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The original
“bank on wheels”?
 Whilst this somewhat novel type of banking service is
not strictly a FIRST for Martins, Mobile Branches are used by the Bank
consistently from their introduction in 1948 until the Summer show season of
1969, and are seen at all manner of events and shows throughout the United
Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. This is a collosal
undertaking for the largest of the “small six” banks, and each year the Bank
manages to attend events in parts of the UK that do not yet have their own
branch of Martins - an excellent excuse to seek out new locations for the
bank’s expansion plans!
As an indication of just how big a task this is for the Bank, the
leaflet opposite opens up to reveal a list of no less than 82
Agricultural Shows and other Shows and events that will be attended in 1956
by one of Martins Bank’s mobile Branches.
In additon, three trade fairs are listed on the back of the leaflet,
making this a mammoth piece of organisation by the Bank’s show and
Exhibitions Branches Department based at 68 Lombard Street, London.
 A total of SIX mobile Branches will travel the length and
bredth of the united Kingdom for six months of the year to showcase the Bank
and its services to the many thousands of Businesses and their customers that
will attend these shows and exhibitions.
As we shall see later on in this feature, Martins’ fleet of caravans
will also be used in the way that we understand the mobile bank branches of
today – for example NatWest’s “Bank on Wheels” to bring banking facilities to
towns and large estates that do not have their own bank branches.
It does seem strange to us today, that back in the 1940s, these vehicles
were being sent out on the road when you could find at least one bank
operating in nearly every town and village in the land! We are also given an insight into the
intricate organisation and sheer manpower that goes into making these events
a success for the Bank, which prides itself on presentation to the point of
competing with other trade stands for “best in show” prizes!
Our “Out and About” (feature see top of this page) looks in details at
which events were attended in two particular years, 1956 and 1969. Stand by
now for a whistlestop tour, as our feature investigates the phenomenon of
Martins’ Mobile Branches – several tons of steel, pulled everywhere by land
rover type vehicles to spread the news that Martins really do go to EXTREMES to be helpful...
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WHY NOT ALSO VISIT THESE PAGES
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Image © Martins
Bank Archive Collections
At last – the 1948 show!
Images © Martins
Bank Archive Collections
 For twenty-one years, Martins Bank’s fleet
of Mobile Branches brings the Bank to estates and remote villages where customers
might otherwise have nowhere else to do their banking. There is also Martins’
Pre-Fabricated branch (pictured, right) which proves invaluable as a
temporary service whilst a new branch of Martins is being built, or an old
one renovated. In the Spring of 1969, the pre-fab pitches up at Litherland,
Liverpool 21 to provide a continuation of service during the knock-down and
rebuild of that particular Branch. We now have images of the pre-fabricated Branch both inside and out, on
our LITHERLAND page. There is also the “portable branch”
depicted in the first two images below which is designed in 1930 by Herbert J
Rowse, Architect of the Bank’s Head Office at Liverpool. The third image is a
later open counter version which will probably have been used at indoor
events such as the “Fresher Fairs” at Universities.
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Images
© Martins Bank Archive Collections
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Image
© Barclays Ref 0030-1673
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At trade fairs, Martins usually  commissions a stand in keeping with the event.
You can see a selection of Martins’ trade stands by clicking HERE. Launched as “both dignified and
impressive”, Martins Mobile Bank makes its debut during the “Silver Lining
Savings Week” promotion, which runs from 28 Feb to 6 March 1948.
Several banks are experimenting with the idea of mobile branches, and
with the idea expected to catch on quickly Martins chooses Coventry Steel
Caravans Ltd of Warwick to build the first of what be a whole fleet of mobile
bank branches.
