Whilst not strictly a FIRST for Martins, Mobile Branches are used constantly from their introduction in 1948 until the Summer show season of 1969, and are seen at all manner of events and shows throughout the United Kingdom, the Channel islands and the Isle of Man. The fleet of caravans is also used in the way that we understand the mobile branches of today – to bring banking facilities to towns and large estates that do not have their own banking facilities. Stand by for a whistlestop tour, as we investigate the phenomenon of Martins’ Mobile Branches!						WHY NOT ALSO VISIT THESE PAGES
At last – the 1948 show!
From 1948 to 1969, Martins Bank’s fleet of Mobile Branches brings the Bank to estates and remote villages where customers might otherwise have nowhere else to do their banking. There is also Martins’ Pre-Fabricated branch (pictured, right) which proves invaluable as a temporary service whilst a new branch of Martins was being built, or an old one renovated. In the Spring of 1969, the pre-fab pitches up at Litherland, Liverpool 21 (left) to provide a continuation of service during knock-down and rebuild. We now have images of the pre-fab both inside and out, on our LITHERLAND page. At trade fairs, Martins usually comissions a stand in keeping with the event. You can see a selection of Martins’ trade stands by clicking HERE . Launched as “dignified and impressive”, Martins Mobile Bank makes its debut during the “Silver Lining Savings Week” promotion, which runs from 28 Feb to 6 March 1948. Several banks are experimenting with the idea of mobile branches, and with the idea expected to catch on quickly Martins chooses Coventry Steel Caravans Ltd of Warwick to build the first of what become a whole fleet of mobile bank branches. These will become a familiar sight in towns and villages across the land, and at numerous agricultural shows over the next twenty years. The new service is greeted in a fairly modest article in the Summer 1948 edition of Martins Bank Magazine. Little do they know at this time, that the mobile bank will still be with us in the twenty-first century…
The Mobile Bank is dignified and impressive – an excellent advertisement for the bank. it contains a customers’ space, complete with table and chairs; a counter with room for two cashiers if necessary; a small office space; and a manager’s room with table and three chairs and a telephone. Illumination is provided by calor gas. There is also a heating system, while in hot weather the roof can be thrown open. Entrance for the staff is through the manager’s room at the front; that for the public being at the rear. Fittings throughout are in the best banking tradition, expensive wood being used for furniture and panelling…
1949 – Out and About at Agricultural Shows
Penrith	Tunbridge Wells									Kelso
1957 – Coming to an estate near you!
In an attempt to “get closer to the working classes” as Martins top Management rather condescendingly has it, Mobile Branches are deployed on housing estates where families manage their affairs in cash only – the hope is that they will see how easy it is to have a bank acccount, and how regular savings can be made safer, and earn interest by being deposited with the Bank. Martins takes this experiment a stage further with a special sub branch on a housing estate in Plymouth in 1958. You can read more about this by clicking on the leaflet “Ernesettle Experiment” at the top of this page.
1961 - A Day in the Life…
On the road with the Mobile Branch Team
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Wolsingham and Wear Valley Agricultural Show is one of 79 events in 1961 at which Martins will be represented by its fleet of Mobile Branches. A 23 page itinerary is printed showing the team when and where they have to be, and where they will be staying overnight. They are also provided with the name of a local florist who can help the mobile branch live up to its prizewinning reputation!
PREPARATION OF THE PITCH AND FINISHING TOUCHES
CLERK IN CHARGE: MALCOLM HUMBLE							CASHIER: JULIAN TAYLOR
MESSENGER: JACK CRAVEN							TIDYING UP BEFORE MOVING ON…
Images © Julian Taylor 1961 to date
1966 – The Garstang Show
In this fabulous image, received from friend of the archive Ken Weights, one of our Mobile Branches wins the cup for best stand at the Garstang Show in 1966. Our thanks go not only to Ken, but also to Jack Adams and one or two others who helped - either by identification or elimination - to name all of the people in the line up: (L to R) Frank Wade (Manager, Garstang) Chris Dash, Keith Hammond and Ken Weights.
Image © Ken Weights 1966 to date
The fleet of mobile branches is co-ordinated from Liverpool Head Office. This involves deployment of staff and messengers/guards, the hiring of seasonal staff, and planning the complicated itinerary that ensures the caravans turn up to the right events on the right days. In the spring 1965 edition of Martins Bank Magazine, Joan Hall, Premises Department Head Office writes about the ups and downs of organising the Mobile Branch Fleet.
Show Season The background story of the mobile branch programme
when the first of our mobile branches sets out from Liverpool on April 5th it will signify the beginning of another season of agricultural shows, sporting fixtures and other events at which the Bank is represented through this post-war development which provides banking services to customers, exhibitors and the public. The 'season' lasts from April to mid-October and the appearance of our three mobile branches on time on each showground is largely the result of the work carried on at Head Office during the remaining months of the year. Planning begins in October for the senior clerk-in-charge from the season just finished and for myself—the permanent link with the crews when on tour.
Mobile Branch No4 in 1957		Shropshire & West Mids Show 1960							1960: Prizewinner at Liverpool Show
Information on the next season's shows has to be obtained from agricultural societies and our own branches so that a programme can be drafted and approved by the General Management in December. Then follows the application for sites, consideration of their suitability, and reservation of both site and hotel accommodation for the staff: in some cases it is necessary to make arrangements two years in advance. Consideration must also be given to the type and size of floral displays and surrounding layout. and to arrangements for telephone service, marquee floorings and garaging where necessary, together with cash arrangements in conjunction with the local branch.
