When Rushden Feast first started it was a great event in the town. The factories would close for the week, and families would get together so a lot of houses were full of visitors, coming from the surrounding towns and villages. The Moor Road School Log Book entry for 26th September 1895 shows that the school was closed on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon as it was Feast Week. Traditionally the feast started on the Saturday following the 19 September.
Charles Thurston first held the feast on ground opposite the Queen Victoria Hotel, but once Spencer Park was opened in 1913 he applied to the council to hold the feast there. The Bowls Club played in Spencer Park and in 1922 Mr. Thurston provided a cup to be presented annually to winners of a competition.
In September 1927 the Rushden Echo reported that the final of the Thurston Bowls Cup attracted a large audience to the Spencer Park greens on Friday 2 September. The finalists were Mr. J. Panter and Mr. R. Twelvetree, and the match resulted in a win for the former by 22 shots to 19. The referee was Mr. G. W. Coles, J.P. Mr. Panter thus won the Thurston Cup, the most coveted singles trophy of the Spencer Park Club, for the second time in succession. He went on to win again in 1928 and in 1931.
The board showing Mr. J. Panter – the winner in 1926, 1927, 1928 and 1931
The Thurston Cup
In 1927 the Feast was to open on the 24 September and promised to have some of the old favourite attractions and many novelties, including beautiful waterfalls with wonderful illuminations, the great scenic railway, and the colossal peacocks.
The Golden Peacocks still a favourite in 1929
Unfortunately for the school children, they were only to get one day’s holiday for the Feast in 1927, but they were to have two days’ holiday, called a mid-term holiday, early in November.