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SPRING/SUMMER 2017 NEWSLETTER |
AUTUMN/WINTER 2017 NEWSLETTER |
SPRING/SUMMER 2018 NEWSLETTER |
AUTUMN/WINTER 2018 NEWSLETTER |
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On 1 November 1968 Martins Bank Limited became one of the
Barclays Group of Companies – a status maintained until close of Business on
Friday 12 December 1969. The following Monday, 730 branches of the bank
opened their doors under the name of Barclays. As we find ourselves in
another year tinged with the sadness of
the closure of almost 20 former Martins Bank Branches, we really
appreciate the support of our ever increasing band of loyal visitors
and contributors. There are now fewer
than 100 former Branches of Martins Bank still open, and to mark their
passing, our Branch Watch feature now has a separate page featuring
details of THE LAST 100 BRANCHES. Our most recent news stories are shown below, and you can
catch up with some previous stories in-depth, by downloading our half-yearly
Newsletters (see above). Don’t forget to visit our sister site - Lewis’s Bank
Archive - which tells the story of Britain’s department store bank for the
nine years that it was a subsidiary of Martins Bank. Click HERE to visit the Lewis’s Bank
Archive web site (opens in a new window).
ANOTHER first for Martins Bank! Considering that in terms of
size, Martins was always regarded as being in the “little six” of Britain’s
eleven 1960s clearing banks, it brought about an astonishing number of
FIRSTS, the effects of which can still be felt today. From being first to
introduce bi-lingual cheque for Welsh speaking customers, to choosing and
adopting first the methods for the compuerisation of cheques which having
lasted fifty years are only just about to be superceded by a new system in 2018. You can read about
Martins Bank’s Firsts on our special feature page, but here is another one
showing an early commitment to the provision of facilities for disabled
staff.
Martins
Bank becomes the first bank to adapt its telephone answering equipment for
use by a blind telephonist, when its rebuilt branch at 20 Fawcett Street
Sunderland re-opens on 22 February 1965. Martins Bank Magazine
publishes the following short piece in its “News from the Districts” section…
Sunderland branch occupied their modernised
premises on February 22nd and in the new office is a PABX No 1
Telephone Installation, specially adapted for use by a blind operator, Mr J.
Carr.
The Blind Persons Resettlement Officer of the local
Ministry of Labour office says that so far as he is aware this is the first
installation in this country to be so adapted. Mr Carr, who received two
half-days' instruction in the new equipment, is fully confident that he can
manage it. Banking in post-war Liverpool
500 Golden Eggs?
Take three girls…
There is a small mystery here – neither we nor Barclays know the names
of the girls in the photo. Perhaps one of them is YOU, or perhaps you know
who one or more of them are. If you can help, please do get in touch at the
usual address gutinfo@btinternet.com. You can see more of Pegasus and learn about how Martins adapted it to
handle the daily work of forty branches by visiting our NEW TECHNOLOGY feature. There, you will find pages for LIVERPOOL COMPUTER CENTRE and for the PEGASUS II COMPUTER.
Three Centuries of Banking?
News for family tree researchers…
We are always looking
for head and shoulders photographs of staff as they were when they worked for
the Bank. Martins tended to publish mainly photographs of the MALE staff, and
we would like to redress the balance by being able to add images of female
staff members to the staff galleries which are shown at the bottom of nearly
all of our Branch Pages here within our Online Archive. Also - if you are the relative of a member
of staff who is no longer with us, and you would like to send us a photo to
be placed on each relevant Branch or Departmental page of our web site, then
please do get in touch with us at the usual address gutinfo@btinternet.com. It was the Staff that made Martins Bank so
special and fondly remembered, and the more faces we can add, the stronger
the collective memory will become. Pictured
here is Sally Edge, Cambridge Branch, 1967.
Our Autumn/Winter
Newsletter has been produced a
month or so earlier than usual, to allow for a special Spring/Summer edition,
which will be issued in JANUARY. This is because it will focus on a story that
sees TWO major developments in
British banking forced into
existence through the cut and thrust of competition. In January 1959, Martins
Bank is just a few weeks from opening Britain’s first Drive-In Bank at
Leicester. The story has already aroused a good deal of interest in the
national press, when on 5 January, Martins’ rival the Westminster Bank not
only beats Martins to it, they also open Britain’s first drive in bank on Martins Bank’s home soil of
Liverpool! Recollections from
the time talk of “incandescent” Martins Directors swearing to “get even” with
the competition by staging another, similarly lavish project. Martins’
revenge on its rival is truly still having repercussions in today’s banking
World. Watch out for a special feature from the Archive on the web site, and
the special edition of our newsletter available 1 Jan 2019!
History goes up in smoke…
To the sick man of Europe…
, Greetings to the Sick Man of Europe,
When I arrived at the Office yesterday morning
consternation reigned, cosmos was superseded by chaos as I informed my
colleagues of the direful news that, instead of proceeding in orderly formation
to “that” Branch we must, perforce, remain at our posts owing to your
untimely indisposition.
