Newsletter for alumni of The Abbey School,
Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 19 of June
2016 No. 763
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Dear Friends,
Here is the document that should be
considered when analyzing the situation at Mount Saint Benedict.
As you can read the “The Incorporated
Trustees of Mount Saint Benedict Monastery in Trinidad", consists of a
group of people who are entrusted with maintaining control or oversight of the
control and the wellbeing of the Monastery.
In 1927 when it was created, this group
consisted in members of the Monastery, and now I am led to believe that this
group is from outside of the Monastery because of the shortage of clergy and
could be of maybe a dozen of persons.
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AN ORDINANCE for the incorporation of
certain persons as Trustees of Mount St. Benedict Monastery in Trinidad. [29th
December, 1927.] ·
WHEREAS the Monastery or Institution in the
Ward of Tacarigua, in the County of St. George, in the Island of Trinidad,
known as the Mount Saint Benedict Monastery and founded in this Colony by
certain members of the Religious Community known as the Order of the
Benedictines attached to the Belgian Congregation of that Order, is
administered or governed by the Prior of the said Monastery elected by the
Community according to the Statutes of that Order, assisted by a Council of at
least two Fathers, one appointed by the Prior and the other elected by the
members of the Community here;
And whereas at a special meeting of the
entire aforementioned Benedictine Community held here on the twenty-third day
of March, One thousand nine hundred and twenty seven and attended by all the
members of the said Community including the members of the said Council and
presided over by its present Prior the Revd. D. Hugh V.D. Sanden, O.S.B., the
said Prior, the Revd. D. Odo v.D. Heydt, O.O.B., and the Revd. D. Sebastian
Weber, O.S.B., were appointed to be the Trustees of the said Monastery and to
hold all the property both real and personal of the Monastery for the uses and
purposes of the said Monastery.
And whereas it is expedient that the said
Trustees should be incorporated and should have power to hold land and other
property in trust for the said Monastery;
Be it enacted by the Governor of Trinidad
and Tobago with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof as
follows :-
1. This Ordinance may be cited as the· Mount
Saint Benedict Monastery Incorporation Ordinance, 1927.
2. The said Revd. D. Hugh V.D. Sanden,
O.S.B., Revd. D. Odo V.D. Heydt, O.S.B., and Rev. D. Sebastian Weber, O.S.B.,.
and their successors in office as such Trustees as aforesaid shall be and are
hereby created a body corporate by the name of. "The Incorporated Trustees
of Mount Saint Benedict Monastery in Trinidad" (hereinafter called the
Incorporated Trustees) and by that name shall have perpetual succession and
shall and may sue and be sued in all Courts of Justice in this Colony in that
name and shall have and use a common seal, which may from time to time·be
changed. Such seal shall only be used in the presence of at least two of the
Trustees and shall not be changed. except by resolution of the Trustees at a
meeting held for the purpose, such resolution to be published in the Royal
Gazette as soon after such meeting as possible.
3. The Incorporated Trustees shall, subject
to the rules, regulations and control of the said Council, have full power to
acquire for the Monastery by purchase, transfer, exchange, donation, demise,
gift, bequest or otherwise real and personal property in the Colony or any
estate or interest therein, and also any money, securities for money, goods or
chattels whatsoever and to take, hold and enjoy the same.
4. It shall be lawful for the Incorporated
Trustees, subject to such rules, regulations and control as aforesaid from time
to time by deed under their seal to sell, demise, grant, convey, exchange or
otherwise dispose of any lands or other property which shall or may for the
time being be or become vested in or which may hereafter be acquired or vested
in them as aforesaid.
5. Nothing in this Ordinance shall affect or
be deemed to affect the rights of His Majesty or of any bodies politic or
corporate or of any other persons, except such as are mentioned or referred to
in this Ordinance and those claiming by, through, from, or under them.
Passed in Council this tenth day of
December, in the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven.
E. F. AANENSEN, Acting Clerk of the Council.
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From: winston <infowinston@yahoo.com>
Date:
Thu, Mar 17, 2016 at 12:18 AM
Hi Buddy.
Made contact with
Edgar Moffie a few minutes ago his brother Eloy passed away in 2007 he was in
our class.
Your comments are
noted and a final official communication will be released by Joe after Sunday
Retreat welcome some suggestions for the occasion
Regards
Winston
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On 16
Mar 2016, at 3:35 PM,
Kazim Abasali <empowerwithart@gmail.com>
wrote:
Winston,
How are you? Happy
to hear from you.
I have revised the
Word document which is the copy I can work with, not the pdf.
