Disputes Committee but Rawlinson's refused to meet their workers or explain themselves. So the unions involved were planning to hold joint talks to decide on their next move.
During the evening of the 9th Saints took on Australia at Knowsley Road and beat the tourists 37 - 10, with Alan Whittle scoring a hat-trick of tries. The ticket prices were 5 shillings (ground) and 6 to 7 shillings (stands).
A special sitting of St Helens Juvenile court was held on the 10th in which a ten-year-old boy was accused of setting fire to the Krazy Kuts store in Eccleston Road. Up to £4,000 worth of damage (around £70,000 in today's money) had been caused and the lad was also accused of entering a shop in Ormskirk Street and stealing £16 cash. The case was adjourned but Inspector McCall told the Bench that the police were worried about the boy being allowed home. "We don't want any more fires like this one", he said.
The council's Transport Committee met on the 10th and considered a petition that Elizabeth Welsby had submitted. The 72-year-old pensioner had been complaining for twelve months about the bus stops in Bickerstaffe Street where she lived. The noisy bus queues and sounds of engines revving up – along with the smell of sickly diesel fumes – led to Mrs Welsby organising the petition among her neighbours calling for the stops to be moved away from their homes.
And she won! The committee members decided that the stops would be relocated into Victoria Square, opposite the library. "I'm absolutely thrilled", declared Mrs Welsby, adding that the imposition of the bus stops 18 months ago had led to her life becoming a nightmare.
At a meeting of the St Helens Amenities Committee on the 11th, the Parks Director Sidney Adamson said there had been an alarming increase in vandalism in local parks. There were then twelve park rangers and Mr Adamson called for them to be given dogs due to the aggressive attitude of hooligan gangs: "By arming the rangers with dogs we might give them the protection they need and put an end to this trouble."
In response Councillor Keith Lyon called for the return of corporal punishment, declaring: "We will never get anywhere until we make the punishment fit the crime. We should bring back the birch and give these people the flogging they deserve." The committee came to no decision on the use of dogs but condemned parents who allowed their children to behave maliciously and also blamed the media for helping to create a steady decline in morality.
After the meeting the Reporter spoke to Taylor Park ranger Kevin Toole about the problems in the parks. He said: "We have trouble in the park every night with skinheads. I've been threatened with flick knives and bottles and the situation is getting worse all the time. We definitely need dogs to stop this menace. These yobs would think twice before doing anything if they saw me patrolling the park with an alsatian."
DC Brian Railton told the court that the only explanation he could offer for their behaviour was that one of their mothers was strongly attached to the church and so there may have been a family dispute. One youth was sent to Borstal and another to a detention centre for three months. The 21-year-old was given a 6 months suspended sentence, with the judge criticising the House of Commons for not allowing him to impose an actual custodial sentence for that offence. "People who throw bricks through church windows should go to prison", he declared.
Also in court was a man from Juddfield Street in Haydock who told St Helens magistrates: "I'll bring some law and order to this town if I die in the act." The 55-year-old was making his 32nd appearance for drunkenness and claimed that he got drunk because the police told a lot of lies about him. When arrested for being drunk and disorderly in Victoria Square, the man had told the police: "There's going to be a bloody revolution and I'm going to rule".
In the Reporter on the 13th the Whalley's World column described the "golden days of pigs' heads, trotters and tripe", when publishing a photo of butcher's R. Roberts of Higher Parr Street. Their window was full of startled-looking "porker heads" and sides of bacon with a sign that said: "Bred and fed by Mr. Samuel Mercer of Park Street." Alan Whalley wrote: "None of your Danish stamped business those days. You could see your meal on the hoof, round the corner, before having it served up in greaseproof paper."
Alan also continued his critique of the mini-skirt that he had begun last week, describing the mini as "boring" and leading to an "abundance of over-exposed girlie bottoms". The much-missed scribe argued that the maxi and midi had "more subtle sex appeal, more class and more mystique than any of those outdated, common pelmets that masquerade as skirts." Although Alan found that most males did not agree with his views, he had received a number of supportive letters from women.
Catherine Pennington was certainly a supporter of the midi. She turned 99 in a few days time and was pictured in a separate section of the paper stating her belief that a woman's longevity was linked to the length of her skirt. "I don't like mini-skirts", Catherine said. "They're not proper. Midi and maxi skirts are much better and look how long my life has lasted." Born in Rainford, Catherine had spent most of her life working on Mossborough Hall Farm but was now living in Adelaide Avenue in Thatto Heath.
