Circular No 726

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

Caracas, 3 October 2015 No. 726

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Dear Friends,

Here is the Circular.

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Re: Memories of Fr. Benedict-Science Class

Richard Farah <RFarah@mdc-um.com>

Friday, January 2, 2009 7:24:27 PM

John,

I can remember that experiment vividly to this day.

And I became a gunpowder freak from that day on to the eternal annoyance of our cascade neighbours at holiday time as they had to endure bombs and rockets every week,

I used to buy the chemicals at Albert Phillips pharmacy corner Queen and Henry streets

It’s amazing that priests like father Benedict gave up their lives to pass on their knowledge gratis.

May god rest his soul.

Richard.

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From: jongolding

Sent: Fri Jan 02 19:01:47 2009

Subject: Memories of Fr. Benedict-Science Class

Nigel

Please add this to your circular if you think it OK.

I believe these are among the last photos of him which I took on a recent visit to his sick room in the monastery. 

It is ironic he took so many pictures of the 'boys' and that the last ones of him should be from the 'boys'.

You might want to add this:

OUR MOST UNFORGETTABLE SCIENCE DEMO

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1957 - Form 1 class - held in upstairs large study hall - Science class.

I used to sit next to 'Mousey' (Richard Farah) - about 3 months before his mango tree accident which cost him his leg.

Brave soul and another Mount Hero!

Fr Benedict was teaching us about gunpowder that day. 

To demonstrate, he made gunpowder in the class, a mix of Carbon, Potassium Nitrate and Sulphur. 

Mousey and I quickly wrote down the proportions

(which we later bought on a dentist trip to PoS, and tried out in the bush near the reservoir.  But we nearly killed Louis Lacour and my brother Geoff!!).

Our intrepid science teacher then produced a small cannon he had made from some lead piping, one end hammered flat, the other end a lethal open gun barrel anchored firmly onto a chunky mahogany 2 by 4.

He positioned the weapon at the hall window aiming it at a mango tree a mile away on the hill across the valley. 

His intention was to see if he could hit a mango from this distance. 

In went the gunpowder followed by a ramrod stick from Brother Joseph's woodwork shop to pack it tight. 

He then inserted a marble he had confiscated from one the Venezuelans in an earlier class. 

(These guys sometimes used to roll a few marbles onto the floor before the monks came in to teach, hoping they'd 'buss their ass' on the floor! 

But so far no hits. 

Fr Bernard knew the game and caught one redhanded the week before!

Anyway he had his cannon ball for the demo and told us that is what he'd do with all the marbles he found on the floor!

Next step, he pulled out a length of Jetex fuse wire. 

We all held our breath realising this experiment was getting reeeel serious!!!  

You could hear a pin drop. 

No other monk/ teacher had ever exhibited such macho bravado in a class that any of us had attended in the prison on the hill.

He ran the wire along the window sill and inserted the end into a hole in the pipe cannon near the flattened end. 

He drew a sketch on the blackboard to show us what was going to happen and asked us to write down the chemical equation; C+S+PNi = BANG!!

He then stepped back and pulled out a cigarette lighter

(He’d borrowed from Fr Paul, the walking Chimney!). 

We all began to talk loudly and nervously and duck under the desks. 

It was pandemonium!! 

I vividly remember that Mousey and I could not stop laughing - wide-eyed and in disbelief to relieve our anxiety.

"OK, boys, get down, here comes the countdown! 

Ten - nine - eight - seven .... we all chorused the countdown getting louder and louder.

By this time everybody was ducking down below their desks --------------

" - two - one - ZERO!!!" -------------------

Dead Silence!

Nothing happened!

Actually it did!! 

We looked up from under the desks and saw he'd just lit the Jetex fuse. 

I remember some of the guys sitting near the corridor were so scared they ran into the corridor. 

Others ducked down into the walkway between the desks and crawled to the back of the study hall. 

Mousey and I were in the second row from the front and we decided to stay put. 

We kept looking at the fuse hissing its way quickly towards the cannon and saw that our Voosh had moved behind the big desk at the front

(where they used to sit to supervise us in study time).

When the fuse sparks were climbing up to the cannon we ducked down for certain this time and did not have to wait too long:

!!!!--------- BBBAAAANNNNGGGGGGGGG!!!----------------!!!!

The cannon let out such a loud bang we could not believe it. 

Heads slowly began appearing above the desks and we saw a huge amount of smoke coming from the cannon window - an after effect of the explosion.

The next thing I heard was someone starting to clap until we all quickly joined in the rousing applause! 

Our new military hero - Fr Benedict!!! 

We'd go into battle for him immediately, confident he knew how to blow away the enemy!!

Well the fun did not last long.

Next thing we knew was Fr Bernard coming rushing down the corridor into the study hall his face as white as a sheet and eyes wide open searching the room madly - as if to find an assassin hiding under a desk. 

He did not notice Fr Benedict at first since he and the big desk were camouflaged behind the smoke cloud.

Fr Bernard shouted out in near panic:

"What's going on here?"  

