We did of course have tables to assist, but you had to know how to do it mathematically for instant account closures over the counter (I can still work it out in my head!)
There were only 4 interest rates; Deposits, Subscription Shares, Paid-Up Shares and one mortgage rate. The Halifax actively paid 0.25% less on saving accounts because it was so big and didn’t want to take too much business away from competitors! The marketing “cake” was big enough for everyone to have a slice… building societies, banks, solicitors, brokers, accountants, estate agents, insurance companies etc., which meant we all co-existed in mutual understanding.
We gave each other business, went to each other’s annual knees-ups, and generally had a mutually beneficial relationship with each other. We all stuck to what we did and did it well, unlike today when everybody is a jack of all trades and master of none. Why did that happen? It’s a rhetorical question of course, the historical details are still being pored over, but I would suggest a good “umbrella term” would be Corporate Greed. And the whirlwind has been well and truly reaped: at the end of the 1960s there were over 600 building societies, how many are there now? How much have organisations paid out on PPI claims in relation to the amount they made flogging them?
In those days, the manager and his assistant were masters of their domains, always called “Mr” and their word has law! Many of them hardly showed up at all, being busy in the “community”, for instance the golf course, rotary club or being JPs. Head office was very patriarchal in those days, and every few years you got invited to a “dance” (aka booze-up) at Halifax, and usually stayed in the White Swan hotel. You never wanted to be at the front of the building as the town clock was just opposite and the bell rang every hour! Not much sleep then! The good thing about functions like this, staff holidays and training courses, was that you got to know your fellow workers from all over the country, as well as the Head Office hierarchy, and the list of branch officials meant that you could keep tabs on your contemporaries as you climbed the promotion ladder… or otherwise in some cases!
It’s not a cliché to say there really was a comradeship that lasted. If you met someone else on the staff there was an instant bond. I am still in touch with many of my old colleagues and we all feel the same, sorry for how things have turned out after the job we knew, but paradoxically, glad to be out of it. Whole generations of us all left within a few years of each other, what does that say about changing company culture? (You only have to read the letter page in My Accord for the sad truth of that).
I did progress somewhat, I moved to Rhyl, then South Shields, Ellesmere Port, Dumbarton, Glasgow Buchannan Street and finally Sauchiehall Street. That was over a period of 29 years, and I met some wonderful people on the way and a handful of not so wonderful, you know who you are! Apart from the last year or so, it was the best job in the world, and I loved every minute, which made me want to do my utmost for the company because I knew they would look after me. A true symbiosis!
In the mid-90s that all soured, staff stopped being seen as assets and were mere chattels, therefore expendable. Trust disappeared with mystery shoppers, and now I believe there are CCTV cameras spying on them constantly, they have my sympathy.
By 1996 with various “network strategies” making us all uneasy, I decided I had had enough, could see which way the wind was blowing, and took the early bath. It was not how I wanted my time with Halifax to end, but sometimes you can’t choose the timetable. I loved the Halifax for what it had grown into since the mid-19th
century, not the empty shell the actions of a few non-Halifax meddlers turned it into for the final few years, now it exists in name only. It does however live on in the memories of many of its “family”, that huge organic body of people like me, past and present, who remember it with great affection as an integral part of our lives.
I was one of the first branch reps when the old HBSSA got going under John Simmons in the late 70s, and have kept my membership alive ever since, and every day that goes by intensifies the need for such organisations to look out for their members as traditional notions of employment are eroded. It’s too easy to ship jobs abroad to be done by exploited workforces or consign them to cyberspace. (I refuse to use self-serve checkouts in supermarkets because I am essentially performing a task for them for free). Grumpy old git? Yes, probably, but I like to think I have not surrendered my moral compass to unfettered profits, unlike many companies today.
Back to me one last time, since I left I have kept very busy. After a little break so I could remember who I was, I decided on further education, so I signed up with the Open University, part time, and graduated in 2009 with first class honours in art history and philosophy. While doing that I was also doing voluntary tutoring with the Community Literacy department of the local council, which I did for 6 years. After graduating I signed up with the tutoring agency to see if I could recover some of the fees my degree had cost. I reckon I go about 70% back, but it was mainly about the satisfaction of helping others (several of my students went on to gain degrees of their own and are now doing fulfilling jobs, I hope it lasts for them).
After about 4 years of that I was pushing retirement age anyways, so called it a day. Or so I thought; I found myself doing more (free) tutoring for the children of friends who needed a helping hand with their schoolwork, and still do the occasional session when called on. In addition, I have been tutoring a local mature art group for the last 8 years, and we have just got back together after 2-year lockdown absence. Furthermore, since 2000 I have been indulging in another interest of mine, model railways, but building a layout in my loft, and it featured in Railway Modeller, Britain’s premier model railway magazine, in November 2021. So, as I say keeping busy!
I still live in Scotland after my move here in 1987, with Tina, my wife of 48 years. We bought the house new, so it has become “ours”, no-one living here before, so we found little reason to move. Tina, like countless other Halifax wives (and some husbands no doubt), gave up their own careers to follow their spouses all over the place, and so I feel they all deserve a shout out.
Now nearly 74 I am obviously slowing down a bit and seem to be collecting aliments and maladies like some people collect stamps. Last year I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent several sessions of radiotherapy with our wonderful NHS here in Glasgow which seems to have put it in check for now, so it’s a case of regular updates. I urge anyone to get checked out if they feel something is amiss regarding health.
So now we look upon the world with weary eyes; the new is all bad and there is a frisson around life that is unsettling for many, so we have to find worth where we can. Overall, I feel my life has been lived and the Halifax was no small part of that, and there is a certain pride in being recorded in its history books. Collectively, we mourn the passing of a friend. HBS… RIP.