These will become a familiar sight in towns and villages across the
land, and at numerous agricultural shows over the next twenty years. The new service is greeted in a fairly
modest article in the Summer 1948 edition of Martins Bank Magazine. Little do they know at this time, that the
mobile bank will disappear without a trace in the 1970s and then triumphantly
re-appear in the twenty-first century…
 The Mobile Bank
is dignified and impressive – an excellent advertisement for the bank. it contains a customers’ space, complete with
table and chairs; a counter with room for two cashiers if necessary; a small
office space; and a manager’s room with table and three chairs and a
telephone. Illumination is provided by
calor gas. There is also a heating
system, while in hot weather the roof can be thrown open. Entrance for the staff is through the
manager’s room at the front; that for the public being at the rear. Fittings throughout are in the best banking
tradition, expensive wood being used for furniture and panelling…
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Images
© Martins Bank Archive Collections
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1949 –
Out and About at Agricultural Shows
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Penrith
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Tunbridge Wells
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Kelso
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1957 –
Coming to an estate near you, the original “bank on wheels”!
In an attempt to “get closer to
the working classes” as Martins top Management rather condescendingly has it,
Mobile Branches are deployed on housing estates where families manage their
affairs in cash only – the hope is that they will see how easy it is to have
a bank acccount, and how regular savings can be made safer, and earn interest
by being deposited with the Bank.
Martins takes this experiment a stage further with a special sub
branch on a housing estate at ERNESETTLE, Plymouth in
1958. Friend of
the Archive Sir Brian Pearse, was in 1957 one of the staff chosen to help run
the mobile service on housing estates in Liverpool. We asked him
to recall for us how the service came about, and what it was like in
practice…
 {During the war, large parts of central Liverpool were bombed.
Very many houses were old anyway and few had inside toilets and so it was
decided to build new towns in Kirkby and Croxteth. The remnants of the houses
in Liverpool were demolished. Huge numbers of houses were built and also
schools and, surprisingly, churches but hardly any shops.
Martins decided that
a mobile service was the answer until permanent branches could be built and
so we started the Kirkby and Croxteth arrangement, Monday, Wednesday and
Friday mornings in Kirkby and afternoons in Croxteth. Platforms were built on
both sites with appropriate notices. “Head Office” for us was Clubmoor Branch
and with a clerk (Tom Gilkes who now lives near me) and a driver, we
commenced operations. When the driver was on holiday, I had to drive the
vehicle which frightened the life out of me!
The police had a
sweepstake to see who could guess the date when we would be raided but that
never happened. I then moved to Liverpool District Office, and
over the next couple of years, Kirkby branch was opened and both services
were withdrawn. }
On the road with the
Mobile Branch Team…
 The Wolsingham and Wear Valley
Agricultural Show is one of 79 events in 1961 at which Martins will be
represented by its fleet of Mobile Branches. Teams of staff are poised to
drive to the venues, set up the caravan and even decorate the plot on which
is stands, with flowers and plants.
Martins Bank prints a 23-page itinerary to show each of the Mobile
Banking Teams when and where they have to be, and where they will be staying
overnight. They are also provided with
the name of a local florist who will help the mobile branch live up to its
prizewinning reputation!
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Preparation of
the pitch and finishing touches
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Clerk in charge:
Malcolm Humble
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Cashier: Julian Taylor
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Messenger: Jack Craven
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Tidying up before moving on…
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Images ©
Martins Bank Archive Collections - Julian Taylor 1961 to date
 The Garstang Show
In this fabulous image, donated by friend of the
archive Ken Weights, one of the Bank’s Mobile Branches wins the cup for best
stand at the Garstang Show in 1966.
Our thanks go not only to Ken, but also to Jack Adams and one or two
others who helped - either by identification or elimination - to name most of
the people in the line up: (L to R) possibly Mr Howarth, former Manager at
Garstang, Chris Dash, Keith Hammond and Ken Weights.