We all sat frozen as we faced this unexpected after shock! 

Our dear headmaster had never looked so furious and lethal - as if to prepare himself for the battle that Fr Benedict had signalled with his opening round of cannon fire.

The tension broke when Fr Benedict, amazed at his resounding success (sorry about the pun), called out apologetically,

"It's OK, Fr Bernard, it was only an experiment!"

I cannot remember the rest of the dialogue but it was not pretty. 

Fr Bernard laid into Fr Benedict about how irresponsible it was not to inform him and the rest of the school first.  

We found out later that the bang was so loud that most of the other classes were cut short as they all ran out into the corridors to see what had happened.

Eventually, Fr Bernard left in a huff and Fr Benedict looked sheepishly at his terminated science lesson, ducking his head down a little with a mischievous grin, but receiving a round of supporting laughter and light applause from his newly initiated class. 

Yes, this was an initiation - into science - that every one of us present that day will never forget!

From that day on, we all listened intently to every word in his science classes and I believe we all got record marks, never to be repeated again. 

I am sure someone in our class will get a Nobel Prize for science one day!

For me, it was a true positive initiation into science which I approached fearlessly from then on - I eventually got A's all the way through 'A' levels and university and it is to Fr Benedict I owe my motivation - gaining my BSc (Hons) in the UK eventually.

I know I am joined by all those in the 1957 science class, and beyond, in expressing our utmost affection and admiration for our unsung hero of science education who put more than his best efforts into making our classes interesting and memorable. 

To top it all, he never needed to get heavy with us for discipline and had a lovely charm and gentle smile - identifying with the 'boy' in all of us - in a way that only few of the other teachers could!

The pictures attached, which I was fortunate to take before he went to be with the Lord, say it all! 

Let us pray that one day we also will arrive and see him again at that Heavenly Place where he must be continuing his curious science experiments - since God most certainly would have rewarded him with the biggest science lab and endless gunpowder to shoot down the enemy of our souls.

May God rest our Fr Benedict, a true Benedictine par excellence, and exemplar for us to emulate while we still have the time!

Well done Fr Benedict and may the angels "Voooooosssssssh" you straight up into the Heavens like a cannon ball !!

Your grateful and admiring student

Jon Golding (1955 - 1962)

on behalf of all the science class of 1957

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Richard Farah <rfarah@mdc-um.com>

Monday, March 23, 2009 11:59:20 AM

Maybe you are correct ,,… 1955… since the Scout Band in which I played the bugle was not at the time of this photo fully formed…

Brian Goddard and myself were the only members at the time.. then Boddington joined.

Richard Farah

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Gordon Farah should be replaced by Richard Farah …. Next to Brian Goddard.. Richard Played the Bugle.

Hutton… is Eden Hutton… the year was probably 1957.

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Sunday, August 23, 2009 1:14:16 Am

Re: sorry to give u this news

From: Richard Farah rfarah@mdc-um.com

All,

David died of a massive heart attack while walking to the kitchen at home on Friday evening...he was 71... No prior history of issues, so it was a shock to us.... His wife Betty Anne and kids.. Anthony, Gregory, and Nicola + their kids are left to mourn his passing... His companies Saf-tec, and Caribbean Lifts will continue to be run by Gregory.

His funeral is not official yet, but I think Wed.

Just a note:

He is the first of this Generation to die, being outlived by Albert (99 this year) who is the father of Michael & Roger and also went to Mount.

The original 5 Farah brothers settled in Trinidad from England

Richard

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From: Nigel P. Boos nigelboos@eagles-wings.ca

Sent: Sun Aug 23 01:14:16 2009

So sorry to hear about David's death, Arthur.

I did not know him myself, but perhaps Richard Farah might be able to give us a little more info.

(Who? What? When? Why? Where? How?)

May he rest in peace.

Nigel P. Boos

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On 22-Aug-09, at 11:06 AM,

Art & Val Knaggs wrote:

Nigel,

We had a David Farah at Mount, and wondered if this was he.

Married to Betty-Ann Knaggs?

Leave it with You.

Keep up the excellent gusto that the "Old Mounties" are putting into the Mount.

As ever,

Art

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From:  av_knaggs@hotmail.com

Date: Sat, 22 Aug 2009 11:42:02 -0300

Dearest Allison,

Our thanks for contacting us and our sympathy.

Please could you e-mail us Betty-Ann's phone # so that we can give her a call.

Greatly appreciated, and with our love,

Art & Val

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Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:18:48 -0700

From: allison56@yahoo.com

Dear All

Just thought you would all like to know that David Farah passed away tonight at 8.20pm

Not too sure what happened but he may have had a massive heart attack,

Pat and I went to be with the family at the nursing home, please remember them in your prayers

Love and God Bless

Allison

Have a Wonderful day and may God Bless You Always.

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EDITED by Ladislao Kertesz  Kertesz11@yahoo.com

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Photos:

Bandit p45 The Early Times

12LK8854THAWFEFB, Tim Healy and wife

12WH0010WHAGRP, Wayne Hackett

47RL0001RLL, Robert Llanos