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January 1986
The Trades Club in Higham Road closed after 75 years. There were still 300 members but younger folk were not coming forward to join.
The Co-op’s new High Street store, “Food and Fashion”, was officially opened on January 23rd.
The TocH moved into the former Free Gardeners’ buildings in Portland Road.
February 1986
A masked raider with a shotgun robbed Townsend’s garage in High Street South of about £45. The 17 year-old schoolboy assistant suffered from shock.
March 1986
Work began to turn the old railway station into a transport museum. The Historical Transport Society planned to install a working, manual signal box.
April 1986
Peter White, who took on the job of winding St.Mary’s Church clock in 1952, was given a rise in wages. His pay rose from £175 to £250. He climbed the 60+ steps every other day.
May 1986
£2,000 worth of electrical equipment was stolen in a smash and grab raid on Curry’s High Street store.
Members of the Rushden based East Northants Co-operative Society agreed to merge with the South Midlands Society in Northampton.
June 1986
The old public footpath from College Street to John Street was officially ‘extinguished’ by order of the East Northants Council.
£426 was raised in a “Pram Push”, sponsored by local pubs, for The Cynthia Spencer Appeal Fund.
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July 1986
Unless extra parking facilities were provided, Rushden shops faced a dramatic slump in trade, calculated Derek Adnitt, Chief Executive of East Northants Council. Parking had been monitored and people had been observed driving round and round searching for a place to leave their cars.
The police were pelted with bottles and wine glasses when they went to deal with an affray at a Wine Bar in Rushden.
August 1986
Alistair Cook, in his ‘Letter from America’ on BBC radio, referred to a parrot from Rushden which his correspondent informed him, could recite the names of the Presidents of the United States and their dates in order. (Mr. Cook did not believe it).
September 1986
Safeways announced that they had chosen a site for their new supermarket. There was opposition from shopkeepers in Rushden and Higham Ferrers.
October 1986
The old Baptist Assembly rooms in Park Road and the neighbouring burial ground was offered for sale by auction.
Former librarian, Tuula Wright, achieved a lifetime dream by opening her own bookshop in Higham Ferrers.
November 1986
Rushden Scouts launched an appeal for £20,000 to improve their headquarters. They intended to replace the flat roof with a pitched one to provide an extra office and storage space.
December 1986
The 81 year-old wooden spire on Park Road Methodist Church was taken down because it was in a dangerous condition. The wood had rotted and the structure had started to lean.
Magician, John Taylor, proved to be a big hit at the Rushden Memorial Clinic’s Children’s Christmas party.
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