THERE probably wasn’t much banking done in this branch! Staff – and no doubt customers – had other things on their mind.

It was the last day the banks would be open before Christmas 1988 and it was time for staff to swap sober business clothes for something fancier. The picture here shows the festive gang at the National Westminster Bank in High Street, Oxford, in costume.

David Boulter, the senior manager, set the pattern for his staff by masquerading as a chef. Other managers appeared as a doctor, a sheriff, and a butcher. Senior cashier Stuart Hillyard was dressed as Fagin and the other cashiers were his bunch of pickpockets.

Their job was to pick a pocket or two (of customers) for charity. Staff at NatWest’s four other branches in Oxford also wore fancy dress, adding to the same charity collection.

Memory Lane this week

The Nat West wasn’t the only bank spreading the Christmas spirit.

At Barclays in Summertown, manager Bob Fitchett donned a Father Christmas outfit to give away money – the chocolate variety – to young customers. His office was transformed into Santa’s grotto for the day, and children were invited to meet him.

The Barclays’ collection was shared between the Alzheimer’s Disease Society and the John Watson special school at Holton, near Wheatley. At the Co-op Bank in New Road, Oxford, the entire staff dressed as fairies and invited customers to hand over good-quality, second-hand toys.

The response was described as excellent, with more than 150 toys donated to the National Children’s Home charity.

That year, Father Christmas arrived early in Oxford – on Guy Fawkes’ Day, November 5! He was accompanied in a horse-drawn carriage by Alice in Wonderland, alias Vanessa Read, before taking his place in the Alice grotto at Selfridges in the Westgate Centre.

Police cleared a path through the busy city centre for the parade, which featured a host of characters from the Alice grotto, the Upper Heyford Band, Kennington Silver Band and the Chix Majorettes. Hundreds of children and their parents packed the streets to welcome Santa and his entourage.

There was Christmas competition in the skies as well as in the streets.

Three cranes – one above St Aldate’s police station and the others at Gloucester Green – towered over the city, and workers decked them out with lights and Christmas trees.

Supt Andrew Beaumont, head of Oxford police, said: “Our crane is a hundred times better than those at Gloucester Green.”

  • A HAPPY Christmas to all Memory Lane readers and contributors. Thank you for all your memories, pictures and letters – keep them coming in 2015!


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