Honourable Lawrence Joseph Speaker of the House of Parliament,  Honourable Roland Bhola, Minister of Sports, Community  Development and Co-Operatives, Honourable Parliamentary Representative for St. Patrick's East and Leader of the Opposition in Parliament  Mr. Tillman Thomas,  Mr. Standford Simon President of the Grenada Co-Operative League, Mr. Lennox Bowman, Manager of the General Employees  Co-operative Credit Union - St. Vincent, Mr. Leroy Cadet, President of the Grenville Co-operative Credit Union,  Mr. Devon Charles, Manager of the Credit Union, Mr. Terrence Baptiste,  Project Manager for the opening of the Belmont Estate Branch and today's Master of Ceremony,  Mr. Baxter Fanwar, Mrs. Sybil Martial, specially invited guests, management and Staff of the Grenville Co-operative Credit Union, farmers, business associates, management and staff of Belmont Estate, ladies and gentlemen, a very good evening to you and a warm welcome to the grand opening of the Belmont Estate Branch of the Grenville Co-operative Credit Union Ltd.

Indeed today is a grand day for us, but  especially for us at Belmont Estate who have finally been able to realize our dream of offering superior financial services to our employees, our farmers, our business associates, and our community thorough an affiliation with our strategic partner - Grenville Co-operative Credit Union. About five years ago, I was having some discussion with my husband Jerry Seales about ways and means to further financially empower our staff and he introduced to me the idea of the Credit Union. At that time our thinking was to make application to the Registrar to start our own Credit Union here at Belmont.  I raised the idea the with Mrs. Martial when she joined us early in 2003 as our Business Manager, and she immediately began consultation with her business associates in the regional credit union community, who strongly advised against starting our own as the regional trend was towards amalgamation, and directed us to consider engaging the Grenville Co-operative Credit Union - a credit union that was recognized as a model in the OECS for being efficiently operated and organized.  Discussions then began towards Belmont Estate and the Credit Union entering into a strategic partnership towards the formation of a Branch right here at the estate. Mrs. Martial worked very hard on our behalf along with Mr. Cadet and Mr. Charles towards the approval from the Registrar and the establishment of the Credit union. A tentative schedule indicated an opening late in 2004 - but alas hurricane Ivan came and dampened our plans - but not our spirit. As soon as we got back on our feet we resumed talks.  Last year, Mrs. Jillian Thomas, Belmont Estate's Account's Manager, embraced the project for the  commencement effort and worked very hard along with Mr. Batiste towards this day today. I must take a minute to acknowledge all who worked ardently to achieve this goal, the staff of the Credit Union and Belmont Estate, and in particular, I wish to recognize - and may I please ask you to stand  Mr. Cadet, Mr. Charles, Mr. Baptiste, Mrs. Martial, and Mrs. Thomas Thank you very much for ensuring that we created history here on Belmont Estate today.

Today is an example worthy of notice and an invitation in these trying economic times, to other companies and private enterprises and organizations to become proactive in the empowerment of their stakeholders and employees. Many times estates are wrongly labeled as being insensitive to the needs of employees - and we do want the world to know that that is a fallacy and not a fact, and that certainly Belmont Estate is all about the advancement of its people. At Belmont Estate, we believe that it is insufficient to give an employee a pay cheque without giving them avenues and means to economically empower themselves. This was in fact the sentiment of our fore parents, the real pioneers.  As early as 1940s, Mr. James Budhlall,  formed the Tivoli Friendly Society - the first of five societies that he established -   based right here at Belmont Estate, to address the financial needs of the employees of the estate. This initiative was completely endorsed by my grandparents, Norbert and Lyris Nyack, who were employers that cared about the complete well-being of their staff.  Initially this society was used to provide funeral and health benefit, and later small savings as well. Today we are much more developed and sophisticated, and offer a range of services that the can learn about later. There are some constants that still remain, that for us in the rural communities, access to financial services is limited, availability of financing for farming and related business is mostly difficult and sometimes impossible. Thus it is the express and recorded mission of this credit union to serve rural people of modest means. Already headquartered in a small town, it saw the need to further the assist its people by venturing out in the countryside.  This credit union specializes in educating its members for a better financial future. The Grenville Credit Union, believes that  people are worth more than money and will be there for you.  To the Board of Directors, and Management and Staff of the Grenville Credit Union, thank you for believing in us, and thank for taking up the challenge to partner with us  to better serve our people in rural Grenada.

As we celebrate this grand occasion, please feel at home and welcomed with us. I hope that you find the ceremony inspiring and that you enjoy the opportunity that we will have to socialize together at the end. More importantly, I trust that you will be encouraged to become a member of our credit union right here on the estate and to encourage your family and friends to do likewise. Thank you very much for coming today and have an enjoyable and fulfilling time with us.