WITH funds apparently swishing around for a variety of construction and renovation purposes, might it not be a good idea to complete some unfinished local business dating back more than 80 years?

It was on the eve of the 1913 visit by King George V and Queen Mary that the impressive steeple-shaped top of the St Helens Town Hall clock was destroyed by fire.

It was said to have been sparked off by a careless workman, armed with a blowtorch, as he was doing spruce-up work before that royal visit.

But whatever the reason, during all that ticking away of time the town hall clock has remained untopped. The present squat stump of a tower throws the historic, and otherwise impressive, building out of balance. And it must have its long-dead architect revolving in his grave.

What got me thinking about all this was the arrival on my desk of the fascinating, colour-tinted period postcard kindly submitted by reader David Case. It shows an Edwardian-style open car, tootling past the town hall which is shown in all its early-century glory, complete with a steeple top which actually doubles the height of the clock tower.

The thought occurs . . . how about taking a bit of a breather from all that brick block-paving activity, which threatens to blanket every square foot of town centre acreage, and diverting the Victoria Square renovation programme towards a spell of tower re-building?

AFTER all, we've already waited 86 years to see it fixed!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.