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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 © 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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