Newsletter for alumni of The Abbey School,
Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 24 of September 2016 No. 777
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Dear Friends,
Last night I have checked out my list of
links to Web pages that appear at the bottom of the Circular. And have found
the following:
Published every week, do not hesitate to
ask for the missing number to: idmitch@anguillanet.com,
http://abbeyschool2016circulars.blogspot.com/,
Working fine thank you
Don.
This email is to inform you that we now
have a website to serve us, by Kazim Abseil: http://www.msbasaa.com/, The page
has information from 2014 reunion but nothing after that. Could not find a link
to the DATABASE???
Look at www.paxabbey.com , for information on the Monastery, Mt St.
Benedict. The page is
not in the server, so no information is available.
http://www.tntyp.com/, TT phone directory. It is working and well
Look for David Bratt´s column at http://guardian.co.tt/search/node/david+bratt,
The link is lost and
nothing appears of David Brat’s writings
Paul Zeven’s website: www.paulzevencoaching.com,
Does not exist
So, I have decided to take them off the
Newsletter and wait for the interested parties to make the necessary
corrections.
Remember that the Newsletter is just that,
news from all of the Old Boys, so if you want to have your presence known, give
me a line or two.
If you would like to have a link inserted,
please write.
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A weekly article by Julio Cesar Arreaza,
in Spanish, about the situation here in Venezuela:
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Nigel mailto:nigelboos@gmail.com
Sep 23 at 8:20 AM
Kazim,
I’m sorry to advise
you that yet another of our Old Boys has gone home to the Lord and is no longer
with us.
Our wonderful,
friendly, happy Anthony “Bolo” Krogh died 2 days ago in Trinidad.
I have no details
of his passing, but I’m sure that the OB’s receiving this information will say
a quiet prayer for the happy repose of his soul.
There have now been
3 of our OB group who have left us this month - Trevor Soodeen, Christopher
Knowles and Anthony “Bolo” Krogh.
The obituaries in
Trinidad’s press will surely carry the news of Bolo’s death.
May our Old Boys
now rest in peace.
Nigel
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Ralph Echeverria
19 sep 2016
Hi Ladislao, long
time no see!!
Thank you for your
Mount Letter 775 (I was shocked that there were so many of them already!!!)
...
I particularly
enjoyed this one for the reference made to A Man for All Seasons.
That was a great
play and had a lot of positive comments from educational institutions in Port
of Spain who were invited to the presentation.
I remember we made
two presentations, the first one to the student body, parents and family and
then another one that was very formal and - is I remember correctly - there
were even members of the diplomatic corps present.
I distinctly
remember the presence of the ambassador of the United States who was a good
friend of my Dad.
Take note bellow of
my new phone number and mailing address.
Un Abrazo y Siempre
Amigo ...
Ralph / CheChe
ECHEVERRIA & ASSOCIATES
International Consulting Law Firm
340 West Flager St., Unit 2201
Miami, FL, 33130
Mobile: (786) 768.4135
Direct Line: (305) 407 8667
Skype: ralph.echeverria1
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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,
as I used to buy the chemicals at Albert Phillips Pharmacy, corner of 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
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
=======================================
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 B 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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According to the list, the following Oldboys
are not with us anymore.
The first number is the year of graduation
in Form V
79
Carlin Robert
54
Castellani Pablo
61
Castillo Ernest
69
Cedeno Anthony
71
Chow Michael
54
Cope Ian
49
Cribbes Dennis
61
Da Costa David
48
Darwent Michael
48
Darwent Walter E.
54
Darwent Roger
54
Darwent Roger
54
De Cambra Gregory
?
De Gale Roger
69
De Jesus Sylvester
?
de Verteuil Roger
49
Didier Archie
49
Du Boulay Arthur
Please make the necessary corrections
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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:
61LK2554FBFARAHGRP, At Piarco Airport, farewell.
15LK0906FBFAUBIRTHDAY, Father Augustine´s Nth birthday
14LK7895FBDDVWFE, Dennis de Verteuil and wife
02DM0005DMI, Don Mitchell’s portrait
