January 1957

More than 600 people, representing all the Protestant Churches of Rushden, gathered in the High Street Independent Wesleyan Church for the inaugural meeting of the Rushden Council of Churches.

February 1957

The new local office for the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives was opened at the junction of Hayway and Higham Road, Rushden.

More than seventy Rock ’n Rolling teenagers, between the ages of 14 and 21, gave good support to the opening social at the Moor Road Youth Centre.

March 1957

Workmen clearing a site next to Warren’s the butchers in Rushden High Street uncovered an old well that had been concealed for at 50 years.  It was 22ft deep and contained 18ft of water.

Nearly half the population of the town, 8,198 people, attended the Mobile Mass Radiography Unit in Rushden before it moved on to Glasgow.

April 1957

Employers of 11,000 operatives met in Rushden and were told that 11% of Britain’s footwear exports were from the Rushden and District Shoe Manufacturers Association.

The new buildings were opened at Rushden Secondary Modern School for Boys in Highfield Road.  Mr.H.W.Catlin would take over as headmaster next term having taught there since 1949.

May 1957

Mr.W.J.A.Peck, a local County Councillor, opened “Risdene”, a house he purchased and presented to the public authorities as a home for old people.  “Risdene” had been enlarged and fitted out by the County Council at a cost of £16,000.

June 1957

Two old shops in Rushden High Street, and which had stood empty for some time, were pulled down to make way for new shops which would be set further back in line with the adjoining properties.

July 1957

Bus workers on strike interfered with a private coach taking employees from W.Green & Son’s factory to Bozeat.

The Rushden stationmaster reported an increase in users of the local train service.

August 1957

The National Anthem helped quell fierce fighting which broke out during a dance at the Windmill Hall, Rushden.

The annual fortnight’s holiday saw comic postcards and views flooding into Rushden which meant extra work in sorting and delivering at the Post Office.

September 1957

Gas lighting was supplemented by electric lamps in Haway (8 new lamps), Spencer Road (4) and Midland Road (3).

October 1957

Twenty-one elderly residents were the first to benefit under the new “Meals on Wheels” scheme.  The meals were prepared at a cost of 2 shillings of which the recipients paid half.

Rushden’s latest and largest car park in Duck Street was not yet attracting more than four or five vehicles at a time.

A ten-year-old boy found fragments of second century Roman-British pottery in Woodland Road, Rushden, during building operations.

November 1957

Having inspected the bungalows for old people in Cherry Orchard, Rushden, the Housing Committee ordered the baths to be taken out a different type substituted.  The whole committee was “horrified”.

Twelve books in foreign languages were purchased for Rushden’s Public Library.

December 1957