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Frozen
in time…
It’s not often we come across a colour image of one
of Martins Bank’s Branches. Even less
often does a picture convey so much about the time it was taken as this
fabulous shot of our Aintree Branch. When so much of the sixties appears in
black and white, it is great to see this little piece of our social history
which shows “ancient” buildings at one end of the street, and what for 1960
are extremely modern ones at the other.
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In Service: April 1893 until 13 November 1992
Image © Martins Bank
Archive Collections - Michael F Harris 1960
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 We
are indebted to Michael Harris, who was a new member of the branch staff on
1959’s Graduate Training Programme, and took this picture early in 1960. Michael told us a little about his days
with Martins Bank…
“I joined the Bank in 1959 as a graduate trainee, and the
six months I spent at Aintree was my first experience of Banking.
I remember Mr Shaw the manager well, as well as Mr Jopling, his no. 2 - who I
recall sadly died shortly afterwards. I also remember the two
girls there - Pauline Brightman and Rosemary Greenhaugh. I later
worked with Stan Rocke in Inspection Department, but never knew that he would
later be manager at Aintree. I moved down to London District in
1965, and shortly afterwards moved to work abroad in Canada.
Browsing through various branches on your site, I recognise many names, but
have no idea what became of them later - or indeed if they are still alive”…
A colourful farewell?
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Anyone who worked in Branch
Banking in the days when offices were still manned by large numbers of staff,
will recall the customary “whip-round” for a gift for someone who was
leaving to go and work at a different branch or department. Any excuse for a celebration, these
events ranged from a snapshot of everyone together for the last time, to
parties and pub crawls. When John
Quirk leaves Aintree branch at the end of 1963, having worked there for
four years, colour film once again captures a moment in time, and allows us
to see the staff of the Branch as they were in November 1963.
We are especially grateful to
Peter Aynsley for supplying this photograph, as it enables us to extract
good quality “head and shoulders” images for our staff gallery (below).
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Saying “cheese!” L to R: Peter Aynsley, Jessica Grimshaw, Jack Dixon,
June Tabarn, Ian Johnson,
Deryk Ingham, Pat Hart, George Shaw, Diane Powell, and John Quirk
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Goodbye Mr Shaw
  mr shaw's early retirement on health
grounds at the end of the year was not marked by any formal ceremony. On Christmas Eve, however, there was a friendly gathering
at Aintree branch, of which he had been Manager for the past nine years, when
the staff presented him with an automatic watch. During the days prior to his
retirement many letters and telephone messages were received by Mr Shaw from
colleagues throughout the Bank, wishing him well in retirement. He entered the service at Water Street, Liverpool, in
1925 and the whole of his career was spent at branches on Merseyside. In 1938
he was appointed Clerk-in-Charge at Maghull branch, becoming Manager there in
1946 and Manager at Aintree in 1955.
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