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January 1992
Plans were announced to extend Ferrers School at Higham Ferrers to cater for 750 students aged between 11 and 16 years. The school had been open for ten years and the dozen mobile classrooms would be replaced in a £2.5 million scheme which would create 90 sixth form places.
Receivers were called in at Skew Bridge Country Club, just outside Rushden. The Ski School was unaffected.
Pupils at Rushden School took part in a “Back to the Future” project by studying changes in their town over the previous fifty years, and anticipating those to come. To help set the scheme, local historian Eric Fowell went to the school to show slides of Old Rushden.
Opinions were being sought from traders over a move to allow Sunday trading in part of the county – by declaring the area a holiday resort.
The 12th Century font at St.Mary’s Church had been renovated. Some of the money came from people who had been baptised in it.
February 1992
A birthday card, post-marked 1931, was delivered to Alice Hooton having just turned up at the sorting office of Rushden Post Office.
Proposals to turn a stretch of disused railway line into a pocket park were submitted to East Northamptonshire Council, by Higham Ferrers Nature Conservation Group. The railway line, which ran behind Ferrers School, had been closed for more than twenty years and the area had become an important wild-life habitat.
A merger between Rushden Town and Irthlingborough Diamonds had been proposed and caused considerable controversy.
March 1992
More than 200 people took part in a 12-hour “Swimathon” at the Splash Pool in Rushden.
Five alternate routes were put forward by people objecting to the line of the proposed £8.5 million bypass for Rushden and Higham Ferrers.
Three armed men held up the Spar grocery shop in Rose Avenue, Rushden, and stole £3,000, cigarettes and spirits. Before they left, they locked shop-keeper Kim Gorania in a small back room and his wife, Valiber, in a toilet.
Irthlingborough Diamonds and Rushden Town football clubs prepared to merge under the sponsorship of shoe manufacturers R.Griggs & Co.
New proposals for a town centre traffic scheme were on show at St.Mary’s Church Hall, Rushden.
April 1992
On Easter Monday at Irchester Country Park, a new Visitors’ Centre, obtained by converting the old ironstone quarry offices, was officially opened. Nature lovers would be able to see what had been achieved over the previous twenty-one years since when the Park had been developed at a cost of £59,000.
Conservative candidate, Peter Fry, was elected for the eighth time in the General Election with 32,302 votes, but his majority was trimmed by the Labour challenger, Phil Sawford, with 20,486. Julie Trevor (Liberal Democrat) took 7,714. The turnout was 80.9%.
County Council property officers were considering plans to dispose of the Pemberton School when its merger with Chichele School to form a new co-educational school in Rushden was completed in September.
May 1992
Rushden Town Football Club played their last match at their Hayden Road ground against Leighton in the South Midlands Floodlit Cup Final, winning 4 goals to 2.
Thousands of people flocked to the biggest ever Rushden Historical Transport Society Cavalcade, held in sunny weather at Lancaster Farm near Higham Ferrers. During the parade through Rushden town centre the front fork snapped on a steam-roller which then rolled into the wall near the War Memorial. No one was hurt, but it took two hours to clear away the mess.
Long-serving Councillor, Alan Mantle, was looking forward to the next twelve months as Chairman of East Northants Council.
The new owner of Skew Bridge Country Club, Chris Rees, announced his intention to restore the popular leisure base and re-open at “Lakeside Sports & Country Club” with a clubhouse, swimming pool and squash courts.
Firemen fought to stop gas cylinders exploding when a blaze ripped through the garage of Johnson’s Motors in Washbrook Road.
June 1992
A number of prospective buyers were hoping to buy the former home for the elderly “Risene” in Higham Road, Rushden. One would-be owner was intending to use the building as a privately run old people’s home.
About 90 students from Rushden School took part in the town’s Art Festival presenting musical items, dances, drama and gymnastics.
The 858 Rushden Squadron ATC won both the drill contest and trophy for best overall achievements in the South Midlands Wing Field Day.
A video recorder, worth £400, was taken from Rushden Newton Road Infant School, as staff and parents were busy prepared a school float for the town carnival.
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July 1992
Planners clamped down on a car auction operating from a former piggery in Hayden Road, Rushden.
Rushden & Diamonds Football Club presented a buffet lunch to attract potential backers who might become a vice-president or club patron.
Councillors were backing plans to develop a 92-space car park at the junction of Rectory Road and Newton Road in Rushden. Another scheme was to develop rough land in Duck Street for a car park which could provide 70 spaces.
The Windmill Club Band faced dissolution unless it could attract more players. Numbers had dwindled to fifteen.
August 1992
Moves were being made to stop over-crowding at six schools in the area by limiting classes to thirty pupils.
Milkman, Don Annis, retired after thirty-two years with Dale Farm Northern Dairies.
East Northamptonshire Council unveiled plans to build a Leisure Centre and theatre on the site of Rushden Sports Centre. Since the former Pemberton Boys’ School, which used the sports site, had moved, the County Council wanted to hand over the Centre to the District Council.
Work on a prototype traffic scheme to deter traffic from the main shopping streets, without completely closing off roads, were expected to finished in Rushden by Christmas. It would involve a 20mph speed limit and cobbled raised sections in the town centre. The scheme was the first of its kind in the county and replaced a part-pedestrianisation scheme which collapsed after a trial period.
September 1992
Up to 175 jobs were under threat at Rushden leather firm, Strong & Fisher. The company planned to visit the Paris Shoe Fair to assess interest in their products before deciding on redundancies.
The County’s Guild of Designer Craftsmen held an exhibition in Rushden Hall. The work exhibited included bronze sculpture, woven textiles, ceramics, batik, turned wood and contemporary furniture.
Washbrook Road, Rushden, was closed while workmen scraped up heavy mud following the departure of fairground lorries from Spencer Park at the end of Rushden Feast week.
October 1992
Plans for a new Co-op Store in a shopping complex were uncertain. Store officials were re-thinking proposals to open a branch in Rushden High Street.
Strong & Fisher closed its Wellington Tannery Plant at Raunds with the loss of 50 jobs.
Roberts Brothers Circus was unable to set up in Jubilee Park owing to a steep grass slope and a gateway too narrow for the heavy vehicles. Unfortunately the Circus was forced to leave for its winter quarters.
November 1992
East Northamptonshire Councillors were looking at plans to move all council services under one roof at Thrapston. The Chief Executive’s department at Rushden Hall and the finance departments in Newton Road and Duck Street, Rushden, would be based at Thrapston. The Newton Road offices would be incorporated into a proposed new library complex.
There was a Scottish flavour to the Remembrance Day parade at Rushden with a pipe band leading the march.
Pouring rain did not dampen the Christmas spirit for thousands of spectators in Rushden for the annual Christmas lights switching-on ceremony which was combined with the official opening of the revamped town centre system.
December 1992
It was announced that a £2.6 million project would involve conversion of the old workhouse building in Thrapston to provide offices and storage for the centralisation of East Northamptonshire Council.
Concern was expressed over possible traffic congestion in Birchall Road, Rushden, when plans were announced to extend the Sports Centre.
More than 100 pensioners took to the floor at a Christmas Tea Dance at Rushden School jointly run by pupils and “Serve”.
New litter bins in Rushden were attacked by arsonists. Four bins installed in the town centre improvement scheme were set alight in High Street and Alfred Street.
An indoor market opened at the former Royal Theatre opposite the Rilton Hotel.
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