Harry aged 16 - working in London then, he went home to Seaham and got this suit from the Co-op.

I came to Rushden in 1943 and lived at “Peacehaven” 316 Newton Road Rushden.

“Peacehaven” was created because my Father had been sent down from Seaham Harbour during the war to help with the building of Chelveston Aerodrome. My elder brother was in the RAF and he was one of the first to arrive there. My family moved to Rushden in 1941. I worked in London during the war and I decided to visit them in Rushden and then followed that up and I came to Rushden in 1943 to live. I worked for Harry Garner. Three months I was waiting to go into the, as I thought, Army at that time. I was told I was Royal Navy material and was drafted into the Royal Navy. But the interesting part is I became really involved in Newton Bromswold and Court Estate as it was named in those times. Mr. Osborne where we lived was a recluse. He lived in an eight roomed house but he only lived in one room of his house. It was a different building from all the other buildings in Newton Road because the front door was built facing east and the back door facing west because of the dairy they created in those days. There was no water facility. There was no sewerage facility. There was a cess pit right down in the orchard.

Harry and a lady visitor from Seaham Harbour, Durham where the Graham family came from - at the gates of "Peacehaven" in 1943 Mr Osborne owned riding stables opposite No. 316. All the Graham boys helped out there. Michael remembers a big shire was called Captain, a ginger hunter called Biscuit on which he sat when ploughing a field with Mr. Osborne, and a pony called Paddy.

Mr. Osborne, probably an entrepreneur in those days, built all the little bungalows on the left side of Newton Road opposite “Peacehaven,” houses along Avenue Road, and some bungalows in Bedford Road. As I was available I had to cycle and collect all the rents. The fact that there was no water supply was a cause of concern to me and I started making noises at Local Authorities for a water supply.

There was no gas supply so people had electricity. Water was taken from wells round about the house. “Peacehaven” house had two wells. One was at the back door, which was in a chalk lime area, had to be boiled to be drinkable and the rest of the water was in a big well which was the rain water from the house and this was used for washing and things like that. I was in the under 18, London Home Guard, Special Commandos attached to the Guards, when I left London they chased me up as I was classed as a deserter and was ordered to join the local home guard by the War Department. I was sent to Newton Bromswold. Unfortunately they had never received any real equipment and I was trained to use automatic guns in London, as we were protecting the London Area from the imminent invasion. It didn’t materialise but we were prepared for the invasion. I was based in Central London and one of my places was the top of Selfridges. I worked as a sniper at sixteen and seventeen. I trained with the guards and we were sent to train on The Guards assault courses. So coming to Newton Bromswold, a little village in Northamptonshire, was quite a come down.

The unbelievable story is that in 1943 there was an Italian prisoner of war escaped in Huntingdon and he killed a private in the pioneer corps. All the information is in an article in the Rushden Echo and Argus. I was called out to take a duty in the ditches in the area surrounding Newton Bromswold and that was an all night job in the ditches.The prisoner was confronted in Huntingdon by a farmer and his son and shot dead.

The Home Guard were based at Mr. Bletsoe’s big house on the corner and from there I worked part time in that area. I became very attached to Newton Bromswold. My mother was a very Christian person. She worshipped at Newton Bromswold Church and St. Mary’s Church Rushden. We had a Nissen hut for a church at the Court Estate. This was on the road; I can’t remember the name, off Avenue Road leading to a farm. [Higham Park Farm] We built this Nissen hut as a plant from St. Mary’s Church.

The uniform that I came back in from the Navy was used in one of the shows that they put on there. So I was involved in a lot of things. Newton Road and my life in Rushden was always important because I met my wife Megan when I worked at Marriott’s. I came home, and as I had been away for two and a half years I had paid leave from April right through till October, so I helped at “Peacehaven”. I made things, did repairs and helped with the cess pit. I had a lot involvement in the Court Estate Area. It’s always been special. It was a quiet little hamlet area. The ribbon development in that area never materialised because it was frowned upon by the local authority. I’ve always had soft spot for the Court Estate, as we knew it then; the shop on the corner and the post office. I was involved and I have fond memories of that area of Rushden. It’s now has a water supply and all the things that make life good.

Before joining the Royal Navy I worked for Harry Garner, who was a haulage operator, and had a bungalow on Avenue Road. He had a lorry and I worked with him and he used to transport coal, wheat, flour to all the villages in the area: Melchbourne, Riseley, Yelden, Souldrop, Sharnbrook. There was a whole range of villages then. I learnt to drive in his lorry. You could pick up parcels in Rushden High Street and take them out to Sharnbrook, Melchbourne or Court Estate. Anything that was needed that you could get in the Co-op in Rushden. There are many interesting stories about working for Harry Garner. We were given the job of collecting worn boots and shoes for the Forces from the Rushden Station to take them up to Green’s factory in Queen Street; we took lorry loads of old boot and shoes to the factory and they would take off the soles, then make a smaller size. There was a stack of shoes some in pairs and some not and we used to make them all up. Green’s would take them back down to Rushden Station where they were being crated to send off to the Army. We had a great big railway wagon of shoes every week. So I was interested in working for the forces even in that time. I remember when I first started, Harry Garner used to have a coal wagon in the goods yard at the station, which was very important. We used to take coal round to the various houses where we had customers. Carrying a cwt of coal was really something.

Another job we had was to go to Addington every morning and pick up the prisoners of war, Italians mostly, and take them to the different areas. We had a lot of different jobs for the war office in that short period that I worked with Harry Garner.

