As one of Newbury Building Society's longest serving members of staff Janet Hassell has finally put down her calculator and bid her colleagues and customers farewell as she retires following a 23 year career with the society.

Janet has worked in many of the society’s departments but after a brief break to have her first child, she returned to the society’s Newbury branch where she built up a good rapport with the customers. Janet has given excellent customer service throughout her entire career and got stuck into many community projects and events. Janet is hugely popular with the branch customers and highly respected by her colleagues.

A celebration party was held at the Society's head office to mark the occasion and the Chief Executive of the Society, Roland Gardner, gave a farewell speech and presented Janet with an array of gifts from her colleagues.

Janet regaled colleagues with stories of the machines she used when she first started and the colleagues she has seen find each other through the society. She expressed her thanks to all the colleagues she had worked with through the years and said she was looking forward to spending more time in her garden.

Roland Gardner, who was the Newbury Branch Manager when Janet joined the team, said, "It has been a pleasure working with Janet and I wish her well with her retirement."