building society mutual industry banking and financial services founded 1875 headquarters saffron walden england uk number of locations 12 key people geoffrey dunn 1 chairman colin field 2 chief executive officer products savings mortgages investments loans insurance net income 3.1 million gbp december 2007 84.6 % on 2006 total assets 784 million gbp december 2007 10.4 % on 2006 number of employees 181 website www.saffronbs.co.uk the saffron building society is a regional building society which has branches and agencies in the east of england . these span cambridgeshire essex hertfordshire suffolk and london . it is a member of the building societies association . contents 1 history 2 references 3 external links 4 external links history edit saffron building society was established in 1849 . it is a uk building society based in saffron walden essex . it began life as the saffron walden second building society and was founded by the revd john marten who became the first secretary . the first chairman of the saffron building society was a local builder called joseph durrant . originally established as a terminating society saffron walden second building society became a permanent building society in 1857 and changed their name to the saffron walden second benefit building and investment society on the permanent plan . in the same year the society lent 1 730 . in 1873 henry hart a printer was chairman and directors salaries now stood at 1 . 1866 1905 fitzroy ackland a local solicitor was secretary . in 1900 assets stood at 37 000 . 1905 william freeman ackland s clerk became secretary . during this time the role becomes a full time job . in 1930 the society purchased its own premises for the first time . 1935 edward hughes freeman william s son becomes secretary . he died in 1947 . 1947 philip sidney kettieridge becomes secretary and holds this post for 23 years . 1948 assets reached 300 000 . 1959 assets reached 1 000 000 . 1968 the society takes over the saffron walden and essex mechanics permanent building society . 1969 the first branch office is opened in haverhill . 1972 royston & district building society transfers to the society and it becomes the saffron walden & district building society . 1978 assets reached 21 000 000 with four offices . 1979 merges with london and essex building society and becomes the saffron walden & essex building society . 1981 the society purchases the cattle market site in saffron walden . 1984 16 january the society opens in new premises on the old cattle market site in saffron walden . 1989 merges with the herts & essex building society based in bishop s stortford and becomes the saffron walden herts & essex building society . 2006 18 september the society opted to change its name to saffron building society . 3 references edit http www.saffronbs.co.uk about us corporate information http www.saffronbs.co.uk about us corporate information http www.saffronbs.co.uk about us history of saffron external links edit saffron building society building societies association kpmg building societies database 2008 external links edit saffron building society website v t e independent building societies in the united kingdom bath beverley buckinghamshire cambridge chorley coventry cumberland darlington dudley earl shilton ecology furness hanley economic harpenden hinckley and rugby holmesdale ipswich leeds leek united loughborough manchester mansfield market harborough marsden melton monmouthshire national counties nationwide newbury newcastle nottingham penrith principality progressive saffron scottish skipton stafford railway swansea teachers tipton & coseley vernon west bromwich yorkshire this united kingdom building society article is a stub . you can help wikipedia by expanding it . v t e retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title saffron building society & oldid 744073741 categories building societies of englandcompanies based in essexorganizations established in 18491849 establishments in englandsaffron waldenunited kingdom building society stubshidden categories all stub articles navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 12 october 2016 at 23 43 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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