Having informed the Bank of England of this
epoch making disturbance, we settled down and endeavoured to busy ourselves
with our routine duties. This, however, was exceedingly difficult - for ever
and anon Coates' massive frame was shaken with sobs. Sills was continually
blowing his nose in a marked manner, whilst I wept silently, in a corner. The
feminine element of our Staff was also shaken to the core - all three members
were to be seen at intervals madly gyrating round the room in rapidly
decreasing circles, meanwhile emitting shrill cries and pouring upon their
unworthy heads sprinklings of ashes.
In order to beguile away your long hours of
suffering Maximilian has taken up his brush and upon the enclosed canvas
perpetrated one of his customary atrocities. It is not necessary for me to
paint the lily, but in passing I would mention, for the sake of clarity, that
your left foot is swollen owing to an affliction of gout, the other
protuberance, which is easily discernible, is due no doubt to something other
than gout.
It now only remains for me to counsel you to
be of good cheer, for is it not said that a man’s years shall be three score
and ten, and I have no doubt that you will be spared until this time, even
though it is probable that you will live in fearful agony. We have not yet
heard any definite diagnosis of your malady. Various guesses have been
hazarded, ranging wildly from leprosy to laryngitis, from whooping cough to
whoopee (!) and other suggestions which I fear I dare not mention though they
may be somewhat nearer the point. And now, as time presses, lunch calls and
my stenographer faints by the wayside, I will leave you, reminding you that
it has been said that an army marches upon its stomach so I trust that during
your convalescence you will not neglect that important organ and will ply it
with viands and victuals as is your wont.
Yours, lest my gorge rises, E G MORRELL
We have sent a copy of
the letter to the Barclays/Martins Leeds Pensioners group, in the hope that
someone might just have heard tell of this letter having been sent, and we will
also feature it on our Facebook® page and in the next download of our
newsletter, in the Autumn. If you can identify the Sick Man of Europe, please
do get in touch with us at the usual address – gutinfo@btinternet.com.
The PLAY’s the thing! A number of pages have
recently been added to the NORTH EASTERN PLAYERS section of our “Song and
Dance” feature. Most pages for the
other four of the Bank’s Amateur operatic and Dramatic Societies have also
been revamped, and we are working hard to add the details of as many of the
productions staged by Bank staff as we can.
Three performances by the North Eastern Players have been added, coinciding
with the recent acquisition by the Archive of original programmes. They are: 1947 – Rebecca, by Daphne du
Maurier, 1949 – Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring, and 1950 – The
Shop at Sly Corner by Edward Percy.
The existing page for two earlier productions has now been split into
two updated pages – 1937 – Ten Till Three by H Vincent, and 1939 – the Late
Christopher Bean by Emlyn Williams. This is because further information about
these productions has been provided to us by the British Newspaper Archive. A
further new page for the North Eastern Players has been added in respect of
their 1952 Production – Little Lambs Eat Ivy, by Noel Langley. You can access
the new and the updated pages below:
50 Years On…
Buyer Beware…. We have left the following article here once again for reference, to
help explain the position regarding the theft of copyrighted images for the
purposes of re-sale. There is a common misconception that if you
can Google an image, then it is “in the public domain” and you can do what
you want with it. Even some staff at eBay® believed this until they were
recently put right – if you take or
copy someone else’s work or property without their permission or
acknowledgement, and sell it on to
make even a penny out of it, this is breach of copyright, and the real
owner can take legal recourse to stop further theft and misuse of their
property. There are currently on eBay® a number of listings
of photographs for sale, showing scenes from the past and old buildings
including these four (and many more) Branches of Martins Bank. These images originated on our web
site. As you can see, under our
agreement with the owner, we prominently display copyright. These images have
been copied and printed onto cheap photographic paper. The seller even has
the gall to add their own watermark to the displayed images to prevent others
from stealing them!!!
As well as being
against copyright law, these items are worthless, having little more than
sentimental value – you will often find that collections and archives will
make images available free of charge for private use, but you MUST check with
them first. You should always check the seller’s right to copy the image –
reputable sites such as eBay® do now allow you to report copyright
infringement. For ANY item of memorabilia, the best thing to do is shop
around and compare prices – in the case of Martins Bank there are often up to
twenty different items for sale on eBay® alone on any given day. For printed
material which looks as if it has been copied, or actually claims to be a
copy, ALWAYS question the seller about copyright.
Best Regards, Jonathan. Westmorland, Thursday 1ST November 2018
WHILST MARTINS BANK
ARCHIVE HAS NO CONNECTION WITH THE DAY TO DAY TRADING ACTIVITIES OF THE BARCLAYS GROUP OF
COMPANIES, WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR THE CONTINUED GENEROUS GUIDANCE, ADVICE AND SUPPORT OF BARCLAYS GROUP ARCHIVES IN THE BUILDING AND SHAPING OF THIS ONLINE SOCIAL HISTORY.
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