Newbury Building Society employees gathered together to wish a longstanding member a very happy 100th birthday.

William Butler, who is known as Jim, visited the Society’s Abingdon branch on Bury Street, of which he has been a member since the 1980s, for a birthday tea party.

The party featured special gold ‘100’ balloons, as well as sandwiches and cakes.

READ MORE: UK's 'biggest firework display' takes place in Oxfordshire

Mr Butler was also presented with a Fortnum and Mason hamper and engraved Hugo Boss pen to celebrate his centenary and thank him for his many years of custom.

When asked why he has been a member of Newbury Building Society for so many years, he replied: “It’s the staff that make the building society such a nice place to go to.

I’ve been so many places in my life and sometimes people are so abrupt, but I’ve never had that with the Newbury – I have always had first class service and they have been very good to me over the years.”

Newbury Building Society’s Sales Manager, Karen Smith, has known Mr Butler since she worked in the Abingdon branch almost 20 years ago.

She attended the celebration to wish him a happy birthday and said: “It was an absolute pleasure to be able to mark this occasion with Mr Butler, who has been one of our most loyal customers over the years.

It’s not often that you get to celebrate 25 years’ service of your own and a whole century of such a great personality in the same year.”

 

Read more from this author

This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1