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The Manx Bank opens a Branch at Peel in 1882, from
where there is a Banking service for the next one hundred and eighteen years.
Of the six original Manx Bank Branches, only Peel and Ramsey make it to the
21ST Century as Banks, and only Ramsey is open today.
Here we have once more the use of a corner aspect - a device used countless
times by banks the World over, allowing as it does the chance to have your
signage appear in TWO
streets at the same time! For
our Peel feature, we join Martins Bank Magazine on its tour of the Isle of
Man, in July 1950… On
July 28th we went to Peel. Rain fell in torrents until midday, but, just as
we were getting there the sun came out hot and dried the roofs and we immediately
fell in love with the place, with its tortuous streets and old houses, its
picturesque ruined castle and its fascinating harbour. |
In Service:
1882 until 7 April 2000 Image ©
Barclays Ref: 0030-2239 |
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This is not the
Island of the tripper, with artificial frontage and rows of boarding
houses. Industry is the main preoccupation
of Peel and the all-pervading smell of kippers dominates the place. Sunset
City, as it is called locally, has all the charm of an almost bygone age, and
the sight of the fishermen mending their nets and the gulls wheeling and
crying above the harbour wall as the fishing fleet prepares to put to sea
makes one feel as though Time had stood still, as though, if one passed that
way again fifty years hence, the same sight would greet the eye. Mr. F. C. Faragher,
Clerk-in-Charge of our branch at Peel since 1923, is very well-known to most
of us at Head Office, London Office and elsewhere because it was through his
good offices that the regular delivery of
kippers was arranged, and at a time when the food situation was more
difficult than it is now the weekly consignment was a godsend. Mr. Faragher is happy in his job and the atmosphere of a
fishing town suits him admirably for he has the sea in his blood and a passionate
love for everything relating thereto. He had the misfortune to be shot
through the spine on the Somme towards the end of the First World War and has
suffered a great deal of pain and some measure of paralysis ever since, but
he is very game and uncomplaining and his customers obviously think a lot of
him. In the world of banking it is the foreign side of our business
which has always fascinated him and it is a pity that his disability is so
restricting. He entered the L and Y
Bank in 1926 and has been Clerk-in-Charge at Peel since 1933. To assist him he has S. B. Chilcott who entered the
service last year. He travels from Douglas each day. While we were in the
branch Mr. A. F. Jamieson, Manager of Church Street branch, Liverpool, and
his wife, holiday making at Port Erin, called in. Mr. Jamieson and Mr.
Faragher were comrades-in-arms in the First World War. After a very pleasant
lunch with Mr. and Mrs. Faragher we spent what was left of the afternoon in
the castle, returning to Port Erin in the early evening. After dinner Mr. and Mrs. Kermode came over
from Douglas and took us for a forty-mile run through the finest portions of
the interior of the Island, finishing shortly before midnight on Douglas
Promenade to see the lights in all their dazzling array, but not a patch on
the light of the full moon over the dead calm waters of the Bay. Beautiful
though they were it was the beauty of the moon we shall most often recall.
Then came the drive back to Port Erin, bringing to a close a very happy evening.
We were pleased to have the opportunity of calling at Mr. Kermode's home and
meeting his other daughter Renee and, incidentally, sampling her excellent
cooking. |
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