11-78-60 Pendleton

Not quite a century…

Pendleton Branch is opened in 1873 by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank, and comes into Martins’ ownership in 1928. We are not quite sure at this stage whether or not the building shown above is the original, as it would seem a little too modern for the late 1800s. However, in the spirit of the best bank clerks everywhere, we will find out and let you know! A banking service is offered at Pendleton for ninety-eight years, Barclays closes the office in 1971, some sixteen months after having acquired it in the Martins merger.

In Service: 1873 until 23 April 1971

Image © Barclays Ref 0030-2245

There are no recorded visits to Pendleton by Martins Bank Magazine, but our feature below concerns the public service of a member of the staff, Miss Linda Gordon…

Images © Barclays Ref 0030-2245

King George VI Leadership Course

In September 1960, Miss Lynda J. Gordon, of the Pendleton branch staff, is selected to attend the King George VI Leadership Course at Buttermere as an Acting Leading Cadet in the Manchester Unit of the Girls' Nautical Training Corps. The following are her impressions of the experience…

1961 01 MBM.jpg 1961 Miss Lynda J Gordon Staff MBM-Sp61P21.jpg The centre for the Course was at Hassness House, Buttermere, Cumberland, a Guest House belonging to the Ramblers Association. It was situated by the edge of Buttermere lake and it was really quite beautiful. Unfortunately, we spent little time there for the course was very strenuous and most of the time we were out hiking. We were given a map, told where to go and we were left to decide our own route. Two nights we spent in Youth Hostels, the first at Borrowdale and the other at Keswick. Another two nights we spent under canvas but the weather rather spoilt it as it rained for most of the two days. On the Tuesday of the first week we visited Silloth Royal Air Force Station where we went into the control tower and meteorological office and I found it most fascinating. During the afternoon each of us had a flight in a three-seater Auster plane and I was thrilled when the pilot allowed me to take over the control stick and rudder pedals and steer the plane. Some of the girls did not enjoy the flight very much as the weather was rather bad but I would have liked very much to have gone up again.

It wasn't with much enthusiasm that I got up on the day we were to go rock climbing and when I saw the rock we were going to climb it didn't make me feel any more confident. It was about a hundred feet high and about twenty degrees off vertical. In actual fact there was no need for me to have worried as we were tied to the person above us and we had two experienced rock climbers to supervise. After I had climbed a few feet all my nervousness vanished and I quite enjoyed it. The feeling of achievement and the view I saw on reaching the top was worth all the qualms I had had. The less strenuous parts of the Course were those concerned with mask and puppetry making under the instruction of Mr. Morris, a sculptor from Weymouth. Altogether we spent two whole days and a further evening doing this. We succeeded in making and painting a mask and taking down all the notes concerning the making of marionettes. The evenings were spent in attending various lectures, the first one being about the Lakeland Poets and we saw some colour slides of their homes and the places they had written about. Another evening the Mountain Rescue Team gave us a lecture and demonstration of First Aid. We also had an introductory talk on rock climbing, mask making and puppet theatres. One morning we had a talk on public speaking after which we all had to speak for about three minutes on any subject we wished. On the last day Lady Cuthbert, chairman of the National Association of Training Corps for Girls, came to close the Course and afterwards we discussed with her whether or not the Course had been a success and whether we had gained anything from it. I think everyone had enjoyed it and thought that it had given them more confidence to use their own initiative for both the work in their units and in their daily jobs.



*Mr G Allen* *On the Staff* *1946 to 1948*	*Mr E A Collins* *Manager* *1949*	*Mr C K Lightbown* *On the Staff* *1959 to 1964*	*Mr F Sharples* *Joined the Bank Here* *1952 to 1955*	*Miss Lynda J Gordon* *On the Staff* *1961*	*Mr F Hartley* *On the Staff* *1964*



*Mr P J Grey* *On the Staff* *1964 to 1966*	*Mr G V M Earles* *On the Staff* *1965 to 1968*