A few weeks after I was bom in Park Road, Rushden. we had to move to Fern Road because there were then three generations living in the home.

Fern Road then was only a cart track to allotments and an orchard at the top belonging to Mr Charles Mole the fruiterer and greengrocer of Wellingborough Road. It was very primitive by today's standards. Lighting was with oil lamps, the cooking was done on a kitchen range, and water was drawn from a well outsisde the kitchen. My mother had to pump up the water through a pump over the kitchen sink. Washing was done with a copper built into the comer of the kitchen and had to have a fire lit under it (no washing machines in those days). Water was squeezed out of the washing through a mangle kept in the barn, before being hung out to dry. One year when the well was dry, my parents had to fetch water from the Chattell family who lived in Palm Road as their well had not run dry.

At the end of the garden there were two pig styes where my father kept a few pigs. This proved to be very helpful during the times of recession in the 1930's. Next to our home there was a spare plot which had some fruit trees at the end and was a play area for children. It also served as a feeding ground for the pigs - they liked apples We children also liked apples, plums and pears and the summer holidays provided the opportunity to climb the trees and taste the fruit.

The Baptist Church in Highfield Road

Peter Waring