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WHY NOT
ALSO VISIT THESE PAGES |
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At last – the 1948 show! |
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1949 – Out and About at Agricultural Shows |
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Penrith |
Tunbridge Wells |
Kelso |
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1957 – Coming to an estate near you! |
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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. |
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1961
- A Day in the Life… |
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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! |
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PREPARATION OF THE PITCH AND FINISHING
TOUCHES |
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CLERK IN CHARGE: MALCOLM HUMBLE |
CASHIER: JULIAN TAYLOR |
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MESSENGER: JACK CRAVEN |
TIDYING UP BEFORE MOVING ON… |
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Images © Julian Taylor 1961 to date |
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1966 – The Garstang Show |
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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. |
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Image © Ken Weights 1966 to date |
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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. |
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Show
Season The background story of the mobile branch programme |
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Mobile Branch No4 in 1957 |
Shropshire & West Mids Show 1960 |
1960: Prizewinner at Liverpool Show |
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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. |
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1960: At the Royal National Eisteddfod |
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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. |
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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. |
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1961 Conservatives Conference |
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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. |
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x1964: Out and about |
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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. |
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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. |
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1951: Cockermouth Show |
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1955: City of Leicester Show |
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1956: Liverpool show |
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1968 – Down your way… |
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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 - |
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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
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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! |
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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 |
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Full circle… |
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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… |
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z © gut informiert 2007 to date |
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