Rushden Research Group: Feast

Rushden Feast - news snippets

Mr Charles Thurston used to bring his fairground to Rushden and originally set up on land opposite the Queen Victoria Hotel in 1904. Later the Feast was moved to Spencer Park and Charles presented the Bowls Club that played there with a cup to be presented annually to winners of a competition.

In 1997 a Blue Plaque was erected to his memory, and has recently been moved to inside Asda's store.

Rushden Echo, 30th September 1904, transcribed by Greville Watson

RUSHDEN FEAST
Rushden feast this year will be memorable on account of the great attractions, including the grand cricket match, the dog show, the flower show at the W.M.C., and many social gatherings. Notwithstanding bad trade, the visitors to the fair in Mr. Franklin’s grounds have been somewhat above the average. The attractions there included the usual swings, shooting galleries, roundabouts, Aunt Sallies, boxing booths, etc. Special attention was given by visitors to Thurston’s switchback and cinematograph exhibition, but the most popular rendezvous of all was Bostock’s and Wombwell’s combined menagerie, which was located in Mr. Marriott’s field.

Rushden Echo, 27th August 1909, transcribed by Peter Brown

Higham Ferrers Feast - Mr Thurston’s New Theatre - Scenes of animation have this week been the order of the day at Higham Ferrers, the festivities in connection with the annual feast attracting large numbers of people from all over the county, and the streets of the ancient borough have presented the appearance of a busy London thoroughfare. The crowd in the paddock of the Green Dragon, which is now recognised as the feast ground, baffled description, and on Monday night it seemed as though the whole of the population of the neighbourhood had been packed into the one field. It was practically impossible to get round the field at all except by moving with the stream, any attempt to move in the opposite direction being doomed to failure.

Rushden Echo, 22nd September 1916, transcribed by Kay Collins

Rushden Feast—Mr Charles Thurston, the famous amusement caterer, is to pay us his annual visit for Rushden Feast, and the fun of the fair commences to-morrow (Saturday) at 2.30p.m. The Urban Council have again granted Mr Thurston the use of Spencer Park. A great attraction will be the Scenic Railway, and there will, as usual, be ample provision made by Mr Thurston for pleasure-seekers and frolic-lovers. The Feast will be opened each day at 2.30. The side shows have had to be curtailed through the large number of enlistments, but there will be many attractive features.

The Rushden Echo, 20th September 1968, transcribed by Jim Hollis

Fair is on – despite fears

Rushden feast week gets under way tomorrow afternoon as planned despite the fact that many townspeople, especially schoolchildren, feared the urban council decision to reduce the area made available for the event in Spencer Park would mean its cancellation.

Many children told their parents and talked among themselves at school this week about “the feast being cancelled,” but their fears are completely unfounded.

The feast, which takes the form of a fair and will last throughout next week, opens at two o’clock tomorrow but there will be a reduction in the area it takes up in the park. This, however, will not mean there are fewer attractions; they will just be more compact.

The reason for the “ban” on the fair being stretched across a wide area of the park arose after last year’s event when Rushden United Football Club claimed that it had caused damage to their pitch.

The council decided when they met last December that future lettings of the park for this annual event should include an undertaking that the area used should exclude the football pitch.

This is the pitch nearest to Washbrook Road for there is also another football pitch in the park on the far side, although in past years the fair has not spread far enough across the park to interfere with this.

These terms were eventually agreed by Charles Thurston, who is organising the fair in the park this year.

Mr. C. Carter, who will occupy a site at the fair rented from Mr. Thurston, claimed this week that almost a third of the area they had had in previous years – and he has been coming to Rushden since the last war – has been taken away from the showmen.

After coming up from Clacton during the week taking several hours over the journey because of diversions due to the floods, Mr. Carter hopes the weather will settle and give them a good week in Rushden.

On Wednesday and yesterday they were moving into Spencer Park ready for the opening, helped by tractors because of the soft ground.

Nevertheless, the show goes on despite the showmen’s claims that they will be “very cramped,” and they add that there will be plenty of attractions to make it a feast to remember.

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