Miss Preston North End is crowned amid controversy, football hooligans should be put in stocks and Preston folk shun subway

Here's a lighthearted look at Lancashire in 1975
Two school rugby players are just as likely to be seen wearing tights as boots and shorts. For at Heysham High school the sports heroes are held in equally high esteem by children in junior classes for their ballet achievements. At this school dance goes hand in hand with maths and pyshics on the curriculumTwo school rugby players are just as likely to be seen wearing tights as boots and shorts. For at Heysham High school the sports heroes are held in equally high esteem by children in junior classes for their ballet achievements. At this school dance goes hand in hand with maths and pyshics on the curriculum
Two school rugby players are just as likely to be seen wearing tights as boots and shorts. For at Heysham High school the sports heroes are held in equally high esteem by children in junior classes for their ballet achievements. At this school dance goes hand in hand with maths and pyshics on the curriculum

Miss PNE is crowned amid controversy

Attractive Denise Routledge of Ribbleton, became the new Miss Preston North End after the annual contest held at the PNE Supporters’ Club.

But afterwards several of the competitors claimed that the entry rules were broken by the winner and runner-up Jackie Halsall.

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Third-placed Margaret Collier said she expressed the feelings of several competitors, when pointing out that, although the rules stipulated short day or evening dresses had to be worn, the winner wore a long dress, and the second a trouser suit and hat.

Margaret, who works at Dorman Smith Switchgear, and who bears a striking resemblance to film star Elizabeth Taylor, said she was not quibbling with the judges’ choice, which she felt was the right one on the night.

Mr Geoff Beardwood, secretary of the PNE Supporters’ Club, said: “Her point is valid, but we will not make any change in the final result.”

Football hooligans - ‘Put them in stocks’

Pensioner Mrs Elsie Hodson believes the authorities should take stock of the football hooligans - by bringing back the stocks in Preston market place so the townspeople can mete out rough justice the fans won’t forget.

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“If they brought back the stocks we could all give the troublemakers a good wallop,” said Mrs Hodson, of St Thomas’s Road.

But Mrs Hodson, like the other Deepdale residents interviewed, thought the birch was the real answer to the problem.

People who live near the North End ground bear the brunt of the trouble when fans - particularly supporters of visiting teams - go on the rampage.

“I was in the shop round the corner on Saturday afternoon when Millwall fans threw a brick through the window,” said Mrs Hodson.

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Mrs Mavis Gregson runs the shop in Deepdale Road where the window was broken. “The birch should be brought back because fines aren’t doing any good.”

Mother-of-nine Mrs Joan Lawrenson of Deepdale Road said children today had enough money to pay fines without worry.

“Crowds of hooligans are really scary,” she added.

‘Crash alley’ victims shun safety subway

Four serious motor accidents have occurred on the Ringway, Preston, because pedestrians have so far ignored a subway which offers an alternative to crossing the busy trafficway.

Details of the blackspot crossing will be outlined to Preston highways committee, when senior police officers will show a film of shoppers running the gauntlet across the dual carriageway at the Lawson Street junction.

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The crossing, from the market to the courts and police station, has already claimed several casualties, four of them seriously injured.

Chairman of the highways committee, Coun Mrs Doris Scowcroft, said the situation was causing “considerable concern” among committee members.

“The number of accidents is staggering, as is the number of people who just do not realise that a subway exists,” said Mrs Scowcroft.

She added that a gap had been left in the centre of the carriageway, allowing pedestrians to cross the road instead of using the underpass.

“At the road safety committee it was said that the barriers should be closed and signs erected to point people to the subway.”