Memories of Tennyson Road Nursery

Believed to be 1946

Due to the home I was born in, in Roberts Street, Rushden, being bombed on 19^th November 1940, I went to live for a time with an aunt, uncle and cousin in Rose Avenue. I went to Tennyson Road Nursery in the early 1940s.

In the afternoons we had to have a sleep on wooden framed and canvas beds. If we wanted an egg at mealtimes we had to take our own. Like most other people, we kept hens; some eggs were preserved in isinglass.

My aunt used to clean at the nursery and was given bacon rind to take home for the hens. I always offered to carry this and would eat the crunchy bits!

I remember a lady at the nursery who was dressed similarly to a matron/nurse. She would bath us in a big sink; we called her “nan” and she was very nice.

I believe the late Mrs Espin (Ivor’s wife) also worked there.

Extract from Northamptonshire County Council Annual Reports of the Medical Officer of Health

A Wartime Nursery — Highfield Nursery Centre, Tennyson Road, was opened on 21st July 1942 with provision for 40 children. In 1944 there was an average of 26 children over the year. During 1946 the average had risen to 37. It closed December 1946.