"Prepare Your Car For Winter", was the title of a feature in the Reporter. The garages advertising included: Les Rigby (Motor Engineers) of Pendlebury Street in Sutton Manor ("A complete service for £2, plus parts during November"); Dentons, Dentons Green Lane ("Go to Dentons before you have a breakdown") and Wilber Motors, Sutton Road ("Crypton electronic tune up").
There were also Burmah Vista Autopoint, Vista Road, Newton ("No job too big or small"); McLean & Appleton, Prescot Road ("My Daddy has his car serviced at a garage he knows he can trust!") and Hardshaw Garage, Corporation Street ("The Esso action station").
Jeanette Pimblett from Hinckley Road was pictured in the paper after coming first in a National Clean Air competition at Rivington Road secondary school. The 12-year-old won a bike and a £5 voucher after composing 50 words describing the importance of health in relation to clean air.
And finally the Reporter stated that a geologist commissioned to study the safety of Beacon Hill in Billinge had warned that the beauty spot was in danger of collapsing. Iain Williamson had been brought in after cracks appeared in the quarry face and his report found that unless quarrying was strictly controlled, there would be a serious threat to the hill.
Next week's stories will include a Carr Mill geography lesson from the air, the "landlord of the flies" of Newton Road, Pilks go public and why a huge hole that appeared on a Parr housing estate was blamed on the 1926 miners strike.
This week's stories include a call for St Helens park rangers to be armed with dogs to deal with troublesome skinheads, the Liverpool Road builders' lock out, the Bickerstaffe Street bus stop victory and the Sutton youths that smashed a stained glass window at St Nicholas Church.
We begin on the 9th with a meeting of the St Helens Water Committee in which members were told of a significant fire risk on the Reginald Road industrial estate.
There were now a number of factories on the site in Sutton manufacturing highly inflammable materials.
However the six-inch main that presently served the estate would not provide sufficient water to subdue an extensive blaze.
Firemen could source an additional supply from the Sutton Mill Dam but that would take time.
So the committee decided to lay a 500-yard, 12-inch main that would link up with a supply on Bold Road.
Also on the 9th more than eighty men turned up for work on a prestige building site in Liverpool Road.
Five weeks earlier the construction workers had been dismissed from their jobs, after taking time off to join a protest march in support of sacked Pilkington staff.
The men insisted that they had been given permission to join the demonstration and they had taken their case to the Building Trade Disputes Committee in Manchester.
After a hearing the men were advised to turn up for work but found the site gates locked against them.
The employers were Rawlinson Construction of Stockport who had been commissioned to build 180 flats and maisonettes in Liverpool Road.
Both management and unions normally accepted the findings of the Disputes Committee but Rawlinson's refused to meet their workers or explain themselves.
So the unions involved were planning to hold joint talks to decide on their next move.
During the evening of the 9th Saints took on Australia at Knowsley Road and beat the tourists 37 - 10, with Alan Whittle scoring a hat-trick of tries.
The ticket prices were five shillings (ground admission) and six to seven shillings (stands).
A special sitting of St Helens Juvenile court was held on the 10th in which a ten-year-old boy was accused of setting fire to the Krazy Kuts store in Eccleston Road.
Up to £4,000 worth of damage (around £70,000 in today's money) had been caused and the lad was also accused of entering a shop in Ormskirk Street and stealing £16 cash.
The case was adjourned but Inspector McCall told the Bench that the police were worried about the boy being allowed home. "We don't want any more fires like this one", he said.
The council's Transport Committee met on the 10th and considered a petition that Elizabeth Welsby had submitted.
The 72-year-old pensioner had been complaining for twelve months about the bus stops in Bickerstaffe Street where she lived.
The noisy bus queues and sounds of engines revving up – along with the smell of sickly diesel fumes – led to Mrs Welsby organising the petition among her neighbours calling for the stops to be moved away from their homes.
And she won! The committee members decided that the stops would be relocated into Victoria Square, opposite the library.
"I'm absolutely thrilled", declared Mrs Welsby, adding that the imposition of the bus stops 18 months ago had led to her life becoming a nightmare.
