‘I took my dress on the bus to rush to New Year dance’
The photo of Market Square in Hanley (TWWW, October 23) brought back a lot of memories.
The white building on the corner is Martins Bank where I worked from 1958 to 1966.
Just out of sight around the corner was a small door in Swan Passage which staff used to enter the building.
The bank occupied all of the building but, unknown to the customers, there was a flight of stairs behind the banking hall which led down to a vault housing a giant walk-in safe.
Every morning we would have the ritual of the accountant and the first cashier going down to open the safe to take out the cash that was needed for the five tills.
Customers were not expected to queue then. Everyone had to be served as quickly as possible.
Each time I go down the slope to the new indoor market I think that the front section of it is probably part of the vault of the bank.
Although the bank didn’t open until 10am we had to be there by 9am.
Our official finishing time was 5pm but if one of the tills, or the hundreds of cheques that had to go to the Central Clearing House each night didn’t balance, everyone had to stay and find the error.
We were not paid overtime, but if we were still there at 6pm the men could claim 7/6d (37.5p) and the women 6/0d. (30p).
This was known as ‘tea money’ although no one ever stopped to eat, we were all anxious to balance the books and get home. We could be there until 8pm looking for just 1d.
On December 31, we had to do one-and-a-half days’ work in one day. This was because the bank was closed on New Year’s Day and we had to balance everything off before we could leave – while still only being paid ‘tea money’.
I can remember taking my dress, shoes and flouncy petticoats on the bus in the morning and dashing to the staff room at 10pm to get changed to rush off to a dance to welcome in the New Year.
I am now 80 and “dashing” isn’t something I do now.
Did you work somewhere interesting in Hanley? Send your memories to waywewere@ thesentinel.co.uk