Image
© Martins Bank Archive Collections - Ken Weights 1966 to date
Treasures from “a life on
the road”…
 When someone contacts the Archive with
their memories of life at Martins Bank, it is always a moment that reveals
some aspect of the job we have wanted to know more about. Memories themselves
are precious enough, but when they come ready illustrated not only by
photographs, but as vibrant COLOUR
images, we and our visitors feel as if we have struck gold. So it was that
Graham Nicholls (pictured, right) contacted us to tell us about his time
working for Martins Bank’s Mobile Branch and Shows programme in the mid to
late 1960s, and bringing it vividly to life by adding a rich seam of colour
photos from his own collection. Known
by former colleagues as a keen amateur photographer, Graham manages to
capture those brief “off-guard” moments when staff at the show and mobile
branches were able to let their hair down for just a minute or two in the
midst of what was the very hard work involved in pitching up at events across
the land. Graham’s memories and photos show a Bank that is at the height of
its success, in an optimistic decade where no-one would even think for a
moment that the future would be any different…
“Prior to my joining in early 1964
we had 3 mobile branches on the road during the show season which also
attended other events, such as the International Air Fair at Biggin Hill and
various golf tournaments like the Open Golf and the Ryder Cup. We had at that
time No. 2 Mobile Branch as a reserve unit and No. 4 Articulated Branch which
was laid up in Watsons Garage in Birkenhead being used to attend site No 1 in
Kirkby and another site on the outskirts of Liverpool. Messenger John
Holywell drove and looked after this Branch, but the need largely disappeared
when permanent premises were built.
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Each of the travelling mobiles
had a staff of three - a Clerk in Charge, who also shared the driving and
towing, a Cashier, and a Messenger/Driver.
All the clerical staff did a one season stint but one of the Clerks
in Charge was invited to stay on at the end of their season to prepare the
next seasons programme assisted by Miss Joan Hall who was the secretary of
the Mobile Branches programme. Bearing in mind there were no mobile phones,
no texting and no computers, this was a mammoth task involving literally
hundreds of hotel bookings, site bookings, floral displays extra staff most
of which required the use of snail mail.
In addition to organising the
programme, I also had to arrange to take each of the Mobile Branches down
to the manufacturer, Coventry Steel Caravans at Newport Pagnall, for an
annual overhaul and making good of any minor damage which had occurred
during the season. They were then taken on from there to a factory in Hayes
where the electric braking system was overhauled. Since this involved a
four-day trip for delivery and recovery of the Mobile Branch, it involved
me and one of the messengers. Naturally a trip to London was quite an
attraction! After completing my
second year on Mobiles the Bank decided to buy a new moveable Show Pavilion
which was commissioned from Beck and Pollitzer who were exhibition
contractors. They designed and built it, transported and erected it at four
or five of the larger shows. At this point I made noises about my extra
responsibilities and it was agreed that I would be given Pro Manager status
and signing authority. From then on, I signed my own expenses!
Later on in my period in mobiles
the Bank decided to scrap the dismountable pavilion, which had been used at
the Royal Show for several years because it was reaching the end of its
useful life and it was decided to build a permanent pavilion at the Royal
Show Ground. This was designed by the Bank Staff Architect, David Silcott
and I liaised with him on the final practicalities etc. I was very happy
doing this job and carried on until the time of the merger. After the proposed merger was announced I
had telescopic flag poles attached to each end of the mobile branches, and
we flew the Martins Bank flag at one end and the Barclays flag at the other
during that year between the announcement of the merger and integration
day. They would extend to a height of about 25 feet.
The joint programme worked well
but after integration day it was made clear that we, the Martins section,
was going to disappear and I found myself doing odd jobs around Head Office
and was unable to supervise the dismantling of the mobile section so a lot
of the archives were lost, professional publicity photos and all the old
records were I suppose disposed of, my Secretary had also been whisked off
elsewhere...
I eventually moved to Luton
district of Barclays and had to obviously relearn banking having been out
of banking for 6 years and had to learn the Barclays system. A week after I
arrived, I got a request to go to Harrogate where Barclays contractors had
made a complete mess of trying to site the mobile branch at the Spring
Flower Show and had burnt out the clutch on the Land Rover. I drove over to
Harrogate and sited it for them. The contractors were about to depart when
I pointed out it had not been cleaned. All the exterior bright work,
beadings, footwells etc. were aluminium which had to be polished and
cleaned for every show. They finally left when we finished in the evening,
then I retired to a hotel. That was my final contact with Mobiles.
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Number 6 Mobile Branch used
1964-1969
Number 7 Mobile Branch
Permanent Branch at the
Great Yorkshire Showground
Pavillion at the Royal show
ca. 1969
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Harveys of Bristol who were
customers of the Bank and as you probably are aware made excellent Sherry.
