Barclays Bank has nominated two of its Hampshire staff for the Age Positive awards as they both enjoy their jobs too much to retire...

JANE Welsh is one of those rare breed of one-job lifers but she has enjoyed every minute of her time with Barclays bank.

This year Jane, whose cheery face can be seen behind the counter at the bank's Hamble branch, celebrates her 50-year association with the company.

She is believed to be Barclays' longest-serving employee and is rightly proud of the fact.

The youthful 65-year-old has no plans of closing the account on her career and retiring.

In fact, she has not ruled out working on to when she is 70.

In between her busy working life and bringing up a family, Jane has also found time to be Eastleigh's millennium mayor.

Now her positive attitude to work and life has been recognised by her Barclay bosses who have nominated her in the individual category of the Daily Echo-backed Age Positive campaign.

Born in Orkney, Jane moved with her family to Welwyn Garden City when her father got a job as a head teacher there.

After leaving school at 15 she joined Barclays in 1954 as a shorthand typist.

When her family moved to Hedge End in 1958 Jane arranged a transfer to Southampton where she worked in the regional office.

She was soon given the opportunity to broaden her skills and switched to the retail side of the business working at the Bitterne branch.

Jane, who has a son and a daughter, left the company in 1961 to have her family.

It was quite by chance that she returned to the world of banking.

It was in 1970 that she went into the Barclays branch in Bitterne to get a loan to buy a car.

She met her old boss who suggested that she should rejoin the company.

Jane recalled: "I did not want a full-time job because I had young children but the bank said they were happy to take me on part-time.

"I was one of the first people taken on as what we call a key time worker."

At first Jane worked at Bitterne and Hamble branches but by the end of the year she was based in the yachting mecca full-time.

And she has been there ever since.

Jane said: "I love my job and this branch and I have lived through many changes in the village and in people's lives."

Many famous faces from the sailing world have floated through the doors of the Hamble branch.

She said: "With the great yachting connections locally I have got to know some fascinating people from all over the world."

Jane has seen some revolutionary changes in banking during her half-century of working for Barclays.

She said: "In the early days everything was done by hand in large ledgers. I can remember sitting with a ledger and calculating interest and then adding it by hand to accounts.

"The computer has revolutionised and automated most of the processes."

She still has the heavily bound pre-decimalization book of interest tables - now very much a banking relic.

Technology may have swept through the banking hall but Jane says that one thing has not changed - "Customer service must be a priority."

When Jane approached the normal retirement age of 60 her manager asked if she would like to stay on.

There was no hesitation from Jane.

She wanted to carry on with a job she loved.

She has no imminent plans to retire and said: "I will stay until I am ready to go; the ball is in my court until I am 70.

"I still enjoy the opportunities I get to pass on some of my experience to the younger people in the bank."

Historically the normal retirement age has been 60 but in 2002 the bank changed the rules to give people the option to stay until 65. Since then almost two-thirds of the staff have chosen to stay.

Read more about the Age Positive Awards by clinking the link on the 'This is Southampton' homepage.