THE old lamplighter debate flickers on... According to Beattie Hardman of Moss Bank, there used to be not one (as earlier reported) but two one-armed lamplighters who trudged the Parr beat in gas-lit times.

She believes that one of them had the duty of lighting up the lamps at dusk while the other snuffed them all out at dawn.

Another interesting fact concerning this topic comes from local 'lad-about-town' Keith Hunter.

He claims that he was one of twins (his brother is Alan) who shared lamp-lighting duties as the last vestiges of the gas age finally spluttered out in the early 1970s.

Others he recalls handling the lamp-lighter's pole were Ray Fox, Brian Highcock and Les Wildman. "And," says Keith (53) "I think the last working gaslamp in St Helens petered out in 1973-74. But I stand to be corrected."

Can any long-memoried customer confirm or counter this claim; or tell us where the last working gaslamp stood ? If so, please drop me a line at the Star.

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