The Bank commissioned its own brand from Harveys which was named Harveys
Bank Sherry and was drunk only in the board room at Head Office. We got a special supply to use on the
mobile branches, but when the Harvey's account went to another Bank the
Martins Directors decided no more Harvey Sherry would be drunk in the board
room, so all their Sherries were disposed of by being given to the Mobile
Branch Section. This caused some embarrassment in the Mobile store in the
sub-basement, since there were quite a few cases to store, so I decided the
best solution was to consume some of it. For a few days we had informal
drink sessions in the basement which some fairly senior managers got wind
of and partook”.
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Keith Hammond at the Great Yorkshire Showground Branch
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John Shelly and Rex Abbott – setting up shop
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John Holywell and Mobile Branch at Daybreak
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Norman Bond and Rex Abbott and a flat tyre
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No 7 Mobile Branch and Staff
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Staff in the upstairs lounge, Royal Show Pavillion
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The fleet of mobile branches is co-ordinated from the Bank’s Liverpool
Head Office. This involves deployment
of staff and messengers/guards, the hiring of seasonal staff, and planning
the complicated itinerary that ensures the caravans turn up to the right
events on the right days. In the spring 1965 edition of Martins Bank
Magazine, Joan Hall of Premises Department, Head Office, writes about the ups
and downs of organising the Mobile Branch Fleet.
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Show Season - The
background story
of the mobile branch
programme…
 when the first of our mobile branches sets out from Liverpool on April
5th it will signify the beginning of another season of agricultural shows,
sporting fixtures and other events at which the Bank is represented through
this post-war development which provides banking services to customers,
exhibitors and the public. The 'season' lasts from April to mid-October and the
appearance of our three mobile branches on time on each showground is
largely the result of the work carried on at Head Office during the
remaining months of the year.
Planning begins in October for the senior clerk-in-charge from the
season just finished and for myself—the permanent link with the crews when on tour. Information on the
next season's shows has to be obtained from agricultural societies and our
own branches so that a programme can be drafted and approved by the General
Management in December. Then follows the application for sites,
consideration of their suitability, and reservation of both site and hotel
accommodation for the staff: in some cases it is necessary to make
arrangements two years in advance. Consideration must also be given to the
type and size of floral displays and surrounding layout. and to
arrangements for telephone service, marquee floorings and garaging where
necessary, together with cash arrangements in conjunction with the local
branch.
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1967:
Cooling down on a hot day!
Arthur
Jackson of the Mobile Branch Staff relaxing briefly at a show in the North
East.
Image
© Martins Bank Archive Collections – Barbie Jamieson
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1960: At the Royal National
Eisteddfod
(Centre 1965 – the Urdd
National Eisteddfod Cup in safe keeping at Cardiff St Mary Street Branch)
Images © Martins Bank Archive Collections
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In addition there are the intricacies of servicing and renewals
for the mobile branches, towing vehicles, tents and equipment and
sometimes, as this year, additional work connected with the construction of
a new mobile branch.
Towards the end of March the detailed itinerary
is completed, with particulars of hotels, floral displays, controlling
branches and the many features which vary from show to show.
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1961 Conservative Party
Conference
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The new clerks-in-charge will have joined us, the drivers will
be making their final check of their vehicles and the cashiers will join
their crews a week before the departure to help with the loading of
equipment and to familiarise themselves with the type of work they will
undertake during the season.This is a hectic time with seemingly endless
queries, parcels of equipment and stationery arriving daily, and five or
six people trying not to fall over each other.
It
is understandable that I see them safely on their way with considerable
relief for I can then settle down to clearing up, establishing a system for
the summer months and coping with any minor points which may have been
overlooked. The respective show files, admission tickets, and so on, have
to be forwarded by registered post in advance of each show, the files
being returned later, with details of the show, for inclusion in the report
which is made at the end of the season.
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Apart from our representation at these shows by means of the
mobile branches, elaborate stands are set up at national exhibitions in
London.These are dealt with by our Premises Department, London, but the
arrangements for the Bank to be represented at many smaller exhibitions,
fairs and conferences in other parts of the country have to be made by the
mobile section at Head Office. One never knows what the next telephone call will
bring. It may be news of a breakdown which can involve the dispatch of the
reserve unit or even an alteration in the programme, but it is a matter of
pride that we have never yet failed to attend a show, although there have
been times when it was touch and go.
