175 Dumfries

Provost Maureen Johnstone was among the first to join the celebration at the High Street branch in Dumfries, and to sign a card wishing The Cumberland a happy 175th birthday.

Customers also added their signatures throughout the day – and enjoyed birthday cake laid on for the occasion.

Willy Hamid has been a Cumberland customer for over 20 years and was delighted to join in the celebrations.

“The colleagues here are great and always ready to support you. They are always so helpful that it makes everything so easy,” he said.

Heather Coulter was visiting the branch with her granddaughter, two year old Maisie, who helped sign the giant birthday card.

“I run the Pleuchie’s Howff pub and I use the Cumberland for personal and business banking.

“The folk here are always very helpful and always have a smile. It is one of the few remaining mutuals which is important to me.

“As a business we appreciate being able to come to a branch to get the change we need.”

Provost Maureen Johnstone said: “"It is wonderful to still have a business on our high street celebrating 175 years. You can see how much having the branch means to customers and it feels more like a family than a business.”

It is now Cumbria’s largest financial institution with assets of £3.2bn, over 720 colleagues and 31 branches across Cumbria, Lancashire, Northumberland and south-west Scotland.

Claire Deekes, The Cumberland’s Chief Customer Officer, said: “This is a proud day for The Cumberland. While always embracing modernization we have never lost sight of our founding principles – to look after the interests of our members, the savers and borrowers, and to support our local communities. With these values at our core I am confident The Cumberland will celebrate many more milestone birthdays in the future.”

Jackie Arnold, chair of The Cumberland board, said: “We always strive to do the right thing and that’s encapsulated in our purpose to create a banking experience that is kinder to people, planet and community. I want to thank everyone who has had a role to play in creating an organisation with such a strong heritage.”

The Cumberland was first known as the Cumberland Co-operative Land and Benefit Society and one of the early aims was to encourage working people to divert some of their money into house purchases.

The second half of the 20th century saw it embrace new technology such as ATMs and bank cards, then telephone and online banking.

Unusually for a building society, The Cumberland offers mortgages, current accounts and savings products to businesses operating in a range of sectors, including hospitality, healthcare, food and drink and professional services.

The Society’s first branch opened in Preston in 1973. This was quickly followed by others, as The Cumberland established a presence across Cumbria, Lancashire, Northumberland and Southwest Scotland.

Cluster manager Ryan McCubbin was delighted with the messages customers had written in the branch’s birthday cards.

“The response we have had has been lovely. The messages from customers are testament to the connection we have with customers- we remember people and what goes on in their lives and for some people this branch means a lot more to them than just the banking services we provide.”

Celebrations also took place yesterday at The Cumberland’s recently renovated Preston branch on Fishergate, and at the Carlisle flagship store on English Street where Mayor Chris Southward attended.