From March 14th to 17th 2013, a contemporary art exhibition was held in the Bank's former Head Office in Broad Street. The various art projects that formed the separate parts of the exhibition focussed on finance and investment. The title of the exhibition was  Thrift Radiates Happiness and was taken from one of the inscriptions carved in the ceiling of the Banking Hall.

The Banking Hall was used to stage a major part of the exhibition: a series of stories and recollections relating to the Bank. This work was created by Elly Clarke, who made recordings whilst interviewing seventeen former Bank employees. The majority of the recordings took place in Broad Street and at the Bank's Retirement Club. Elly entitled her work HALF CROWNS IN THEIR PETTICOATS - a reference to one of her recordings that recollected the very early days of the Bank.

Photographs showing the recordings being made, and listened to by visitors to the exhibition, are reproduced at Thrift Radiates Happiness. Portraits (also created by Elly Clarke) of the seventeen members of staff are reproduced below.

A total of 59 recordings were featured in Elly's exhibition, and these can be heard individually by clicking on the relevant title below.

                         (Left - Half-Crowns: the pre-decimal coins that were worth one-eighth of a Pound)

Half-Crowns in their Petticoats