The Rushden Echo and Argus, 30th April 1954, transcribed by Jim Hollis

It may be angler’s paradise in 1974 - Today it’s new gravel working
A fishing lake which will not mature for twenty years is already in the mind’s eye of local anglers. It will take shape from the gradual working of Rushden’s latest sand and gravel undertaking.

Heavy machines are ripping new contours from a piece of countryside near the Nene, but the ultimate picture is of a lake which the river floods will stock with fish.

Grading the gravel

Opening of the working near Sanders’ Lodge follows nearly 18 months of negotiation and experiment.

Now gravel and sand can be graded at the rate of a ton a minute – and the plant may operate for twenty years.

Rumble Fills Air
Where once was peaceful meadowland, the rumble of earth-eating tractors and the giant gravel plant fills the air.

The monster red-painted graded machinery is operated by Ferrersand Aggregates Ltd., headed by managing director Mr. John Wills. Mr. D. F. C. Linder is the manager.

The gravel and sand is sorted within a matter of minutes from the time the tractors load the ballast on to a thick conveyor belt.

The 200ft long belt rises to a height of 50ft where the processing takes place. The ballast is hurled into a massive revolving “barrel” for washing.

High pressure water jets from the other end of the “barrel” wash the sand and silt away from the gravel. Then the stones are sifted through four different sized screens and dropped into 200 ton storage “bins.”

Quick Loading
The sand, meanwhile, goes through further processing, which includes a revolving cone to divide the coarse, heavy sand for concrete from the soft sand for building. A bucket elevator drains the water and silt from the soft sand.

Then the two types of sand are stocked in “bins.” Lorries back underneath them for quick loading.

The company has purchased a £250 second-hand prefab, from London with three rooms, a bathroom and kitchen. It’s an ideal on-the-site administrative block.

All the “paper” work can be handled there – and so are the tea breaks for the entire staff. Outside the prefab, a new style weighbridge with illuminated dial has been fitted.