I have updated the
names and dates from the database. I am also sending you a copy of the latest
database and the revised Memorial flyer.
In addition, there
are other recent 'Boys' who have died like Delano De Castro and Michael Kenny,
etc.
For Bernard Lange is
from a longer time, unless you are earmarking special families.
In that case you
need to change the wording of the flyer where it says 'recently died' or such
words..
In addition, I do
not have a copy of the logo, and that has been a bone of contention with the
Abbot.
So, I do not want to
be involved in the use of the property of the Mount without proper permission.
And lastly, is this
event going to be shared with the overall Group, or just the Trinidad Boys?
Kindly let me know
as I spoke with Glen to double-check some names on your list.
So, let me know your
thoughts.
Blessings.......
Kazim
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On Wed,
Mar 16, 2016 at 1:12 AM,
winston <infowinston@yahoo.com>
wrote:
Hi kazim
It's a long time
buddy was shocking to hear of Bhopa passing.
May his soul RIP
spoke to his sister earlier today .
ASAA having a
weekend retreat to finalize ASAA memorial mass scheduled for April 10 th 2016
at Abbey Church MDB
Will send the draft
invitation flyer for you to upscale with graphic including logo later
Are you maintaining
a healthy lifestyle
Keep in touch
WR
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On Tue,
Mar 15, 2016 at 3:59 PM,
Winston Ramsahai
<infowinston@yahoo.com> wrote:
Kazim
Kindly confirm
receipt have 4 email address popping up
Regards
Mr Winston C Ramsahai
Waste Management Co Ltd
774-4999 | 663-5913
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Ziggo Jan <jankoenraadt@casema.nl>
12/25/15 at 5:54 PM
Dear Ladislao,
Wishing you all the
best for this Xmas season and the best of times for the coming year.
I follow the
circulars regularly in the abbey school blogspot, enjoying the pictures and
stories.
I was very surprised
you spent one entire circular on my story alone about memories of the classes
during my time.
I wish to express my
gratitude for so much honour, I was just replying to a few boys like Attila
Gyuris et al.
And you put my
pictures of den building in France with scout ropes à la MSB-scouts.
Thank you very much.
We all use our MSB
memories being on our own in the world, thanks to your efforts and others we
can have that combined and read about each other.
I saw pictures of
you passing by in Spain and so on your travelling.
Just for fun for
family and friends I put up pictures of renovating a farm in France.
We go there from
February to October every year since 2008.
Of the spring,
summer and autumn of every year I made albums sorted by time.
If you like to watch
for the fun
It’s like a
photoblog and Flickr gives 1 terabyte of free space, so you can go big in
original camera resolution, already 6,999 pictures.
All is too much,
just pick and choose whatever you like. It’s all object oriented, hardly the
person.
Underneath most
pictures there is explanatory text but that is in Dutch and you have to click
on the picture.
All much
appreciated, have a good time and many thanks!
Jan Koenraadt
MSB
‘63-‘67
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SCOUTING
AT ABBEY SCHOOL
Maybe it’s because
we grew up in the post WWII era, a time when uniformed soldiers were on every
movie screen and were great role-models for us young ones. Maybe it’s because
we loved to parade in our khakis, black and gold scarf toggled at the neck,
badges there to show as proof of achievement. Or maybe we all simply enjoyed
the challenge and the fun associated with scouting. But for sure, Scouting at
the Abbey School was a unique experience.
I believe it is true
to say that we had more Queen Scouts than perhaps any other Scout Troop in the
island. But what else would one expect than a fantastic record, with a Scout
Master like Fr. Ildefonse in charge, a mighty man among men, followed after his
resignation by the friendly, humble and caring Fr. Cuthbert, who had to learn
everything about scouting from “scratch”, as the Canadians say.
Sunday morning band
practice was something to which we looked forward, bringing with it, as it did,
noise, music (of a type), discipline, and great efforts by our band to maintain
a high quality of martial tempo. The trumpeters, who in my day included John
Golding, Juan Marini, Pablo Figuera, Dennis Gurley, and others, led by Manuel
Prada, set a wonderful, piercing tune, against the rat-tat-tat-tat,
rat-tat-tat-tat, ah-rat, ah-rat, ah-rat-tat-tat-tat beating of the side drums,
played by (fill in the blanks, fellas, I can’t even remember the names), and
backed by the Big Base Drum which was my job. (Wasn’t Stephen Clark my
understudy? I know he was involved, but exactly in which capacity eludes me now.)
