CFX: Announces Promotions

Contact:  Peter J. Baxter, President and CEO
          (603) 352-2502                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                                   
                            CFX Corporation
                         Announces Promotions


    Keene,  NH,  January  27,  1997 --  CFX  Corporation  (AMEX:  CFX)
announced  today that Mark A. Gavin, CFX Chief Financial Officer,  has
been  promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
and  Gregg R. Tewksbury, the Company's Corporate Controller, has  been
promoted to Chief Financial Officer.

    Gavin joined CFX Corporation, then Cheshire Financial Corporation,
as  Corporate  Controller and Chief Accounting  Officer  in  1989.  He
advanced  to Chief Financial Officer in 1992. He was formerly employed
by  Ernst  &  Young in Manchester, New Hampshire from  1984  to  1989,
advancing  to  manager.  Gavin  graduated  magna  cum  laude  with   a
bachelor's  degree in Business Administration from Bryant  College  in
Smithfield,  Rhode Island. He is a Certified Public Accountant  and  a
member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants,  the
New  Hampshire  Society  of  Certified  Public  Accountants,  and  the
Financial Managers Society. He serves the greater Keene, New Hampshire
community  as  Chairman  of  the New Hampshire  West  Chapter  of  The
American Red Cross and he is a member of the Board of Trustees of  the
Cheshire  Medical Center. As Chief Operating Officer,  Gavin  will  be
responsible for the overall operations of the Company.

    Gavin replaces Paul D. Spiess, Executive Vice President and  Chief
Operating Officer, who will leave CFX during the first quarter of this
year.  In making the announcement, Peter J. Baxter, CFX President  and
CEO  said,  "Paul's decision to leave CFX is one that he has carefully
considered over some time and did not make easily. He has been a major
force in a number of initiatives at CFX which moved the Company to the
level we now enjoy in terms of size and financial performance. He will
be  missed. He is fully supported by his family and his friends at CFX
who I know join me in wishing him well."

    Tewksbury joined the Company in 1989 as Director of Audit and  was
promoted to Corporate Controller in 1992. Prior to joining CFX, he was
employed by Ernst & Young in Manchester, New Hampshire and Freudenberg
Nonwovens  in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Tewksbury earned a bachelor's
degree in Business Administration from the University of New Hampshire
Whittemore School of Business and Economics. He is a Certified  Public
Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified  Public
Accountants,   the   New  Hampshire  Society   of   Certified   Public
Accountants,  and the Financial Managers Society. As  Chief  Financial
Officer,  Tewksbury  will be responsible for all financial  reporting,
finance,  treasury,  accounting,  and  budgetary  operations  of   the
Company.

    CFX  Corporation is a multi-bank holding company with total assets
of  $1.6  billion as of December 31, 1996. The Company's three banking
subsidiaries  are  CFX  Bank, headquartered in Keene,  New  Hampshire;
Orange  Savings Bank, headquartered in Orange, Massachusetts; and  The
Safety  Fund National Bank, headquartered in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
CFX  Mortgage, Inc., CFX Bank's mortgage banking subsidiary,  services
approximately $765 million in mortgage loans for others. In  addition,
CFX Funding L.L.C., a 51% owned subsidiary of CFX Bank that engages in
the  facilitation  of  lease financing and rated securitizations,  now
services  over $100 million in leases for others. The Company operates
42  full  service offices, 2 loan production offices, and 68 automated
teller  and  remote  service banking locations in  New  Hampshire  and
central Massachusetts as well as a trust division with $370 million in
assets under management.
                                   
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