Huntly woman wins bid to bring banking back to Aberdeenshire town years after branches closed
A woman who is “fanatical” about her home town has succeeded in a battle to bring banking back to it.
Theresa Lee (73) said she was ecstatic to hear that her application for an in-person banking hub in Huntly, serving customers from all banks, had been accepted.
Cash machine network LINK announced the hub on Tuesday, years after Huntly lost its fourth and final branch in 2021.
Theresa, who was named Huntly Rotary Citizen of the year last December, believes that finding and including three town centre locations interested in hosting the banking hub helped her application succeed.
When she heard the news, she said: “I jumped clean off my seat!
“I was having my breakfast, I spilt my tea.
“Luckily I avoided the computer, because I've done that before and knackered a machine before.
“But I nearly choked on my toast!
“I’ve never had so much excitement in years.
“At long last, some big company has listened to what people are asking them.”
The hub will provide a counter service operated by Post Office employees, where customers of any bank can withdraw and deposit cash, make bill payments and carry out regular banking transactions.
There will also be private spaces where customers can speak to community bankers from their own bank for more complicated matters that require specialist knowledge or privacy, with staff from different banks available on different days.
In her “sales pitch”, Theresa emphasised that Huntly is a “thriving” town with dozens of shops and businesses, alongside major investments at Number 30 The Square and from Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky.
However, the town’s high elderly population also means that many rely on in-person services.
As a result, they have to stand in 20-person queues for a Post Office counter inside the “claustrophobic” Morrisons store in The Square.
In 2023, Aberdeenshire Council found that Huntly has nearly twice the percentage of people aged 80 or over compared to Aberdeenshire as a whole.
Theresa also said that elderly people are forced to make long car or bus journeys to Elgin or Inverurie to visit a bank branch, or have to queue outdoors for mobile banking vans in all weathers.
Currently, local businesses also face an “absolutely horrendous” situation when trying to deposit their takings at the Post Office, she added, with a long queue of customers behind them.
Huntly had previously been turned down twice for a banking hub, but Theresa said this made her work even harder on her application.
“I think hearing it had been refused in the past just made me even more determined,” she said.
“My dad used to call me a ‘thrawn’ kid.
“That’s a good Scots word, which means ‘stubborn as hell and won't back down’.
“So telling me not to bother because it's already been refused, that was basically like a red rag to a bull.”
After the news was announced, members of the community took to social media to share positive comments about the hub and the difference it would make to their lives.
In the past, Theresa has also spearheaded efforts to raise cash for the Scott’s Hospital Eventide Home and for refurbishing the Stewart’s Hall.
Along with a CCTV project which secured £80,000 in government grants, she estimates her efforts have generated around £180,000 so far.
“With the banking hub, I just did it myself.” she added.
“I tend to do things by myself. CCTV was by myself as well, which was a lot of money.
“My head is just too busy to do nothing in retirement, so I've been raising money for different charities.
“And this was easy-peasy compared to asking for money.”
Theresa, who is Huntly “born and bred”, moved back after retiring around six years ago.
Despite leaving the town for Yorkshire with her family aged 15, the intervening years saw her return to Huntly on holiday “every year”.
“I love this town. I just thank God I'm back here,” she said.
“I am fanatical about this place. Oh, you just can't stop me yapping about it.
“I just think it is wonderful and, of course, the people are just a different breed altogether.
“I've been back six years and never regretted it for a second. Not for a second.”