At a meeting of the St Helens Amenities Committee on the 11th, the Parks Director Sidney Adamson said there had been an alarming increase in vandalism in local parks.
There were then twelve park rangers and Mr Adamson called for them to be given dogs due to the aggressive attitude of hooligan gangs:
"By arming the rangers with dogs we might give them the protection they need and put an end to this trouble."
The Parks Director also reported a break-in at the Victoria Park greenhouses (shown above) in which £45 worth of orchids and tropical plants had been stolen and last month three turkeys had been taken from a pen in Sherdley Park.
The parks, he said, were proving a target for gangs of youths who tore down tree branches, broke up seats and defaced public toilets.
In response Councillor Keith Lyon called for the return of corporal punishment, declaring: "We will never get anywhere until we make the punishment fit the crime. We should bring back the birch and give these people the flogging they deserve."
The committee came to no decision on the use of dogs but condemned parents who allowed their children to behave maliciously and also blamed the media for helping to create a steady decline in morality.
After the meeting the Reporter spoke to Taylor Park ranger Kevin Toole about the problems in the parks. He said:
"We have trouble in the park every night with skinheads. I've been threatened with flick knives and bottles and the situation is getting worse all the time.
"We definitely need dogs to stop this menace. These yobs would think twice before doing anything if they saw me patrolling the park with an alsatian."
At the Liverpool Quarter Sessions on the 11th, two 17-year-old youths and a 21-year-old man – all from the Hoghton Road district of Sutton – pleaded guilty to malicious damage.
The prosecutor said after drinking in a pub near Sherdley Park – presumably the Bull and Dog – the trio had decided to "go skylarking".
They first threw a brick through a stained glass window at St Nicholas Church (pictured above) causing £600 worth of damage (around £10,000 in today's money).
The youths then returned to the pub and later went on Marshalls Cross Road, where they took pot shots at cars using bricks and stones. One driver stopped to remonstrate with the group but was beaten up.
DC Brian Railton told the court that the only explanation he could offer for their behaviour was that one of their mothers was strongly attached to the church and so there may have been a family dispute.
One youth was sent to Borstal and another to a detention centre for three months.
The 21-year-old was given a 6 months suspended sentence, with the judge criticising the House of Commons for not allowing him to impose an actual custodial sentence for that offence.
"People who throw bricks through church windows should go to prison", he declared.
Also in court was a man from Juddfield Street in Haydock who told St Helens magistrates: "I'll bring some law and order to this town if I die in the act."
The 55-year-old was making his 32nd appearance for drunkenness and claimed that he got drunk because the police told a lot of lies about him.
When arrested for being drunk and disorderly in Victoria Square, the man had told the police: "There's going to be a bloody revolution and I'm going to rule".
In the Reporter on the 13th the Whalley's World column described the "golden days of pigs' heads, trotters and tripe", when publishing a photo of butcher's R. Roberts of Higher Parr Street.
Their window was full of startled-looking "porker heads" and sides of bacon with a sign that said: "Bred and fed by Mr. Samuel Mercer of Park Street."
Alan Whalley wrote: "None of your Danish stamped business those days. You could see your meal on the hoof, round the corner, before having it served up in greaseproof paper."
Alan also continued his critique of the mini-skirt that he had begun last week, describing the mini as "boring" and leading to an "abundance of over-exposed girlie bottoms".
The much-missed scribe argued that the maxi and midi had "more subtle sex appeal, more class and more mystique than any of those outdated, common pelmets that masquerade as skirts."
Although Alan found that most males did not agree with his views, he had received a number of supportive letters from women.
Catherine Pennington was certainly a supporter of the midi.
She turned 99 in a few days time and was pictured in a separate section of the paper stating her belief that a woman's longevity was linked to the length of her skirt.
"I don't like mini-skirts", Catherine said. "They're not proper. Midi and maxi skirts are much better and look how long my life has lasted."
Born in Rainford, Catherine had spent most of her life working on Mossborough Hall Farm but was now living in Adelaide Avenue in Thatto Heath.
"Prepare Your Car For Winter", was the title of a feature in the Reporter. The garages advertising included:
Les Rigby (Motor Engineers) of Pendlebury Street in Sutton Manor ("A complete service for £2, plus parts during November"); Dentons, Dentons Green Lane ("Go to Dentons before you have a breakdown") and Wilber Motors, Sutton Road ("Crypton electronic tune up").
