Newsletter for alumni of The Abbey School,
Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 31 October 2015 No. 730
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Dear
Friends,
Some old
emails, about Justices Don Mitchell and Anthony Lucky follow.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Don Mitchell <idmitch@anguillanet.com>
Oct 31 at 6:01 AM
Hi, Ladislao,
How are you keeping?
How’s the family?
I do hope all is
well, and that the children are not producing too many ‘grands’, and leaving
them on your doorstep on an evening to babysit them while they go out partying
:-( At least, that is what I always imagined grandparents were for.
Maggie and I are
well enough as we approach the brink of that long, dark hole that is old
age.
We do less and less
entertaining and travelling now.
I find solace in my
teaching and writing, and Maggie in her reading.
As I sit here in my
little office writing this, I am surrounded on three walls by shelf upon shelf
of her, she would say our, books.
The corridor leading
from the bedroom to my desk is lined with bookshelves.
So is the bedroom
and the TV room.
The darn things lie
in piles on every table, begging for room to be allowed to stand upright.
Only the bathrooms
are mercifully free of the molding, fading spines I see around me.
I try keeping the
joints and muscles flexible by going to the gym once a week and walking with
friends twice a week.
It is getting more
and more difficult to keep up with those that are a mere five or six years
younger than I am.
God knows what it
will be like in another year or two.
I shut my eyes and
try to banish the thought.
At least I still
enjoy teaching the young people some of the law I have practiced for the past
45 years.
The class size is
now much reduced, and not because there are fewer students wanting to study
law.
The school has now,
after much pleading on my behalf, hired a full-time law-teacher, who handles
the bulk of the students, those from first year.
I take the second
year law students, after she has weeded out the greater part.
The first book was
published earlier this month, and, if you are desperate to look at pictures,
you can see an image of it here:
There are five more
volumes to come, if I can get my act together sufficiently to complete the
proof-reading. I had only vaguely realized before how difficult it is in
practice to proof-read your own writing. Now, I know that it is an
impossible task. I think, after all, I am going to let them go to the
publisher, warts and all.
I was wondering just
yesterday, whatever happened to your little schoolgirl, Victoria? I
remember the photos of her horse-riding that you were so proud of when she was
about 10 years old. I imagine she has long gone away, probably far, far
from home. Well, console yourself with the thought that children are not
given to you, they are only lent for a time. That, anyway, is what the
book of life is supposed to teach.
It seems to me from
the slowdown in production that the Abbey School Blog of Circulars may be
coming to the end of its useful life http://abbeyschool2015circulars.blogspot.com/. I also see that the
Old Boys are busy exchanging videos of singers and dancers, and indulging in
the other excitements of the digital age on Kazim’s Facebook page for the
School https://www.facebook.com/groups/msbabbeyoldboys/ . I have joined
Facebook myself if only to be able to visit and see the photos of my siblings
and Maggie’s. I don’t bother to post much stuff there myself, mainly the
odd photo, and use the page as a vehicle for peeping at others’ collections of
photos. But, I get the distinct impression that our old Blog may not be
serving a useful purpose any longer. Whatever you decide, it has been a
wonderful past 15 years of helping you to get the contacts established once
again among our dwindling numbers of alumni.
Keep well.
Don
-------------------------------------------------------------------.
Wed, 27 Nov 2002
19:17:39 -0400
To: Tony Johnson
Hi Tony,
You are probably
planning to update the Mount site sometime soon with new material. This
is a photo attached of Anthony Lucky and family for the "Recent
Photos" page, and below is a note for the "Biography" page when
you are next putting up stuff.
All the best,
Don
---------------------------------------------------------.
Here is the CV of Anthony Lucky 2002
I presently serve as
a Justice of the Court of Appeal of Trinidad & Tobago.
After I left Mount,
I completed my secondary education at Presentation College in San
Fernando.
I then left for
England where I graduated as a barrister-at-law from Gray's Inn in London in
November 1961.
After a stint in
private practice, I served as a Magistrate in San Fernando between 1964 and
1974 and as Secretary to the Law Reform Commission between 1974 and 1976.
Between 1976 and
1987 I was in-house counsel for Royal Bank of Trinidad & Tobago, after
which I was appointed to the bench as a Judge of the High Court.
In October 2000 I
was appointed to our Court of Appeal, Trinidad and Tobago's highest Court other
than the Privy Council in London.
