Circular No 690

Newsletter for alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.

Caracas, 24 January 2015 No. 690

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Dear Friends,

From the following lines, I deduce that the material that Nigel took to Trinidad is gathering dust, somewhere in storage.

I am sure there must be more, I deduce this as, there was an idea rolling at my last ASAA board meeting, to procure a place at the mount for all collected material,

The material left in ASAA care should be considered heritage and correspondingly be seen and be accessed by all.

So I ask the keeper of these memorabilia jewels to forward a facsimile of these individual items to either Kazim Abasali, webmaster, or to the Circular for publishing.

We would not want to lose information to the next hurricane.

Meanwhile, see:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOBOdfo7cvA 

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Nigel Boos

Dec 18, 2014

Laz,

First of all, be aware that I do not “have the hoard” as you suggest.  

I have long ago - probably 3-4 years ago - passed the entire lot over to Trinidad, since at the time the Abbey School Association had been seriously considering setting up a little museum in one of the buildings at the Mount.

I believe that the medals may now be in the hands Joe Berment, or perhaps are being held by Michael D’Ornellas who, I think, was active in this project at that time.

I may be wrong, but please check with him about the lot.

In the meantime, I did send you a number of photographs of the medal collection which had been presented to us at an Old Boys Reunion in Ajax, Ontario which took place, if my memory serves me correctly, in 2006, by Terence Ferreira.

I cannot recall your ever having published the photographs I’d sent you in any of your Circulars, so I’ll send them again:

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Glen Mckoy

Dec 20, 2014

My Dear Sir Nigel & Sir Ladislao,

I would like to first send out our best wishes to our Brother Sir Norman Smith, who was in surgery and recovering well as I read, may God Bless Sir Norman & his family over the Christmas Season. 

We must give thanks for this good news, Amen.

Re: Photos & Medals.

I am confused with the questions.

There was a reunion in Toronto, and all the Scout medals were sent down to Trinidad with the top representative of the association in Trinidad, Joe Berment.

The only question I have is, did you get someone to sign for these things? ha! ha! - not funny, as the intrinsic value of a life time of our little collections, that was brought to the reunion with the best intentions, to share in a small museum, in some small room somewhere on the Mount.

That was being arranged, but like many other ventures, no communications and I hope it they don't end up like the thousands of photos that are on the mount, just dissolving as we speak.

Just wanted to add my 2 cents, before a few years go by, and then no knows where they are, anyhow thank you Sir Laz. for finding more work us to do. 

Cheers Mis Amigos. What Can I Say?

Adios Glen.

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Nigel Boos

Dec 21, 2014

No problem, Laz.

You’re doing a fine job and we, as a group, should have no complaints at all.

It seems that you’ve received the photographs successfully.

Use them as you see fit.

I’ve collected many photos over the years, and at your request I’ll send more whenever you need some further input. Just let me know.

Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Nigel

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On Dec 20, 2014, at 10:37 AM, laszlo kertesz <kertesz11@yahoo.com> wrote:

Dear Nigel

I have used the incorrect word, Nigel, but did not get notice from anyone on the whereabouts of the "hoard".

And when I was looking for emails to publish on Egan Baichoo I remembered the medals etc. and that they had low resolution and could not be used.

It has been impossible for me to keep up with the whereabouts of the material given to you by Terence Ferreira.

If ASAA have it, who has, and what is going to be done with memorabilia ?? only God knows.

I would like to help but in the last reunion where I assisted, the hot cake of the museum was given to one of the assistants to the reunion.

No news was ever received, for me to inform to you in the Circulars.

And from what the wind blows, no news will ever be received.

And worst of all, the person who has the objects I am sure does not know what to do with them either.

But I shall include it in the agenda for my next trip to TT.

Thank you for taking the photos, I shall include them in future Circulars.  

At least we must keep something going to keep The Abbey School memory alive.

God bless

Ladislao

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Date:1 June 2002

Ladislao,

I read your circular.  Nice piece but no award.  It’s my turn now.

One of my not so fond memories of the Mount, was the teasing I got, especially from the Trinidadians about my naiveté about so many matters

I have to tell you, that I had lived such a sheltered life that my ignorance was profound, of course BoBo telling me that I will never amount to much did not help,

Does anyone remember that I got expelled for telling one of the cooks in the refectory that the boys don't mind the horse meat, but they object to the saddle.

The best book in the library was "The Last Frontier" written by I think Dennis Wheatley about the Duc De Richleau, and "Reach For the Sky" about the British pilot during WW 11 who had no legs, the Germans are still trying to figure that one out. "The Great Escape" was also in there.

All have been made into movies.

The library was a 4ft  by 8 ft operation  [located where you said it was above the driveway and opposite the entrance to the big dorm] which was filled with Agatha Christie, Dennis Wheatley, St.  Francis of Assisi, nursery rhymes, etc,

Guess any book worth reading would have had the boys heading for the nearest toilet,

Anyone remember Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, etc, from those books?

Reading a book per month is no big deal, reading that lot at the Mount was pure torture.

Of course my favourite Mount story was the showers. 16 boys at a time, 2 minutes to get wet [turn off] one minute to soap up [turn on] two minutes to wash off.

The five minute pause that refreshed.

Up to this day I don't spend more than 6 minutes in the shower.

Where is Leon Alves, I don't see him listed anywhere, that moron and my brother Joe Vieira pushed the entire Pax Honey bee hive installation down the hill into St. Agustin, we did not get our weekly movie for one month.

Hilderbrand Green who was the very tall priest and who became abbot is back in Guyana and has started a Benedictine order on the Essequibo river.

Tony

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From Jaime Elias Benazar Andrade

I must start thanking you for your call last Tuesday.

I have tried to send you an answer yesterday but you know that under certain occasions these machines turn to be stupid and there was no way of doing it.

I must explain that effectively I studied at Mount St. Benedict during school years 66-67 and 67-68 in Form I and Form II respectively.

I find it formidable that someone has under taken the initiative to gather information and alumni in this extraordinary media that is the Web.

I hope we can exchange experiences in the future and so many memories of that era.

My office telephone numbers are (0212) 286 3323 /286 2440, it is an attorney’s office.

I hope that in the future we can maintain constant communication.

Regards

Jaime Elias Benazar Andrade

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Photos:

Bandit p12d The Early Times

65TF0003JABPTA, John Abraham and Paul Tadros

57RB0001a5, Missing two unknowns

57IF0001XXXX, maybe it is Roberto Bodington???

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