Penny Bank, I thank thee

Ah must big up de Founding Fathers, shareholders, managers loyal staff and faithful customers of dis one-dah-ful financial institution “de Peoples Penny Bank” celebrating dis joy-us occasion of being 80 years new. Ah know de joy and humility of celebrating 80!

Belated respect to de two main founders Mr Fred Hazell from de planters, and Ormond “OC” Forde from de workers. De People’s Penny Bank concept is exactly as de name connotes: “taking de lickle-man pennies and transform it into Pounds, Shillings and Pennies.”

Ah almost got me-self in trouble foh having “ah Bad ‘Penny” in my wallet while passing thru Immigration in de USA. After dat experience ah became “Penny Wise!” Now ah wonder how many youngster today ever saw an original, ole time “Penny,” and how many people know dat while Platinum, Gold, Silver, Palladium, Die-man, Bronze are at top ah de chart, at de very lower end is Copper and Zinc, de lesser expensive materials reserved foh de “Penny”, symbol of poverty way de poor belongs. In physical stature however de “Penny” is potentially as big as any Gold or Silver coins.

PENNY TO DE RESCUE

Dey’s de ole British money System: pound, shilling and pence where at de top is de big man, de one Crown (five shillings), den our silver dollar coin, down to de half cent or Farthing.

Somewhere between Crown and Farthing is “De Penny” equal to two cents, not much weight in monetary value. Thank God foh “Penny.” was de lowest price de shop-keepers in my village was willing to sell goods: Yuh couldah buy “Ah Penny Lard Oil” ah “Penny Butter and Penny Salt Fish.” (Ha! Ha!).Ah Quarter ounce ah cheese was ah “Penny”, Even de lickle $ 1.00 plastic bag ah peanuts today uses to be ah “Penny.” And “Penny Groundnuts” was de nick-name of de manager of de Arrowroot Association. Doh ask me why!

GOOD AND FAITH-FULL PENNY BREAD

And dey’s de “Penny Bread.” Five in ah Row oops “five in ah bag! Buy four foh eight cents, get one free. Foh as long as ah can remember, “Penny Bread” has remained standard. De same size, weight, shape ,wid ah nipple at each end, even has de same great taste. However, today de price of dat same five “Penny Bread” in ah bag foh eight cent is $ 2. 00, or forty cents each. Nobody come-plain an we still call it “ Penny Bread!”

As ah lickle youth man de day ah didn’t feel schoolish, Granny uses to nice me up wid ah Penny foh me lunch, dat bought me ah Culzac snow-ball or snow-cone and ah rock cake, or Webb mauby and cake. Talk bout sweet, when yuh had dat foh lunch, class in an uproar, too much NRG, de Teachers in trouble.

PENNY TURN POUNDS

Ah felt like ah “Penny Bread” when my Granny told me dat ah was going to have my own Bank Account at de “Penny Bank,” Den one day she took me to town at de “Penny Bank” office.

Actually ah met de manager Mr Ormond “OC” Forde. He wore ah felt hat, tilted like an FBI officer. He was quite fatherly, maybe he knew dat ah was ah school-mate of his two sons Errey and Kenny, one bright an one bad (troublesome)! De Bank had lots ah space foh growth, ah small staff of about four and not many customers, maybe dat was ah slow day. Happily ah read last week dat de bank now has 41 employees, dat’s growth alright.

Confirms de Proverb dat states: “Tek care ah the Pennies and the Pounds will tek care of Demselves”. Ah was ah lickle curious however, de Bank sign was dey big and bold: “ St Vincent Co-Operative Bank,” so ah asked Granny: “why do dey call it de People’s Penny Bank?” Painfully she explained dat dis People’s Penny Bank was established to serve the underprivileged and marginalized poor in de society, particularly those from lower-income groups who had been excluded from traditional banking systems. In simple lingo, de Big Bank nah got no space foh Poor People and dey “Lickle Pennies”.

Granny was on de money wid her “Pennies mek Pounds” predict-shun. Penny Bank has grown in physical structure/stature, in size of staff, quality of service. Is like dey doors are opened on Say-days to accommodate de Farmers, Vendors, Fisher Folk- basically de Poor. And ah can’t end dis Non-see-story widout thanking De People’s Penny Bank foh rescuing my son when he needed ah student loan. Nuff respect to de Bank Manager den, young Forde, de man Kenny! And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.