We recently received this fabulous image from our friend Ken Weights. It features one of our Mobile Branches winning the prize for best stand at the Garstang Show in 1966. Ken is standing on the right of the group of people, his colleague Chris Dash is holding the trophy, and the man between them is Keith Hammond, the Mobile Branch driver. This is where we, and Ken could do with some help, as he is not too sure of the identity of the Manager standing on the left of the picture. It may be Garstang’s Manager at that time, but we currently don’t have his name or image recorded elsewhere in the archive to be able to verify this. If you can help, please contact us at the usual address: gutinfo@btinternet.com .
At the show (L-R): ?, Chris Dash, Keith Hammond and Ken Weights. Image © Ken Weights 1966 to date
20 Years on the Road…
From the 1940s to the 1960s Martins fleet of Mobile Branches brought the Bank to estates and remote villages where customers might otherwise have nowhere else to do their banking. There was also Martins’ Pre-Fabricated branch which proved invaluable as a temporary service whilst a new branch of Martins was being built, or an old one renovated.				One of many colour publicity shots of the mobile bank
At trade fairs, Martins usually commissioned a stand in keeping with the event. You can see a selection of Martins’ trade stands by clicking HERE .
1948: The Mobile Bank – thrift in a box				Martins Mobile Bank made its debut during the “Silver Lining Savings Week” promotion, which ran from 28 Feb to 6 March 1948. Several banks were experimenting with the idea of mobile branches, and with the idea expected to catch on quickly Martins chose Coventry Steel Caravans Ltd of Warwick to build the first of what became a fleet of mobile bank branches. These would become a familiar sight in towns and villages across the land, and at numerous agricultural shows over the next twenty years.
“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
In the first of two features, a day in the life of the Mobile branch at the Wolsingham show in 1961 is told through pictures recently contributed to the archive by the man who was there – Julian Taylor…
A Day in the Life… On the road with the Mobile Branch Team
x
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! *(See picture Liverpool Show 1960 in “Show Season” Below)
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
The fleet of mobile branches was co-ordinated from Liverpool Head Office. This involved deployment of staff and messengers/guards, the hiring of seasonal staff, and planning the complicated itinerary that ensured the caravans turned up to the right events on the right days. In the spring 1965 edition of Martins Bank Magazine, Joan Hall, Premises Department Head Office wrote 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. 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.
1961 Conservatives Conference
x1964: Out and about
Martins’ pre-fabricated branch often came in very handy whilst new premises were being built. In the Spring of 1969, the pre-fab pitched up at Litherland, Liverpool 21 (left) to provide a continuation of service during knock-down and rebuild.				1969: Pre-fab – it’s fab!
Apart from our representation at these shows by means of the mobile branches, elaborate stands are set up at national exhibitions in London. 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.
1951: Cockermouth Show		1955: City of Leicester Show			1956: Liverpool show
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.				Homeward bound after another successful show…
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, it is interesting to note the revival of mobile bank branches by Royal Bank of Scotland chain NatWest – truly “what goes around, comes around” – to a town or village near you! z © gut informiert 2007 to date