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GRASSHOPPER PENSIONERS’ CLUB ros_edwards2002@yahoo.co.uk January 2012 Dear Fellow Members, I can’t believe that it is now 2012 at last. The year in which we celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and then the Olympics. It seems to have been coming for ever ! I am writing somewhat earlier than usual this year as I have to get in two newsletters before we go off to Australia and New Zealand in March. More family celebrations Down Under ! We last met on 3 November, for the London Lunch. Once again this was very well attended and, after an excellent meal, our Chairman, Bill Webb, welcomed nearly 140 members and guests. It was just like old times and people came from far and wide to meet old friends in the familiar surroundings of central London. Most of us have worked there at some time in our lives but it is funny how the pavements seem more uneven and the roads longer than they once were. Many thanks, once again, to Bill Webb for organising this function.
A.G.M.
Our next meeting will be the AGM at Global Head Office, Canary Wharf on Thursday 29 March 2012. We can accommodate up to 50 at this venue where we have a buffet lunch on 30^th floor before the meeting in one of the conference rooms there. The view on a clear day is something to behold. You can now see the Olympic Park from one of the windows, as well as the now familiar Docklands Light Railway, City Airport and the Thames meandering through the ancient and modern buildings. The nearest tube is Canary Wharf and you follow the signs from there. We meet at 12 for lunch at 12.30 and AGM at about 2.15, finishing at 3.15ish. This year Joe and I will be in Australia at that time, but Bill Webb is very happy to take over the final arrangements for the day. If you are able to come, please complete the reply slip at the end of this letter and send it to him with your cheque.
CHAIRMAN’S BRIEFING
The annual Pensioners Briefing was held last November. There was a report in the last Connection magazine and that summed it all up very well. There was considerable discontent about the Bank’s decision to withdraw the pensioners’ concession for free probate services. Many pensioners’ clubs had already written to Michael Aldred (Barclays Compensation and Benefits Director) and he was well aware of the difficulties anticipated due to the abrupt nature of the announcement. He regretted that the bank had been obliged to make this decision, but he announced some small concessions to take into account the worries expressed. This is all explained in Connection and so I will not go into it again.
MAKING HISTORY
John Jones emailed to say that the afternoon Radio 4 programme, Making History, had a 17 minute item about the Martins Bank website which was very interesting. It later went on iPlayer. I heard it myself whilst ironing and thought it a very good advertisement for Jonathan Snowden’s excellent work. The camaraderie amongst Martins staff was well featured. I received the following email from David James: “My father started work with Martins Bank in 1941 in Bristol and subsequently worked in Bath, Liverpool and Cardiff, before returning to Bath in 1969. He was AJA James, known to all as Jimmy. and he died last September. On emptying the house recently I discovered a considerable amount of papers etc. relating to the Bank” I pointed him in the direction of Jonathan Snowden.
MERSEYSIDE GRASSHOPPERS
A year ago I wrote about a band of Martins men who had been meeting for years for a convivial lunch once a month. Brian Constable was the unofficial secretary and he rang me recently for a chat (as secretaries do). He told me he has a full set of the Martins Bank Magazines and every month he takes three or four to the lunches for old times’ sake. Brian Pearce rang him after reading the article, to reminisce about playing rugby for the Liverpool District team. Barrie Brookes was also in touch, and this is what he said in his email to me: “I joined the Merseyside Grasshoppers on 9 August for one of their monthly lunches. They made me extremely welcome and it was wonderful to be again with some of my old work colleagues whom I have not seen for nearly 50 years. I hope that they will let me join them again if I can effectively synchronise the timing of my next visit to The Wirral.”
OBITUARIES
Laurie Cockburn There was an obituary in Connection but I am glad to say that his colleagues have contributed some memories which are much more illuminating. Jean Lovering said: “When I was there Mr Jaggard was the Manager of the Overseas Branch and with him the two Assistant Managers were Mr Wagland and Laurie Cockburn.
