MEMORIES of the 'Kimmicks', a range of huge chemical dumps which once represented a rugged adventure playground, still burn brightly in the minds of countless folk from around Parr and Peasley Cross who, as kids, found them an irresistible attraction.

Now hovering in the granddad zone, they'll recall the thrill of burrowing caves into the spoil-heaps, blissfully unaware of any possible contamination hazards, or playing out their mountaineering games on the steep slopes.Reader Mike Ryan from Blackbrook is one who remembers it well.

And he wrote in asking for any background history about the origins of the now long-gone Kimmicks (alternatively pronounced Chemics, depending upon which part of town you hailed from), which for decades represented a huge blot on the landscape off the Jackson Street and Gaskell Street areas.

Mike Fletcher of Grasmere Fold, Haresfinch, responds with some fascinating and highly detailed background information, having recently written a book, Black Gold and Hot Sand: A History of St Helens, which includes among its illustrations a picture of the fondly-recalled Kimmicks.

"St Helens was once a major chemical town, the largest producer of alkali in the country", writes Mike. "The process was wasteful. For every ton of soda produced, it created two tons of waste to be disposed of".

A large section of the Burgy Banks off Islands Brow was made up not just of sand, dumped by Pilkingtons, but chemical waste from Globe Alkali, standing alongside the canal near the New Double Locks.

Greenbank Alkali, off Canal Street, created a huge waste mountain behind the Pilkington Greenbank site until this was cleared in recent years to form the site of The Shires private housing estate.

But the Kimmicks were by far the most infamous of the dumps, created by two companies - Sutton Alkali and Hardshaw Brook Chemicals. The former was founded during the 1840s by Andreas Kurtz, a German industrialist, while the latter was established in 1869 by David Gamble who also owned Gamble Alkali and Globe Alkali.

"The chemical industry proved very profitable, certainly during the Victorian era", adds Mike, "and although Kurtz and Gamble became very wealthy, they were also philanthropists, donating vast sums to good causes".

Along with the Pilkington brothers and many other major industrialists locally, they provided donations from which St Helens Hospital was created. "Kurtz Ward is a lasting reminder", adds Mike, and David Gamble provided the £20,000 (a vast sum for the time) required to construct the Gamble Institute.

Devastating

Hardshaw Brook Chemical occupied what is now the location of a council depot and Sutton Alkali was a huge concern, its vast site extending from the canal across to what is now a modern-day retail park and on land between Peasley Cross Lane and Jackson Street. It was the scene of a devastating explosion on May 12 1899.

In later years, competition within the industry caused the alkali companies to merge into United Alkali. "By the late 1920s", says Mike, "increasing transport costs meant that it made commercial sense to relocate nearer to the salt towns of Cheshire. They departed St Helens for Widnes, later forming ICI".

But the waste dumps remained and the Kimmicks site was donated to the town for "appropriate use". It was a long time, however, before the industrial scars were removed. Several attempts were made and abandoned until, in the late 1960s a local firm, Pickavance's, successfully tackled the job. They were so successful (the waste product being so hard that it was then used extensively as a hardcore for the region's rapidly expanding motorway network) that Pickavances became a major haulage contractor.

Mike, who modestly describes himself as an enthusiastic amateur rather than a serious local historian, adds: "Born in 1963, I was too young to experience the wonders of the Chemics. However, my family lived in Manville Street, Peasley Cross, and my mum, Lillian (maiden name Green) and her brothers, Fred and John, played on the Chemics and have fond memories".

Though he missed out on that particular pleasure, Mike enjoyed his own childhood exploration of the district's former colliery sites and spoil-heaps.

Black Gold and Hot Sand: A History of St Helens (Carnegie Publishing) priced at £20, can be purchased locally from Wardleworths bookshop, Westfield Street, or WH Smiths. It's also available on loan from St Helens libraries.