Pat remembers the early days

BCU celebrated 25 years as part of the Woolgoolga community in June with a week-long party at the Beach Street branch.

It’s also been a time to reminisce for the branch’s first ever staff member, Pat Robertson who recalls her first visit to the branch and the years that followed.

"The day before the credit union opened in Woolgoolga, my family and I walked down to the office to have a look,” Pat said.

What she found was all the new branch furniture neatly stacked on the footpath outside the building.

“A quick telephone call to the new manager and his hurried trip from Coffs Harbour and within half an hour we had carried the furniture inside,” Pat said. “Then we had a clean up – there was my family, our new manager and my mother-in-law with brooms and dusters and buckets and cloths – it was well worth the effort!”

Pat remembers how staff managed to “make do” through all types of situations in the early days and how the absence of a branch safe resulted in many trips to the bottle shop next door.

“Initially we did not have a safe, but Bruce Wilson at the bottle shop helped us out,” she said.

“Each evening we would leave a cash tin with Bruce and collect it the next morning.”

Pat recalls how the opening of the Woolgoolga branch resulted in enthusiastic support from the community.

She said initially, so many locals withdrew cash from the local bank and opened accounts with the credit union that the bank ran out of cash.

“Two bank employees would come with a small suitcase to replenish their cash supply,” Pat said.

She said on one occasion the Woolgoolga branch had too much cash on hand. It came on a day that the Coffs Harbour branch happened to be short of cash.

“Our first manager lived in Coffs. I remember him leaving early on his motorbike with a large amount of cash stuffed down the front of his shirt,” Pat said.

“He delivered it to Coffs Harbour branch on his way home.”

Since opening in Woolgoolga the credit union has seen many changes in procedures, legislation and technology – the branch opened before the internet and electronic banking, before ATMs and before computers completely changed the way the credit union did business.

Today, the Woolgoolga branch has more than 8000 members and seven full-time staff and while the technology and procedures may have changed, BCU continues to offer the same grassroots community banking that it brought to the town 25 years ago.

Branch Manager, Kristina Farwell, said Woolgoolga branch was fortunate to have many loyal members who enjoyed popping in to the branch for a catch up and a chat.

“We have so many lovely members here in Woolgoolga that absolutely live and breathe BCU,” Kristina said.

“I think they really appreciate that we are here for them, even on Saturday mornings, and that we can meet all of their needs from insurance and home loans to business banking and fundraising accounts.”

Kristina invited BCU members and non-members to stop in at the branch next week and enjoy the party atmosphere.

“While you are here, don’t forget to let us know if there is anything we can help you with,” Kristina said.