Instead of detailing the week’s sea-side weather, holiday-makers returning on Saturday found themselves listening to graphic accounts of the weather at Rushden. They trailed home uncomfortably through a steady downpour of cold, wind-driven rain, and were soon to learn that the day had been a memorably miserable one in their own town.

Rain began at four o’clock in the morning and was showing no sign of exhaustion when, just before ten o’clock, thunderclouds gathered and added to the severity of the storm. The streets were now lashed by pelting rain, driving the hardiest pedestrians into shelter, and the centre of the electrical disturbance made a rapid approach, the display of lightning culminating in a blinding flash and an almost simultaneous crack of thunder. This flash forked down to earth at several points in the district and was responsible for some alarming incidents at Rushden, houses in Shirley-road and Wellingborough-road being struck and damaged.

Two adjoining residences in Shirley-road, occupied by Messrs. L. and S. Chettle, who are brothers, received the discharge via their wireless aerials. At Mr. S. Chettle’s house an aerial was ripped from the masts, the down-lead being flung some twenty yards into a field. No receiving set was attached, but the lightning entered the house and played havoc around the telephone, severing the wires, scattering plaster and dislodging a window ledge.

Sulphurous Fumes

In the other house the aerial was severed at the lead-in, and inside the back-room wires were torn asunder near the aerial-earth switch. The wall was scorched, and clothing and papers inside a cupboard were burned. In both houses the back-rooms were filled with sulphur-laden fumes, and it was fortunate that the occupants were elsewhere at that moment.

One of the brothers was, in fact, outside in the street, filling the tank of his lorry with petrol, and he stated afterwards that the lorry was lifted from the ground by a displacement of air, he himself experiencing a severe shaking.

Mr. J. Jones, who lives nearby, declared that he saw a thunderbolt drop at the rear of the Chettles’ houses.

In Wellingborough-road the residence of Mr. Charles Chamberlain, cycle agent, was struck by lightning, a chimney pot and some bricks crashing into the backyard, Mr. Chamberlain was away on holiday, but the police and a firemen entered the house and made sure that all was safe inside.

The combination of wind, rain and lightning resulted in much damage to trees and plants, and at several points in the neighbourhood roads were blocked by fallen trees and branches. Trees were down at Chelveston, Newton Bromshold, and at the Newton end of Rushden.

Higham Ferrers escaped the pranks of the lightning, but trees at the back of the Church, on the Square and at the Walnut Tree bore evidence of a thorough “whipping.”

Three sheep grazing in a field at Manor Farm, Raunds, were killed by lightning, and the church steeple at Ringstead was struck in two places, some stonework being dislodged.

Further Storms

The rain continued at Rushden, but the worst of the weather passed on to Kettering, where a heavy storm, which at times made telephone communication with Rushden almost impossible, raged between one and two p.m. A Kettering factory and houses were struck, but the worst damage was caused by torrential rain, whole streets being flooded. At Wellingborough, also, the rain made serious mischief.

At two o’clock a second thunderstorm visited Rushden and continued for some time, but it was less violent than the first, and for the remainder of the day there was nothing more serious than persistent and heavy rain. The night was freakishly cold, and fires were needed in the homes throughout the week-end. Sunday was a dry and sometimes sunny day, but the rain returned on Monday morning and continued until the late evening.