1960: At the Royal National Eisteddfod
In addition there are the intricacies of servicing and renewals for the mobile branches, towing vehicles, tents and equipment and sometimes, as this year, additional work connected with the construction of a new mobile branch. Towards the end of March the detailed itinerary is completed, with particulars of hotels, floral displays, controlling branches and the many features which vary from show to show. The new clerks-in-charge will have joined us, the drivers will be making their final check of their vehicles and the cashiers will join their crews a week before the departure to help with the loading of equipment and to familiarise themselves with the type of work they will undertake during the season.
			This is a hectic time with seemingly endless queries, parcels of equipment and stationery arriving daily, and five or six people trying not to fall over each other. It is understandable that I see them safely on their way with considerable relief for I can then settle down to clearing up, establishing a system for the summer months and coping with any minor points which may have been overlooked.
1961 Conservatives Conference
The respective show files, admission tickets, and so on, have to be forwarded by registered post in advance of each show, the files being returned later, with details of the show, for inclusion in the report which is made at the end of the season. Apart from our representation at these shows by means of the mobile branches, elaborate stands are set up at national exhibitions in London.
								x1964: Out and about
These are dealt with by our Premises Department, London, but the arrangements for the Bank to be represented at many smaller exhibitions, fairs and conferences in other parts of the country have to be made by the mobile section at Head Office. One never knows what the next telephone call will bring. It may be news of a breakdown which can involve the dispatch of the reserve unit or even an alteration in the programme, but it is a matter of pride that we have never yet failed to attend a show, although there have been times when it was touch and go. Occasionally, however, shows have to be cancelled owing to adverse weather or outbreaks of foot and mouth disease, with consequent amendments to the schedule.
		In one startling phone message the clerk-in-charge of a mobile branch calmly announced that they had just been in collision with an aeroplane. In fact the mobile branch and an aircraft transporter had come face to face in a narrow lane and the damage had been done in the endeavour to squeeze past, nevertheless we can perhaps claim the distinction of being the only Bank to experience a brush with an aircraft. On another occasion a clerk-in-charge informed us that he had been called up and was already absent without leave! This was perfectly true. He was an Army Reservist and during the Suez troubles his call-up papers had followed him round the shows for a week and had only just caught up with him. He had however been granted a 24-hour reprieve by the police to 'get rid of his mobile branch: a former member of a crew took over immediately and saw the programme through. It might seem that the office end of the mobile branch section is the least attractive but to me it is one of the most interesting jobs in the Bank. My only regret is that just as I am getting to know the staff, they leave; their replacements arrive and I have to start again getting to know them and explaining the work and the procedure. But on the occasions when I visit the shows it is with a sense of pride that I see the results of what I have helped to achieve as the permanent link in the mobile chain.
1951: Cockermouth Show
1955: City of Leicester Show
1956: Liverpool show
1968 – Down your way…
Following an article about our Archive which featured recently in the pages of the Sunderland Echo, we are delighted to have received the images shown below, taken at various shows and events in Martins’ 1968 Show Season. David J Watson, who very kindly sent us the images, also recalls for us the chaotic end to the 1968 season, in what he refers to as -
THE MUD BATH - AND THE MAD DASH… In the summer of 1968 I was selected as a cashier for the Mobile Branches which visited the various agricultural shows around the country. With Clerk in Charge Adrian Morrell and messenger/driver Norman Bond we towed the caravan with a Land Rover around the north of England. After the programme had got underway we were advised that another show had been added to our list. The Frome Show (Somerset) was way off our patch and came between the Westmorland County Show, at Kendal, and the Bellingham Show (Northumberland). Apparently, the previous year the caravan at the Frome Show had not been well attended so it had been removed from the 1968 programme.					Messenger Normasn Bond in uniform and wellies at the very muddy Westmorland Show Image © David J Watson 1968
However, Colonel Roberts, a member of the Bank’s local board of directors, was the President (?) of the show that year and he felt it looked bad if his bank was not represented, hence the late inclusion. My memories of that summer are mainly of sunny days and only very occasional rain - except for the Westmorland Show - when it rained heavily for at least a day before the show and most of the next morning. There was a bottleneck on the show ground through which most of the traffic (pedestrian and motorised) had to pass and the ground churned up terribly. This morass was close to our stand and customers coming in and out of the caravan left it in a filthy condition. The mud was so bad that Norman and I had to take the Land Rover to cross the show ground to get to the restaurant tent for lunch. At the start of the programme I was told to take a pair of Wellington boots with me for use when cleaning and setting up the caravan for each show but Kendal was the first time I actually wore them when serving customers and wearing a suit. When the show ended we did a basic clean up but had to wait until we arrived at Frome before we could clean the caravan from top to bottom - a task we did not relish as the season was almost over. Luckily, we had a few days between shows to complete our task. In the end everything was ready in time and I even got to meet Colonel Roberts. I recall the show was on a Thursday and a mad dash followed when we had to get to the other end of the country for the Bellingham Show at the weekend. We made it!
RIGHT – David Watson behind the counter at the 1968 Bury Show BELOW LEFT - Adrian Morrell and Norman Bond beside the Land Rover and caravan at Pannal Golf Club (Dunlop Masters Golf) BELOW RIGHT - Adrian and Norman beside the caravan set up for the Northumberland County Show
Full circle…
In the early part of the twenty-first century, and more than sixty years after Martins Mobile Bank took to the road for the first time, the revival of the Mobile Bank is a wonderful tribute to the pioneers of this service. Trade stands have never really gone away, and now that you can once more pop into a mobile branch once a week in many towns and villages, it’s like the whole idea has come full circle. What goes around, truly DOES come around!							Homeward bound after another successful show…
z © gut informiert 2007 to date