Mr W Laurie Cockburn Deputy Manager Chief Overseas (1967)	Mr J L W Wagland Deputy Manager Chief Overseas (1966)	Mr E P Jaggard Manager Chief Overseas (Pictured 1961)		Mr A R Wetherell Chief Overseas Manager of the Bank 1961
They each had their own office on the ground floor in 80 Gracechurch Street at Chief Overseas Branch. Mr Wetherell was the Chief Overseas Manager of Martins Bank. He had two PAs and myself as secretary/receptionist in a suite at the top of the building. When he was away I sometimes worked for Mr Cockburn, who always seemed a very unassuming, courteous and kind gentleman.” Arthur Rowe kindly looked out a Barclays International Quarterly Magazine for November 1974 which gives some career background: Mr W L Cockburn DFC Mr Cockburn was appointed general manager, Europe, in the spring of 1974. He joined Martins Bank at its Liverpool City Office in 1939. After service at Toxteth, Clubmoor, Liverpool Overseas and District Office, Mr Cockburn became assistant manager of Liverpool Overseas in 1956. Then came a move to Manchester in 1961 as manager of the overseas office. In 1985 he was appointed assistant manager of Chief Overseas office in London, where he remained for over four years, serving as deputy manager and finally manager. He was deputy chief manager of chief foreign between 1969 and 1971 when he became a local director of foreign branches LHO. In October 1972 DCO integrated with UK Foreign Branches and became Barclays Bank International. After the merger, Mr Cockburn took up the post of an assistant general manager at HO. For a few months early this year he acted as a deputy general manager before taking up his present appointment as General Manager, Europe. John Uppington adds a personal point of view. “I was sad to learn of the death of Laurie Cockburn last July. He was by far the most easy-going manager we had known. He was the last manager we had before the merger, having followed Arthur Birse, Raymond Davidson, H C Horton and Eric Jaggard. He was relatively young compared with his predecessors and actually sat in his shirt sleeves (after 3pm) whilst working. He gave his blessing for the rest of us to be more comfortable. Needless to say he soon became popular, not only for that but also for his informality in general. For me his kindness, sympathy and assistance at a very sad time in my life was deeply appreciated. A Liverpudlian by birth, he spent most of his working time in Liverpool City Office and Liverpool Overseas Branch before coming to us in London. I can’t help but wonder if he took part in the weekly “Kippers for Supper” on Fridays. History relates that a weekly order for kippers was phoned to Douglas, Isle of Man, branch. They arranged for the order to be placed on board the IOM Steamer “St Tudno”. On arrival it was collected from the docks in Liverpool by a messenger with his trolley and distributed around 4 Water Street. This bit of Martins history was told to me by my late wife, Barbara Jones, who was for some time one of the distribution team and gained the nickname Kippy Jones. I guess this occurred about 1948-50. I presume some financial settlement was made. Did Douglas, IOM send a Claim Form, or did Liverpool send a BPV ? Whichever happened it was quite an unusual transaction to appear in the Cross Entries Account ! Do any members from Liverpool remember ?” Finally Michael Brown sent me these memories: “I first met Laurie in August 1962 when he was manager of Manchester Overseas Branch. Tony Makeham was the Assistant Manager and the No. 3 was Bernard Butterworth. As part of my Graduate Training Programme (I never went to University but the Bank Union persuaded the Senior Management at Head Office to make available some places on the Course to O Level Entrants) I was attached to Overseas for 6 months. Although rather short in height, in all other aspects he was a big man. Big in personality, big in staff relations and big in being completely on top of the job of managing his unit. As a result staff were devoted to him and he took a great interest in each of us individually. His time was our time and I spent many an occasion in his room as he outlined the way he wanted certain things to be done. I next had to report to him in 1980/82 when he was one of the General Managers at 54 and I was a GMA in London District Office. It was always a pleasure to see him. A truly outstanding man in Martins, who took our flag with him into Barclays. Together with Brian Pearce we had two Martins Champions at the helm.” You will note that Laurie Cockburn had the DFC and served in the RAF during the war. It would be fascinating to know more about that.
RECENT DEATHS
Ray Fuller Ray died suddenly on 14 November 2011. We had seen him 10 days before at the London Lunch, and it was a shock to hear of his death so soon afterwards. He was Chairman of Grasshopper Pensioners’ Club until Bill Webb took over in 2005. He was an enthusiastic member of the Club and never missed a meeting. David Stalder emailed: “I remember Ray from when I first joined Martins Chief Overseas Branch in Gracechurch Street and we remained in contact over the years, either through the Martins gatherings or the lunches with Foreign Branches Pensioners Club, and I know that he will be sadly missed by his many friends from both clubs. Bill Webb went to the funeral: “Audrey accompanied me on Friday 2 December to the Parish Church of St Michaels in Aveley, Essex to represent our club at Ray’s funeral service. Given that he was an only child and a lifelong confirmed bachelor, there was a large contingent of family and friends paying their respects as befitted a man who had lived his whole life in Aveley. I discovered that, apart from National Service and a two year attachment to Barclays International in New York, he had lived in the same house in which he had been born. A friend of some 72 years standing had written a simple and sincere eulogy, starting with their first day at school in 1939 and leading on to Grays Technical College, where Ray had excelled at woodwork, metal work and technical drawing. History did not relate how that had marked Ray down for a successful career in international banking. In his earlier years he had been an accomplished horseman, and exploited his horticultural skills as a lifelong supporter of the Orset Show. His home-made wine also won prizes and his sloe gin was, apparently, only to be taken in moderation. His main recreational interests were a long-standing support for the National Trust and the Woodland Trust. He never joined the modern world of electronic communication. As our Chairman for 8 years (1997-2005) he was willing to make a contribution and, to the best of my knowledge, he had been present at all our functions. We will miss him.”
BERYL MASLEN I have been notified that Beryl died recently. She worked in Martins Bank before she married and her maiden name was Beryl Harwood.
