Holes being dug.	Yellow plastic pipe feeding property.

The Melloway Estate in Rushden is now over fifty years old, and anything that is a half a century in age needs some looking after.

The housing estate was built in the early 1970s by Fletcher Homes, with a mix of semi detached & detached dwellings. This stands off of Irchester Road, opposite the former Mission Field.

Barriers in Purbeck Road.

In this particular case, it is the infrastructure of the gas supply system, Cadent arrived in the Autumn of 2022 to carry out the needed upgrade. Householders could ring a free phone number with any concerns, to customer services, this was 0800 090 3071.

Giant machine sucking up soil from holes.

All this happened as the FIFA world cup was taking place in warmer parts over in Qatar, from 20th November, to 18th December2022. This is the first World Cup to be held in the Arab world.

This was a controversial choice by FIFA, as the tiny country of about three million, has been the source of criticism, especially in the Western world.

Criticism focused on Qatar's human rights record including their treatment of migrants workers, and of LBGT rights.

No joy in the England camp again, they were knocked out in the quarter finals with France, and lost by two goals to one.

It was back in 1966 that England skipper Bobby Moore lifted the Jules Rime trophy at Wembley stadium, after defeating West Germany 4-2.

In the end, the final in December 2022 was between defending champions France and Argentina. Extra time was played, ending up as 3-3, with Argentina lifting the trophy after the penalty shoot out. 

Over the Christmas period, one of our former players from the victorious 1966 World cup winning side passed away: it was Fulham right back, George Cohen, who was aged 83.

As 2022 was ebbing away, the sad news came through that Brazilian footballing legend “Pele” had passed away, aged 82.

He won three winners medals for his country, an understatement to say he was brilliant, can be backed up by viewing his football achievements. Pele was credited with scoring a world record 1,281 goals in 1,363 appearances during his 21-year career, including 77 goals in 92 matches in his distinctive yellow number 10 shirt for his country.

On the subject of gas and energy, Qatar is the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas.

More locally, and on a more modest scale Rushden had a Calor Gas depot, which was located where Home Bargains is these days. Danish discounter Netto store was there until 2010, when it was snapped up by Asda.

Natural Gas came to Rushden at the end of the 1960s, this was piped in from the North Sea. Prior to this, town gas was produced at the Gas Works in Shirley Road in Rushden.

Older pipes were needing to be replaced by longer lasting plastic ones. To complete this work, holes were dug to get to the pipes. The gas service would be turned off to each property for one day, and then engineers would come to turn the supply back on safely for householders.

In most cases work was carried out without needing to dig too many holes, and this is the latest way of doing things. Sadly not all the work went to plan, and some residents had problems when the work was being carried out!

Any remedial work on paths and driveways was carried out by a company based up in Sheffield, and they were traveling the 110 miles each way, on each working day to get things back to normal.

None of the work force were locals, and some came from the North East, and North West of England. And they were staying in billets near Northampton during their efforts.

They were working long and hard, and on some occasions were working late in to the evening, sometimes as late as 9.00 pm.

During the week ending of 17th December, the weather had been sub zero for over a week, and working conditions were anything but ideal.

Despite the chilly end to the year, 2022 had recorded the highest annual average temperature across the UK, and our very own Rushden weather station recorded a sizzling high of 40.2 C

Into 2023, and the gas work was moving on again, as Melloway Road was getting the finishing touches added, to households in Shakespeare Road, and then Boundary Avenue for the work to be continued in Rushden.

Cadent vehicles in Silverdale Grove

During early April 2023, Gypsy Lane and various parts of Irchester were getting the upgrade, with temporary traffic signals being put in place during this work, causing havoc around the area close to the Co-op.

Upgraded gas feed and meter cover.