George Winters, a tailor born in 1841 at Arlesey BDF, and his wife Ann, born Kingsthorpe NTH, were living in Rushden in 1891, and their son George Henry Winters was born at Hitchin HRT in 1875, and now aged 17 was working as a clicker in Rushden.

George died in 1907 and was buried in Rushden Cemetery Grave C827 on 28th January 1907.

George Henry Winters was living with Arthur J Watts, who was married to his sister Emily, in 1901. Arthur and George were both employers making mineral water, and Nellie Billingham was a visitor there, living on her own means.

Nellie Billingham was born in 1877 in Rushden, daughter of Joseph and Susanna Billingham, and at 15 she was a Pupil Teacher at the Board School in 1891.

George was working for a mineral water manufacturing company in Bury St Edmunds when their two children were born. They lived at 1 Westgate Street. Kathleen Mary was born in 1902, and Donald George in 1904.

Donald George Winters was born on June 9^th 1904 at Bury St Edmunds.

The family moved to Rushden in the early 1920s, and Don worked for his uncle William Holt at Higham Park Farm.

After his marriage to Florence May White (born 10^th April 1899) in 1929, the wage for labouring was insufficient for a mortgage, so Don decided to get a higher paid job. (Eventually they bought a house at 44 Puvis Road.)

The building shortly before demolition

He went to work at a small factory in Alfred Street. The building was a former stable for John Cave, whose factory was in the High Street, had burnt down in 1901. The stable block remained and is where Amos Cave started a small company. Following Amos' death in 1923 it was under the charge of Reg Cave, his son.

The office, formerly the saddle room, was at the top of the yard, with a large open workshop on the ground floor of the rest of the building. Above the office was the old hay loft.

There were press knives of all sizes, presses, a skiver, and punches. A small stove stood in the centre with a kettle, and they would burn the off-cuts along with the coke or bits of wood, nothing wasted. A large tank at the end of the room was for soaking the washers overnight in a waterproofing solution.

Large off-cuts of leather were bought from the local factories and some suede. Suede needed to be ironed before it was used, and later Don would take this home for his daughter Marion to iron, and so earn her pocket money!

Five presses were driven by overhead belts and tap washers were punched out of the leather. If it was too thick it would be passed through the skiver or strimmer first. That was a very dusty job, long before health safety.

The washers were then threaded onto string, counted into dozens for each order, and then hung in the tank overnight, and next day sent off to the complete the order.

Other small items such as belts were also made by the company. At sometime the main company had moved to 23 York Road, but probably not until at least 1980.

A second scout troop was started in 1924 and they met behind South End School. Scoutmaster "Feppy" Preston and his assistant, Ben Houghton, helped the group to start but it was soon under the charge of by Nelson Barnwell, with his assistant Don Winters, in 1924. Don took over in 1926 and remained leader until 1970.

Don had become friends with Bill Cave who owned the business, and he too was a scout. When Don took over the business, he took on William (Bill) Knott, another scout, to work alongside him, and Bill eventually married Don’s daughter Marion in 1952.

In 1941 Mrs Winters started a third Guide Group at Alfred Street School.

On March 6^th 1942 Don enlisted to serve as a Trooper with the R.A.C.

Florence died in 1970. Early in 1977 Don died, and later that year his son-in-law Bill Knott also died.