Photos by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
LEFT: Renee Paharsingh (left) and Leydi Aguilera. RIGHT: Guardsman Group Chairman Kenny Benjamin with girlfriend Aloima Suarez (left) and Betty Ashley.Chester Francis-Jackson, Contributor
Security conglomateur bon vivant and host par excellence, Kenny Benjamin, founder/chairman of the Guardsman Group, notched up another birthday last Sunday, July 8. There was lots of celebration to mark the occasion.
This time he was not the one giving the party, as his staff saw to that. And on Friday, July 6, the preferred party address was the group headquarters where friends, clients, relatives and family members gathered to celebrate.
Daahlings, suffice it to say, it was a fabfest; it was all that the doctor had ordered and beyond. This, my dears, was most definitely not one of those events where guests stand around trying their utmost to hide their boredom. Little wonder here as, done to the theme 'Jungle Fever', there was more than just jungle fever in the air my dears!
Fabulous oasis
To begin with, the headquarters is really one fabulous oasis - housing as it does a plant nursery, a man-made little brook that is home to a fabulous collection of giant golden koi, plus a collection of reptiles and birds. Well, the in-house interior diva is none other than the fabulous Cindy Breakspeare, and pumpkins, she went to town with her theme, managinga kind of hybrid between a North African safari and colonial verandah styled lounge area, in between the food stations, libation corners and the dance floor with a touch of the high-glam; all with a red-carpet entrance!
DJ Andrew Henry and his Renegade Disco took it to another level with some of the latest urban underground music! Oh my beloveds, talk about 'bruking-out'!
My daahling, the lovely Natasha Kessler was out, and did she party! Honeychiles, she did, and believe you moi, she really has a shot at the title of dancehall queen. And then there was the Italian-born Maltese resident Francesca de Majo. Sweet-things, she too proved that she is worthy of consideration of the title as, for my word, when the song Dutty Wine hit the turntable, the sexily clad Mrs. de Majo made it her own. Talk about arrested development - well my dears, y'all have not seen the dutty wine performed until you have seen this raven-haired beauty in full and radiant flight. And so, there she was, in full battle regalia, causing guests to literally stop in their tracks!
Oh, my word - In the name of the Father …
And the birthday boy was no slouch either, as he and his Cuban companion, the lovely Aloima Suarez, danced up their very own cauldron of hotness, locked as they were in their own world of music and rhapsody! Beauty and physician Dr. Saphire Longmore dropped some wicked legs!
Designs
Robert Haughton and Shelly-Ann Daley showed vertical designs on horizontal desires!
Howard Hamilton partied with, and like, the best of them.
My darlings, with the martini bar purring and in between bites into giant strawberries, Sherine Anderson gave up a solo performance that really was a credit to her talented self, her fabulous voice ringing melodiously through the gathering. And with the libations flowing like a busted water main, there was no gainsaying the hotness of the occasion.
Caterers Sean Garbutt of Carnivores Caterers and Jimmy Hessing of Jimmy's Catering served up some absolutely satisfying food that even now, one week after the fact, guests are still licking their lips in appreciative memory.
It was the kind of partying in which only the fabulous indulge.
Among the notables were: his former wife, the stunning Susie Benjamin and their daughter, the beautiful Brooke Benjamin; brother-in-law Junior Tourism Minister Dr. Wykeham McNeill and his fabulous wife, Mrs. Sheila Benjamin McNeill; Peter McCauley and his wife, linguist Dawn McCauley; founder and head of the LASCO Group; Las Chin and his beautiful wife, Dr. Eileen Gonzales Chin; Ron Brown and his wife, head of the Guardsman Group Valerie Juggan-Brown; Rupert Bent and wife, fabulous beauty Cindy Breakspeare; PNP insider and political mover and shaker Paul Burke and DCP Ken Fairclough.
Also out were: Head of Delegation EU, HE Ambassador Marco Mazzocchi-Alemanni, who was actually celebrating his birthday; Indian High Commissioner HE Kalish Agrawal; Spanish Ambassador HE Jesus Silva; Chilean Ambassador HE Alfonso Silva; Head of Mission of the International Seabed Authority HE Ambassador Satya Nandan; Deputy British High Commissioner Paul Nicolopulo and his Jamaican wife, the charming Kareen Nicolopulo; Honorary Consul of Iceland Robert MacMillan and Lisa Marzouca; 'A-crowder' Joe Matalon and his fabulously elegant wife Bernadette Morin Matalon; socialite Jennifer Lim; RJR Group head, J. Lester Spaulding; the esteemed Howard Hamilton; American international financial consultant Mark Jones and his tres fab wife Julie Jones; Alva Anderson; businessman Tanny Shirley; head of C&W Rodney Davis, and Stephane Lecuyer, also of C&W.
Also out were: fashion designer Bill Edwards and his fabulous companion, the head of the Jamaica Redevelopment Foundation Janet Farrow; Al Niazi and Charmaine Johnson Niazi; Ian Garbutt and companion Sonia Kahn; Golaub Dukaharan; the oh-so-elegant Toni Parke Moodie Panton; Jack Cwach; the absolutely fabulous Carol Pessoa; Rajiv Bakshi and companion Dorothea Gordon-Smith; Donna Harpaul; Cmdr. George Overton and wife, the charming Caroline Overton; Tarun Handa; the lovely Monique Cohen; Brent Ciurlino and wife, Dr. Kim Brown Ciurlino, she looking as stunning as ever; Miranda Ragbier; Robbie and Odette Epstein.
