Yahoo News Hanley bank worker retires 41 years after her mum spotted advert in Sentinel
Angela Lowe was just 17 when she took a temporary job at Nationwide in Hanley — and has finally retired 41 years later. The 58-year-old has worked at the branch on Parliament Row since 1983.
She says mum Dianne found the job advert in The Sentinel. Her colleagues — who she estimates have 'centuries' of experience between them — waved her off yesterday with a buffet, balloons and banners at the branch.
Angela, from Bucknall and living now living in Bignall End, said: "I’ve worked with some really nice people. I’ve made friends for life, and had some lovely customers as well, who become like your friends because they are so lovely."
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"Memories of lovely people is the main thing I’ll take away from it," she added, saying she customers who came in as children now visit with children of their own.
Angela has worked at the building society longer than she has been married to husband Andrew, with the pair married for 34 years.
Angela, known as Ange to friends, said Hanley has 'changed a lot' since she started in 1983, when she would spend Saturday nights dancing at The Place. She said: "The streets used to be a lot busier and there were a lot more shops.
"I remember finishing work on a Saturday and meeting my friends at Chelsea Girl. We used to go shopping and the streets would be full with shoppers, and you don’t get that now.
"I suppose there’s more on retail parks now. At the Potteries Centre there’s quite a lot of empty units. It has changed a lot — it’s takeaways, banks and charity shops."
Ange raised her three boys — Jamie, 31, Dan, 27, and Ash, 25 — while working at the Hanley branch, where she started as a customer advisor and finished as a member representative. Angela said that, apart from one new starter, all her colleagues have over 20 years under their belts at the branch.
"That’s because we get on so well, we like each other," she said, adding: "The job has changed a lot. What I did when I first came is different to what I do now.
"We did quite a lot of admin in the branches in those days, and a lot of that has been centralised, and now it’s more about helping customers, and vulnerable customers as well."
As the branch's charity coordinator, Angela has organised fundraising events for Stoke-on-Trent Foodbank, the Alice Charity, a local stroke charity, and a young customer named Frankie who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. She also arranged a heart screening event in branch with Cardiac Risk in the Young after her own son was diagnosed with a heart condition. A total of 96 screenings were held at the branch that day, with four young people referred for further investigations.
Although the branch suffered some flooding after heavy rain this week, Angela said her colleagues and friends still 'made a fuss; of her on her last day. She said: "We’ve got banners, balloons and a little buffet; and lots of gifts which I can’t open until I get home.
"We’re having an ABBA night in May, because we don’t want it to be a sad occasion, we want it to be happy; so we’re having a night out at Port Vale to see a tribute."
On her plans for retirement, Angela said: "I’m going to do a bit of travelling, spend more time with my family, be there a bit more for them. We’ve got holidays planned, I’ll just chill a bit."