There were also Burmah Vista Autopoint, Vista Road, Newton ("No job too big or small"); McLean & Appleton, Prescot Road ("My Daddy has his car serviced at a garage he knows he can trust!") and Hardshaw Garage, Corporation Street ("The Esso action station").
Jeanette Pimblett from Hinckley Road was pictured in the paper after coming first in a National Clean Air competition at Rivington Road secondary school.
The 12-year-old won a bike and a £5 voucher after composing 50 words describing the importance of health in relation to clean air.
And finally the Reporter stated that a geologist commissioned to study the safety of Beacon Hill in Billinge had warned that the beauty spot was in danger of collapsing.
Iain Williamson had been brought in after cracks appeared in the quarry face and his report found that unless quarrying was strictly controlled, there would be a serious threat to the hill.
Next week's stories will include a Carr Mill geography lesson from the air, the "landlord of the flies" of Newton Road, Pilks go public and why a huge hole that appeared on a Parr housing estate was blamed on the 1926 miners strike.
We begin on the 9th with a meeting of the St Helens Water Committee in which members were told of a significant fire risk on the Reginald Road industrial estate.
There were now a number of factories on the site in Sutton manufacturing highly inflammable materials.
However the six-inch main that presently served the estate would not provide sufficient water to subdue an extensive blaze.
Firemen could source an additional supply from the Sutton Mill Dam but that would take time.
So the committee decided to lay a 500-yard, 12-inch main that would link up with a supply on Bold Road.
Also on the 9th more than eighty men turned up for work on a prestige building site in Liverpool Road.
Five weeks earlier the construction workers had been dismissed from their jobs, after taking time off to join a protest march in support of sacked Pilkington staff.
The men insisted that they had been given permission to join the demonstration and they had taken their case to the Building Trade Disputes Committee in Manchester.
After a hearing the men were advised to turn up for work but found the site gates locked against them.
The employers were Rawlinson Construction of Stockport who had been commissioned to build 180 flats and maisonettes in Liverpool Road.
Both management and unions normally accepted the findings of the Disputes Committee but Rawlinson's refused to meet their workers or explain themselves.
So the unions involved were planning to hold joint talks to decide on their next move.
During the evening of the 9th Saints took on Australia at Knowsley Road and beat the tourists 37 - 10, with Alan Whittle scoring a hat-trick of tries.
The ticket prices were five shillings (ground admission) and six to seven shillings (stands).
A special sitting of St Helens Juvenile court was held on the 10th in which a ten-year-old boy was accused of setting fire to the Krazy Kuts store in Eccleston Road.
Up to £4,000 worth of damage (around £70,000 in today's money) had been caused and the lad was also accused of entering a shop in Ormskirk Street and stealing £16 cash.
The case was adjourned but Inspector McCall told the Bench that the police were worried about the boy being allowed home. "We don't want any more fires like this one", he said.
The council's Transport Committee met on the 10th and considered a petition that Elizabeth Welsby had submitted.
The 72-year-old pensioner had been complaining for twelve months about the bus stops in Bickerstaffe Street where she lived.
The noisy bus queues and sounds of engines revving up – along with the smell of sickly diesel fumes – led to Mrs Welsby organising the petition among her neighbours calling for the stops to be moved away from their homes.
And she won! The committee members decided that the stops would be relocated into Victoria Square, opposite the library.
"I'm absolutely thrilled", declared Mrs Welsby, adding that the imposition of the bus stops 18 months ago had led to her life becoming a nightmare.
At a meeting of the St Helens Amenities Committee on the 11th, the Parks Director Sidney Adamson said there had been an alarming increase in vandalism in local parks.
There were then twelve park rangers and Mr Adamson called for them to be given dogs due to the aggressive attitude of hooligan gangs:
"By arming the rangers with dogs we might give them the protection they need and put an end to this trouble."
The parks, he said, were proving a target for gangs of youths who tore down tree branches, broke up seats and defaced public toilets.
In response Councillor Keith Lyon called for the return of corporal punishment, declaring: "We will never get anywhere until we make the punishment fit the crime. We should bring back the birch and give these people the flogging they deserve."
The committee came to no decision on the use of dogs but condemned parents who allowed their children to behave maliciously and also blamed the media for helping to create a steady decline in morality.
