Rushden Research Group: Townswomen’s Guild

Townswomen’s Guild

Rushden Echo, 27th February 1948, transcribed by Kay Collins

New Guild has Great Send-off

Rushden has a Townswomen’s Guild. The ladies did not hesitate a moment at Tuesday’s inaugural meeting: 75 put their names down as founder members of the branch; 60 paid their subscriptions on the dot.

Practically all the women’s organisations were represented and it was claimed as the most successful meeting of its kind held for many years.

The only male participant was Coun. A. H. Bailey (chairman of Rushden Urban District Council), who presided. “I feel we ought to give him a medal for being a very brave man”, said Coun. Mrs. O. A. H. Muxlow. “I feel sorry that I can’t join your Guild”, he relied.

In his opening remarks, Coun. Bailey said: “This is the first time I have addressed a meeting composed entirely of women. I am completely at your mercy, but I am not nervous when I think of all that the women have been doing for our homes and families and are still doing. I can say how greatly we men appreciate what you are doing for us”.

Comradeship

Objects and organisations of the Guild were explained by Mrs. M. U. Underhill, of Birmingham, who affirmed that it was non-sectarian and non-political. “We do stress that” she said, “or we want to establish a common meeting ground where women can get together in fellowship and comradeship as they did in the war”. The Townswomen’s Guild, she said, was similar to the Women’s Institute, but where the latter catered for the countrywomen, the Guild catered for places with a population of over 4,000. It was recognised by the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Education from whom grants were received and who permitted the use of school halls for meetings.

Meetings were held once a month and there was a speaker, demonstrator or lecturer. These had always been chosen by the members themselves. After that there was always a social half hours. Some Guilds had drama and civic sections and arrangements could be made for glove and handbag making, cooking and millinery sessions if the members wanted them.

“Housewives do not realise how much a local council dominates the home”, she added. “But every word that the councillors say at a meeting does dominate the home in one way or another”.

By civic session they could learn about local affairs from all sides until they were able to discriminate. Then they would be able to elect the perfect council.

The Guild wanted to get members to discuss things together and to hear about things from experts. If they did that they would really know what they were talking about. If they knew that they had got the truth, they could talk about a thing with confidence.

The Townswomen’s Guild was an organisation to which townspeople could go when they wanted help in an emergency. They wanted to be useful to the town and the townspeople wanted to be able to go to the Guild if they wanted help in any way. In the event of another war they could form the nucleus for organisations such as the W.V.S. and the Red Cross.

The proposition to form a branch was made by Mrs. H. W. Ellis and was seconded by Mrs. M. Merriman.

Rushden Echo, 15th December 1972, transcribed by Kay Collins

Split on Cinema

Plans to turn Rushden's cinema into a supermarket on the ground floor have met with disgust from the Townswomen's Guild.

More than 100 members agreed at their meeting that the Ritz could be put to a far better use.

The vice-chairman, Mrs Doreen Timson, said they realised the cinema had to be sold. "We are totally against the idea of a supermarket. It can be put to a much better use than this", she said.

And the Guild have written to Rushden Urban Council expressing their views on the cinema's future.

Taken from Records now deposited at Rushden Museum, 2009

St Crispin Townswomens Guild — The History

The object of a Townswomen's Guild is to advance the education of women, irrespective of race, creed and party so as to enable them to make the best contribution toward the common good, and to enjoy themselves in friendship at the same time. There are two Guilds in Rushden at present, one of which is St. Crispin Townswomen's Guild which is part of the Nene Valley Federation of Guilds. St. Crispin's came into existence in 1948 at a meeting in a classroom at Alfred Street School, and it began to hold regular meetings in 1949. There were about 100 members to begin with and a long waiting list. Because of this, in 1949 the Guild members decided to separate and thus the Central Guild was formed. The first President of the St. Crispin's Guild was Councillor Mrs. Muxlow, with Dr.Pickard as Vice-president. Right from the beginning there were several different activity groups within the Guild. There was a Handicraft group, Drama group and a Civics group for local information and education. They had a choir and even an Old Tyme Dancing group which I understand was held in an Alfred Street schoolroom. Over the years most of these groups have faded out due to age and health problems, but the Civics Group has now become the Social Studies Group and is still very popular.

Until recently the Guild meetings have been held in the Community Room of the local Salvation Army. Many Guilds are able to raise a great deal of money for various charities but as St Crispin Guild meets in the Salvation Army room we are unable to hold raffles etc. there, so have had to find other means, such as faith teas, and sales of harvest goods to raise money to assist the needy.

Over the years the T.G. members have enjoyed so many interesting outings and holidays, actually as far as Russia, usually organised by Joy Case. During latter years most of the holidays have been in the British Isles and have still been organised by Joy Case, but so many ladies have memories of happy times in Paris, in Italy and Spain, in fact so many places in Europe have been visited by St. Crispin T.G. members over the years.

The most important meeting of the T.G. year is the annual National Council Meeting, often held in June in the Royal Albert Hall, London, when our Patron the Princess Royal is present. Each Guild is represented and hundreds of ladies gather to discuss and vote on national problems. Each Guild Federation has its own banner and each year one fortunate lady finds she is honoured to carry the banner for her own area. It is a very awe-inspiring sight to see all the different areas of the United Kingdom represented and the ladies from each Federation stand to acknowledge their presence when their own banner is called.

Unfortunately at the beginning of this year St. Crispin's Guild was obliged to close but the spirit of friendship and fellowship of many of the ladies has remained and will continue for a long time.

Note added at end:- "At the beginning of 2004 St. Crispin's Guild was obliged to close but the spirit of Friendship and fellowship of many of the ladies has remained and will continue for a long time."

This was stated at the time of the Townswomen's Guild's closure and as a result, the "St. Crispin Ladies" group has been formed. Many of the members are ex-Townswomen, and with extra ladies having joined us we hope that the spirit of TG will continue in our town for many years.