The Rushden Echo and Argus, 16^th May, 1947, transcribed by Gill Hollis

New House and Baby in the Same Week

Completion on Wednesday evening of the first four houses erected by Rushden Urban Council on the estate which is approached from the far end of the town also coincided almost to the day with arrival of a very new occupant-to-be of the second house. [The first column of this article is on the fold of the page and is unreadable]

Now that the Council had made an excellent start on the estate he hoped the whole of the estate would be finished by the end of 1947.  Though he was not so sanguine as Coun. Weale over the 600 applicants, he hoped progress would continue.

Coun. A. F. Weale, last year’s Chairman of the Housing Committee of Rushden Urban Council, presents the keys to Mr. A. R. Keys, a new tenant of one of the first four permanent Council houses opened yesterday.  Mrs. Keys (centre) watches the ceremony.

The future tenants of the four houses expressed themselves delighted with the homes, and there were many expressions of admiration and envy from others who flocked in to view the first house – that now reserved for Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Keys.

This couple, who have three children, hope to move in about Monday.  They were very pleased with all facilities and the pleasant airiness of the rooms.

Green and cream is the outside colour scheme and these colours, with brown are used indoors.  The kitchen and bathroom are the outstanding features of a thoroughly attractive and well planned building.

Cupboard Space

Plenty of cupboard space is the feature of the kitchen, with green and cream predominating.  A deep sink, with hot and cold water taps, is encased by drawers and cupboards, one of which contains the copper.  A folding table is attached to one wall and a French door (Almarco metal, like the windows) leads out on to the outbuildings, one of which is a “spare,” suitable for bicycles or a pram.

In the living room there is an Ideal domestic boiler.  A gas poker is supplied, and there is a radio point in each room.

In the hall there is a generous sized fixed clothes runner, and cupboard with gas and electric meters (quarterly) enclosed.  Another interesting feature is a three-tier safety catch receptacle for milk, bread, etc.

Upstairs, there are three bedrooms, a bathroom, and an airing cupboard on the landing.  The colour scheme of the bedrooms is carried out in two shades of cream, and all have built-in wardrobes.  One of the rooms has a blue tiled grate, and another a wall electric fire.  The “spare” room is large enough to contain a single bed.

The bathroom is an excellent feature of the home, with bath, wash-basin (both with hot and cold water taps), and lavatory.  There is a glass shelf over the washbasin.

A much needed facility in English homes – a snow guard surrounding the house tops – has not been overlooked.

Avenue Leads to “Progress Estate”

Prospect Avenue, Rushden, now leads to what should be called “Progress Estate” – major bright spot on the local building horizon. “Very, very nice,” “delightful,” “perfectly satisfactory,” are a few of the superlatives fired at an “Echo and Argus” reporter who went to see what the new tenants think of the first permanent council houses built in the area since the war.

Visit “Progress Estate” and you will see what, in the opinion of young people, Council houses should really be like.

At the Rushden end of the estate – for it includes both Rushden and Higham Ferrers areas – bright airy back-rooms look out over the green open fields beyond the railway. “Everything for convenience,” is the motto. Gas, electricity, hot and cold water – and sunlight – are all laid on.

See what Mrs. R. Keys, who has been in her house three weeks and was among the first residents on the estate, thinks of her new house. “Very, very nice,” she says. “Everything for your own convenience. We should be pleased. I think they are a terrific success.”

Mr. Keys is a musician, who played in Copenhagen before the war. “We would have liked to have gone there,” said his cheerful wife, as she proudly showed the reporter round her spotless rooms. But we are quite happy now.”

There are three children at No. 2 – Roger (7), Sandra (4½), and Pauline (3½).

And what does little fair-haired Pauline, who was playing in the garden in a green-flower sun-suit, think of all this? “Very nicely, thank you,” she says sweetly.

“These are just like sunshine houses. One can get up with the sun and breeze coming through the window,” added Mrs. Keys.

She tells how Roger suffered from asthma in the old house near Spencer Park, being low-lying, was rather damp and cold. He has only had the trouble once since they arrived on the estate – and after he revisited the old home.

Never So Happy Before.

Next door but one lives Mrs. H. R. Cross, whose husband is a clicker for Messrs. John White. Mrs. Cross has two children, Anita Victoria, born on V. E. Day, and ten weeks old Paul Raymond, who was sunbathing in his pram outside the back door.

