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St Ann’s Square is another in the long list of Manchester branches acquired
from the merger of the Bank of Liverpool with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank. Whilst we are still looking for a Martins
period image of this branch, we are grateful to Alan Thomond for this contemporary
view showing the magnificence of this corner building. There is also an image
in our “then and now” feature below, which shows the building under Barclays
in the 1980s. If you can help with images and/or memories of this or any of
the 1000+ Martins Branch Buildings, please do get in touch with us. Our
feature looks at the retirement gathering for Mr Fawcett, who is leaving St
Ann’s Square in June 1963, after a career of forty-four years. He has held the position of Pro Manager at
the branch for the last eight years.
Then the spotlight falls on Mr Kershaw, who is featured in “People
Like You” in Martins Bank Magazine’s Autumn 1965 issue…
 A party of some thirty past and present
colleagues gathered at St Ann's Square branch on June 28th to mark the
retirement of Alan Fawcett after 44 years of loyal and conscientious service
to the Bank. Mr C. H. Jones, the Manager, expressed on behalf of all Mr
Fawcett's colleagues very good wishes for many long years of health and
happiness and presented the gifts of a silver tea service and an inscribed
tray.
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In Service: 29 September 1922 until 25 September 2009
designated 17-23 St Ann’s Square
and closed 23 June 2022
Image © Martins Bank Archive Collections - Alan
Thomond 2016
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 He
also presented a flowering plant to Mrs Fawcett who was especially
welcomed. The presence of Mr Manser
(Manchester District Superintendent of Branches) was appreciated and he
conveyed publicly the good wishes of the District Management which earlier in
the day had been personally given by Mr E. H. Priestley (District General
Manager) at luncheon. Mr Fawcett replied
briefly, thanking his colleagues for their friendship over the years and for
the gifts which would be treasured and used in their new home at Looe, Cornwall.
Following the speeches a most lavish spread of
refreshments arranged by Mr and Mrs Fawcett was enjoyed, the centre piece
being a beautiful iced cake decorated with the years '1919-1963'. Mr Fawcett entered the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank in
1919 and, apart from four years with H.M. Forces, spent all his banking life
in the Manchester District. He received his first appointment at Ardwick
branch in 1947, moving to St Ann's Square in 1955 as Pro Manager.
 Money Round the Clock…
 Having
been beaten by Barclays in the race to install the World’s first cash
dispenser, Martins can rightfully claim the first machine in the North –
Liverpool Church Street, 31 October 1967 - AND it is the first machine to
work with a plastic card and PIN.
Barclays’ first machines used special paper cheques with a number of
holes punctured through them in connection with a drawer mechanism operated
by inputting a six-figure code. With the Barclays merger still a few months
round the corner, Martins opened its second “Martins Auto Cashier” machine in
the wall of Manchester St Ann’s Branch. It began dispensing packs of £1 notes
to customers on Wednesday 13 March 1968.
It would still be another five years or so before the technology of
the cash machine enabled connection to a mainframe computer, and in that
respect, Martins was now out of the race, having been subsumed into Barclays
who were then pipped to the post themselves, by Lloyds Bank – who were first
to computerise the cash machine, AND first
to choose perhaps the best and easiest to remember names for it –
Cashpoint! You can read how the cash
machine changed British Saturday mornings forever, by visiting our technology
section HERE .
Newspaper
Text © Reach PLC and Find my Past created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY
BOARD.
Image and Text reproduced with kind permission of The
British Newspaper Archive
People like you…
  An
occasional feature in Martins Bank Magazine, is “People like you” – designed
to appeal to staff at all levels and promote interest amongst colleagues
about each other’s jobs, hobbies and interests. Alongside other features such
as “Accounting for Charm”, “Counter Attraction” and “Men in Uniform”, “People
like you” runs for several issues of the magazine before being replaced by
one of the other features mentioned.
In the Autumn 1965 Issue, it is the turn of Mr R P Kershaw, First
Cashier at St Ann’s Sqaure, to be put under the spotlight…
PEOPLE LIKE YOU…
First Cashier at St Ann’s Square, Manchester,
Mr R P Kershaw is Hon. Treasurer of the Manchester Dog Show Society, a judge
for the cocker spaniels and a former Secretary of the Cocker Spaniel Club of
all England. A keen gardener, he
always wears a buttonhole.
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Although we have no
views of St Ann’s Square during Martins Bank’s time, we do have a photo
from 1985 when Barclays were still operating from the building, to compare
with Alan Thomond’s 2016 image…
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Image © Barclays Ref 0030-1828-01
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Image © Martins Bank Archive Collections -
Alan Thomond
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