A Midland Odyssey - Part One

I have been retired for ten months now, and after the initial shock of being made redundant and having to make adjustments to the way I live, I have enjoyed not having to go to work anymore. There have been some days (fewer now than at the start of the year) when I have felt somewhat odd; the lack of routine and discipline that going to work provided have, now and then, left me unfocussed and feeling slightly disoriented. It is difficult after all, to stop working after thirty six years without some effects. I still occasionally think about work, or rather some aspects of my working life, and on a whim decided that I would visit all of the locations at which I worked, in a single day.

I actually worked at ten different locations (some more than once) and due to the geography, decided to visit them not in the chronology of when I worked at those places, but rather in the most logical and time efficient manner. I have, however listed them in the order in which I worked at these various sites, although by the time we reach the last two offices there is some overlap. Last Monday I took a trip round the ten sites I worked at; by bus, train, tube and good old Shanks’s pony; it took me just over four hours.

Midland Bank, Gants Hill

I started work here in 1976. It was a small branch (fourteen staff, if I remember rightly) and I learned a lot, performing a variety of roles, starting with Waste (Remittances), which entailed balancing items passed over the counter, before moving on to Terminal input (using the legendary Burroughs TC500 machine), Control and Standing Orders. Back then all of the major banks had branches at Gants Hill; now only Lloyds Bank remains, testimony to the shrinkage in the branch networks of all of the Clearing Banks. Midland Bank closed its doors in the 1980’s (I think) and the building is now a pizza restaurant. At one time it was a Pizza Express and I once went for a meal there, which was an odd experience as we were seated almost exactly where the Remittances desk had been, precisely where I first started work!

Random Memory

One day, on going out to lock up the front door at the close of business, I found a small dog tied to the door handle. The manager instructed me to bring the animal inside and few moments later the doorbell was rung by an angry lady demanding the return of her pet!

The legendary Burroughs TC500 - state of the art computing technology circa 1976

The former Midland Bank, 412 Cranbrook Road, now Enzo's pizzeria.

Midland Bank, Queen Victoria Street

When I moved to Queen Victoria Street (QVS) I had visions of advancement; I was soon disabused of this notion when I found that my “career” had moved backwards and that I would be doing Waste, a job I hadn’t done for almost a year. I can’t say that my time at QVS was particularly happy; I progressed from Waste back to Cashiering and Standing Orders during my time here. Working here I did, however met Carol Mayo, who after a number of years, married Steve Giles, with whom I worked later during my time in the Bank. QVS has long closed (although there is now a new branch at a different location in Queen Victoria Street) and the original site is now occupied by a new office block.

Random Memory

The day we had armed police in the back office and in the banking hall after a tip off that one of our customers would be robbed when they collected their wages. Nothing came of it.

A new office block stands where Midland Bank, QVS once stood.

Midland Bank, Romford

The upside of working in Romford was that it was only a twenty five minute walk from home; the downside was that I spent the majority of my time here doing the job I liked least during my career – cashiering. Habitually I was the number three cashier, whose position was the first that customers came to when entering the branch. Consequently I was rarely without a free moment. After a while I was given the opportunity to learn the job of Foreign Clerk, which was, with hindsight, one of the best things that happened to me.

Random Memory

One summer’s evening we played cricket against Lloyds Bank. Our branch manager, who had at one time captained Midland Bank’s cricket team, was overjoyed when he learned that I knew how to fill in a cricket scorebook, so I got that job. He was even more pleased when I took four wickets for twenty-two runs in a thirty run victory!

 

Romford branch

Midland Bank, Barking

Barking branch had a very bad reputation and I moved there with some trepidation. My fears were unfounded however as I enjoyed five very happy years there, almost all of which were spent working as the Foreign Clerk. It was very busy, but we had some great customers and staff and I learned a hell of a lot. It was while working at Barking that I made a lot of really good friends. Norman Evans I have already mentioned in a previous blog (The Obedience of Fools: http://rulesfoolsandwisemen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-obedience-of-fools.html).

Apart from Norman, I became firm friends with (among others), Gerry Baker, Paul Calvert and Keith Markham, who I still see regularly to this day.

Random Memory

I hadn’t been at Barking very long when one day we were besieged by newspaper and TV reporters after an unfortunate incident involving one of our customers, a student at a local college where we had a sub-branch, who alleged that she had been locked up in an interview room while the police were called as a result of her unauthorised overdraft.

