Page 56 - Hindsight Issue 26 April 2020

HeRItAge
Installed in the Museum, they have proved popular with children who never seem to tire from winding the handles and switches, and they have also become a talking point for adults.
Daventry Railway Station Lamp Post
Daventry railway station was built in 1888 and demolished in the late 1950s. We have had an excellent model of the station on display in the museum for many years. nothing from the station was known to have survived except for the remains of a goods crane on the side of south Way.
Quite out of the blue we were contacted
by a gentleman from the nearby village
of Woodford Halse who said that he
had a lamp post from Daventry station
in his front garden. He explained he
was moving house and the new owner
did not want the lamp post so did we
want it for the museum? We said that
we would very much like to have it and
so a team of volunteers went to the house bringing it back hanging out of an estate car! After de-rusting and painting, the lamp post now stands proudly at the foot of the museum stair case. It is now lit by electricity, having been rewired from the original gas burner.
Reginald Foort’s Piano
Reginald Foort was a much celebrated organist of the 1930s, 40s and 50s. He was a ‘pop star’ of his time making and selling many records and playing regularly on the BBC. He even had a travelling theatre organ that was carried around the country on five large trucks. It could be set up at various venues and came to northampton in 1939.
Born in Daventry in 1893 and growing up in his parent’s music shop in the High street, Reginald Foort became an accomplished pianist during the 1920s before going on to his organ playing career. A few years ago a descendant of Reginald’s wife contacted us to say he had a piano belonging to the musician that bore his name. He was moving house and they had no room for the instrument.
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A lamp post from Daventry railway station was donated to the museum after standing as an ornament in someone’s front garden for a number of years