Rushden Honours the Nurses
Presentation to Miss Tenney and Miss Tipping
Fine Tribute to Long and Efficient Service

A good company assembled in the B.W.T.A. Hall, Rushden, on Wednesday to say goodbye, and to make presentations to Nurse Tenney and Nurse Tipping on the occasion of their imminent retirement from their professional duties in Rushden. The Rector (Rev. P. E. Robson) presided, supported by Miss Sartoris, formerly the lady secretary of the Rushden Nursing Association (who had kindly come from her home at Bath for the occasion), Dr. Greenfield, Mr. F. L. Heygate (treasurer), Mr. J. F. Knight (chairman), and Mr. W. Pack (late secretary of the factory fund).

The Rector said they wished to pay a tribute publicly to Nurse Tenney and Nurse Tipping, and to bid them an affectionate farewell.

The Rushden Argus July 1^st 1921, transcribed by Susan Manton

Valued Services
Presentation to retiring Rushden Nurses

The deep appreciation and gratitude of the townspeople for the long and faithful services of Rushden’s two retiring nurses, Miss Tenney and Miss Tipping, were manifested at the presentation on Wednesday evening, when a cheque of £200 was handed to each of them by Miss Sartoris, on behalf of the Rushden Nursing Association.

The meeting was held in the B.W.T.A. Hall, and the Rector (the Rev. P.E. Robson) presided, supported on the platform by Miss Sartoris, Dr. D.J. Greenfield, Mr. J.F. Knight, Mr. W. Pack, and Mr. F.L. Heygate (treasurer). Among those present were Nurses Tenney and Tipping, Mrs. A.H. Sartoris, Mrs. W. Woodward, miss Stevens, Miss Robson, Mrs. Greenfield, Mrs. C. W. Barker, Mrs. A.T. Chambers, Mrs. C.H. Blunsom, Mrs. G.S. Mason, Miss Mason, Mrs. L. Perkins, the Rev. Ion Carroll (Vicar of St. Peters) Dr. R.W. Davies, Messrs. C.H. Blunsom, B. Vorley, Mrs. J.F. Knight and Mr. W.E. Capon (the hon. Secretaries) and others.

Rector’s Testimony

The chairman spoke feelingly and at some length in conveying to the nurses their (and the whole town’s) warm appreciation of their work, and the regret at their retirement. They had met together, he said, to take a public and affectionate farewell of their nurses, who were leaving them after 23 years’ faithful service among them. They could not bid them farewell without expressing in a practical manner their appreciation of the splendid work done during their long service in the town. He must express something of their feelings on the matter of the retirement of the nurses and how all Rushden would miss them. The two nurses had stood their work well and they realised that Miss Tenney and Miss Tipping had become friends all round. They had been a ministry of health in the town, and though their duties had been very arduous, whatever help had been required they were always on the spot. Many letters had been received expressing appreciation of the nurses’ work during sickness and he had never yet met anyone who had not spoken in a very highest term of their work. He expresses the hope that the nurses would enjoy long life and good health in their retirement, and assured them that they would always have many friends in the town.

Medical Appreciation

Dr. Greenfield bore out the chairman’s remarks and spoke of the great help that the nurses had been professionally in the town. Too much, he declared, could not be said of the nurses’ work in Rushden. Not only had they been friends of his and his family, but he had been closely connected with them professionally. The fact that the work of a Nursing Association had been carried on so successfully for so many years spoke for itself. He could only add with the Rector that they deeply regretted that the nurses were leaving.

Mr. F.L. Heygate stated that the total amount of the Nurses’ Superannuation Fund was £258 2s and £138 had been raised by subscription making £397. He had that evening been promised another £3 and that brought the total to £400.

The Presentation

The Chairman, in calling upon Miss Sartoris to make the presentation, said they greatly appreciated her presence there. She had always taken the deepest interest in the Association, of which she was at one time Secretary.

Miss Sartoris then handed to Nurse Tenney and Nurse Tipping a cheque for £200 each. She said she could hardly say how much she appreciated the invitation to come and make the presentation. The present was a mark of love and esteem in which the nurses were held, and she felt how big a loss it was to Rushden that they should sever their connection with them, and wished the nurses God speed wherever they went.

Nurses’ thanks

The nurses were evidently greatly moved at the presentation, and showed some emotion. Miss Tenney, on behalf of Miss Tipping and her self, thanked them all very much, not only for the money, but for the feeling which prompted the giving of it. Both of them were leaving with untold regret, but they felt that one could stay too long. When they came to Rushden they thought it was an ordinary thing, but found it was not so; perhaps it was the people. Miss Sartoris, the former secretary, had been missed dreadfully, she said, but Mrs. Knight was a very good successor.

Mr. W.H. Pack, late secretary of the Factory Fund Committee, and one of the oldest members proposed a vote of thanks to Miss Sartoris, and remarked how much his former committee had appreciated her work. Mr. J.F. Knight in seconding, said that,  with Mr. Pack, he was one of the oldest members, having been connected with the committee over 25 years. For three years of that period Miss Sartoris had been secretary, and he had happy recollections of those times. The vote having been warmly recorded Miss Sartoris replied briefly.