Rushden Research Group:

‘The Risdene Echo’, December 1999
by Joan Maddams

A Brief History of Rushden After Care Committee
1929—1999

In the 1920s tuberculosis was rife throughout the country and Northamptonshire was no exception, being in fact rather worse than many areas. It was thought that the shoe trade by creating leather dust in large quantities could have been partly responsible.

TB is an infection caused by a germ called mycobacterium tuberculosis, which affects the lungs as well as the lymph glands, bones and kidneys. The lung infection usually causes a cough. There may also be loss of appetite and weight and a fever. It is transmitted through the air by people coughing and others inhaling the germ.

Rushden House was bought by the RUDC in 1921 for use as a TB sanatorium, which is why local people remember it as ‘The San’, although now we have been trained to call it the Hospital. As TB patients increased in the county, the hospitals were under great pressure and ‘The San’ became virtually full.

By 1928/1929 some of the patients, though unfit for work, could be discharged from hospital and continue to recover, with care, at home. The Hospital Management Board made recommendations to the County Council that each town should form committees to assist patients recovering at home, hence the term ‘AFTER CARE’ being care after hospital treatment.

It was in December 1929 that the Rushden Tuberculosis After Care Committee was formed and it has continued to voluntarily serve to this day, though its role has changed somewhat. The first committee executives were Dr Greenfield, Dr Muriset, and Dr Crane who was Superintendent of Rushden House Sanatorium, with 40 representatives of organisations in the town forming the Committee. Some funding was to be provided by the County Council at the rate of £2 per 1,000 inhabitants of the town. The Committee is much smaller now; we do still have representatives from different churches and organisations in the town and we meet monthly to sanction the monthly grants and any other special requirements of patients who are reviewed by the Visiting Committee. We have two committees within the main Committee – 1. The Visiting Committee, and 2. The Christmas Appeal Committee. All of our members do something constructive and are very hard-working, dedicated people.

When the original 1929 Committee proposed that a Garden Fête should be held annually to raise funds it was arranged to be in the Hall Grounds in June 1930. The proceeds of the Fête were to be the basis of the next 3 years’ funding with other efforts making up the balance of the funds needed. The Fête is now known as the ‘At Home’ and is held in the Hospital grounds each year on the last Monday of June.

Referrals

Our remit as an After Care Committee is to take on patients who have been medically referred to us, that is by the Doctors or the District Nurses. We cannot take anyone who contacts us directly. All this work is done confidentially so that patients are not worried that their affairs will be discussed by a full Committee, and only the Visiting Committee knows who the patients are by name. Thankfully, at present we have no TB cases, although I am sure that you know that TB is again rife in this country. We deal with chest-related illnesses, very occasionally chronic asthma if the Doctor feels the need is great, children with cystic fibrosis and I am sure you all know how dreadful that can be. We have one dear little girl who we were asked to help. She has a tracheotomy and cane only smile her thanks when we see her. We are all devoted to her – she is a little charmer. Sometimes different cases come along and we help with travel expenses when a patient has to go to a hospital many miles away.

They often have to travel to see certain consultants who are not available locally and you can imagine the strain on the family when they are on limited incomes. We do actually own two nebulisers (air purifiers) which are not always available to patients on the NHS, and so we are able to loan them out to sufferers. Also we have a special frame for treating cystic fibrosis children, when they have to lie across the frame and be pummelled to remove mucus from their chests.

To go back to the beginning of the After Care Committee – their work continued right up to the war in 1939 with many grants of eggs, milk and butter in some cases being given to help their diet. Christmas parcels were added when funds permitted. You may remember Mrs Hensman who achieved the wonderful age of 100 years and who used to go to the hospital in a voluntary capacity and teach convalescent patients the art of leather work and other forms of occupational therapy. She did a wonderful job in rehabilitating people.

Christmas Appeals

Each year, in the middle of November or early December, an envelope comes through your door from the Rushden After Care Committee with an explanatory letter, and which appeals to the townspeople for funds. You may wonder how this appeal began. It was in 1938 that the Committee decided to sell Christmas Seals and the proceeds of the sale were for the work with needy patients.

Seals were placed in envelopes together with an appeal letter, and this practice was continued until 1995. In 1993 the Chest, Heart & Stroke Association which had always printed these seals (or stamps you may like to call them) stopped the practice, and for two years we printed our own Christmas Seals. Clive Wood, the very talented Rushden artist, designed them. However, the cost was so prohibitive that we had to stop issuing them. Since 1996 we have sent out just an Appeal Letter and we have found the local response just as good as when we had seals.

In 1947 mass Radiography was introduced and this assisted the medical profession to diagnose TB in its much earlier stages and a lower number of patients seemed in sight. As I mentioned, thankfully in Rushden at present we have no cases of TB and we hope that this situation will continue.

There was a suggestion made in 1948 that a bowls competition should take place each year in Rushden. Messrs Colton, Parkinson and Watson formed a sub-committee to look into this matter and all the bowling clubs in the town agreed to take part. The Rushden Town Bowls Club offered their greens for the final games to be played and other clubs were to run many of the earlier rounds. Bowls competitions have continued since then up to the present day, and some very dedicated people, including Ernest Tipler, Charles Watts and their bowls committee work very hard each year to raise money for us. All games are now held at Rushden Town Bowling Club in Northampton Road and my husband, Arnold, as Chairman is invited every year on the day of the Final to go along and take part in the presentation ceremony. We are so grateful for the work put in by the Bowls Committee because, without them and their wonderful contributions, we should not be able to continue. Donations do arrive from unexpected quarters, some families arrange for money in lieu of flowers at a funeral should come to us. We also had a very generous donation from Unilever at Colworth House through a friend of mine who worked there. It is so rewarding to our Committee to receive such donations.

The respect of the present Committee for the work of past committees is deep indeed and the names are legendary among Rushden people.

Although we have no younger members joining our Committee, much to our regret, we are all determined to carry on with this worthwhile cause as long as we are able.

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