After the meeting the Reporter spoke to Taylor Park ranger Kevin Toole about the problems in the parks. He said:
"We have trouble in the park every night with skinheads. I've been threatened with flick knives and bottles and the situation is getting worse all the time.
"We definitely need dogs to stop this menace. These yobs would think twice before doing anything if they saw me patrolling the park with an alsatian."
At the Liverpool Quarter Sessions on the 11th, two 17-year-old youths and a 21-year-old man – all from the Hoghton Road district of Sutton – pleaded guilty to malicious damage.
The prosecutor said after drinking in a pub near Sherdley Park – presumably the Bull and Dog – the trio had decided to "go skylarking".
The youths then returned to the pub and later went on Marshalls Cross Road, where they took pot shots at cars using bricks and stones. One driver stopped to remonstrate with the group but was beaten up.
DC Brian Railton told the court that the only explanation he could offer for their behaviour was that one of their mothers was strongly attached to the church and so there may have been a family dispute.
One youth was sent to Borstal and another to a detention centre for three months.
The 21-year-old was given a 6 months suspended sentence, with the judge criticising the House of Commons for not allowing him to impose an actual custodial sentence for that offence.
"People who throw bricks through church windows should go to prison", he declared.
Also in court was a man from Juddfield Street in Haydock who told St Helens magistrates: "I'll bring some law and order to this town if I die in the act."
The 55-year-old was making his 32nd appearance for drunkenness and claimed that he got drunk because the police told a lot of lies about him.
When arrested for being drunk and disorderly in Victoria Square, the man had told the police: "There's going to be a bloody revolution and I'm going to rule".
In the Reporter on the 13th the Whalley's World column described the "golden days of pigs' heads, trotters and tripe", when publishing a photo of butcher's R. Roberts of Higher Parr Street.
Their window was full of startled-looking "porker heads" and sides of bacon with a sign that said: "Bred and fed by Mr. Samuel Mercer of Park Street."
Alan Whalley wrote: "None of your Danish stamped business those days. You could see your meal on the hoof, round the corner, before having it served up in greaseproof paper."
Alan also continued his critique of the mini-skirt that he had begun last week, describing the mini as "boring" and leading to an "abundance of over-exposed girlie bottoms".
The much-missed scribe argued that the maxi and midi had "more subtle sex appeal, more class and more mystique than any of those outdated, common pelmets that masquerade as skirts."
Although Alan found that most males did not agree with his views, he had received a number of supportive letters from women.
Catherine Pennington was certainly a supporter of the midi.
She turned 99 in a few days time and was pictured in a separate section of the paper stating her belief that a woman's longevity was linked to the length of her skirt.
"I don't like mini-skirts", Catherine said. "They're not proper. Midi and maxi skirts are much better and look how long my life has lasted."
Born in Rainford, Catherine had spent most of her life working on Mossborough Hall Farm but was now living in Adelaide Avenue in Thatto Heath.
"Prepare Your Car For Winter", was the title of a feature in the Reporter. The garages advertising included:
Les Rigby (Motor Engineers) of Pendlebury Street in Sutton Manor ("A complete service for £2, plus parts during November"); Dentons, Dentons Green Lane ("Go to Dentons before you have a breakdown") and Wilber Motors, Sutton Road ("Crypton electronic tune up").
There were also Burmah Vista Autopoint, Vista Road, Newton ("No job too big or small"); McLean & Appleton, Prescot Road ("My Daddy has his car serviced at a garage he knows he can trust!") and Hardshaw Garage, Corporation Street ("The Esso action station").
Jeanette Pimblett from Hinckley Road was pictured in the paper after coming first in a National Clean Air competition at Rivington Road secondary school.
The 12-year-old won a bike and a £5 voucher after composing 50 words describing the importance of health in relation to clean air.
And finally the Reporter stated that a geologist commissioned to study the safety of Beacon Hill in Billinge had warned that the beauty spot was in danger of collapsing.
Iain Williamson had been brought in after cracks appeared in the quarry face and his report found that unless quarrying was strictly controlled, there would be a serious threat to the hill.
Next week's stories will include a Carr Mill geography lesson from the air, the "landlord of the flies" of Newton Road, Pilks go public and why a huge hole that appeared on a Parr housing estate was blamed on the 1926 miners strike.