January 1928

200 members attended the Annual Dinner at the Trade Club.  450 at the Windmill and 700 at the Athletic.  Instead of an Annual Dinner, members of the Conservative Club were given 2s.6d. each from the general fund.

Mrs Crane arranged a Whist Drive and Dance at the Sanatorium to provide funds for a billiard table for patients.

John White (Impregnable Boots) Ltd., registered as a limited liability company with capital of £35,000 in £1 shares.

Under a new Act of Parliament, people over 65 were able to draw a pension for the first time.

Rushden Town Cricket Club grand prize draw offered a complete mahogany bedroom suite for the first prize.  Tickets were 1 shilling each.

G.Chettle applied and was granted a renewal of his licence for his knackers yard.

Some Rushden schools closed for a time during a diphtheria epidemic.

2,000 Rushden people went to Northampton for a Cup replay between Northampton and Sunderland.  Many factories closed for the afternoon.  Sunderland won 3 – 0.

Rushden Choral Society gave ‘Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast’ at a concert in Rushden which did not appeal to the majority of the audience.  No encores were requested.  The audience preferred the second half when the orchestra played a selection from Edward German’s ‘Merrie England’ and other popular pieces.

February 1928

Webbs Outfitters:  Clearance Sale – offered a man’s suit for 29s.11d. and a shirt for 3s.5d.

The Annual Choir Festival took place at the Independent Wesleyan Church with famous baritone George Parker as guest soloist.

Rushden Temperance Band AGM reported they had been two months without a Conductor.  Mr Young from Durham had been appointed and gave complete satisfaction.  They hoped for a successful future.

Allegations that motorists drove through Rushden at 40mph were made at the monthly meeting of the Rushden Labour & Trades Council meeting.

The death occurred of Mr Charles Thurston, proprietor of the famous amusements in vogue at many fairs.  He died at his home in Norwich and his eldest son John H.Thurston took over.

March 1928

Work was proceeding on the former Central Machinery Co’s factory as it was being taken over by the County Education Committee for a Boot and Shoe Technical School.

Rushden Players gave the play ‘Sweet Lavender’ for the benefit of Rushden Hospital Week Committee.

Permission was given by RUDC for four more private houses to be built in Purvis Road.

Workmen extending John White’s factory in Newton Road revealed a well 20ft deep, beautifully constructed of stone, with an opening covered by a slab which turned out to be an upside-down tombstone with its inscription well preserved.: “Thomas Gobbey aged 26, son of Moses and Mary, died in 1728.  ‘Death comes for all both rich and poor, To old and young he does not miss a door, To which he’s sent to fetch them hence away, There glass being run they might no longer stay’” appeared on the tombstone.

Residents of Glassbrook Road were startled by the mad escapades of a big black bull which made incursions into a large number of back gardens.  It was last seen on its way up Irchester Road.

A special meeting of the Rushden Nursing Association was held in consequence of the growth of Rushden – a motor car had to be provided for the nurse to enable her to do her rounds more quickly.

It was reported that five Rushden brothers named Baker, all living and enjoying fairly good health and all having been born in Rushden as was their father, that their ages totalled 371 years.  James was 80;Thomas 78; Charles 76; Benjamin 70 and William 67 years old.  They had driven sheep from Rushden to London on one occasion.  One of them played centre forward for Rushden Town.

The opening of new premises of Rushden Windmill Club in Glassbrook Road drew a large crowd.  They were opened by Mr B.T.Hall, National Secretary of Club & Institute Union.

April 1928

At a contest at Wigston, Master George Sayer, a member of Rushden Temperance Band, won second prize in the euphonium section for boys under 17.

Rushden won the Northants Senior Cup in a 5 – 1 victory over Desborough.  They were the first club to win the cup three times in succession.

Zion Baptists celebrated the 27th anniversary of the opening of the church.  There were large congregation at services; a public tea held; and £10 was raised for church funds.

Mr Tom Swindall JP became Chairman of RUDC for the fourth time and began his 32nd year of continuous service to the Council.

A three day bazaar was held at St.Peter’s Church, Midland Road, in aid of funds for a new Vicarage.  The Marchioness of Exeter opened the bazaar.

May 1928

The first Annual Meeting of the Rushden YMCA took place.  Membership was reported to be 118.

As a goods train passed over Skew Bridge a motorist noticed that a wagon was on fire with flames 4/5 ft above the wagon.  He tried to signal to the driver but could not attract his attention.  Finally the Guard’s attention was drawn and the fire was extinguished before the train was taken into Rushden station.

