Through January

The Bank as a whole now settled back into comparative normality. Its January, I'm on my usual desk as, indeed, were everyone else apart, of course, from Bryn Roberts the Chief Clerk. No news of him, at least, no news as far as we were concerned. The Inspectors obviously knew more, but, as far as I am aware, Bryn never set foot inside the Bank again. One week passes into another, and a third, and a fourth. One or two minor incedents. One funny one was when I took a phone call from another branch, they wanted to come over to borrow something or other, and whoever was on the phone said to me "Is the Bank still in the same place in Rhyl High Street?I said, Yes of course, why? Reply What we have heard, its a wonder that someone has'ent stolen all the bricks by now!!!" Bits and bobs came out. According to someone, after the Inspectors confronted Bryn and told him he was suspended, the last thing he did was go to the Manager and say "Well thats the end of it, its all over now." But another incedent came to light towards the end of the month, to me this was probably the most unbelievable thing of the lot. Bryn had been the Treasurer of the local Rhyl Round Table, not unusual for a bank staff member to be given a job like that. Also, every summer the Bank had a staff "Sports Day." They all came down from Liverpool, Chester etc to North Wales, the men played golf, the ladies played Tennis, everyone had a meal, drinks and a general gettogether. In 1964 it was held at the Grand Hotel, Prestatyn (now The Sands). The administration was usually done by a local branch, so Rhyl was given the job, and Bryn was given (or took) the job of looking after the finances. The bank account for this was kept in the Local Head Office in Liverpool. Some time around January, the Grand Hotel contacted the Head Office and said "How about settling your bill, its a figure of 1,600 pounds." The Bank replied "What do you mean, you've been paid by cheque and the cheque went through in September. " It turned out that the Round Table had also had a function at the Grand, and their bill was for more or less the same amount, I believe there was a small difference. Believe it or not Bryn used the Bank's cheque to pay the Round Table bill. He had obviously used the Round Table funds himself. To me, this was not a theft' There was'ent a cat in hells chance that this wouldnt be found out, probably sooner rather than later. I feel sure, and still feel now, that he only intended to "borrow" it, he must have thought that some way he would put it right in the future. This was an act of desparation. I never found out if he had put this right out of the missing 6,000 pounds that he had been suspended for, or whether it was still outstanding when he was suspended. The members of the Round Table could not believe their ears when the news trickled out, later on in the year. A lot of them took ot as a personal thing, and were very angry. Otherwise, the Bank was fairly peaceful. Towards the end of the month the more junior members of the Inspection team started to drift away, one by one, presumably to go back to their routine of checking postage stamps in other branches. But now they would have a tale or two to tell!!! My private life was exciting to say the least. One night I was having a violent row in my car with my Wife, probably over Monica. She flew at me and gouged four deep scratches right down my face with her nails. The row went on, and I shouted if she didnt stop screaming I would tip the car over. I went into an S bend at an impossible speed, unfortunately for the car there was ice on the road, a big fast spin, and the car was on its side on a bank at the side of the road. So, next day I had to explain to everyone in work why I was scarred down my face and the car smashed up right along one side. Noone believed me when I said I had to crawl out through brambles.