Newsletter for alumni of The Abbey School,
Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 20 of February 2016 No. 746
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Dear Friends,
Please could anyone rectify the situation of the following old boys.
David De Verteuil, Middle Bage, My
classmate 1960, last known address in Oakville Canada
Nicholas de Verteuil, Meow, last known
address in Houston Texas.
Eion Oconnor, last known address in Canada
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EVENTS
From:
Don Mitchell
Sent:
Friday, June 19, 2015 2:00 AM
My contribution:
1950s-1960s – singing “Glory, Glory to the
Prison on the Hill” (to the music of the Battle Hymn of the Republic) in the
Volkswagon bus on the way back to Mount after every excursion to the beach;
1950s-1960s – making maps of the trails in the
bush around the Mount;
1959 – standing along the roadside to wave at
Fidel Castro as he drove in convoy up to the Mount;
1960s – swimming in Katchikam pool, in the river
below the swimming pool;
1960s – cutting lianas (vines) and daring each
other to swing on them further and further above the gorge on the way to the
Reservoir;
1960s – baking ripe breadfruit on small bonfires
along the river flowing down from the Reservoir;
1960s – hiding behind the bushes on the hillside
above the sportsfield firing reed (bamboo) arrows at the hated sportsmen on the
cricket field;
1960s – getting six licks on my backside from
BoBo every Monday morning at 9:00 AM for 5 years for the above activity;
Keep well.
Don
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From: gyuris
Sent: Thursday,
June 18, 2015 7:01 PM
Hi Antoni,
I was there from Sept 1964 till July 1969,
starting in Prep A and graduating from Form V.
Yes things did get a bit more liberalized after
you left. So our paths never overlapped due to the time difference in
attendance.
For example, One of the main reasons was Fr.
Theo, ( a Dutch parrish priest on a two year sabatical at the Abbey School
during 1966 and 1967. He was the brother of Fr. Gregory, - Duck- and he was put
in charge of discipline at the school during his 2 year tenure).
He was a very progressive & liberal minded
priest who believed in us having social interaction with girls, that it would
be good for the boys' morale and social skills. He influenced the school
management to allow for supervised social interaction functions with girls at
the school. Hence the parties and social gatherings at the Abbey. After he left
in 1967, these social gatherings sadly stopped. Too bad!
I just remembered and added a bunch more items
of memories to the list below..... They are in no particular order. Some
pertain only to my time at the Mount, others are more general stuff that
everyone can identify.
Attila Gyuris
1964-1969
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On Jun 18, 2015, at 8:01 AM,
On Jun 18, 2015, at 8:01 AM,
ANTONI
MICKIEWICZ <amickiew@att.net> wrote:
Which years did you attend?
My perception is that the Monks became more
liberal as the years transpired.
Muchisimas gracias, Attila, for your valuable
additions.
------------------------------------------------------------------.
On
Thursday, June 18, 2015 7:28 AM,
gyuris
<gyuris@yahoo.com> wrote:
Ok, I will add a few to the List... :-)
Regards,
Attila Gyuris
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On
Jun 18, 2015, at 7:07 AM,
GEORGE
MICKIEWICZ <amickiew@att.net> wrote:
When reflecting on this topic, it is amazing how
many and varied they were.
To the best of my recollection for my years
there, they were:
· Sports
– Football, cricket, volleyball, basketball, tennis, table tennis, baseball
(played by the “pagnols”)
· Track
and Field
· Swimming,
diving, water polo
· Reading
· Music
· Theatre
· Serving
mass
· Stealing
and pelting mangoes, oranges, grapefruits
· Liming
· Climbing
and exploring
· Eating
· Ogling
our brothers’ “Sistas”
· Photography
· Trips
to the beaches and the islands
· Listening
to the radio
· Attending
cricket test matches
· Board
games: cards, chess, checkers, monopoly
· Extra
studying hours in last year in preparation for the GCEs
· Playing
marbles
Adding some more things I remember:
- playing Tops during recess.
- Scouts, and scout troop meetings every
Saturday morning.
- Playing an instrument in the Marching band. In
my case the drums.
- playing an instrument in a rock band.
- building dens in the bush, and camouflaging
it.
- going hunting in the bush behind the refectory
with pellet guns
- hunting cats around the Refectory at night
with bow and arrow and flash lights.
- Forms IV and Form V "boys rooms"
(where smoking was allowed and we had a record player and played dominoes at
the tables)
- throwing paper airplanes down the hill
from the study hall windows.
- Zampat! In the hedges.
-Saturday night movies in Bennet's Hall above
the Refectory.
- Waiting on the staircase by the Refectory for
Fr Rughead to open the library to borrow library books.
- Private Piano lessons in Bennet's Hall.
- Playing hide and seek with Br Camillus(?)
down by the beehives to steal mangoes from the trees.
- standing in line every 5pm to take cold water
showers.
- Supervised dancing & parties in the
basquetball court with the the girls of St. Joseph's Girls Academy down the
hill.
- arriving to the scholl for the very first time
in Sept 1964 into Prep A. Pablo Kecskemeti, Gabor Hoefle and Paul Stein were my
first "old boy" friends on that first day.
- scout camping and building bamboo structures
in the river.
- "borrowing" the priests’ Lambretta
motor scooters from the garage shed at night for joy rides down to Tunapuna and
St. Joseph's then returning them. I was introduced to this by my good friend
Jan Koenraadt at first, then I did it occasionally by myself after he left the
school. If I had been found out I think I would have been expelled for sure...
But I never got found out, lucky me! I took a few friends in the backseat with
me on those night rides. One I remember well was the older of the Malaver
brothers, because we almost got busted since Fr. Cuthbert was returning late
that night in the school van. He was coming up the hill, and we saw the
headlights in the distance. We had to quickly turn around and race back up. We
skated on that one.
