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Angry traders dismayed at the opening of a new shopping centre, an unexpected heatwave, and industrial and sporting success were all occupying the pages of the Evening Telegraph in 1975, as this wander through the paper's the archives reveals.

Rams triumph again

For Derby County’s fans, 1975 was another year of success. When the Rams had first lifted the Football League championship in May 1972, their success was confirmed as they enjoyed an end-of-season holiday in Majorca.

Three years later, Derby’s players were again enjoying themselves off the pitch when they heard that they were champions for a second time. This time, the players were at the club’s annual awards night at Bailey’s nightclub, in Colyear Street, when they heard that their only challengers, Ipswich Town, had dropped a point to Manchester City, which meant that the Rams could not be overtaken.

Their 53 points – only two were awarded for a win in those days – was the lowest championship-winning total for 20 years but who cared?

Before the final match of the season, ironically a dull goalless draw with Carlisle United, Derby County said hello to a parade of former stars and goodbye to the infamously sticky Baseball Ground pitch that was about to be dug up.

A new playing surface would be laid in time for another season of European Cup football.

In August 1975, the Rams were playing on an even better pitch, at Wembley, where a 59,000 crowd turned out on a scorching day to see the Rams win the FA Charity Shield by beating FA Cup holders West Ham United, with goals from Kevin Hector and Roy McFarland.

Buxton snowstorm heralds summer heatwave

If football was played in near-tropical conditions in August, just the opposite had occurred in early June when the County Championship cricket match between Derbyshire and Lancashire was interrupted by snow.

The weather across Britain had been miserably cold through much of May when a blast of Arctic air had seen Scotland suffer temperatures as low as 26F (-3.3C). The game at Buxton was delayed when an inch of snow lay on the ground on June 2.

Indeed, it was a thoroughly miserable match for Derbyshire. After Lancashire had scored 477-5 declared against a weakened attack, the home side was bowled out for 42 and 87 to lose by an innings and 348 runs.

Seven days later, on the same ground, spectators basked in shorts and bikinis as Britain embarked on what would be a gloriously hot summer.

For many, the heatwave was a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the outdoors. Summer carnivals throughout the county were blessed with perfect weather.

But the constantly hot weather brought its own problems. With temperatures reaching almost 90F, supposedly fast-drying road-marking paint melted and, instead of a neat row of double yellow lines, the roads of Matlock were smeared in random yellow marks, as cars transferred the still-sticky paint around the town. A shopkeeper commented: “The town looks as though it has yellow fever.”

Chemists, too, were warning of a shortage of salt tablets as overheated residents tried to avoid dehydration. A local doctor warned these precautions were all quite unnecessary: “People would suffer no ill-effects if they drank enough, dressed sensibly and did not expose themselves to too much direct sun.”

Few were admitted to hospital with heatstroke and the main medical problems seemed to stem from sunburn.

Ghetto tag for deprived area

For residents of Derby’s Rosehill area, 1975 was a year of controversy. A report to the county council’s South Derbyshire social services committee in June condemned the area as a “ghetto”.

The report eventually prompted councillors to promise to come to the aid of a suburb that the Evening Telegraph described as “socially deprived” with “battered mothers and babies, psychiatric cases and immigrant problems”.

The report came as a surprise to most residents of what appeared to be a vibrant, multi-cultural, largely happy suburb. Under the surface, however, it was claimed that the area’s problems were manifold.

One third of admissions to Kingsway Hospital for mentally ill people came from Rosehill; domestic violence levels were much higher than average; and proportionally more Rosehill children were taken into care than any other area in Derby.

Rosehill’s residents were also among the poorest in the town. Many families were forced to share a home with another family and the Evening Telegraph reported that there were a great many evictions and electricity disconnections.

Mr J. Griffiths, the area social services officer, told the committee: “We are trying to help the community care for itself. But it is difficult when so many applicants come to the social services for help.”

Several councillors with first-hand knowledge of the area agreed that there was a great deal of work to be done to get Rosehill in line with other areas that were, according to Councillor Barbara Benson, “like Shang-ri-la” by comparison.

She also had harsh words for the East Midlands Electricity Board, which demanded a £25 to £40 deposit to connect supplies to a house when a family moved in, particularly since the company was charging 11 per cent interest.

Councillor Una Turnbull, who lived in Rosehill, said that there was a stigma attached to living in the area. According to Councillor Benson, social services would need to discriminate positively in favour of Rosehill to rectify the problems.

Industrial success stories

There was better news for those Rosehill residents who worked at Rolls-Royce. The company’s RB211-524 and 524B engines were awarded their full airworthiness certificate by the British Civil Aviation Authority. This meant that the most powerful aero-engine yet produced in Europe could now be installed in dozens of airliners. Orders from British Airways and Saudi Arabian Airlines alone were boosting the local economy and, now the certificate had been granted, many more orders were anticipated.

Derby’s railway industry also enjoyed great success in 1975. In August, the Evening Telegraph reported that the Derby-designed Advanced Passenger Train had broken its own speed record by reaching 151mph on a file-mile stretch of line between Swindon and Reading.

