Steve Wainwright, who produces the excellent Sutton Beauty website, writes: “In Coffey Time (Feb 13) John Howard recalled a conversation with a farmer called Smith who said he'd once been threatened by an IRA terrorist near Moss Lane.

“He was probably referring to the incident on January 19, 1939 when IRA men attached a time bomb to the four legs of an electricity pylon at Windle. It failed to explode because its clock stopped. Sticks of gelignite were set to detonate at 6am but the alarm clock inexplicably froze at 5:15. The pylon was in a field near Moss Lane and had been carefully chosen. It was in a key position inter-connecting the Liverpool and Manchester power systems and its destruction would have caused a serious outrage.

“Irish extremists had successfully detonated similar bombs in London just days before and the failed Windle attack gave police a vital clue. A thumbprint on the pale blue alarm clock belonged to Michael Mason and he and his accomplice Joseph Walker were arrested in Liverpool. The police named 29-years-old Mason as the IRA’s operations commander in Britain. After an Old Bailey trial of eight suspected cell members, Mason was sentenced to 17 years in prison and his co-conspirator Walker got 18 months.

“Extremists also carried out operations in St. Helens on June 3, 1922. Armed men, dressed in dark suits and light grey caps, stole thousands of detonators and explosives from collieries at Sutton Manor, Clock Face, Sherdley, Collins Green and Bold. It was a professional, coordinated operation and the raiders also entered Pilkington’s stores at Ravenhead and attempted to break into the explosive stores of the Greengate Brick & Tile Company in Thatto Heath.

“Railway guard Gus Jenkinson was on his way home from work when he disturbed the robbers. He was held at gunpoint for an hour by men with Irish accents until they fled empty handed after failing to penetrate the store’s iron doors. The thieves used a number of vehicles to transport their loot from the various pits to compatriots in Liverpool and Manchester. As far as I know the culprits were never found.”