Frankly, I had the easiest job, as all I had to do was to hit the thing hard
and keep time with everyone else. We marched around the School a few times,
much to the annoyance of the volleyballers who had to pause in their game as we
ducked under the net, and it was a blessed relief to everyone when, finally, we
set off down the hill and along the roadway to entertain / annoy the rest of
Trinidad and the monks of MSB. It was always a highlight of the parade when
Mike Howard was invited to step out in front of the band, with his silver baton
(a thing with a heavy wooden ball at the top end). Tall as he was, Mike led the
parade from the front and inspired us with his wonderful, fancy marching style
and handling of his baton.
Camping with the 1st
Mount St. Benedict Scout Troop was an experience never to be forgotten. Fr.
Ildefonse would choose his camping ground, after much consultation with the
Scout Commissioner, local landowners, and I suppose, our Troop Leader, Gerard
Pampellone, and plans would be made. Each Patrol Leader (mine was
“Woodpeckers”) was responsible for ensuring that an adequate number of pots,
pans, skillets, mugs, plates, cutlery, tents, poles, pegs, mallets, shovels,
ropes, semaphore flags, etc. were packed into our “Patrol Boxes” and readied
for departure. On the big day, we’d board the bus and accompanying cars in our
uniforms and head out for a few days of glorious adventure.
On site, the routine
began, with unloading, unpacking, distributing, checking, choosing Patrol
sites, pitching tents, cutting bamboo, building trestle tables, making gadgets,
cooking, inspections, hiking, mealtimes, camp-fires, games and of course,
sleeping. Each day began with a “Wake-Up” call, followed in short order by Holy
Mass, from the back of Fr. Ildefonse’s / Fr. Cuthbert’s Volkswagen van. The
back of the van was set up as an altar, and (these were pre-Vatican II days, so
the priest had his back to us, facing into the van) we stood around
respectfully as the holy sacrifice was offered, in Latin.
We camped at a
number of memorable sites all over Trinidad and Tobago, and I vividly recall
one camp in Tobago, in 1961. I think, when Mr. Bishop invited us to come to
Tobago as guests of the Tobago Scout Association. The land chosen for us was a
concave basin, and we were positioned at the very base of the basin. Mr. Bishop
brought over the largest “grass-cutter” I’d ever seen (which he probably used
to cut the bush between his coconut trees), a huge apparatus pulled behind his
tractor. In no time at all, the area was cleared and we began to set up camp,
pitching tents randomly around the inside of the basin. We cooked supper and
were preparing for bed when the heavens opened up. Rain fell bucket a drop for
the entire night and the water rose inch by inch inside of the tents.
Everything was soaked, in fact, everything was underwater, and we were cold and
miserable. An SOS call was sent out, presumably by Fr. Cuthbert, and in the
middle of the night, cars began to arrive to extricate us from the bog which
our campsite had become. We were taken to a local school-house and offered
accommodation in a few of the classrooms, which thankfully were dry. We slept
blissfully into the morning, all semblance of order having temporarily
disappeared. But not for long.. . . . . . . as soon as we had woken up and
cooked breakfast, back we went to the campsite to salvage everything,
travelling back and forth in Mr. Bishop’s tractor-trailer unit to a new
campsite chosen for us, a lovely spot right on the water’s edge, with a
beautiful view of sea and sand as only those who know and love Tobago can
understand. A very memorable camp indeed.
And so the years
have flown. We graduated from Abbey School and moved on with our lives. Some of
us went on to Form 6 at St. Mary’s, others attended Canadian, American, British
and Venezuelan Universities, among others, and settled down, some with
families, others not, but all retaining somewhere, in the backs of their minds,
distant, lingering memories of those happy days of our youth, when we were ready
to take on the world.
Ladislao Kertesz has
been asking for someone to write something about Scouting at Mount, for the
benefit of us all, and I have tried to fulfil his request. I knew that
somewhere among my albums I still had a small collection of photographs which I
had taken with my box camera and I’ve dug them up. Hopefully, some of you guys
will recognize yourselves. Hopefully, these pictures will remind you of where
we’ve been together. Perhaps some of you may feel inspired to write about your
own memories of MSB and the Abbey School.
At any rate, here
they are, for your enjoyment. I recognize a number of the guys from these
photos, but perhaps not everyone, so help me out, if you will:
Best regards,
Nigel
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EDITED by Ladislao Kertesz
Send information to: 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:
13KA3268KABMHC,
Kazim Abasali and Michael How Chung
04JK0010JKPWFE,
Jan Koendraadt and wife Berty
16WR0001WRAGRP,
The latest in Mayaro
15DA0002DAL,
Damian Ali
