Lancashire nostalgia in 1972: Poly scheme go-ahead; sugar rush; and peeping Tom

Here's a look at some of the stories that were making the headlines back in 1972:
The existing Harris College will be extended in the proposed polytechnic scheme for PrestonThe existing Harris College will be extended in the proposed polytechnic scheme for Preston
The existing Harris College will be extended in the proposed polytechnic scheme for Preston

Go-ahead for £1m Preston poly scheme

The Government has given the go-ahead to plans for a £1m extension to Preston’s proposed polytechnic.

The plans, which include £750,000 extensions to teaching and other accommodations, have been included in the preliminary building list and if all goes well the new buildings should be ready within two or three years.

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Another £156,000 plan for a hall of residence has also been given preliminary approval.

Both figures will be increased by 15 per cent, as Education Secretary Mrs Margaret Thatcher recently announced that extra money would be made available to cover increasing costs.

The town’s education chief, Mr Geoffrey Crump, said he was delighted that the scheme had been included in the building programmes. The extensions will help to provide better facilities for students.

The hall of residence, which will be built on a site adjacent to the existing Harris College, is necessary in view of the number of students who will be attracted from a wider area when the college becomes a polytechnic.

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Look back at a selection of pictures from 1972 here

Rush to buy sugar but no panic just yet

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Preston housewives are rushing to buy sugar from shops and stores - but shopkeepers say there is no need for this as present supplies are adequate to meet the demand.

According to them the dock strike hasn’t affected sugar supplies yet and buying hasn’t reached panic proportions. But most of the shops report that housewives had been buying extra supplies.

A spokesman for a wholesale grocer supplying a chain stores commented: “As far as we are concerned there is no shortage. Supplies have been normal from the producers.”

He said the situation would be helped if housewives would not buy more sugar than they needed.

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“As soon as people see a notice restricting how much they can buy they immediately get more than they need,” he said.

Sugar was the only foodstuff that was being bought in extra quantities, shopkeepers said.

Peeping Tom has estate wives in terror

A late night prowler on a bungalow estate in West Lancashire is terrifying housewives whose husbands are forming vigilante patrols in a desperate bid to catch him.

His latest weekly visit to the Delta Park estate in Hesketh Bank are just a continuation of incidents stretching back over four years.

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Women who are left alone are bolting their doors at night and their husbands are patrolling the estate roads armed with clubs and sticks.

The Peeping Tom was last week less than a week ago by Mrs Norma Kitchen at the side of home in Delta Park Drive.

“I was terrified as my husband was out and I am not on the telephone. In the end I had to get the help of a neighbour,” said Mrs Kitchen, 29, who has three children.

She described the prowler as being young, 5ft 9in tall with a fair complexion.

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“This has been going on since we moved in four years ago, although it is not the same man all the time,” she added.

Complaints to the police last year results in the householders being told little could be done to the man if he were caught, apart from binding him over to keep the peace.