When they planned the Rushden Athletic Club Jubilee celebrations which was held on Tuesday, officials turned over the pages of the first minute book to comb them for the names of elderly members. One “pioneer” told another until practically every living founder had been contacted.

And so the old-timers got the freedom of the club on Tuesday. “We are hoping you are going to have the best evening of your lives”, the club president, Mr. F. Spencer told them as he offered them everything “on the house”.

It was exclusively an old-timers’ evening – only the club officials were present to convey the regards of the younger generations.

The President, when proposing a toast to the founder members, commented that the club was something to be proud of. It had started with a £4,000 overdraft when beer was a penny a pint and gin 1½d. a glass. He could not see how the founders expected to pay their way, but they were men of courage and men of foresight.

In spite of this they had started the Blind and Crippled Fund and organised treats for children. “It was something to look forward to in those days”, he said, “if you were going to a tea where you could get a piece of cake one a year”.

Misunderstood

They now had a club which not only they could be proud of, but that everyone who went into it could be proud of. He could tell them that they had one of the best clubs in the district, and that they had over 1,200 members.

Club life was very often misunderstood. In 1947 the club had raised £163 for the Benevolent Fund, £23 for the Rushden Home Hospital, £46 for the Convalescent Home Fund, £121 for the Aged Members’ Fund, £250 for the Children’s Outing Fund, £45 for the Hinwick Home for Crippled Boys, and £7 for the Rushden House Sanatorium; a total of £658.

For the founder members, Mr. Ernest Knibbs, aged 78, set out to give a “little idea” of how things worked out in the old days. There were 40 or 50 members when they decided to form the club in 1897, he said, the time when they were just beginning cycle racing and flat racing.

They had no money at that time, so decided to have 2s. 6d. shares. First they met at the Oakley Arms, and then went to John Street. The present club opened in 1898, when they had about 600 or 700 members.

The original building, three stories high, would have cost £3,000, so they cut out the middle floor. In spite of this they ended up owing the bank £3,000.

In 1911 they had another part of the building opened, and had to borrow some more money. “We had some ups and downs”, he ended.

A Pioneer

Mr. E. G. Roberts, secretary of the local branch of the Club and Institutes’ Union, also claimed honours as a ‘pioneer’; when he proposed “The Success of the Athletic Club”, he had, he said, been engaged in club life for 49 years.

He told of the origin of the club movement. “It is the old members we must be proud of”, he added, “for if it were not for them we could not be here today”.

Replying, the secretary of the club, Mr. F. G. Adams, commented on the old minute book, which he said, showed that the takings for the first week were £1. 13s. 2d. After one or two weeks it rose to £4.