People in No Hurry to Go Away

Rushden people are in no hurry to get away to the seaside this year, or so it would appear from the number of bookings on the majority of coaches and trains running from the town tomorrow morning.

One local travel agency is two months behind last year in getting one of its most popular outings – to Yarmouth – fully booked. The firm, York Bros. stopped taking bookings for this service on Monday this week. Last year it could accept no more bookings for Yarmouth after June.

The firm sends about thirty coaches to the resort from the various branches in the area, including Wellingborough.

It has several other bookings for coaches, but these have been made through various organisations and are to head for such resorts as Margate, Ramsgate, Lowestoft and Felixstowe.

A spokesman told the “Echo”: “Bookings have been coming in slowly and the coaches have been getting booked up steadily.”

Trains

At Rushden railway station, normally closed for passengers, three special trains will be running for the holiday period, but booking for them has not been brisk. Only a hundred people from the area have asked for places on the train to Blackpool, which is normally the most popular.

The train leaves the station at 1.55 a.m. followed by the London and Scarborough trains at 4.18 and 6.30 in the morning.

One Rushden taxi firm, however, is doing brisk business tomorrow morning. A team of five drivers will work in shifts throughout the night to take local holidaymakers to railway stations and coach stops in the area.

Luggage

One man said he believed that there would be a lot more luggage to carry for the holidaymakers this year, as several of those who had made bookings with the firm were going abroad, and would need to take more.

Johnson’s Motors, Rushden, is one coach firm which is doing brisk business in bookings this year.

Their coaches to Yarmouth, Blackpool and Margate are fully booked. Five coaches belonging to the firm will leave Rushden tomorrow morning. “Booking has been quicker for us this year,” said a spokesman.

Self-Drive

Another Rushden garage, Hamblins, which hires out self-drive cars, had 95 per cent of these cars booked four or five months ago.

Some customers even booked the cars for this year last year – after their August holidays, 1961.

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The Rushden Echo, 10th August 1962

Quiet towns

Over the weekend Rushden and Higham Ferrers have been particularly quiet, with many residents away on holiday and most of the streets all but deserted.

Numerous coaches have been leaving the area on excursions and one firm has had as many as 45 coaches in use to accommodate the volume of passengers.

The general exodus began in the early hours of Saturday morning, when several hundred Rushden and Higham people left by train from Rushden station for Scarborough, London and Blackpool.

Rushden Echo 7^th August 1964

More and more off to the Continent

MORE people than ever before from Rushden and Higham Ferrers have either gone, or will be going within the next few days, to the Continent for their holiday this year.

Spain, Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece and Sardinia will all benefit from the carefree holiday spirit of people from the two towns.

This is not to say that everyone is going so far afield for their annual holiday. Far from it. Rushden Co-operative Society Travel Agency reports that the Channel Islands remain a favourite this year and they also had bookings for Ireland and Scotland.

Most of those going to Scotland have preferred to join a coach tour rather than book up at one resort.

Holiday makers will not be content to spare much in enjoying themselves this year, for banks and the co-op agency have issued more foreign money than in 1963.

The special Blackpool train left Rushden station just after six last Saturday morning. The difficulty of getting straight-through trains to Yarmouth and Ipswich has made the East Coast resorts less popular this year.

York Bros. Ltd., who run daily excursion coach tours from Rushden, have made many bookings from the stay-at-homes, who prefer the odd day out to a long holiday sway from home.

Excursions

Yarmouth, Skegness, the Malvern Hills and nearer home, Woburn Abbey and Rockingham Forest, are all included in their list of excursions, and up to three coaches at a time have been laid on to take all the bookings.

The firm also does Continental holiday bookings. "These are definitely going better than last year, so far we have only the package holiday bookings to deal with," said a spokesman.

"We have not had many cross-channel bookings. Most people prefer to go by air which is not much more expensive on a package booking."

The "Echo" was interested to find out whether people were using facilities offered at Sywell by Derby Aviation. It found that the number of bookings from there was "practically negligible," most people preferring to go to Luton.

It is mainly people in the boot and shoe, leather and engineering trades who take advantage of the two weeks August holiday in Rushden and Higham Ferrers. These represent 75 per cent of the working population of the two towns.