THIRTY years ago this week, the 29th annual St Helens Show was held, writes Stephen Wainwright.
The organisers of the three-day extravaganza in Sherdley Park had been hoping the 1996 event would match the huge half-million attendance of the previous year.
However, it rained on the Sunday, which reduced visitor numbers, although the estimated total attendees across the three days still numbered 350,000.
The main arena entertainment included the H&M dog display team, a Sky High freefall parachute display, a Devil's Horseman's Roman Chariot race, St Patrick's Pipe Band, Royal Marine commandos and stunt driving by a team of six jeeps.
One of the new attractions for 1996 was a bridal fayre and a fashion show to complement the St Helens Star's Mother and Baby, Miss Starbud and Show Queen competitions.
The Star described how "curly blue-eyed, blond" Andrew Fiddes and mum Deborah of Wharfedale Drive in Rainhill had won their Mother and Baby contest.
The 14-month-old toddler was described as having "an irresistible dimpled smile which the judges simply loved."
Mum Deborah told the Star: "I think it was Andrew's curly hair which clinched the title for us, because you can be sure that when I take him out so many people stop us and comment on his hair and his big blue eyes."
The family's main prizes were a holiday to the value of £700 and a free garment per week for 12 months courtesy of the Rosco Clothing Company.
Runner-up was "angelic brown-eyed" 11-month-old Olivia Atherton and her mum Alison from Keswick Way in Rainford.
In 1995 the Star had launched its inaugural Miss St Helens Starbud competition for "little ladies" aged between three and eight and Jennifer Hurst from Billinge was the 1996 winner.
Her many prizes included a course at the Silhouette Dance School in Boundary Road; a modelling and drama course courtesy of Lady Attraction of Newton; a £50 gift voucher from Tyrers and a tiara from Charades.
Mum Grace Hurst told the Star that her eight-year-old daughter had been particularly thrilled with the tiara: "She has been going around everywhere showing it off to people."
And Lydia Sergeant from Newton was crowned winner of the St Helens Star Show Queen.
The "bubbly" Lydia's prizes were valued at over £3,000 and included a weekend for two in Paris courtesy of Ellisons Travel of Westfield Street; 12 months membership of the Pace Fitness Centre of Boundary Road; £100 from the Star and a meal for two at Mr Chan's restaurant in North Road.
This was the last year that a Show Queen contest was held, with beauty competitions becoming less socially acceptable.
The artistes that performed at the Show included the Spooky Spoonz, Knight Run, Kenny Weathers and the Other Beatles, with the event concluding on the Sunday night with a grand fireworks display.
But in the weeks afterwards, the Star's letters page contained a number of critical comments.
One reader posed the question: "How much longer can St Helens Council continue to justify that annual three-day extravaganza of self-indulgence, the St Helens Show?"
The Star's critical correspondent was unhappy that a pint of beer cost £2 and the arena attractions featured "the same, tired, old forces displays that half the people have seen many times before and the other half have no interest in."
There was also a claim that many of the visitors were outsiders.
"Why should residents of the borough finance a ‘free’ show for people from outside the town?" asked the letter writer.
Another resident claimed the show had "declined into a haven for drunks, drug addicts, pick pockets and other assorted criminals – not to mention the obligatory ‘punch-up’ between rival gangs on the final night."
In his response, Cllr Keith Deakin, the Chairman of the Council's Leisure Committee, insisted that the majority of visitors were locals and the fact that 350,000 had attended spoke for itself.
He ended by stating that other towns had tried and failed to match the success of the St Helens Show, adding: "Long may it continue!"
But critics of the format grew and attendances declined and the St Helens Show ended in 2006.
The following year it was replaced by the two-day St Helens Festival, which ran for four years.
The Festival attracted no more than 20,000 visitors before being axed, with the council stating that in future they would focus on promoting entertainment in the town centre that would more likely benefit rate-paying businesses.
Share