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Martins Bank’s Amble Branch
has a number of outlets in this part of  Northumberland, and throughout most of the 1960s, the
sub-Branch at Acklington RAF Station is on hand to meet the banking
requirements of the officers and men who are stationed there. The Bank opens up shop in a number of
workplaces over the years, tailoring banking to the needs of employees in a
number of industries, from chemical works and paper making, to a hospital, an
abbatoir and of course, TWO RAF Stations.
 Our friends at Barclays tell us that unfortunately they have
no photographic record of the Branch, and that nowadays the site is occupied
by HM Prison Service. If therefore you have memories or images of our Branch
at RAF Acklington, please do get in touch with us at the usual address martinsbankarchive@btinternet.com. Someone who
has done just that, is Jim Scott who remembers well working at Amble’s
various sub Branches in the 1960s. We
apologise for the rather grainy image of Jim, whose recollections of working
at the Amble sub-Branches, including RAF Acklington, are shown below:
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In Service: 1963 until 1969
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 “We used a mini
van from Amble to visit the sub-Branches at Warkworth, Red Row and RAF  Acklington. I
drove, with a pensioner as Guard, and a case with the cash stationery and
rubber stamps! The Bank was housed in
a row of wooden RAF Huts. It had room for customers to wait, a chair for the
guard, and a small counter for me to stand behind - quite adequate! Transactions were basic, mainly cashing
cheques for everyone without any need for ID.
They simply handed over their cheque, signed an exchange slip, and I
gave them the cash. There was always a
queue of all ranks but the CO always came to the front when he arrived and
was served amongst a background of saluting and feet stamping! The RAF were
training our Allies in Jets at this time and the cheques cashed had colourful
names from many different parts of the World.
We never had any problem with returned cheques as of course every
officer was a gentleman!”
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