The Vernon celebrates 40 years of Bramhall

Stockport’s Vernon Building Society is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its Bramhall branch and inviting members to the branch for tea and cake with the new branch manager, the Vernon’s CEO and Vernon Bear on Wednesday 8 October.

The Bramhall branch of the Stockport mutual opened in 1985 on Woodford Road, where it remained until its relocation to bigger and more contemporary premises on Bramhall Road South in August 2024.

Since the refurb, the Bramhall branch has acquired over 300 members and almost 650 new accounts.

Jude Plant, who is well known to the thousands of current branch members, has now been made Bramhall’s new branch manager. Having joined the building society in 2017, Jude has been serving members in Bramhall for most of this time. She said:

“I hope as many members as possible – old and new – can pop into the branch to enjoy some tea, coffee and cake and say hello to my colleagues and I.”

CEO at Vernon Building Society, Darren Ditchburn said:

“We’re so proud to have been serving Bramhall for 40 years and our ambition is to be here for the next 40 – at least! While other high street banking services were closing down, we were spending £200,000 renovating our new premises in the village, so our members would continue to receive the kind of personal customer service from friendly, local colleagues that we’ve become renowned for.”

At the birthday event on October 8, Vernon Building Society will also be donating a Community Stars grant to Friends of Ladybrook Valley, a small group of volunteer conservationists who help preserve the nearby Happy Valley nature reserve. The money will be put towards supplying new uniform.

Vernon Building Society has donated £8,000 so far this year in Community Stars grants  across 28 not-for-profits across Greater Manchester and Cheshire.

The latest round of applications open on October 6 with £4,000 available to share between social enterprises, grassroots organisations and charities working to support the local community. Further details about the grants and details of how organisations can apply can be found on the Vernon’s website.