Pilkingtons is still there. I am not sure how many people work there now but it was a huge employer in St Helens, along with Beechams and the coal mines. They all helped to put St Helens on the map, along with the rugby league team.
I think I am right in saying that St Helens is the largest place in England to have never had a team in the Football League. Rugby League dominates the town’s sporting interests. Even its three non league football teams languish in the lower levels of the non league, although St Helens Town won the FA Vase in the late 1980s.
I don’t ever remember seeing the ghastly Kilroy Silk in Rainford. But who can ever forget his finest moment?