MORE than 60 former employees of Martins Bank attended a reunion dinner at The Wheatley Hotel, Ben Rhydding, to mark the 50th anniversary of the business disappearing from local high streets.
Martins Bank was a major financial institution nationwide, with branches in towns like Ilkley, Guiseley, Skipton, Otley and Keighley. It also had branches at two farmers auction marts in Otley and Skipton.
Mr David Baxter, who organised the gathering and whose father, Ken, used to run the Guiseley branch of Martins said: “It was emotional to catch up with so many people with whom we worked so closely over the years. Martins was a great brand but nothing stays the same, and the way banking has changed in the intervening years would have been unimaginable to us back then.”
People travelled to the event from as far away at East Sussex and Bridlington.
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