In January 1879 the 38th annual meeting of the Rushden Temperance Society was held in the Temperance Hall. Mr. David Darnell presided in the absence of the Rev. R. E. Bradfield, and amongst the large number attending were several of the founders of the society. After the business was completed Mr. Claridge said he hoped a committee would be formed to carry out the Temperance Hotel scheme. There followed some discussion with regard to the Band of Hope relations with the society, after which the meeting was terminated.
Band of Hope crockery from the Rushden Mission Hall
This poster seems to have been printed on the back of something else, but is inviting interested people to a meeting in the Vestry Hall on the evening of May 12 1880 “to consider the advisability of forming a Limited Liability Company for building a Coffee Public House at Rushden.”
It was decided to go ahead with the project and to elect a committee to take steps towards forming a limited liability company for carrying out the scheme.
The company was formed and the first ordinary meeting was held in August 1880 at the Infant School near the Rectory. The necessary funds were subscribed to justify the start of work and the foundation stone was laid in May 1881.
At the stone laying a time capsule containing documents connected with the company and an assortment of newspapers and coins was buried.
The opening of the Coffee House and Public Hall took place in February, 1882. The land had been purchased for £385 and the old buildings which stood on the site were sold for £27 10s and pulled down.
The work was carried out by Mr. Daniel Ireson of Northampton under the direction and to the design of the architect, Mr. Abraham Hart at a cost of about £2,000. The plumbing was done by Mr. Spencer of Rushden, and the carpentry work by Mr. Walter Moore of Rushden. Less than a year later Mr. Moore was badly injured when a tree, which he and a young lad were loading on to a carriage, fell onto his legs. One leg had to be amputated and in less than a week he had died.
Behind the hotel was the Public Hall, which occupied a special place in Rushden’s history because before the cinema was established it provided entertainment for the town which included touring companies, spectacular novelties, amateur plays and operatic performances. After WWI the Public Hall became a billiard hall, until the Waverley Hotel directors modernised the interior and made it possible to be used for dinner dances and similar events. It closed in the spring of 1959 and was demolished to make way for the Fine Fare supermarket.
This medal belonged to Mr. Frederick Abbott