Feast Week - 1893

Extract from Northampton Mercury Friday 1st September 1893

The villagers of Burton Latimer are this week keeping their annual feast, and there are signs (as there are in most places which like Burton, are throwing off their rural simplicity and putting on a more business-like appearance) that as a time for general holidaying the festival is dying out, still many of the inhabitants seize upon it as a favourable opportunity for recreation, either at the seaside, or more quietly, at home.

There is always an influx of visitors from the neighbouring villages on the Sunday, and this year proved no exception to the rule, for as the day proceeded the streets became quite busy with people and the innkeepers did a good trade. There was a large crowd at the Cross in the afternoon to hear a concert by the Town Band, and a much larger one in the evening, when the Britannia Band rendered a splendid programme; whilst the various places of worship had big congregations.

At the Baptist Chapel the harvest festival was celebrated, when the interior was prettily decorated with flowers, fruit, and vegetables, and in the afternoon there was a flower service, at which the congregation brought contributions of flowers, intended to be sent subsequently to the Kettering Workhouse and the Northampton Infirmary. Collections were made during the day on behalf of the Northampton Infirmary and the Hunstanton Convalescent House.

At the Parish Church the evening service was choral and the sacred edifice was well filled.

On Monday the real fun of the feast opened, for then it was that the stalls, roundabouts, shooting galleries, etc, located in a field in the centre of the village, opened, and were the source of attraction to large crowds of people in the evening, when the influx of visitors was again considerable. During the day there was a cricket match in the Hall field, whilst in the Rectory grounds there was, as is customary on Feast Monday, a bazaar, at which all kinds of articles, old and new, were on sale. A refreshment stall was also provided, whilst a band played selections as well as for dancing, and in the evening the grounds, which were prettily set out with flags, etc, were illuminated with hundreds of coloured lamps.