| Activity | By 1937 it was recognised within the Bank that war would be inevitable. Due to a perceived increase in the threat of air raids, preparations were made to evacuate sections of the Bank away from London. By the time war was declared on 3rd September 1939, the Bank had put into motion its plans to evacuation departments to Staffordshire and Hampshire. Many of the departments remained away from London until the war had ended. While away from London many of the staff provided voluntary labour to local farmers and to cultivating land which the Bank had leased.
Most of the staff evacuated went to sites in Hampshire close to the village of Whitchurch. Although no offices were based in Whitchurch, with much of the work based at the camps at Hurstbourne, Foxdown and Overton, many of the staff were billeted there, either lodging with residents or in rented accommodation. In particular, the Yews, the Lawn, with gardens leading down to the river Test, and the Roos, were leased were leased for the use of Bank staff, and the Bank’s doctor and dentist.
The influx of staff to the area around Whitchurch had a huge impact on the local population; the pre-war population of Whitchurch was 2,600 and during the war this figure nearly doubled. In particular special provision had to be made for medical services, as Whithchurch housed just one local practitioner. A full time doctor was engaged, a dentist was established, and the lease was taken on another property, Bere Hill House, for use as a hospital. By the end of the war the Bank owned or rented a total of forty properties in and around Overton and Whitchurch.
Whitchurch also saw many of the Bank staff’s agricultural ventures. The Lawn became home to livestock, including pigs, hens, goats, bees and a pony and trap. All labour here was voluntary and the produce was given to the canteens. Poultry keeping was subsequently extended to every hostel, and the combined efforts produced 75,000 eggs, 350 gallons of goats milk, 300 lbs of honey and two pigs.
Before the war although there were a number of pubs in Whitchurch, there was little else for refreshments for Bank staff away from Bank premises. Although the terms of the Bank Charter prevented it from trading on its own account, a way around this difficulty was achieved by the Bank providing a loan to two women to run a café, The Bay Tree. The property, on the London Road in Whitchurch, was purchased by the Bank for £700, and run by two previous housekeepers at one of the Bank’s hostels. The café proved a huge success not only with Bank staff, but also with the local public, and when the Bank sold the property in 1944, the new owner continued the venture. |