“We have never been so happy in our lives,” said Mrs. Cross. “My husband has to keep pinching himself to make sure that it isn’t a dream.” That is what this couple think of their home – the home for which they have waited six years, since the time of their marriage.

Go along the newly-built concrete road to the other end of the estate, and within the boundaries of Higham Ferrers; not far from the old church, you will find four more houses occupied.

“Very happy” Mr. and Mrs. F. R. Moore moved in on Friday, and soon found that young Royston preferred his new home to the old one in Roland-avenue. “We can never find him when we want him,” said Mrs. Moore. “He’s always talking to the workmen. He loves it round here.”

That was (not unlucky) 13, and at 17 lives Mrs. John Connolly, whose husband at the moment is working for Messrs. Taylor Woodrow at Bournemouth.

“I think all working-class people should have homes like this.” said Mrs. Connolly. “Council houses like this will cut out private houses.”

We met Mrs. Connolly at her mother’s (63, High-street), where she was busy helping to spring clean the room that she and her husband had occupied since they were married in 1942. When twins, now aged four, and 20 months’ old little Rita came along, there was not enough room, explained Mrs. Connolly.

“It’s beautiful, it’s lovely. There is the country smell of the farm. The air’s so fresh that it gets you tired,” she burst out.

One of those little things that mean a lot to Mrs. Connolly is the path which leads straight to her mother’s back door. “Handcross-way,” she mused – “it should be Handycross-way.”

Readers in old-fashioned quarters may wonder what makes these householders so happy.

Here is a brief description of the houses.

Wardrobes Are Built In.

Those completed are built in blocks of four. Tastefully decorated inside, mainly with creams and greens, they have adequate kitchen accommodation for pots and pans, a gas copper, which draws out from inside a cupboard. Cooking is by gas, though some householders may have electric cookers fitted. There is hot and cold water, the hot water being contained in a boiler in an upstairs airing cupboard.

What most thrill the housewives are the built-in wardrobes in every bedroom. “We have so much room, I never know where I have put everything,” said one of them.

Striking innovation in some of the houses on the estate is an automatically locking three-shelved steel cupboard near the front door for the use of local tradesmen. There they can leave their wares out of the way of road dust. Another innovation in some houses is a fitting beside each fireplace for a gas poker (used for lighting fires).

There are three rooms upstairs and two rooms and a kitchen below. Electric plugs are fitted at handy spots throughout the house.

And in wet weather, or when it is too cold for baby to be outside in the neat little garden, she can be placed in the fresh air under a glass-roofed space between the house and the handy-sized outhouse.

To-day the whole of the site is a major industrial project, and every kind of workman is hammering or sawing away as fast as materials arrive – which is, of course, not quite as fast as local Council officials would like.

All day there is a constant stream of workmen and lorries on the concrete roads, a stream to be replaced every Sunday by a throng of prospective householders bent on inspecting their future homes.

Messrs. M. M. Drabble, Ltd. have about 50 labourers and builders with almost as many allied craftsmen at work. They have 24 houses roofed at Rushden and 22 at Higham. Messrs. R. Marriott have 24 houses roofed. Altogether 52 houses on the Rushden side are under construction, and contracts for 30 more have been let.

Footnote: Erection of sixty-six “Trusteel” houses has now been commenced on the Newton-road estate.

Coun. T. W. Cox told the Council on Wednesday that the next batch of 24 houses on the Higham Road estate will cost £31,500. In addition to these the Council has now been authorised to build 24 houses which will complete the estate.

A revised scheme for the construction of footpaths on the Higham Road estate by district labour at a cost of £3,800 has been approved. The work will be done in instalments beginning at “The Hedges”.

Another footpath scheme is to be submitted to the Ministry of Health. It is for the Truseel Estate off Hove Road and may cost £2,558.

A street name is required for the cul-de-sac off Hove Road and the Housing Committee will be pleased to receive suggestions. A statement on council house rents showed that no variation is proposed on the net rents at present charged. The rent of the Trusteel houses will be 11s. per week net.

Coun. Capon said this report might be misunderstood. It should be emphasised that the tenants had to pay 11s. a week plus rates.