Our exhibition for 2025 was opened on 3 May by mayor, David Coleman, assisted by our president, Will Osborne. The weather was kind to us, but as there was such a lot of events going on that day it wasn’t the busiest opening day we have ever had. However, we had a few visitors beside the invited guests and weekends have been reasonably busy since.
Will Osoborne and David Coleman
Some of our first visitors
It was a last-minute thing, but we did have both our touch screens working on the opening day. One has the Hearts and Soles website, and the new one (which was the last-minute thing) shows items from our collection. This is on-going and will be added to all the time. At the moment it’s not the final version but at least it’s working. Below are two cups featured in the “Trophies” presentation.
The Thompson Relay Cup – Rushden Boys’ School
Swimming House Championship Cup – Rushden Secondary School for Boys
We have only had a couple of items donated to the museum during May, one of which is a photograph taken on VE day. This was brought in on the day we opened so was just right to go on our social media pages for the VE day celebrations on 8 May.
Councillor H. Waring, chairman of Rushden Urban District Council, making his speech outside the Council Buildings on VE Day 1945
This photo has been coloured and can be seen on the Love Rushden site
We have not had any of our Thursday meetings during May, partly to give us a break, but also because of other commitments. However, work has gone on in the background and we have also been preparing our entries for the Northamptonshire Heritage Forum Awards which will be held in July.
The most popular photo on Instagram during May was the VE Day photo shown above. The most popular photo was of Harborough Road from the Vic Childs collection.
Our Thursday meetings will start again on 5 June with a committee meeting.