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1964: Out and about
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Occasionally, however, shows have to be cancelled owing to
adverse weather or outbreaks of foot and mouth disease, with consequent
amendments to the schedule. In one startling phone message the
clerk-in-charge of a mobile branch calmly announced that they had just been
in collision with an aeroplane. In fact the mobile branch and an aircraft
transporter had come face to face in a narrow lane and the damage had been
done in the endeavour to squeeze past, nevertheless we can perhaps claim the
distinction of being the only Bank to experience a brush with an
aircraft. On another occasion a
clerk-in-charge informed us that he had been called up and was already absent
without leave! This was perfectly true. He was an Army Reservist and during
the Suez troubles his call-up papers had followed him round the shows for a
week and had only just caught up with him. He had however been granted a
24-hour reprieve by the police to 'get rid of his mobile branch: a former
member of a crew took over immediately and saw the programme through.
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1951:
Cockermouth Show
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1955: City of
Leicester Show
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1956: Liverpool
Show
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It might seem that the office end of the mobile branch section
is the least attractive but to me it is one of the most interesting jobs in
the Bank. My only regret is that just as I am getting to know the staff, they
leave; their replacements arrive and I have to start again getting to know
them and explaining the work and the procedure. But on the occasions when I
visit the shows it is with a sense of pride that I see the results of what I
have helped to achieve as the permanent link in the mobile chain.
 Down your way…
Following an article about our
Archive which featured in the pages of the Sunderland Echo, we are delighted
to have received the images shown below, which were taken at various shows
and events during Martins’ 1968 Show Season.
It is clear that whilst life on the road makes a welcome change from
life inside a branch, the work is not as easy as you might think. David J Watson, who very kindly sent us the
images, also recalls for us the chaotic end to the 1968 season, in what he
refers to as -
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THE MUD BATH
- AND THE MAD DASH…
In the summer of 1968 I was
selected as a cashier for the Mobile Branches which visited the various
agricultural shows around the country. With Clerk in Charge Adrian Morrell
and messenger/driver Norman Bond we towed the caravan with a Land Rover
around the north of England. After the
programme had got underway, we were advised that another show had
been added to our list. The Frome
Show (Somerset) was way off our patch and came between the Westmorland
County Show, at Kendal, and the Bellingham Show (Northumberland). Apparently, the previous year the caravan
at the Frome Show had not been well attended so it had been removed from
the 1968 programme. However, Colonel
Roberts, a member of the Bank’s local board of directors, was the President
(?) of the show that year and he felt it looked bad if his bank was not
represented, hence the late inclusion.
My memories of that summer are mainly of sunny days and only very
occasional rain - except for the Westmorland Show - when it rained heavily
for at least a day before the show and most of the next morning. There was a bottleneck on the show ground
through which most of the traffic (pedestrian and motorised) had to pass
and the ground churned up terribly.
This morass was close to our stand and customers coming in and out
of the caravan left it in a filthy condition.
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Messenger Norman Bond in uniform and wellies
at the very muddy Westmorland Show
Image © David J Watson 1968
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The mud was so bad that Norman and I had
to take the Land Rover to cross the show ground to get to the restaurant tent
for lunch. At the start of the
programme I was told to take a pair of Wellington boots with me for use when
cleaning and setting up the caravan for each show but Kendal was the first
time, I actually wore them when serving customers and wearing a suit. When
the show ended, we did a basic clean up but had to wait until we arrived at
Frome before we could clean the caravan from top to bottom - a task we did
not relish as the season was almost over. Luckily, we had a few days between
shows to complete our task. In the end
everything was ready in time and I even got to meet Colonel Roberts. I recall
the show was on a Thursday and a mad dash followed when we had to get to the
other end of the country for the Bellingham Show at the weekend. We made it!
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David Watson
ready to serve from
behind the
counter at
the 1968 Bury
Show
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Adrian Morrell and Norman Bond beside the Land Rover and caravan at Pannal Golf
Club
(Dunlop Masters Golf)
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Adrian and Norman beside the caravan
set up for the
Northumberland
County Show
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