Since then I am a motorcycle long distance
travel aficionado.
- long hikes up to the White Stones ... and
beyond. Sometimes practicing morse code communications using a pair of ship's
semaphore lanterns we had, with other scouts stationed down by the
Refectory.
- the stench of the septic tank behind the
toilets during dry season ( around March / April).
- in the Form V dining hall, waiting for Fr Bobo
to leave so we could snatch up his orange juice and toast that he didn't
finish.
- during breakfast, shaking the bread slices in
the bread dish to get rid of the occasional ants. Also swatting the black bees
from the honey bottles.
- being sent by the table prefect to go stand up
in front of the supervising Father's dining table as punishment. This meant
being put in the black list, and no movies on Saturday night.
- having to raise the bread dish or the rice
steel dish at the table to get axtefill for more food.
- standing in 3 separate lines outside to enter
the three dining halls. Prep A , Form I and II in the one closest to the
kitchen, Form III and IV in the middle hall ( Fr Cuthbert supervising at the
head table) , and Form V in the last one furthest away from the kitchen ( Fr
Bernard supervising).
- playing backyard cricket during recess
using the wooden soft drink boxes as wickets.
- the yearly "Marching of the Flags,"
put on by the scouts during Parents Day, for a few years I was there. Each
country of ancestry or origin for every student was represented by its country
flag. It turned out to be a LOT of flags from all over the world. It was quite
a show.
- every student using his bathrobe to go to class
during the "cold/ rainy and windy days", usually around
November - December.
- the Ray-Ban gold wire rim aviator sunglasses
craze. Everyone had to have one for the " Bad-boy look". It was the
fashion.
- While playing " Wall-Tennis" against
the Refectory retention wall, the tennis balls would occasionally go into one
of the many square drain holes in the wall, and having to climb up precariously
to get them out.
- sneaking out behind the Refectory for a smoke.
- buying sweet tamarind balls at the religious
store down by the Guest House on the way down to the sports fields.
- Passing by the little cemetery on the right,
opposite the Guest House, and looking at the grave head stones. There was one
in particular grave head stone that always drew my attention, it was of a
"Lt Cdr Wilson". I wonder who he was.
- up in the dormitory, chatting with the always
friendly and wise seamstress lady, Mrs. Wilson, and getting good worldly advice
about everything.
- having to store the travel suitcases in the
Attic in the top dormitory.
- making emergency long distance phone calls to
home at the office of Mrs Kitty.
- getting soft drinks and the occasional fresh
popcorn from the soft drink window at one of the two back cross hallways. The
Cantore brothers were in charge of that concession. Soft drinks and the bag of
pop corn were 10 cents each.
- getting your sundries, toiletries and weekly
pocket money ( $1) disbursed at the Bursar's office in the back cross hallway.
- racing down the stairs at bath time to be the
first in line for showers.
- Watching the Cantore brothers' father buzzing
the school with his Bonanza airplane as he flew back to Anaco, Venezuela after
leaving the two Cantore brothers ( Fulvio and Oscar) and Pablo Kecskemeti at
the school during the start of each Term.
- getting "licks" (swats) in the
bare ass with a cane in the office for misbehaving.
- going down to the school nurse after faking a
fever, hoping for a sick slip to skip class, and not getting one.
- waiting in line to brush teeth in the morning.
- in Form V, hosting tours of outside visitors
to our Chemistry lab. Our school had the best school Chemistry lab in the
country at the time. They said it was better equipped than the University of
West Indies had. We were proud of it. The lab was equipped so well thanks to
Mrs Kitty Marcus, our Chemistry teacher, and it was the reason I chose to go on
to study Chemical Engineering in college.
- "graduating" from "small
boy" short pants to "big boy" long pants in the school uniforms.
- changing the formal (external) uniform pants
colours from white to blue, and all long, sometime around in 1965 or 1966.
- finding and eating the rare ripe cashew fruits
from the cashew trees on the way down to the sports field.
- watching Roger Gibbon, the Trinidadian
bicycling world champion and a national celebrity at the time (mid 60's) come
visit the school and do a bike racing demonstration with the boys around the
sports field.
- while doing a Scout honour guard, watching
Haile Selassie, the ruler of Ethiopia at the time on a State visit to Trinidad
in 1966, ride by on the road in a open car, looking straight at me and
acknowledging and waving at me.
- getting on the school VW van to go to
Port-of-Spain for shopping on Saturday mornings.
- Hiking through the northern mountain range
from the White Stones all the way to Maracas Bay for as one of the requirements
for my Venture Scout badge.
- getting into a fist fight with some bully in
the school yard to defend Salvador Coscarat (he was a small boy at the time),
because this bully took away by force Salvador's pellet gun.
- My school clothes tag number was No 9. It was
sewn into all my clothes. And my clothes still got lost in the laundry.
- The cubicles with privacy curtains in the
Senior boy's dormitory. Paul Quesnel was the Head Prefect in Form V that year,
and he had the best cubicle, with a lockable and all, it was almost like
a suite!
- Finally getting my Queen's Scout award in Form
V, along with my good friend Andres Larsen.
- Leaving the school for the last time on the VW
van enroute to Piarco in July 1969. I had donated all my left over stuff to my friend
Alfredo Montiel.
.... I will add more as I remember......
Regards,
Attila Gyuris
1964-1969
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EDITED by LadislaoKertesz, kertesz11@yahoo.com, if you would like to be in the circular’s
mailing list or any old boy that you would like to include.
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Photos:
13GT0001GTO, Giacomo Tomaselli
58CN0002CNO, Charles Henri de
Noirmont
13JH0001JHA,
Joseph Habib
13AK0001AKE,
Allen Keith
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