While engaged in
these duties, I continued my legal education, picking up over the years a
Certificate in Legislative Drafting, a Diploma in International Relations, and
a Masters in International Relations.
For my MSc degree I
specialized on the law of the sea, and my thesis on the Legal Relationship of
the Law of the Sea between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela is on the reading
list in some of the subjects at UWI.
I have been married
to Cintra for 39 years.
Cintra is a graduate
teacher in Trinidad, holding a BA (General Hons) degree and a Diploma in
Education from the Faculty of Education at the University of the West
Indies.
We have four
daughters, Cindy-Ann, a specialist medical doctor in Canada; Gillian an
attorney-at-law and Member of Parliament in Trinidad; Elizabeth whose
degree is in Industrial Management and Accountancy and who lives in
Canada; and Antonia who is an environmental management consultant in
Trinidad.
Besides my work, I
enjoy attending international law conferences and spending extended periods of
time in Canada doting on my grandchildren.
----------------------------------------------------------------------.
Dear Don,
I have tried to
reconstruct the timetable for:
Mondays,
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
The daily schedule
was:
Wake up: 06:00
Morning Mass: 06:00
until 06:45 (until 1958 it was obligatory).
Breakfast: 07:00
Study: 08:00 in Form
I classroom, which was above Prep A and B.
Class: 09:00 to
12:00, four classes of 45 minutes.
Lunch: 12:30
Study: 13:30 to 14:00
Class: 14:00 to
15:00
Tea and clothes
change for sports: 15:00 to 17:00
Bathe and change
clothes: 17:00 time that the dormitory was opened.
Study: 18:00
Dinner: 19:00
Study for Form boys,
Dormitory and sleep for Prep boys: 20:00
Sleep: 21:00
On
Saturdays and Wednesdays
The dormitory was
opened after Lunch to change to sport clothes.
And on Wednesday
there was study time after 18:00
On Saturday movies
at 19:00
On
Sunday
The Mass was
postponed one hour: 07:00
Breakfast at 08:00
Playtime till 10:00
when there was letter writing time and study.
Playtime from 11:00
till lunch.
After lunch the time
table was the same as on Wednesday.
--------------------------------------------------------------.
From:
Don Mitchell
Date:
Tue Dec 31 10:52:30 2002
Hi Ladislao,
It sounds
correct.
But, would this not
be a wonderful quiz to involve Fr Augustine or Fr Cuthbert in?
They would probably
be able to give you the exact timetables.
And, over the years
the timetables probably changed.
So, what was correct
for one year may not have been correct for a later year.
I believe that if
you sent the draft timetable to Fr John at the Mount and asked him to dictate
it to one of them, they could reply.
Fr Cuthbert, I
believe, is able to type his own reply.
Keep well, and all
the best to you and yours for the New Year.
Don
---------------------------------------------------------------.
Hi Ladislao,
Of course you are
correct. The Sports Day parade band was the scout band.
Thanks for the
photo.
My big news is that
I am now about to begin the Criminal Assizes on Tuesday: 5 murders and
over 25 other misdemeanours and felonies, including burglaries, rapes, and
woundings for the jury!
It will not be
enjoyable.
All the best,
Don
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
Hi Ladislao,
Many thanks for the
circular.
How cute to see
again the old Viscount.
That was our jet age
aircraft.
It brought us out of
the dark ages of the old Dakota aircraft left over from the War.
I enclose for your
amusement a photo of me "inspecting the police" at the opening of the
criminal Assizes last week.
Ignore the address
from which this message is coming.
I am in Anguilla
only for the weekend.
All the best,
Don
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
Hi Ladislao,
Thanks for the
photo. The kids seem to be very happy.
No, judges in the
OECS have not worn wigs since the year 1972.
My wig now only gets
used by the schoolchildren, who borrow it each year for a school play.
In Antigua, as in
Anguilla, the Trade Winds blow constantly, at about 40 kilometers per
hour.
Yes, it was a windy
day.
Keep well,
Don
------------------------------------------
EDITED by Ladislao Kertesz Kertesz11@yahoo.com
EDITED by Ladislao Kertesz Kertesz11@yahoo.com
---------------------------------------------
Photos:
Bandit p50 x p.51 The Early Times
03AL0001ALU, Anthony Lucky and family
58UN0001VISCOUNT, The airplane that kept us
dreaming in 1950s
12DM1010DMIPOL, Don Mitchell inspecting the
police in Antigua
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