The dangerous junction at the bottom of Crabb Street with High Street South was the scene of a fatal accident when a youth crashed his bicycle into a bus.

A live ‘Mills’ bomb, with the spring not released, was picked up on an allotment in Newton Road by Master C.Jacques, son of Harry Jacques.  It was taken to the Police Station.

The First Annual Dinner of the Rushden & District Shoe Manufacturers Association was held at the Hind Hotel, Wellingborough.

Advert:  Rushden Co‑op Society Drapery Dept. – offered the following materials – Crepe‑de‑chine, Marocains, Charmeuse and Jap Shan.

The Territorial Drill Hall, erected by Packwoods, was opened in Victoria Road.

There was a small sensation in High Street when the steering gear of a bus suddenly failed and it crashed into the Home & Colonial Stores.  First‑aid was given by Mr W.J.Neville, Tobacconist and the victims were afterwards attended by their doctors.

PC Ernest A.C.Farham was assaulted at Rushden by Dean & Swineshead labourers.  They were rowdy on a bus and used obscene language and when the Constable told them to keep quieter, after being sent for by driver, they answered him back and then set upon him outside the bus.

June 1928

The second H.E.Bates’ was book published.  It was a selection of stories which had been previously published in periodicals.  A third book was already in the hands of the printers.

The worst fatality in a Rushden boot factory occurred at Jacques factory, Harborough Road when Mr Thomas Woods of Oval Road became tangled up with the machinery in the engine room.

Rushden firemen won one 1st and two 2nd prizes in the North Eastern District National Fire Brigade Contest at Castle Ashby.

A concert was given on the terrace of Rushden Hall by the Adult School Male Voice Choir, conducted by Mr C.T.M. Francis, by kind permission of Mr A.H.Sartoris.

Alfred Street School children visited London Zoo and the Tower of London.  They reached London at 11am and arrived home at 10pm.  As the last bus was leaving London they discovered that Headmaster, Mr W.W.Rial, was not on board!

July 1928

Mr Coleman, fishmonger of High Street South, found confusion when he went downstairs and found that the new bicycle which he had purchased was missing from an outhouse.  It was a desperate robbery by a 15‑year-old Rushden boy who was charged with stealing £8.10s.0d. cash and the bicycle. He was put on remand and said he was fed up with Rushden and wanted to go to London, so he stole the money.

1,000 children were at Jubilee Park for Co‑op Day.  They assembled in Spencer Park and marched up to Jubilee Park.

In a letter from a Rushden resident – Rushden was one of the most pleasant little towns but for the amount of paper thrown about, which was very unsightly.  A picture in a paper had shown Battersea was like that but Spencer Road was often the same and High Street certainly was.

For the first time since 1921 employees of the CWS Boot factory needed to register at the Employment Exchange, due to shortage of work.

August 1928

Half of Rushden was at Yarmouth – said one Rushden visitor to that resort.  Oranges were being sold on the sands for 4d. each.

Nine designs of houses by Harry Ginns of Wellingborough Road, grandson of A.T.Ginns, blacksmith, were published in the ‘Illustrated Carpenter and Builder’.

The Congregational Church was to be equipped with a new heating apparatus.

A startling accident occurred at the Wymington turn, Bedford Road, when a car turned over, wheels uppermost and finished lying across a ditch.  Mr C.E.Cook, who lived nearby, helped occupants of the car out, thinking they would be terribly injured.  He broke two doors off to get the people out, took the people into his house and gave them first‑aid and then drove into Rushden to fetch Dr McCabe.  One lady had injured her shoulder and others had cuts and bruises but, apart from shock, they were relatively unscathed.  Mr Cook motored three of the party into Rushden and the rest walked.  Interestingly, the car started skidding in Bedfordshire and finished in Northamptonshire.

September 1928

Three generations of one family gained prizes at the Rushden Adult School Flower Show – Mr T.V.Jacques, Mr H.Jacques and Mr Charles Jacques.

A well-known couple, Mr J.Marshall Bailey MC and Miss Muriel Ladds, daughter of B.Ladds, shoe manufacturer, were married at Park Road Baptist Church.

A robbery took place at St.Peter’s Catholic Church.  Father Nutt was in the vestry and heard footsteps on the gravel but took no notice.  A triple box was broken open and another box was left hanging loose on its hinges.  No one caught.

A German couple visited Rushden and were met by a representative of Rushden Echo.  They could not speak much English and he could not speak German but they conducted the interview in Esperanto, an international language of which the representative had a smattering !

