January 1990

Peter Crisp, President of Rushden Chamber of Trade, said he would love to see the town pedestrianised as it would be an enormous advantage to attract people to the area.  Once the new swimming pool was open he thought traffic problems in the town would be made worse and it was essential to have more car parks.

Catherine Field, head of Fairfield School in Manchester, was appointed head of the new Rushden secondary school.  The school was still without a name and would be formed from the merger of Chichele School for Girls and Pemberton School for Boys.

A 100ft crane hauled steel pylons into place as construction of Rushden’s new £3 million swimming pool began.

Rushden’s former fire station in Newton Road was being used as a shoe warehouse.  An application had been submitted to turn it into a wine bar and restaurant.

Hurricane-force winds swept debris across the streets and young women were warned not to take pushchairs outside.  Slates and masonry were blown off buildings throughout the town causing problems for both pedestrians and motorists.

A 35 year old Falklands veteran, enjoying an evening out with friends in a pub in Queen Street, was attacked by a gang.  He was left with serious head injuries.

February 1990

The County Council conducted a survey to see if improvements could be made for people crossing Skinner’s Hill, Rushden, next to the bus lay-bys.

Troubled leather group Strong & Fisher said that there was no threat to its 700 jobs at Rushden and Raunds.  A spokesman said that the demand for high quality fashion leather garments for the 1990 autumn/winter season appeared to be strong.

Ambitious plans for a new shopping arcade off Rushden High Street were being discussed by Council officers and the Budgen’s supermarket chain.  A half-acre plot of waste land off Eaton Walk had been bought by Bishop’s supermarkets five years previously, but since the company had been taken over by Budgen’s the plans had been shelved.

Three time capsules were planted at the site of the new £3 million swimming pool in Rushden.  The first contains an official guide of East Northants, a year book, two photographs, two letters and a community charge form.  The second glass capsule holds a list of people who were present at the ceremony, an edition of the Evening Telegraph (purchased at the last minute), a plan of the old 1929 swimming pool, and an East Northants tie.  The third capsule contains an Alfred McAlpine tie and other information.

Soaring costs forced plans for a £3 million Rushden superstore to be dropped.  South Midlands Co-operative Society had planned to turn a prime site in High Street into a 15,000 sq.ft. department store on two floors.

Building firm Marriotts celebrated their centenary.

March 1990

A funeral service was held for Rushden-born writer and former teacher Roy Hill.  He won the first H.E.Bates story competition when in his late teens.

The Rushden Carnival Princess contest attracted 30 entrants aged between nine and eleven years.  The winner was Jessica Anne Purdy, a pupil at Whitefriars School, and her deputy was Claire Burton from Denfield Park School.

Rowan Flack retired as Clinical Nurse manager at Rushden Hospital where he had served for 24 years.

April 1990

Marilyn Willis, newly appointed Arts Promoter for East Northants, appealed to art groups to fill empty rooms with exhibitions.

Deputy Mayor of Higham Ferrers, Anna Sauntson, returned from Hachenburg in West Germany where she and other members of the twinning committee were hoping to link the two similar communities.

Rushden-based businessman, David Hamblin, opened his Victorian-style shopping courtyard, Hamblin Court, off the town’s High Street.

UK Shoe, which owned John White Footwear of Rushden, was considering selling it to a group which concentrated on making men’s quality shoes.

May 1990

Rushden Historical Transport Society’s Annual Cavalcade broke all previous records for entries.  More than 700 exhibits were put on show for the three-day event on the Lancaster Farm showground in Higham Ferrers.

Mr Peter Eads, a former detective chief superintendent, produced a book of the complete bibliography of H.E.Bates.

Rushden postman, Reg Summerling, received the Postmaster’s Award of Excellence

Catherine Field co-ordinated the launch of the new school, which would be known simply as “Rushden School”, and was the merger of Rushden Chichele and Rushden Pemberton Schools.

Florist, Roy Brown, of Higham Ferrers, retired after 37 years in the trade.  He had provided bouquets for almost 2,000 weddings.

June 1990

Newly-elected President of Rushden and Higham Ferrers Chamber of Trade, Jean Wills, voiced her desire to make Rushden High Street more appealing.

