Vernon Building Society was founded on March 27, 1924. At the time there were 12 building societies in Stockport, but as of 1983 the Vernon is the only one to have withstood the challenges of the last century.
What’s striking is that 100 years on, the core values of the mutual remain the same. The Vernon continues to put its Members first with a personal service that ensures they are understood even if their circumstances are unusual, and that they provide solutions instead of a computer saying ‘no’.
To mark the centenary milestone, the Vernon has announced the creation of the Vernon Charitable Foundation, which has more than £100,000 in the fund to support local charities doing great work in Greater Manchester and Cheshire.
The Vernon has a long history of supporting local organisations and causes through its Community Stars programme, but this new foundation is a step change in the Vernon’s charitable giving. New trustees have been appointed and applications for grants are open from January 30th at thevernon.co.uk/charitable-foundation/.
Vernon Building Society Chief Executive, Steve Fletcher says:
“Stockport was a very different place in 1924, but a century later the Vernon is still thriving as a mutual building society. Over the past 100 years we’ve helped our Members buy houses, save for their futures, financially survive recessions, wars and a pandemic. We’ve also played a pivotal role in making Stockport the great place that it is today, and I couldn’t be prouder to be leading the Society into a new future. Looking ahead we will still be driven by the values created 100 years ago and continue to care about what really matters.”
Vernon Building Society was founded by T.A.V Sutton in March 1924 with the ambition for it to be big enough to matter but small enough to care. Today it serves 24,580 Members, helping them to build better futures through homeownership and savings. As a mutually owned business, it is not answerable to shareholders and all profits are used for the benefit of Members, the communities it serves, and to support the Society’s future growth.
The Vernon’s rich heritage will become a focus for the Society’s centenary celebrations. Colleagues at the Vernon have been looking at historic documents and working with a respected historian to uncover more about the Society’s founder, the pivotal role it had supporting returning WWII soldiers to buy their own home in 1945 and helping Members survive the 2008 economic downturn.
2024 will also see Vernon Building Society complete its £1.1 million investments into its high street branches. It has already refurbished its Hazel Grove and Reddish branches and the Head Office at St Petersgate in Stockport will be finished in February. This comes at a time when many banks are shutting their high street branches, and instead investing in AI and overseas call centres.
Steve Fletcher says: “Vernon takes a proud stance that real people answer our phones instead of automated answering systems. We listen to our Members and know they value quickly speaking to our friendly team.”
