 |
| Excitement on board as the Captain took a swing in the channel, to the left, and those on board were able to see Statia on the right. The green tarpaulin covers the barrels. |
The boat left Nevis at 6:00 a.m. There was a carnival mood at the Charlestown Port and travellers who mostly had their relatives coming to see them off, loaded barrels upon barrels on the blue boat.
It stopped at the ferry terminal in St. Kitts just before 7:00 a.m. where close to 50 passengers, with their multicoloured barrels boarded the boat.
Breakfast, prepared by the club members, was sold on board, but most went for cook-up at that early hour. There was a well stocked bar, and proceeds went to the club. Ms Swanston explained that the captain allowed them to use the boat’s bar, meaning that the boat did not make any money from its bar, and she thanks Captain
 |
| Offloading the empty barrels at Statia harbour. |
Skeete for that kind gesture.
The nearly two-hour trip to Statia was rather uneventful, but when crossing the channel between St. Kitts and St. Eustatius, the boat swayed slightly, which led to club members holding on the food trays to avoid their contents spilling over. One passenger standing a few meters from the food tables shouted: “Let the food slide up here.”
 |
| Sight seeing was part of it too as is evidenced by Mr Vincent Adams of Nevis (right) with Statia’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr George Odongo at the scenic White Wall, with St. Kitts appearing in the background. |
On arrival at Statia, there was a slight delay as there was a boat docked already, but as soon as the Sea Hustler docked, Statia merchants and Statia-based relatives, most riding on pick-up trucks picked up the visitors and took them into town for the shopping. The sleepy island had woken up the Sunday, to greet the visitors with blaring music from street corners and bars, while supermarkets did brisk business.
The nearly overloaded boat left Statia at 5:00 p.m. one hour later than had been anticipated, as the shopping was quite heavy. The sea got rather rough as the boat was crossing the channel back to the Federation’s waters, and a number of passengers got sick and were given first aid by the boat’s crew or their friends.
Bank of Nevis’ Chief Executive Officer, Mr Hanzel Manners, who was on the boat to Statia said that the Bank of Nevis Social Club was formed about three years ago. “It was encouraged by Management,” he explained. “In other words the staff were encouraged to get involved in some social interaction and as a result of spurring on by Management, the club was formed three years ago.”
According to Mr Manners, the express purpose of forming the club was to give them the opportunity to go out into the community and do something on behalf of the bank. Its members have been taking part in the Easter Exchange Programmes by Caribbean indigenous banks. Last year they travelled to St. Vincent while this year it will be to Grenada.
The club raises funds but as a bank, “we have given monetary support. When the club went to St. Vincent last year the bank made a contribution towards the trip. The club basically raises their own funds, but if there is a shortfall, the bank will have an input. The same happened when we went to Anguilla.”
Other fund-raising activities include food sales. Mr Manners pointed out that the selling of the food is facilitated by the bank, “but not financially in terms of the bank giving money, because we feel we have to teach a man to fish, we don’t just give him a fish. They have done it quite well by themselves and have raised funds, but they are very actively encouraged by management.”
Bank of Nevis Club President, Ms Bronte Swanston, said that the motto of the club is ‘Camaraderie Through Social Interaction’, and explained that they chose that motto because they want to enhance sociability among staff.
“We do not want to just come into the workplace on a daily basis and then leave,” she commented. “We want to be able to interact and get along with each other, not just on a professional level but also on a personal level, on a social level.”
Club members have visited the Infirmary (at the Alexandra Hospital in Charlestown) where they presented gift baskets to the inmates, and they also take part in church services on a quarterly basis by attending a church that is attended by one of the club members.
Noted Ms Swanston: “That has a double accomplishment in that we fellowship with our club members while at the same time it gives us an opportunity to reach out to members of the public because they will see that we take time out to worship and be religious and that even as we attend church with them it gives us an opportunity at the end of the services for example to fellowship with the different members of the various churches.”
She explained that the purpose of the Statia trip was
 |
| Loading the heavily laden barrels on the Sea Hustler for the return trip |
two-fold, “some of the funds will go towards our trip to Grenada and some of the funds will go towards assisting the community or giving back to the community.”
This was something they wanted to do since last year. “Unfortunately we were unable to pull off the trip last year, but we have been able to do that this year successfully. It is something we believe can help to raise lots of funds because a lot of people do travel to Statia to shop and so we thought that it would be a very good fund raising activity.”
