Newsletter for alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad
and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 17 of April 2016 No. 754
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Dear Friends,
Here is part two of the recent exchanges
about how the Old Boys should redo their efforts to save the Mount.
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Glen G. McKoy
22/04/2016
Glen G. McKoy
commented on Harold Imamshah's post in Mt St Benedict Abbey Boys Int'l
22 April 08:51
I am a little
confused, I saw a few emails going around, going where??
12 April 15:24
The Abbey School is
now New Life Ministries Rehab Centre and has been a very successful one for the
last 20 + years
12 April 14:57
I would like to 2nd
the motion, and will be able to be a volunteer if needed when that time comes,
we have a few local brothers, we can also work with very knowledgeable business
people, if called upon will. Unity is
strength.
Cheers, Glen.
12 April 13:49
Fr. Harold,
I propose that you, as a former monk at MSB and
as a priest with good standing among the OB’s and, hopefully, with Fr. Abbot,
have a clear advantage over the rest of us and as such, you might consider
approaching him, on our behalf, to put a consideration before him: that there
is a problem (to be clearly defined) at the Mount and that we, the old Boys of
the Abbey School are seeking his approval to work with him in addressing this
problem/s.
Should you have a problem with this, perhaps
another of us (any volunteers?) would be willing to pick up the baton and run
with it. . . . . . . .
Would anyone like to second the motion?
NB
12 April 12:56
My opinion: We
should do nothing unless we have the very explicit support and approval of Fr.
Abbot, to work with us and to allow us to work with him as a team.
NB
10 April 09:50
The Mount as I see
it:
Dear brothers,
I was a monk at MSB, and an Abbey School Teacher
in the years when the large number of Venezuelan boarders had been reduced to 3
in my time.
There were still about approximately 40 +
boarders and the Monastic Community were at pains to find ways to keep the
school open for the 100 or so boys.
One solution was to employ more monk teachers
and pay out less in salaries; Br.
Theodore already taught Technical Drawing in both St. Bede's and Abbey School; Bro. Ronald took over the Library from Fr.
Edward Theunissen who was also a Seminary Professor (his cousin Fr. Christopher
had been Parish Priest in Mon Repos, then Carapichaima), both cousins were the
nephews of Fr. Bede who had originated the Tech- Voc School of St. Bede's.
Bro. Dennis Hamid came in to teach Gen. Science
and Bro. Symeon Faria taught Geography, and I taught Art in Forms 2, 3 & 4
as well as religion in Form 3 as well as led the Choir which sang annually at
the Prizegiving.
While I lived and ministered in Louisiana over
13 years, I became aware of the loss of the Tapia House, first seminary and
monastic buildings before later wooden corridor when the Tapia Buildings had to
be demolished amid the public furore and outcry at the loss of these heritage
buildings.
Finally, I was to discover in conversations with
monks, that there was a lot of public outcry about the demolition of these
fragile and historic buildings.
When I returned to Trinidad (over 3 years now) I
continued to visit the Mount and witnessed the decline of some of the monastic
property including the swimming Pool.
It would appear that the monks had leased the
Pool to an entity without much use or upkeep.
The Mount was more successful in securing the
help of the Ministry of Education in up grading St. Bede's and continuing the
use of it as a Tech-Voc School.
One Abbot tried with a Family for the Management
of the Pax Gift Shop and when that couldn't continue, another Abbot succeeded
in remodelling and relocation a much finer and well managed Pax Books and Gift
Shop.
Is the Aqua Lads and Lasses Pool something that
Abbey Alumni can take on?
We surely have the interest, nostalgia...
The Monastic Community numbered 36 in my day, and
is now 9.
There are 3 from other Monastic Communities.
Let's keep the concern and this blog going with
newer and fresh suggestions for improvements for the re-building and refurbishment?
Abbot John Perreira, current Abbot has spent
months and months with WASA's astounding assistance in the installation of new
iron pipes bringing water from the hills to the Monastery, Guest House and
Seminary.
Now he begins work this week for the other
Buildings at the Mount, the St. Peter's Home, the Carmelite Convent and the
houses below the Seminary who are tenants of the Mount with newer pipes for
water to their houses.
Please think of lending supportive words
(financial and moral and physical) assistance to Abbot John, for all that he
has achieved in his first and second terms as Abbot.
Sincerely,
Fr. Harold Imamshah
11 April 18:05
The government I think already helped the Mount
with St. Bede's, so don't expect much from them.
Now the only choice the Mount has, are the Abbey
boys, we have engineers, we have experts in so many fields and I know many will
contribute in many ways, if called upon.
However money is the fuel here, well planned
there will be success, #1 location, location,
We are the only logical group that care for the
future of the Mount, in the hands of our best, the results will be amazing, the
country will feel proud for what can happen on that mountain.
However we must not let small things stop this
miracle from happening, it is in the hands of only 1 or 2 people for this to
proceed, we must have faith,
I know someone bigger than us, is speaking to
Fr. Abbot if he follows the light, the rest is history, we must think big, if
you are still caught up in small petty arguments of the past is a road to
failure,
We can only pray that Fr. Abbot does see the
army of brothers standing behind him, the next move is his.
