OUR recent memory-jerking picture, featuring an impressive looking Co-op store at Fingerpost (before the area was re-shaped into its present shopping centre) drew instant response, from as far afield as Kansas!

The e-mail from America was forwarded by Anita Watson (nee Winton) who left St Helens many years ago, at the age of 22. Nearer to home, former Saints star Peter Harvey from Eccleston, G. Cornthwaite of Carnegie Crescent, Sutton, Mrs M. C. Donaldson of Morley Street and Marie Barton, of Cooper Street (both St Helens) were also quickly on the ball.

They all immediately recognised the Co-op branch as having been located in Traverse Street. And, rather intriguingly, both Anita and Peter refer to the old-fashioned 'wire and pulley' payment system that whizzed around above head height. This device sent canisters of customers' cash and their change whooshing from department to department, all linked up to a cashiers' central position.

"I have clear memories, from childhood, of that store", says Anita. "I remember it as being a little to the left of the Parrvillion Cinema where I went on Saturdays to see the latest Western or comedy film." She hoped she'd pinpointed the location correctly, while explaining: "I can't remember all those old streets these days. When I return to St Helens, on infrequent visits from Kansas, I don't recognise most of the areas any longer.

"But", she adds, "I can close my eyes and see things as they were when I was growing up there. Thanks for the memories!"

Mr Cornthwaite tells us that the site of the old Co-op is now the Ian James chemist shop car park, its outline echoing the wedge-shaped lay-out of the old store. Marie Barton makes an interesting observation. "The No Entry sign on the photograph was one of only two of the kind in St Helens at that time, the other being in Ormskirk Street." (My, but haven't times changed!)

Mrs McDonald, now almost 82 but with a pin-sharp memory, shares fond recollections of the times she and her mother made weekly visits to the old store. "I remember that Wilf was her favourite assistant, and I was fascinated by the way all groceries were wrapped in strong brown paper, tied securely with string. No plastic carrier bags in those days."

Demolished

The store's horse made deliveries along Twyford Street where the McDonald family then lived. "It practically knocked on the doorstep until my father came out with a thick slice of bread for it, smeared with butter and sugar. I've loved horses ever since.

"Massive supermarkets, replacing stores like the old Fingerpost Co-op, may be efficient and more comprehensively stocked, she observes, "but they don't have that personal touch."

She signs off: "I really loved that store. We're so sadly short of such elegant buildings in St Helens. And to have demolished the splendid Co-op building in the town centre (Helena House) was the crime of the century."

The flashback photo also delighted retired headmaster Peter Harvey, from Pike Place, who reveals: "We lived at 43 Higher Parr Street, in a lovely toffee shop which stood virtually where that photograph was taken from."

He recalls seeing the Co-op's extraordinary pulley system, sending money off to the cashier and delivering change back with a whoosh... "like a tube train coming in."

Peter reckons that one or two of our readers may have worked at that store, explaining: "It did not close for some time after we left Higher Parr Street in 1960." He suspects that the picture may have been among a series snapped by a one-time St Helens teacher, Frank Sheen, during the mid-1960s.

"I once worked with him at St Bede's in Ormskirk", explains Peter. "He was the geography teacher and realised that the changing face of St Helens should be recorded. We are indebted to him."

And Peter also relates a charming little true story from his toffee-shop youth. "We had a black-and-white dog called Whisky which learned to cross over at the zebra crossing extending from the Co-op and across the road to Hunt's chip shop, next door to us."

Whisky loved to stretch his legs down Jackson Street, past the Parrvillion. And, on returning back home, the safety-conscious pooch would always use the pedestrian crossing - even pausing when traffic was busy to make sure that it was safe to cross. A clever little dog, indeed!

HAS anyone else got a little tale to tell about an extraordinary pet? If so, a line or two on the subject would be most welcome at Whalley's World.