"Wait till I tell them about this!" A Tamworth gran, her granddaughter and decades of CommBank stories

When Ella Hobson started at CommBank in Tamworth six months ago, her gran was thrilled.

"I was really excited for it," Jan Hoy said. "It was lovely."

Jan knew what Ella was walking into. About 50 years earlier, she'd worked there herself.

Ella grew up on those stories. "Growing up hearing from Gran about her time with the Commonwealth Bank was really, really cool," she said.

Those stories are what brought her through the door. Tamworth Branch Manager Trish Moore said Ella arrived "so excited to work specifically with CBA", because of everything she'd heard from her gran.

"It was just so great that that legacy lives on," Moore said.

"It was like a family"

Jan grew up about 100km out of Tamworth. "I came here because there's good opportunities to work," she said. Joining the Tamworth branch in 1968 after an earlier stint in Canberra, she worked her way up to Teller 1, with a team of tellers reporting to her.

What she remembers most is the people. "When I worked there, it was like a family," she said. "People would come in and they'd bring their grandkids in and they'd show you the photos of the weddings, and it was really lovely."

Back then, the staff were all young. "None of us were married, none of us had children," Jan said. Now, when she visits, she finds a mix of people to talk to. "It's much better to go into the branch now and find a variety of ages," she said.

Some of her old customers still stop her in town. Every now and then, the passing of time makes it harder to recognise them. "Where do I know you from?" she said, laughing at herself. "I just smile and say hello anyway." 

Six months in, Ella is finding the same thing. "You see people come in and then you recognise them on the street," she said. "You can kind of stop and have a chat with people."

Tamworth is a big town, she said, "but it's got small community values."

For Ella, it all adds up to a "generational connection to the Commonwealth Bank rather than just being, you know, a number within it."

Dancing down the street

For Jan, Tamworth is home. "We love the country music," she said.

When she worked at the bank, it sponsored staff to take part in the Tamworth's Country Music Festival parade. As a young woman, Jan danced down the street in the parade. Later, she drove the bus a couple of times.

"It's a great way to see the parade," she said. "You're waving like you're really important."

Old friends, 111 years apart

Jan's isn't the first CommBank story in Tamworth to be built on friendship.

The branch opened on Monday 11 January 1915 at 408 Peel Street. The Mayor, Alderman W Green, made the first deposit of £1. The first manager, John Brodie Newman, was born at Murrurundi and started his banking career in Tamworth. The Tamworth Daily Observer said he "regarded Tamworth practically his native town".

At the opening, Newman told the crowd that his old friends had shown him "that the friendship which existed 15 years ago, still existed", according to the newspaper. 

Today, the branch is at 416 Peel Street, a few doors from where it first opened.

Lunch every couple of months

More than half a century after they first worked together, about nine or 10 women from Jan's time at the branch still meet for lunch every couple of months.

"We're not in one another's pockets, but we're there to support one another," Jan said. "And it's really lovely to get together and just catch up with all the gossip we used to do."

The circle has kept growing. "The girls that came after I worked there, they've joined and you get to know them as well," Jan said. 

"I love that they still meet with each other as well," Moore said. It's "just a picture of what it's like to work in a rural space."

Jan already knows what she'll be talking about at the next lunch.

"Wait till I tell them about this."