Fr Harold Imamshah you would
not have made this request unless it was needed.
Well you have a few answers I hope are a start
to which will be an historical event for this island country.
Cheers, Glen.
11 April 15:28
A lot of very
straightforward suggestions from an aging Alum.
Kaz is on point that the largest obstacle has
been the Abbot himself.
He did not have a bond or a relationship with
the generations of Abbey students which respected that school as a major part
of our growth.
Many of us learned the fundamentals of life at
the Abbey.
With no serious links to the Abbey my perception
of Abbot Pereira is that he doesn't need the Abbey Alum, only their and your
financial donations are surely welcomed.
Jon Golding 11 April 14:43
Until there is a central GOTO person and place, the
TT Abbot will continue to live in the clouds.
No disrespect to Abbot Pereira but no comparison
memories with our Dutch Fr Adelbert Van Duin our original Abbot par excellence!
11 April 14:27
Also, a lousy typist.
I hate to see our unique, core growing-up memory
era, which has led to such long term alumni relationships, going down the river
with each passing day,
The Abbot and whomever he gets advice from,
needs to 'GET IT'
The EARLY old boys are part of the architecture
of the hill and without us he is in a room with 9 ageing monks and an overload
of declining real estate they cannot manage.
OK for the water pipes he's been working on but
this is nothing compared to the full picture.
What is needed is an office in the Sports ground
building with a Business Manager with full IT connectivity (where we can Skype
not having the possibility to arrange meetings in TT).
This will be the most quick and accessible
location for professionals and others who will be involved in the Restoration
Project (my title).
11 April 14:20
Nigel, well said,
and Kazin thanks for your compliments.
I'm an engineer and Mr Fixit at heart and I hate
to see
11 April 14:19
Jerry,
You're off the page, man!
This fantasy is bar talk.
We need to think ahead to what our kids can be
proud of if we can restore the School as well as the Monastery.
The use by date is fast approaching and
extinction looming!
11 April 12:16
Correct me if I'm
wrong, but wasn't there some talk about turning the Abbey School into a Hotel
or Spa?
What ever happened to that movement?
It would however be an awesome place for Pan
Trinbago to have as their HQ instead of that eyesore on the highway that I was
on my last visit....
Kazim Abasali 11 April 09:39
Blessings my dear
Brothers! With my recent stroke and my
ongoing recovery, this is not a project for me or even the faint of heart. I really have to watch myself and taking on
too much on my shoulders now, and as one member of the Alumni.
Having said that, I want to say that I have a
lot of respect and admiration for Jon Golding, for what he
did and tried to accomplish for the Abbot and MSB overall. And the magnitude of Jon's vision is really
commendable. Others from our MSB Alumni group
have also tried, and just like Jon, without much success. And the one reason or person was the Abbot.
Fr. Harold Imamshah, you want
to help the Abbot. You shared above that you were part of things before and
have met with some success along the way. And you feel we should try again. And
I wish you the best.
At this point in my life, as I shared above, I
do not have the energy to take on a massive project like this, although every
project can be broken up in manageable parts to complete the whole project
eventually. The thing is we need the
Abbot to totally want this to save us from any wasted energy like before. And like our Brothers stated, the Abbot has to
take a Leadership role and be open, humble, and supportive of the team and
other players in an undertaking such as this.
Also, this project has to be self-sustaining,
with revenue generating income to take care of ongoing maintainence of
properties, etc. For instance, if the
swimming pool is restored to olympic standard, then the rental of the
facilities will pay for its upkeep. And
other ideas of revenue generation, even those already in existence like the
yogurt factory, etc., will be necessary to avoid us from outside ongoing
fund-raising and having to do this project all over again when there is need
for another massive overhaul.
What this project points to is a picture of the
extent of this undertaking. And I come
back to the vision and efforts of Jon Golding, the work he did. That today is still the blueprint of the plan
for this project. Because if we do not
do this project wisely, we will forever be having to work without meaningful
solutions.
Now, who is going to shoulder this task with the
Abbot? Again, the Abbot himself must
want this, and step up and take responsibility. If there are souls willing and able to do so
with the Abbot, I certainly wish you all the very best. And you all too will have my utmost respect
and admiration as I have for Jon.
God bless you Fr. Harold Imamshah, your
vision, the Abbot, the Team, and our MSB Brothers.
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To Jeremy,
Thank you, Jeremy.
Could you write on the most remembered moment at the school??
Just two lines would suffice.
The last letter from you was in 2011, and you have no CV for posterity.
Let’s keep the Circular going.
Ladislao
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Jeremy de Barry
<tobagojo@gmail.com>
26 Mar
Hi Ladislao,
Thanks for the posting and information; and for
the marvellous effort of keeping it all together.
Keep it all coming.
Cheers to all those who are still around.
Very best regards,
Jeremy
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EDITED by Ladislao Kertesz, 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:
11LK2688FBGGO,
Gavin Gonzales
08JD0001JDM, Jean de Meillac
62UN0001GRP, Group of UNKNOWNS
11CD0010CDFFAM,
Cornel de Freitas and grandsons
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