Circular No 531

Newsletter for Alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 7 of January 2012 No.531
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Dear Friends,

Missing Alumni:

Baralt Pascal
Barcant Gregory 71
Barcant Michael 72
Barcant Richard 72
Barcant Stephen 70
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From: mckoy43glen@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Contact Peter Boos
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:29:56 +0000 
Dear Nigel,
Thank you for your feedback with Brian, it’s good to see we can exchange ideas of interest, if we are sharing similar situations in life, the Club is a good place to start.
Ask Brian, what one email can do.
Just Ask, and the Club will Answer.ha!ha!
Have a good one mis amigos,
Adios Glen.
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Subject: Contact Peter Boos
From: nigelboos@eagles-wings.ca
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:51:52 -0400 
Hi Brian,

Glen copied me on his last note to you.

I'm interested in your idea of emigrating to B'dos, and since you're a citizen there, it seems an obvious choice for a new home. (Apart from being one of the loveliest places one could ever wish to live).
My cousin, Peter Boos (pnboos@gmail.com) lives and is retired in B'dos
Cecil Ince (shadowlawn@caribsurf.com)
Scipio Soodeen (tzsoodeen@shaw.ca), all of them being Old Boys of MSB.
You might wish to contact them and get some advice re jobs, etc.

Here is Peter's linkedin file:

I note that you left MSB in 1958 and that Peter left in 1955, so you might actually have been there as students at the same time.

Just a thought.

Good luck.
Nigel
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On 2011-10-25, at 9:22 AM, Glen Mckoy wrote: 
Dear Brian,
I didn’t realize you live in Venezuela, well you seem to have a very positive attitude for a person living there.
There are more mount boys in Venezuela and South America, than anywhere else I think, now I could be wrong.
Now Ladislao and Nigel would know more about where 85% of Boarders are located.
Barbados, is a wonderful place, a few mount boys still live there I think, a good friend from the mount Allan Juman,
I heard that he still lives there, also my friend Jimmy Samaroo, father had a lot of investments there hotels etc.
Also Arthur Knaggs who is much older than us, he always speaks of his friend a day boy who lives there.
I think his name is Ince or something like that.
I know Ian Gomes goes there sometimes on business, he lives in Trinidad, and may also know some of the mount boys there.
That's great that you have Citizenship there, that’s half the battle ha! ha! but living there is expensive unless you have good contact or a good job.
I always looked at Barbados as a long weekend, any more than that is too much.
Now Colombia is beautiful, I never thought I would hear anyone say, it is better to live in Colombia than Venezuela, ha! ha! things have certainly changed over time.
Costa Rica would be my first choice, very safe and peaceful place, throughout history, great eco system you speak Spanish, so no problem, but working there I don't know.
Panama is also a good place too.
I enjoy the changing of the seasons here in Canada, but as I grow older, the cold gets colder ha! ha!,
My Canadian pension and other investments are very good, yes outside of Canada ha! ha! so I will have to live about 3 months in the Sun.
I have been going to an island off Cancun, Isla Mujeres, very low key, laid back, very safe, good food, I am going there again in December, for a week.
Now if you want to invest offshore, you could contact our brother Shaun Gianetti, he is in Trinidad a good man to know.
I saw they had a rocket launch in French Guyana,
It may the first place, from where the Mount goes to space, ha! ha!
I will have to get our brother Prevot, who lives there to update us on this wonderful event, it is be bad for the environment, but a window to the future.
Brian, I do hope things work out, all those places would be great to work from, thank you again for sharing, it’s always good to know each other a little better, we do a have a great bunch of guys here, but once in awhile we may have a fire cracker ha! ha!,
Now have a scotch and coconut water for me,
Cheers mi hemano, Later
Glen.
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From: bgcaribajan@live.com
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:03:18 -0400 
Thanks for the response Glen; so I guess you are in the midst of getting ready for a cold winter, brrrr !!
I still live in Venezuela but being a complete Caribbean tropical person, I have been considering moving to Barbados of which I am a citizen, for semi-retirement.
Barbados is a beautiful island but expensive to live in; so for this reason, I need to land a semi-retirement type job or manufacturers sales rep coordinator for the Caribbean fm Barbados and this way assist with my semi-retirement expenses.
Even Colombia is a better place to be than Venezuela these days; so I´ve been evaluating the possibility with a few US manufacturers for a Caribbean sales rep job fm where-ever (Barbados, Colombia or Costa Rica) !!??
Let´s see what happens between now and early next year !!
Take care and all the best,
Brian
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From: mckoy43glen@hotmail.com
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 21:07:07 +0000 
Hello Brian,
I am from Trinidad, but I have lived here in Nova Scotia, Canada since 1976.
Cheers!
Glen.
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From: bgcaribajan@live.com
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:03:05 -0400 
Epale Glen:
Thanks for the good joke and the interesting facts about Caribbean fruits & juice.
Luckily for me, I drink lots of fresh Caribbean fruits and plenty of Coconut water with my Scotch ... jeje !!
Gracias / Saludos, Brian san