Vandals went on an orgy of destruction when the Rushden branch of Gateway had nine windows smashed causing hundreds of pounds of damage to their town centre supermarket.

The Carnival Queen was Victoria Pope, and her escort Joanne Squires.

John de Quincey of Rushden used his car phone to alert police after seeing “a caravan towed by a clapped out old van”.  It had been stolen from White Arches Caravans and was eventually abandoned and retrieved by the police.

Rushden Railway Museum was saved from demolition by the decision to re‑route the by‑pass link road which was to have gone straight through the old station.

July 1990

The takeover of the John White footwear firm was announced by the parent company, UK Shoe Group Ltd.  It was indicated that the 450-strong workforce would be unaffected.

An exhibition explaining the County Council’s proposal to pedestrianise Rushden High Street was held in the Independent Wesleyan Chapel.  Residents were invited to fill in a questionnaire.

Eileen Jupp had been trapped under the rubble when a German bomb was dropped on Alfred Street School in 1940, robbing her of the use of her right arm.  However, her embroidery skills won her the War Pensions Handicraft Service Endeavour Trophy for the ninth time.

Rushden’s South End Junior School had had a learner swimming pool in its grounds for nineteen years and for the first time in the school’s history all the leavers were swimmers.

Right turns into Rushden High Street from Newton Road were banned in order to ease traffic congestion and improve road safety in the town centre.  Traffic wardens were called out after one car every 17 seconds violated the new order.  New curbing and extra signs were planned to enforce the restriction.

August 1990

Temperatures of 99 degrees F, and unofficial reports of 100 degrees, were recorded in the first week of August.

Union bosses confirmed more than 100 workers were likely to be axed at John White’s Lime Street factory.

An appeal launched by local heart and lung transplant patient, Donne Tutton, reached £3,000.  The money bought special equipment for the Paediatric Unit at Kettering General Hospital.

September 1990

Despite a previous announcement that the County Council had found an alternative route for the road to link Rushden with the A6 bypass, plans were revealed that the Council had made a U-turn and recommended the road should got through the railway station to save £600.000.  Rushden Historical Transport Society launched a protest.

The Ministry of Defence plans to use Thurleigh airfield for a pilot training centre sparked an angry outcry.

Plans to ban traffic in Rushden High Street moved a step closer when County planners approved a trial period for a no-go zone between College Street and Queen Street.

Youngsters from Rushden’s Denfield Park Junior School launched their own project in a bid to stop the demolition of Rushden Station.

Taxi drivers were campaigning for more spaces.  There were 25 cabs working in Rushden but there were only three spaces in the town centre.

October 1990

Half a century of the bombing raid on Rushden that killed seven children and four adults a commemorative plaque was unveiled in Alfred Street School.

Directors of loss-making leather company Strong and Fisher warned of disaster if a takeover bid by Hillsdown Holdings did not go through.  The jobs of all 550 workers at Rushden and Raunds were in the balance.

Members of an action committee pledged to knock on every door in town to raise 25,000 signatures to save Rushden Railway Station from the bulldozers.

Conservationists Bob Lines and David Hill turned their churchyard at Newton Bromswold into a haven for wildlife.

November 1990

The closure of the internationally famous John White Footwear Company shocked thousands of people who had worked in its factories over the previous 71 years.

The Rushden Splash Pool, replacing the outdoor baths built in 1929, was officially opened by Geoff Morgan, a founder member of Rushden Swimming Club, Sharne Barrett and Neil Warner.  The competition to name the pool was won by Howard Newton.

Moves to knock down a Victorian dentist’s surgery in Skinner’s Hill, Rushden, were opposed by members of the town’s Amenities Society.  The building dates back to around 1880 and was an integral part of Rushden Hall.

December 1990

Local Councillors backed a plan for a link road toward the proposed A6 bypass would avoid demolishing the transport museum at Rushden Railway Station.

Rushden Council of Churches held an open-air carol service for shoppers, with music from the Salvation Army Band.

Kettering, Wellingborough and East Northants Councils all pledged to prosecute stores which broke the Sunday trading ban.

Hundreds of people were left without power on Christmas Day as winds ripped across the county.