11-05-50 Arnside

Beauty and danger…

Arnside is described by the late, great, Alfred Wainwright as Westmorland’s only seaside resort, but with its infamous dangerous quicksands and fast rising tides this is definitely one beauty spot to be respected. Untold numbers of people, animals, tractors, horse carriages and other unfortunate souls have met a grizzly end here!

Arnside Sea Front 2004 PA.jpg

The Martins Bank sub branch here is opened in 1897 by the Bank of Liverpool. It survives the change to Barclays, and remains open until April 2000, having provided banking services to the village for more than one hundred years. In the 1940s, the branch sits amidst the hustle and bustle of Arnside’s many shops in these images from a Valentines® postcard of the period.

Image © Barclays Ref: 30/59

Images © Valentines and successors

Some Branches of Martins Bank have a high turnover of staff, but sub-Branches usually enjoy the services of the same Clerk in Charge for many many years. Mr W H (Bill) Mashister is one of Arnside’s longer serving Clerks in Charge, and is the face of the bank to the people of the village for thirteen years – 1953 to 1966. Upon his retirement, Martins Bank Magazine prints the following tribute…

Mr W. H. Mashiter

1953 to 1966 Mr WH Mashiter Clerk in Charge MBM-Wi66P55.jpg 1966 04 MBM.jpg on august 31 Mr and Mrs Mashiter entertained past and present colleagues to a sherry party at Kendal branch on his retirement after 14 years as Clerk-in-Charge at Arnside. The major part of his 42 years' service had been spent in the Kendal area after 4 years in Liverpool. Mr Mashiter had lunched with the District General Manager in Liverpool during the previous week.

Mr C. Clark (Manager, Kendal) confessed that a similar record of service had been his boyhood dream of the best job in the Bank but that Mr Mashiter had greatly increased the Arnside business and, with his wife, entered fully into the local activities in which he held seven treasurerships. He mentioned Bill Mashiter's prowess as a county rugby player and later as a golfer: only a fortnight earlier he had achieved his first hole-in-one. On behalf of many colleagues Mr Clark then presented a cheque which Mr Mashiter promptly handed to his wife whose help he had so greatly valued in his happy years at Arnside. Mrs Mashiter also received a bouquet from Miss J. M. Scott.

Everything changes…

1969 Arnside during merger period Close Up BGA Ref.jpg

1969 © Barclays

1992 © Martins Bank Archive

BOE Sign That Arnside sub-Branch survies so long after the merger is music to the ears of those whose effort to keep open some of the other local Martins Branches such as STAVELEY has been in vain. Keeping the rural way of life is all too often seen as a luxury today, when face to face communication and participation on local events has to battle with the insular world of “social media”. The harsh economics of village banks that are haemorraging customers whilst running costs increase relentlessly cannot be ignored, and all banks begin their own periods of “consolidation” from the late 1980s to the early years of the twenty-first century. Parliamentary intervention may have temporarily slowed the slash and burn policy of some banks, but as all of us are actively encouraged to stay AWAY from our banks and do more and more through telephone applications and computer banking, it surely won’t be long before the next cull of bank branches. Use it or lose it? Well actually, that horse has already bolted - you’ve already lost it!