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Baht ‘at…
Ilkley is one of the
branches of the Bank’s Craven District, and one which when the Online Archive
began, we were repeatedly asked to feature. It seems that even today the
Craven District holds that certain Yorkshire magic for a lot of people.
Ilkley is not only known for this quirky bank building, it is also the home
of the song “On Ilkla Moor Baht ‘at”, know the world over and even parodied
as the theme tune to Yorkshire Television. Our first feature is from Martins
Bank Magazine’s one and only visit to Ilkley which took place Thursday 27
October 1949, and then we attend the retirement of Mr Spensley, Manager from
1934 until 1960…
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In Service: 1880 until 9 October 1970
Image
© Barclays Ref: 0030-1426
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 The
week beginning October 23rd did not seem a very auspicious week to have
chosen for a visit to Ilkley. But after four days of storm and tempest
October 27th was one of the most perfect days of the year. The tang of the
first frost was in the air, the skies were blue and the autumn sunshine on
the bracken on the moors made a picture of loveliness not easily to be
forgotten. Mr. Spensley was rather
sensitive about our choice of the picture of his staff. It is hard to realise
that they are standing only ten seconds' walk from the front door of the
branch and he felt that readers might get the wrong impression.
We comforted him by reminding him that the Analysis of Routine
Work was all that was likely to influence his superiors at Head Office. The fact
that the work of our Ilkley staff is performed in sylvan surroundings is
their good fortune and nobody else's business! Mr. Spensley entered the Bank in 1921 at
Skipton and went to Head Office Inspection Department in 1929. During the
last year of his stay in Liverpool, 1933-34, he was Assistant Secretary of
the Liverpool and District Bankers' Institute. He was appointed Manager at
Ilkley in 1934. W. T. Ward is his second
man. He entered the service at Barrow in 1913, being transferred to Ambleside
the following year. From 1915 to 1919 he served with H.M. Forces and was in
action in France from Arras up to the Salient. On demobilisation he went to
Penrith, going to Otley in 1927. He has been at Ilkley since 1934.
 H.
S. Brearley joined the Staff at Otley in 1941. From 1943 to 1946 he served
with the Fleet Air Arm on Atlantic Convoy and later in Ceylon. He returned to
Otley in 1946 and was transferred to Ilkley last December. Miss M. F. Bowling is the only girl on the Staff, which
she joined at Ilkley in 1941. The branch
itself is nicely situated on the main street; it must be one of the very few
branches with the name of the Craven Bank Ltd., still displayed on the
frosted windows, and has the additional peculiarity of being under Head
Office control though inspected from Leeds.
For two years during the war a part of
Head Office Trustee Department was evacuated to Ilkley and occupied the upper
floors of our building, swelling our Staff in the town from its normal four
to nearly thirty. In the late afternoon Mr. Spensley drove us over to Bolton
Abbey and through some of the lovely dale country. In the evening we had
dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Spensley and Mrs. Bell and Barbara, who was on our
staff during the war until she joined the A.T.S. She now has a flourishing
private practice in physiotherapy in Ilkley and is also physiotherapist to
the local hospital. Readers will doubtless remember the reference we made to
Barbara Bell on page 16 of the Winter 1947 issue and will be glad to know
that her health has improved, while her courage and fortitude are, as ever,
matchless. Our impressions of Ilkley
were wholly pleasant ones and the feeling of invigoration and refreshment we
received from our visit there was not wholly due to the excellent quality of
the moorland air.
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The Branch building at Ilkley, although occupying
a corner spot, actually opens only onto The Grove. It is more common for a
bank to take advantage of the double aspect of a corner branch by having
the entrance on the diagonal. This gives the illusion of being in two
streets at the same time. We are
fortunate to have an image of Ilkley with its Barclays branding. We
were also delighted to receive an image from 2022 – taken by friend of the
Archive Stephen Walker - showing the
building still open as a branch of Santander Bank. The name of Barclays was
not on the building for long as 7 The Grove Closed in 1970 and after some
temporary use in February 1971 to help cope with decimalisation, was closed
permanently soon after.
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Image
© Barclays Ref: 0030-1426
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Image
© Barclays Ref: 0030-1426
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Image
© Martins Bank Archive Collections – Stephen Walker
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Goodbye, Mr Spensley…
  On March
31, Mr J H Spensley retired from the management of Ilkley Branch, a position he
had held for more than twenty-five years.
On the previous evening, a cocktail party at Mr Spensley’s home was
attended by members and former members of the staff of the Branch, and their
wives and husbands, and on the afternoon of March 31, at a farewell party at
the Branch, in addition to the above, there were also present Mr G H M
Clayton, Liverpool District Superintendent of Branches, Mr John Mashiter,
Manager, Skipton, and two former members of the staff of Leeds City Office,
both now retired and resident in Ilkley.
Mr Clayton, representing Mr Jopling, Liverpool District General
Manager, made reference to his long standing association with Mr Spensley,
and with many former colleagues with whom they had both worked at Head Office
in the Department which has now become Liverpool District Office, before Mr
Spensley was appointed Manager at Ilkley at the then exceptionally early age
of thirty. He then covneyed the good
wishes of the Head Office Management for a long and happy retirement. Mr N Milner made the presentation of a
portable typewriter and a cheque (which Mr Spensley proposes to apply towards
the purchase of a portable radio set) on behalf of his colleagues and a
number of customers. Mrs Spensley, who
with her two daughters, had presided over tea, was presented with a bouquet
by Mrs David Fryer (until recently Miss Adrienne Cowling). Mr Spensley entered the service of the Bank
in 1921 at Skipton. In 1929 he became a
member of Head Office inspection Department, and his appointment as Manager at
Ilkley came in 1934.
Ilkley at War…
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