PS: By the way Glen, what part of the Americas or Caribbean islands do you live !?
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RE: THE "WHY"
FROM: Glen Mckoy
Sunday, January 8, 2012 1:58 AM 
Don,
We hope the closing of the school was because of economical reasons, and not a brewing scandal.
You must also remember, after the black power situation, Trinidad became less desirable to foreign students, a fact that cannot be ignored.
Thank you Don. (George I have not been receiving your emails)
Best regards
Glen McKoy.
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From: idmitch@anguillanet.com
Date: Sat, 7 Jan 2012 13:23:41 -0400 

The reasons given to me by Fr Cuthbert when I asked him at the Reunion a few years ago why the school closed was that the Monks decided that:

(a) They were too old, and
(b) There was no longer any need for a school for middle class boys.

The parents of such boys had plenty of other choices.
Also, the surviving monks were concentrating on the school for disadvantaged boys down at the Playing Field.
Their focus had changed.

It is not much of an excuse, but I think it will do as well as any.

Don
----- Original Message ----------------------------------------------
From: A Mickiewicz
Sent: Saturday, January 07, 2012 9:43 AM 

As recent circulars have brought the topic back: “WHY WAS MSB SUDDENLY AND UNEXPECTEDLY CLOSED?”

Processing the question, two plausible answers come to mind:

1. Economics – the cost of running the Abbey School exceeded the income brought in by the boarders and day boys.

2. A brewing scandal – molestation of boy(s) by priest(s).
Historically, the 80s were the first decade when this sinful and abhorrent behaviour by priests in our Catholic Church began to be exposed on the global stage.

I hope and pray that that it is anything but 2 above.
There certainly could have been other or additional reasons why our alma mater came to a sudden and unexpected end.
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Fr. Benedict's Photo Albums
FROM: Don Mitchell CBE QC
Friday, January 6, 2012 8:10 PM 
I'll be there with bells on.

Just tell Peter Tang not to ask me to say grace before meals without sufficient warning again!

Don
----- Original Message ----------------------------------------------------------
From: kazim abasali
Sent: Friday, January 06, 2012 8:15 PM
Subject: Fr. Benedict's Photo Albums 
Hi Ladislao, Nigel, Don and Cornel,

First of all Blessings of Peace, Love, Joy, Prosperity and Harmony for the New Year 2012 to you all and the Boys and families.

With respect to Fr. Benedict Photo Albums at the Mount, as a follow up, I am kindly sharing some of my experience. As most of you know, I also facilitate another Alumni website for Holy Cross College in Arima. I attended Holy Cross College for 5 years before I attended Abbey School for another 2 years.

In facilitating the HCC Alumni website, I have on occasions gone to the Priest's compound or home at Holy Cross and scanned thousands of photos there on site. This ensures that the photos remain the property of the rightful owners and secondly the photos always remain on site.

With a scanner and a laptop computer with an external hard-drive the photos can be scanned in lots on site and then later on edited and made into the albums for the Boys.

Once we have the permission to do so and the Abbot know that we do not intend to take possession of the photos, I believe we can come to a mutual understanding for all concerned.

In addition, concerning the MSB Reunion for 2012, we should have an early discussion about this event.
And the sooner the better.
Once we start the ball rolling, then we can all keep abreast of the unfolding details and get the Boys to participate in whatever ways we can.

Holy Cross College Arima celebrated 50th Anniversary in 2007. They did have a grand reunion which I did fly down with other overseas boys. In addition, I did facilitate a reunion in New York for the foreign-based Old Boys this side of the globe.

And so for those who cannot attend the Mount St. Benedict Trinidad Reunion, I think it is very nice if we can have our own get-together, wherever we can bring the Boys together. This is just a suggestion.

Kindly share with me your ideas and let us see how we can continue to keep the Boys together in spirit, mind and body.

Blessings to you my dear friends
Kazim

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Ladislao Kertesz at kertesz11@yahoo.com,
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Photos:
Mount Inside MARCH 1966 page 2
55HH0017BBR,
56PG0001CHOIRMSB, lots of names missing
10IL0001ILA, Ivan Laughlin