‘Two for a tanner’, ‘Five for a bob’ was the cry that greeted me as I first remember coming into the ground as a child in the fifties. The selling of raffle tickets was as necessary then as it is now, perhaps even more so in those austere times.

The ground was completely walled in by old railway sleepers and was highlighted by a semi-circular type arch above the turnstiles proudly bearing the name ‘St Helens Town AFC’ and to finish off, a flagpole bearing a ‘blue-peter’ flag was procured by some ex-naval man, conveniently in Town’s colours.

The late Roddice Winstanely used to charge 3d extra to go into the stand as LMS steam trains thundered past on the trans Pennine route. The more frequent locos being the Jubilee class, Napier, Seahorse, Resolution, Bihar and Orissa while Patriot class Sir Frederick Harrison and Southport were frequent visitors to the ‘Junction’.

The smell of smoke, steam mixed with ‘winter-green’ which oozed from the dressing rooms was a concoction I’ll never forget as you walked down the track passing the wooden buildings on your right which housed the dressing rooms, office and refreshment canteen ran by Mrs Houghton and family.

At this time the site of the existing social club was merely the training pitch behind which lay a large grass mound which formed a mini ‘Kop’ behind the Hoghton Road end goal. In fact the entire pitch was surrounded by mounded bankings though not as high as the one behind the goals and there was also an entrance on the curve of Hoghton Road which supplemented the main ingress on busy days and brought spectators on adjacent to the near left corner flag.

The first ‘Town hero’ I can recall was Harry McCann with Jack McGuirk taking on the mantle when Harry was prized away to Witton Albion. Later years saw the likes of Jackie Cooke, Jackie Critchley, Maurice Topping, Stan Ashcroft, Derek Maloney, Ray Fairweather, Dickie Barnes and a host of other including Joe and Bill Pennington.

My own humble football career as I reached my mid-teens then limited my ‘support’ somewhat but I came when fixtures allowed to join my dad whose loyalty was steadfast. I was lucky to play in three finals on here, losing two and winning one and in the first one when I was just seventeen, we actually changed in the original old wooden dressing rooms shortly before they were knocked down, my ‘claim to fame’ whenever the ‘old days’ are discussed.

These are just some personal recollections on the notable day which I hope will spark a few memories. There are many more which could fill a book. Now there’s a thought!

Jim Barrett

Published in Town’s match programme v Vauxhall Motors on Saturday 29th April 2000, their last fixture at Hoghton Road.