But the so-called “train of the future” was about to undergo another change. The 3,000-horsepower gas turbine engine was to be replaced.

The high fuel consumption had been less of a problem when the first designs had been produced in the 1960s but now fuel prices were rising quickly, a more efficient engine was required.

"Male chauvinist pigs"

Local industry was also adjusting to life under the new Sex Discrimination and Equal Pay Acts that came into force in December. Ken Hutchinson, secretary of the Derby branch of the TUC, predicted there would be resistance to the new laws.

According to Mr Hutchinson, there would now be a period in which women would have to prove themselves and wait for any resentment to “gradually fade away”.

He suggested that managers would get round the new pay laws by claiming that women “cannot do the range of duties necessary and therefore have the same salary”.

Doug Griffiths, Derby branch president of the British Institute of Management, was more optimistic. As far as he was concerned, managers would look for the best talent and skill regardless of gender.

However, he did warn that women wishing to work in some heavy industries might still encounter discrimination.

Evening Telegraph columnist Lucy Orgill disagreed. She believed that few women, given that they would still be expected to cook, clean and take care of the children, would choose a hard physical labouring job in the first place.

Like many women, while she welcomed the protection of the law, she doubted that the prejudices would just evaporate.

Lucy said: “There are more male chauvinist pigs in the unions than at any other level in industry or commerce... surely the Acts mean the END of proving ourselves.

“We’ve spent our lives putting 10 times more into a job when competing with men simply to prove ourselves equal.

“Women are under no illusions that the management will call a job by a different name, employ a woman and pay her less than they would pay a man for the same job.

“But we would, in that instance, expect some backing and some support from the unions. It seems it’s not to be. It makes me wonder just what men are afraid of.”

The 3,330 gramme baby

It wasn’t just equal working conditions that caused ructions in Derby in 1975. The new metric system was gradually being introduced, despite the resistance of most Derbeians.

In February, Renders Ltd, the fabric and haberdashery store in East Street, introduced new metric fabric measures to replace the old metal yardage ones.

It would be some time, however, before amateur seamstresses began ordering their dress material in centimetres.

By Christmas, it had been decreed that all new-born babies had to be measured and weighed in metric, rather than imperial, units. So Derby’s first Christmas Day baby, Holly Rebecca Wilkes, was reported to weigh 3,330 grammes, rather than the 7lb 5oz she would have been earlier in the year.

But for much of the town, life simply carried on as it had for decades. The Co-op was still the place for great bargains and the latest electrical goods.

The radio and TV department in Exchange Street would rent Bush and Phillips colour televisions to customers for the equivalent of £1.25 per week. Nearby, the electrical department had Kenwood Chefs for £44.95 each and Frigidaire automated washing machines for £149.95 each.

For the town’s footballing heroes and their families, life was yet to become all glamour and glitz, as Jenny Todd, wife of Rams defender Colin, revealed in an interview with the Evening Telegraph.

Speaking from their “dream home” in Dean Close, just off Chain Lane, Littleover, Jenny said that, despite the trappings of her husband’s sporting success, she enjoyed the simple things in life like babysitting for the neighbours’ children, visiting the cinema and collecting five-year-old son Colin junior from Wren Park School just around the corner.

The couple’s other son, Andrew, was still a baby but, like his brother, was a “miniature Toddy with the same powerful legs and blond hair”.

Traders up in arms

As winter rolled around once more and the nights began to draw in, the Evening Telegraph reported that there was a new “sparkle” about the Morledge.

It was provided, not by expensive new Christmas lights, but by the illuminated glass-sided pedestrian bridge that linked the 1930s bus station with the new Eagle Centre.

Traders in the new shopping complex had enjoyed a profitable first few months but not everyone in Derby was happy with the wealth of new shops.

Businesses at the other end of town, in particular in Sadler Gate and Iron Gate, were experiencing a drop-off in business and feared the new centre was to blame.

They were angry, too, that the council had erected a number of signs directing traffic to the Eagle Centre, while none had been put up alerting drivers to the old established shops.

The Evening Telegraph reported that businesses in the area were to “launch an aggressive campaign to show shoppers that the best shops in Derby are where they always have been”.

At Christmas, trade right across the town had been booming, despite general money worries and fears of a serious recession.

Most stores remained closed on the day after Boxing Day – a Saturday – although the Evening Telegraph reported that Burton’s “boldly launched their winter sale”.

They did little business as, apart from a few family groups out strolling to blow away the post-Christmas cobwebs, the town centre remained largely deserted.

However, all was not well in the Eagle Centre. The complex had endured months of leaking roofs every time it rained. The leaks were thought to originate from a service road that ran at first-floor level and was supposed to have an impermeable lining.

But, despite a systematic inch-by-inch search of the roof, the source remained elusive and officials announced they were to bring in special electrical probes to root out the fault. For now at least, shoppers would just have to dodge the raindrops.

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