MOLLY FOSTEN Molly died in September at the age of 84. Brian Mare told me that she worked in 68 Lombard Street in the 1940s and he believes her maiden name was Molly Williams. She was the widow of Alan Fosten and must have met him at work when he returned to the bank from war service
DONALD BREWIS I heard from Derek Lucas that Donald Brewis died in July. He was not a member of this club but no doubt many of you will have known him. “He spent some part of his career in the London District, being Assistant Manager at Hanover Square from 1957/60. He was appointed Superintendent of Branches in the newly formed South Western District in 1960 and Assistant District Manager in 1965. Two years later he was appointed Manager of Liverpool City Office. After that I lost track of him and wonder whether he carried on as manager there until the merger in 1969. He retired as I did in 1983. We were both the same age, 88, both joining the bank on the same day, 1 June 1940, amid threats of imminent invasion following the disaster of Dunkirk. I think he may have served in the RAF during the war. I myself was in the Navy, returning to banking in 1946. He had a web site, being a member of something styled ‘192.com’ and was also a member of the IFS Financial Services, being an FCIB. Another interesting fact of this site is that Derrick George Hanson was elected an Honorary Fellow, along with such folk as Sir John Major CH. Derrick was with me in Head Office Trustee Department while I was there from 1947/56. He was a brilliant brain, achieved all sorts of prizes in the Institute Examinations, lectured and, I think, finished as General Manager of the bank’s overall Trustee Services. Two folks I was proud to know.”
May they all rest in peace.
CORRESPONDENCE
Rod Mole rang from his Spanish retreat to send his good wishes to all who remember him. After an extremely difficult year when both he and Beryl spent a considerable time in hospital, things are looking up. They are now back home and Beryl has a full time carer, who is a great help to them both. Some of the old mischievous Rod came through in the conversation, I was relieved to note ! The signs are good. Norman Penty I heard from Ted Smith that Norman came home from hospital on 17 October. He is decidedly better and can now go out with a stick instead of in a wheel chair. Progress is slow but there is no reason why he should not return to normal life in the months ahead. We wish him well again. “Just a Thought”– from Dave Baldwin I had always believed that the rates for foreign currency we got from the bank were “Staff Rates” even though the bank uses the outsourced provider ‘Travelex’. However, for our recent holiday, I decided to obtain internet rates from several other suppliers so that I had them when I spoke with Staff Currency Purchases. I was surprised to discover that, whilst the Euro rate was slightly better than any other rate that I could have obtained, the rate for the Czech Koruna was far inferior. I mentioned this to the sales-person, who responded that she was not permitted to offer any alternative rate. I therefore only purchased my Euros from Barclays. Immediately afterwards I bought my Czech Korunas from Tesco – free delivery to my home. You can imagine my surprise when I compared my two contract notes. They were exactly the same (with the exception of the names – Barclays and Tesco) and my reference numbers were the same, apart from being only 14 transactions different. I wonder if you might be interested in including this experience in case fellow pensioners believe that they are always getting special treatment when offered ‘Staff Rates’ when they are just the same, and sometimes worse, than those available to the general public. Sam Brookes emailed: “The reference by Michael Brown to staffing difficulties in WWII moves me to add my own memory. I was 15 in 1940 when the Battle of Britain was at its height. We lived in New Malden, Surrey. During that summer I had to take my School Certificate examinations, buzzing in and out of the school air raid shelter in the middle of some of them (No talking boys!). Despite these interruptions I managed to pass, although I suspect that the examiners may have been lenient with us because of the difficulties we had suffered. In January 1941, with the nightly blitzes still in progress, we moved house to Sidcup, Kent and the question was: does little Sam continue with his studies in a local sixth form or does he leave school and get a job. All I wanted was something to fill in the time until I was old enough to be called up and join the RAF. A job it was to be. My father came from Liverpool and, during the Great War, had made friends with a chap called Tom Barrett, who was to become an Income Tax Manager in Martins. Dad contacted him for an introduction and on 10 February I attended at 68 for an interview. I was received kindly, if somewhat stiffly, on the Mezzanine floor by one Frank Fitt, who was then a clerk. He gave me some quite simple English and maths papers to complete and then came the interview. It was with the very formidable George Richardson Tarn, peering at me over his spectacles, wearing his wing collar and the standard City black coat and striped trousers. “How many other banks have you tried before coming here Mr Brooookes?” He had a strong Liverpool accent. “None sir”. That is all I remember but he did accept me to the permanent staff, which was unusual during wartime. I started work at Chislehurst branch on 17 February – the bank was very short of staff. I could go on about regularly having to sleep in the bank on fire-watching duty, but that’s another story.” Many thanks for all your contributions to the newsletter. It is always so good to read them. I shall be sending out another newsletter at the end of February/beginning of March and would be grateful to hear from you with news or comments for that. Don’t forget to put the date of the AGM in your new diary, and on the calendar ! Please send your reply slip for the AGM, and cheque, to Bill Webb in plenty of time. With best wishes for a happy and successful New Year, Ros Edwards Hon. Secretary
forthcoming events
AGM at Global Head Office			29 March 2012
Spring Lunch at Barnsgate Manor Vineyard			10 May 2012
Summer Lunch at Donnington Manor, Nr. Sevenoaks			2 August 2012
London Lunch at Royal Overseas League			1 November 2012
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