Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter

General Manager of Jamaica National Building Society, Earl Jarrett, greets Mazie Minott, one of the pensioners who just happened to be celebrating her birthday, last Thursday. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

Their work done, they can now look back at what they helped to create; and they seem to like the view.

Twenty members of the pensioners of the Jamaica National Pensioners' Association were feted at an annual Christmas luncheon on Thursday. The largest building society in the Caribbean has many persons to thank for the prominence it now holds and the pensioners, who are stalwarts of the various companies within the group, are chief among them.

General Manager Earl Jarrett praised them for "helping to weather many financial storms and crises". But apart from looking back at the 'good old days', Jarrett took the time to highlight the present achievements. He spoke of the group's $80 billion in assets, its seven billion in net savings intake and its reach from Jamaica to the United Kingdom, with The Cayman Islands and the United States in between.

Values remain

He ensured the pensioners that though much had changed, "the core values you established remains in the company". He also highlighted that JNBS remains a good corporate citizen through its foundation and its various companies. He assured the gathering that "we will not compromise on our duty to Jamaica".

Harold Davis and Ian Hird would later thrill the audience with their musical selections which included a few carols for the season. Guests out for the occasion included Dr. Heather Little-White, Larklin Hall, Carlton Barclay, Lanny Reynolds, Carl Bliss, Wendell Smith, Mary Smith, Carmen Tipling, Marjorie Reynolds, Eric Roach, Joseph Murray, Marie Stewart, Claudine Allen, Alicia Glasgow and Clive Myers.