January 1932

The Graham leather makers, Messrs Strong and Fishers, who had opened a branch in Irchester Road, brought a dozen or more experienced workers to the factory, but the majority of the labour force was to be recruited locally.

February 1932

Seven years without a case of drunkenness was the proud record of Higham Ferrers, revealed at the annual licensing meeting in the Town Hall.

March 1932

Thieves broke into the Industrial Co-op Society, Higham Road, and apparently enjoyed a good meal in the grocery and provision shop – especially the ham.

April 1932

Rushden Council expenditure for 1931/32 amounted to £38,024 with £892.5s.1d. being spent on Rushden Hall.

Employees of local factories associated with the Rushden Trades Hospital and Convalescent Homes Fund gave generously to the Northampton General Egg Week appeal when 21,137 eggs were given.

May 1932

The County Agriculture Show was held at Rushden for the last time as a permanent ground had been acquired at Kettering.

Rushden Temperance Band received a letter from the BBC advising that a representative would come to hear the band.

June 1932

The origins of the boot and shoe trade in Rushden were published in a trade journal: “100 years ago Rushden was more an agricultural parish ….. some boots and shoes were manufactured in Higham Ferrers but not in Rushden.  A lad named Sharpe, apprenticed to a Hitchin shoemaker, conceived the idea of making shoes in Rushden, where labour was cheap, and selling them to London”.

July 1932

Annual Elementary Schools Sports was held at Rushden where 400 scholars gave a display of mass drill.

There was a daring robbery at Rushden.  The Royal Theatre was broken into and the office ransacked.  About £20 was stolen.

August 1932

The new by-pass at Irthlingborough was opened.  The work had been going on since January 1931 and cost nearly £40,000.

September 1932

Frank and Mary Walker from Higham Ferrers made a landmark in the history of aviation travel when they boarded the world’s largest aircraft to Switzerland.

Tiny Tim, real name Harold Pyott, visited Rushden Feast.  At the time he was the smallest man who had ever been known to live.  Height 23 inches; weight 24lbs; aged 44 years.

October 1932

The secretary of Wellingborough Chamber of Trade posted over a hundred letters at 9.40am.  They were delivered by 10am.

November 1932

The RUDC paid the sum of 2d for every rat’s tail delivered at the depot, Newton Road, between 9am and 10.30am each day for one week together with the assurance that the rat was caught in the district of Rushden.

December 1932

Mr.Coles, chairman of RUDC, informed the Council that it was hoped that the museum would be opened by Christmas as good progress with the scheme had been made.

Rushden Ladies Hockey team lost their match with Swastika at Northampton 7–2.  Owing to the uneven surface of the ground the visitors took some time to settle down.