News for April 2026 from Rushden Museum is that most of our time was taken up with working on the exhibition, which this year showcases the china and glass ware from our collection. We had a lot to do and always seemed to be working in chaos. We had problems with the museum emails and although our IT man got them working at the beginning of the month it didn’t last and meant that we could neither send nor receive emails. Fortunately, it was all sorted by the end of the month. A few items were catalogued, mostly photographs of Rushden Hall and the Sartoris family from the collection of the late Clive Wood.
Frederick Urban Sartoris (1819-1887)
Mary Ann Sartoris (1817-1913)
This photo of the morning room in Rushden Hall is on display
This photo of the stained glass in the bay window of Rushden Hall is part of the display
We had a committee meeting on 9 April to complete details of the AGM which was held on 22 April at Rushden Hall. The speaker was Mr. Richard Barnwell whose talk was entitled “Barnwell on Bygones or Richard on Rubbish.” The AGM went well but was not well attended, which was unfortunate because the talk was excellent and very entertaining.
Our work-experience student from Isebrook School, Kettering, joined us but has only attended on three Thursdays owing to school holidays and illness. He has added some pages to our touch screen and is working on an article to go on our website doing his own research with the help of his work coach.
These two postcards were added to our touch screen by the student, including details of the card and the messages written on the back.
The carpenter returned the stained glass he had framed for us so we were able to put that on display, but it wasn’t until half way through the month that he put the doors on the cupboard. The metal shelving was then fitted which meant we could pack a lot of boxes away so we could see where we were going. It gave us a lot more room and looked a lot tidier. It also meant we could get on with sorting the activities area we were planning for children.
The archaeological items, which we have on loan from the Northamptonshire Archaeological Resource Centre, didn’t arrive until late afternoon on 30 April so cutting it very fine for our opening on 2 May. It was a late finish that day but apart from a final scoot round with the vacuum cleaner and duster we were ready for opening.
The most popular picture on Facebook during April was the Oakley corner and Wellingborough Road looking towards the town centre. We have almost 700 followers on Facebook. The most popular picture on Instagram was the north end of High Street showing part Stonehurst and the cottages and factory leading up to the corner of Station Road. We have over 1020 followers on Instagram.
Oakley corner and Wellingborough Road
High Street North