Harry with Megan in the orchard and a chicken coop c1950. The family kept pigs, ducks and chickens and Michael used to breed rabbits for sale. Brother Matthew was also involved in this: he went to work at Eastfields Farm and eventually owned it.

Of course when I came back he had retired and so I had to go to Marriott’s. I met my Megan there. That was 1947 and we courted for four years and were married in 1952.

That’s my beginning to Rushden. I fell in love with the place and I’ve always been proud of the way that Rushden people just accepted somebody. I’ve been involved in everything in Rushden that you can think of. I’ve played football for Rushden, worked at Marriott’s and was in their cricket team. I did a lot of work for Marriott’s.

I did work on Barnwell Manor for the Duke of Gloucester. Marriotts sent me away to train as a wood machinist. I was away for nine months at Long Eaton. I was sent to Weekley. Most people don’t know this but Weekley is the area where the Royal Timber Yard is. I got to know the Duke of Buccleuch and all the people at the estate there. I had to go and select the timber, oak, for Barnwell Manor. Professor Richardson from Hatfield was a very particular guy who wanted the oak in beautiful condition. That was quite a big job in Barnwell Manor. I wasn’t invited to the opening but my wife was, because she worked in the office at Marriott’s.

Next Marriotts sent me daily to work at Stewartby. They were building 70 houses for the brick works. I had a Nissen hut with a circular saw, 360 degrees. I cut all the rafters, the joists, the bridging between the joists, if you know what bridging is, and in a month I was out of work because I had finished my job. Done all the work for seventy houses in a month.

That’s when I went to the bus company. I went to Northampton looking for work, nothing in Rushden so I went to several firms in Northampton. I bought a Chronicle and Echo and I was reading that on the bus coming back and I saw a job advertised at the bus company. So I went back the next day. I travelled backwards and forwards until they joined forces with the Eastern National Bus Company. It took us right out to Dunstable and Cambridgeshire. It was United Counties Bus Company. It was just a case of getting there. So I used to go down to the bus garage in Newton Road opposite the Library. While at Potters working, I made the doors that used to be the front of bus garage. Sad when they went and pulled them down. I used to get there six o’clock in the morning, biking down from Court Estate, get on the bus which was going to Irthlingborough. Because Irthlingborough's was the first bus to get to Northampton for eight o’clock in the morning.

I made a lot of changes in Derngate Bus Station. I built all the refreshment areas there.

I worked at Whittington and Major in Queen Street for three weeks making coffins. I got this job as a wood machinist because I was a trained qualified wood machinist.

I had been building buses in Northampton, rebuilding buses, double-decker buses from chassis upwards. One double-decker and one coach every month. When they took over Eastern National buses they wanted me to do the same amount of work. I lodged in Northampton and came back and forth to Rushden. Six o’clock in the morning until ten o’clock at night as I went to Night School as well.

I was head hunted by Potter’s in Stanwick and I went there in charge of the wood machine shop and I prepared all the woodwork for all the council houses in the Queen Street Estate, I prepared every door and every window. There is still work that I made in the Council Buildings, if you look at the top of the Library where the arch is boxed in. That was quite a challenge.

I had a circular saw, 360 degrees, in Potter’s shed in Stanwick and I had to cut all the rafters for houses in Raunds and Rushden.

So there are a great number of reasons for being in Rushden. I was treasurer for Rushden Football Club. I took it over in 1962 I think. I was there and we had no road in Hayden Road. There was a small section between Cromwell Road and Short Stocks. Nobody wanted to do anything about it. As the treasurer of Rushden Football Club when I took over, there was no book work so I created the whole thing. I talked to Rushden Urban District Council about the road. We had lots of ding dong battles but I did threaten the clerk at Rushden Council with a letter to the House of Commons. This is what people don’t understand; you can write to the House of Commons as a citizen about an issue and somebody will pick it up. I told Mr. Crowdy the clerk that this is what I was going to do. It was put on the agenda and four years later we had Hayden Road. The Denton Twins of Rushden, many people don’t know, created Rushden Sports Ltd. The club house is there because I built a Nissen hut there. I made improvements to the ground, got the floodlights, road and the club house done. I was on the County Council at that time.

I lost the election in 1977. Rushden Town football club, in the three years that I had been away, were fifty thousand pounds in debt. Alec Coggins, of Covallen, came to me, he was the president. He found I had lost the election and asked would I come back. They were all that money in debt. The guy who took over hadn’t paid V.A.T. and hadn’t paid the players tax. All the players were semi-professional and I did all the tax cards. I sat on Friday evening doing tax cards. Amazing things I did, I just did it.

So I’ve got the legacy of Rushden and Higham football club. They had a lot of money Rushden Town because I had organised a scheme for funding the club. They had lottery tickets as a part of the scheme. I sat down with Mr. Curtis of High Street South who printed the tickets. We sold tickets for a lucky draw every month. We had a draw every day in the town. I got advertisers to provide funding for the programmes and the Lucky Draw tickets. I always got somebody to pay for the administration. Everything was done and even when the Rushden Urban District Council wanted to build houses in Birch Road, they sent the bill to the Football Club to say that we had to build a screen because the football was going over to the new houses. I just revoked that and said we were here first and you didn’t speak to us, so it is your responsibility to protect houses from footballs going over, which is why the big screens are there.

So that was my early start in Rushden.

Harry Graham MBE