Mr Joseph Attley (70) of Cromwell Road fell off his tricycle on the way to Wellingborough to see a football match between Rushden and Wellingborough.  He collapsed on the way there with a presumed heart attack and fell off his tricycle.  People tried to help but he died later. Had been treated by Dr Muriset for heart trouble.

The Rushden Windmill Club Horticultural Show was absolutely crowded.  There were 570 exhibits.  It was said to be the finest produce show ever held in Rushden.

An Inspector of Education said that the speech of children at one of the Rushden schools was rather slovenly.  School Managers agreed that they would look into this.

There was a gate of 2,500 at a football match between Rushden and Peterborough on Feast Monday.  The result was a draw 1 – 1.  The traditional match with Kettering had to be changed because Kettering had withdrawn from the league.

Rushden Mission Cricket Club won the Rushden & District Cricket League after a play-off with Podington.  Podington scored 53 all out and Rushden 185.

Three band concerts were given in Rushden on Feast Sunday.  The Salvation Army played in the afternoon and the Temperance Band at night, in Spencer Park, and the Town Band played in the Hall grounds.

Thanks to the efforts of Mrs H.Durham, representative of the Wellingborough Board of Guardians, and also through the Working Men’s Clubs fund, it was agreed to have a clinic for orthopaedic patients in Rushden, to be held in a suite of rooms at the YMCA.

October 1928

The Salvation Army were asked if their usual Saturday meeting at the Post Office corner could close a little earlier (7pm) to make way for a Liberal campaign meeting at 7.30pm.  They courteously consented to do so and Cllr. J.Allen, (Chairman of the Liberal meeting) expressed thanks to the Salvation Army.

The Matron of Rushden House Sanatorium, Miss B.A.Allsop, resigned.  She had been in the position since the inauguration of the institution.

J.Enos Smith, organist at St.Mary’s Church, wrote a letter to the paper regarding a most interesting book of hymn tunes.  These had been written by a native of Rushden who lived in the old Church House, Mr Charles Packwood, son of Joseph Packwood.  The book was entitled “Packwood’s Original Psalmody” and dated, Rushden 16.6.1845.  Tunes in the book are called Rushden, Newton, Finedon, Higham Ferrers, Denford, Dean, Northampton and Peterborough.  Another, called Westminster, was a good tune.  The tune Rushden was used for the words – The Lord My Pasture Shall Prepare.

The New Technical Institute was opened by Rt. Hon. Lord Eustace Percy MP, President of the Board of Education.

Miss Constance A.M.Bennett was appointed a teacher at Alfred Street School.

Fraser, Son & Mackenzie, High Street, Rushden, also at Bedford and Northampton offered a prize list of £500 for competitors who succeeded in writing Fraser Son and Mackenzie for pianos, the most times on a postcard not exceeding 5½” x 3½”.  The winner would receive an Aeolian Picture Pianola valued £108.

The Rushden Players production of ‘Sweet Lavender’ at the Royal Theatre played to crowded houses, and some people were turned away.  Among others, it starred Dora Marriott, Horace Bream, Harry Ellis and Don Bugby.

November 1928

A Shoe & Leather News representative wrote that Rushden shoe-making had improved in quality of late and Northampton manufacturers could not understand how shoes of this type could be made for the money – being 1/6d to 2/- cheaper than them.

John White Ltd increased production from 20,000 per week to 27,000 pairs per week.  More plant and machinery had been obtained to cope with the extra work.

A good dishful of ripe raspberries, in excellent condition, was gathered in Rushden.

Advert:  Wadsworth Bros. offered a New Austin 7 at £125 or a shop-soiled one at £118.

At an educational conference at Rushden, it was reported that, although Rushden was just a small dot on the map, we were in the van educationally.  We had to an extent anticipated the recommendations of the Hadow report and provided an Intermediate School, a highly successful Evening Continuation School and a Technical School.

Rev Percy Robson MA, left Rushden for Melton Mowbray.  Children handed him gifts and a cheque for £150 came from his parishioners.

December 1928

RUDC decided not to allow car parking in Coffee Tavern Lane.

Rushden Choral Society gave ‘A tale of Old Japan’ by Coleridge Taylor.  The orchestra and Choral Society were conducted by Mr William Wright.  The orchestra played the second and fourth movements of Ballet Egyptien by Luigini and the soloists at the concert were from Covent Garden.

A bankers’ meeting at Rushden discussed whether figuring machines would displace Bank Clerks.  There was an urgent need for Bank Clerks to join members’ Guild in view of the mechanization of book-keeping – so that employment could be protected.