- WINSTON SILL/Freelance Photographer
National Commericial Bank (NCB) cocktail reception, held at Terra Nova Hotel on Thursday December 16.
Chester Francis-Jackson, Gleaner Writer
AS THE Christmas season is now in its dying throes, the buzz now is all about those all-important New Year's invites! Now the sad truth is - all the invites to the much coveted and sought after private home dos, are already out. It will be a weekend of more fabulous partying, from Port Antonio, to Negril, and dears, its already no rooms at the preferred inns for the undecided, as the choicest resorts this side of fabulous, are over-booked and flowing as we countdown to 2005!
And it's not all about the party season however, as last Tuesday, the lovely Bev Corke celebrated her birthday, with friends and family in fine style; whilst the day before Capt. Rupert Bent, celebrated his. There were some really swell seasonal parties that were so fine, people are still talking about them and one such was the National Commercial Bank's (NCB), end of year do!
FABULOUS PARTY
Now dears, there are fabulous parties, and then there are fabulous parties! And one such that falls in the latter category, was the simply dee-vine pre-Christmas do, hosted by Michael Lee Chin and his NCB board of directors. Sweet-things, we are talking flame-throwing fabulousness here!
My dears, to begin with, there was the question of whether the party was still on because soon after the invitations had hit their destinations, came the news of former MD, Aubyn Hill's surprise departure from the institution he had taken from being a beleaguered near FINSAC-ed casualty, tottering on the brink of Jurassic expiration, to a most profitable organisation, with a new culture of service and customer-friendly attitude, that had once again become the toast of the national banking community!
Dears, Hill's departure opened up a floodgate of speculation and questions as to if and when one of the season's most anticipated parties would be still on, as indeed, with Michael Lee Chin as its principle, and his fame and international cache not only as Jamaica's first internationally acknowledged billionaire, but as a son committed to investing in the continued development of his homeland,there were many an eye cast towards the north, in the hope of sensing in which direction the fortunes of not just his flagship investment here would be blowing, but were using this as a bell to try and figure out, just where the winds of fortunes would be blowing!
POOLSIDE
Well, my dears, after a near-week of waiting, the news finally came that the shindig was on, not at the Hills home as was previously intended but at the poolside of the Terra Nova Hotel.
Not only does the party afford clients and guests an opportunity to hob-knob with its chairman and his family, board members and the well-to-do of this here society, it is a fabulous outing for all!
Sweet-things, it was a very good year for NCB, and it proved an even better year to host a party as the very world and his wife, the literati, glitterati, and the fabulous, came out in celebratory numbers to break bread and share felicitations and good cheer, with the NCB/AIC teams.
Dear-hearts, it was a showstopper and then some!
Luvs, never before, was there a party here, to be measured not by the quality of those guesting, that too, but also by the sheer magnitude and scope of those present. It was far easier to measure the party by the space it occupied, and dears, we are talking acres of people here, or close to!
Honeys, it rained people and of the fabulous kind: ladies were dressed to the nines, and with attitude, their bejeweled necks, arms fingers and ankles, manicured and buffed to purr-fection, their coiffs the perfect complement to their every get-up and their hubbies and or companions, equally styled for prime time!
WARM GREETINGS
Arriving guests were warmly greeted by new MD Patrick Hylton and el numero uno, Michael Lee Chin, into the kind of a party that the privilege of attending, was in and by itself a joy of the richest order! It made for a simply spectacular outing and nothing but!
Dove-cakes, it was all that and then some. Among the very many notables in attendance were: Hon. Dr. Peter Phillips and wife Sandra Phillips; British High Commissioner Peter Mathers; Hon. Maurice Facey; Hon. Oliver Clarke and wife Monica Ladd; Hon. Desmond Blades and wife Peggy Blades; Kenny Benjamin; Beverly Anderson-Manley; Tunti Barrett and wife Ambassador Madge Barrett; Ryland Campbell; Barrington Watson; Jennifer Lim; Chris Astaphan; Diana Colalillo-Oddi; Capt. Michael Lyn and wife Thalia Lyn; Donovan Lewis; Dr. Robert 'Bobby' Chen; Janette Stewart; Dennis Morrison; Paul Pennycoke; Gary and Bernadette Barrow; Valerie Juggan-Brown; EG Hunter; Bob and Angie Fowler; Stewart Campbell; Capt. David McRae; Herb Phillips; Imani Duncan; Colin Steele; Michael and Melanie Subratie; Vinay Walia; Mr. and Mrs. Michael Belnavis; Stephen and Coco Stewart; Michael McMorris; Anthony and Jannieve Grubb; Ansel and Jessica Bartholomew; and the charming Lorraine Wright; plus a sea of others!