Barking Branch

Midland Bank, Eastcheap

From being the sole Foreign Clerk at Barking, I moved to Eastcheap to become part of the Foreign Department, specialising in Inward and Outward Bills. It was here that I met June, who later became my first wife. June was the Foreign Department’s typist and on the first day I worked there she slapped me with a ruler for being cheeky (so she said).  Eastcheap is now a branch of the electrical retailers, Maplin.

Random Memory

It goes without saying that it would have to be meeting June while working here.

What was Eastcheap branch, now a Maplins

Midland Bank, Threadneedle Street International Banking Centre (IBC)

When the bank decided to centralise its Foreign processing, I moved here to work in the Payments team, occasionally on the Bills team, and for some time, in Admin. It was while working here that June and I were married. Our office was sited on the fifth floor of what was an old and somewhat eccentric building; it is now Threadneedles, a 5 star boutique hotel and also home to Bonds Restaurant and Bar. The exterior still has some reminders of its past life as Midland Bank.

Random Memory

The day the IRA bombed the Stock Exchange over the road; we were subsequently evacuated after a warning of a bomb in our building was received. This turned out to be a hoax perpetrated by a Midland employee.

The former Threadneedle Street office; the shield (above), still shows part of the old Midland Bank logo.

Midland Bank, Multicurrency Payments Department (MPD), Martin Lane

 Further centralisation saw the payments team taken out of the IBC and moved into Martin Lane. I progressed from payment checking to queries here, but it wasn’t long before we moved to Park Street. Martin Lane is no longer owned by the bank and is now offices occupied by a variety of companies.

Random Memory

Absolutely nothing memorable from my time at Martin Lane sticks in my mind.

24 Martin Lane, formerly the home of MPD, is now an anonymous set of offices.

Midland Bank, Multicurrency Payments Department (MPD), Park Street

In 1992 MPD moved into the newly completed Park Street building on the south side of Southwark Bridge. At that time the area was a complete dive; subsequently the then derelict Bankside Power Station has been converted into The Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre has been rebuilt, largely thanks to the efforts of the late Sam Wanamaker.  When we first moved to Southwark the area was so bad that it actually frightened and intimidated some people. Subsequently it has been gentrified and in the summer months it is awash with tourists. Bars, restaurants and shops have opened and it was always one of my favourite places to work. Sadly, it was while I was working here, twenty years ago this week in fact, that June died having suffered a brain haemorrhage.  I made many good friends during the numerous spells that I worked at Park Street, too numerous to name, but honourable mentions to Steve Giles, Steve Tucker, Solidea Cocciatelli, Mus Huseyin, Gary Cook, James Bowker...I could go on (and on).

Random Memory

As part of a leadership project, six of us helped to clear weeds and debris from a pond on Waterloo Green; hard work but really rewarding.

Park Street, with the chimney of the former Bankside Power Station, now the Tate Modern, in the background.

HSBC St Magnus House – The Midas Team

By 1992 HSBC had taken over Midland Bank and sometime after that I was seconded to The Midas Team, a project team developing a computer based payments enquiry system, supposedly for six months. The secondment lasted six years! Initially we were based in St Magnus House, which was also home to other IT and head office departments, but after a while we moved over to Park Street (not for the last time). St Magnus House is now home to Clarksons, a provider of integrated shipping services.

Random Memory

While working here I received probably the best single piece of advice I ever had while working for the bank, but sadly it was while I was working here that two window cleaners were killed when the cradle they were working from fell from the side of the building. I also recall more than one occasion on which I had to work through the night; sometimes I was the only person in the building apart from a security guard!

St Magnus House; the blue building in the background, once home to Midland Montagu, is now owned by Northern and Shell, publishers of The Daily Express.

HSBC 8 Canada Square, Canary Wharf

From St Magnus House, via Park Street, the Midas Team moved to Canary Wharf, into the purpose built forty-five storey tower, home to eight thousand or so employees. Some people loved working at Canary Wharf; some loathed it. Personally I found the area and the building soulless; literally it was working over a shopping mall and all the character of the old docks had been eradicated.

Random Memory

Watching England win the Ashes against Australia in The Cat and Canary one lunchtime back in 2005, or perhaps the aftermath of the bombing of the London Underground on 7^th July that same year and the highly convoluted (and long) journey home that ensued.

My job saw me ping-pong back and forth between Canada Square and Park Street for a number of years until my eventual redundancy at the end of last year.

Now that I am retired, people sometimes ask me if there is anything that I miss about work, to which I say very little about the actual work, just the people. Over the years I worked with hundreds of people and I am pleased to say that a great number of them I count as friends.