Notes for "Mount Boys" Visiting this Blog

1. Total Circulars: There were 53 Circulars issued by Ladislao in the year 2002. No 8 was the first, and No 60 was the last.


2. Viewing Circulars: Click on on the arrow next to the month in Archives in the column on the right to see the ones for that month. You can read each of the earlier ones, together with any comments posted by readers, by clicking on its headline in Archives. You are, of course, free to download the Circulars to your computer for reading at your leisure.


3. Copying Photos: You can save any photo to your own computer by right-clicking on it, and saving it to a suitable folder in your computer. Or, you go to the "file" button in the top left hand corner of your screen, and go to "save as" to do the same thing.


4. Making Comments: At the foot of each Circular there is a place for you to be able to make a "Comment" on the contents. If you recognise a face in a photo, or something similar, that you want to write about, just click on "comments" at the foot of the appropriate Circular and enter your remarks in the window that opens. In order to prevent strangers from posting nonsense and spam, I have set it so that I have to moderate and publish the comments. Anyone who would like to join as a moderator is welcome.  [Note:  I have now disabled this feature in the earlier Circulars, due to the amount of spam I was having to filter out every day.  I have retained it for the most current couple of years.]


Happy Reading.


Don
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Circular No 60

Newsletter for past alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I. Caracas, 28 of December 2002. Circular No. 60
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends,


I AM SORRY TO INFORM YOU, ALTHOUGH YOU SURE KNOW THAT THIS IS THE LAST CIRCULAR.
"http://www.theabbeyschool.com" restarted in May 2001 by Anthony Johnson where my secondary job was to assist Gabby when he required information and I have tried to keep the photos numbered, etc.
I hope that some of you enjoyed at least one of the circulars as I tried to keep you uptodate with them, as my primary job with weekly stories, photos, etc. to keep Class 1960 and all MSB oldboys informed and if possible communicated, while Anthony makes time to update the Web, because of his multiple duties. I am sure that a resume of the information of the articles, etc., that appeared in the circulars is being filtered and accommodate to be inserted in the Web site.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now a couple of short notes, old but interesting.
Date: Sat, 18 May 2002 09:06:06 -0700


The following was written by Geoffrey Golding

Ladislao,

Thanks for the info. I looked at the picture/photo and believe everyone is correctly identified. You probably know by now that my brother Jon has returned to Trinidad for an indefinite period of time - 2 -3 three years probably, or more. You guys should hook-up some time. Great hearing from you weekly and wish you all the best. This late in my working career I am getting more and more busy!!! No slowing down! I don't get to use the Internet as much as I used to. Anyway, the money is good.

Bye for now,

Geoff.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This other from Eden Hutton
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 03:09:40 +0000

Dear Ladislao,

Thanks for the circulars. I do not have Julian's or Bruce's addresses. Christopher went to Mount and so did Andrew but they both died I'm sorry to say. I left Mount in the same class as Peter Laughlin, Paul De Verteuil and David Bratt ........ but I don’t remember what year it was.

Cheers,

Eden Hutton

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: eden hutton
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 18:23:26 +0100

Hey Ladislao,

Thanks for the circulars, I really enjoy them.

It´s good to see Donald Goddard giving Wayne Brown some fatigue. Modern day "Political Correctness" was definitely not born at the Mount. Upfront fatigue is much more healthy, and I'm sure Wayne sees it that way.

So how about Brian and Christian Goddard, are they still in Venizuela? and Roberto and Luciano Savorgnan, Do you ever hear from them?

Wishing you and your family A MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Cheers,

Eden Hutton.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have tried to get in contact with Roberto and Luciano Savorgnan but no luck, maybe some one can help, with information on their last known residence????


I am enclosing a large photo, this is needed to recognize our friends and be able to place names on the priests, brothers, photo taken in 1957? Feel free to guess and collaborate.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Listado: C60.xls
Photos: DSC00100 msb M Lew
Abbey painting
Column: 021229 Wvb the old song
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ATTACHMENTS

Listado C60.xls

Names	Form V	Contact	Nickname	business address	Phone	e-mail
Rodrigues, Ian		boos		Ajax, Ontario		rodrigues_id@hotmail.com
Rodriguez, Alejandro		glen		YV
Rodriguez, Pablo		glen		YV
Rodriguez, Vidal		glen		YV
Rosendal,				surinam
Rosero, Jose Enrique		glen		YV
Rostant
Saab, Faicel		glen		YV
Sabga, Anthony				Club Pigeon Point Tobago???
Sabga, George					(686) 622 2596

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Circular No 59

Newsletter for past alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 23 of December 2002. Circular No. 59
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends, a timely article from Anthony Vieira,


I thought that the events described only occurred in Venezuela. I could not have done a better description of my pre Christmas activities. Since it is long I shall let you read. I am sure that it is tropical event! Any comments are welcomed.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Commentary Christmas. 12th December 2001.

Every year we celebrate the Christmas season, it is a season of goodwill and peace, a season when we concentrate on our families, our friends and our relatives, we exchange gifts, consume enormous amounts of alcohol and food at the many parties almost everyone has during the season. We decorate our homes, we paint and renovate them, since we have to invite our friends over to celebrate the season with us, and we want to impress them.

Some grumps, who think that all this good will and celebrating is a waste of time and consider it the biggest hoax in the history of the world, too commercialized to be truly reflective of its original intent, are of course welcome to that view.

The celebration of Christmas has its roots in the celebration of the birth of the Christ child. The beginning of Christianity. There are 2.1 Billion Christians on the planet nearly a billion of them Catholics, nearly one third of the population of the planet.

The Christian religion tells us that we must love each other, do good to those who persecute us, and turn the other cheek. And that we must have goodwill and peace to all men. It is important to remember all of this goodwill and peace business in view of what I will outline for you next. And I am speaking here from 31 years of experience in these matters.

Unfortunately, as laudable as all of this is, it is a time of the year which most of US, MEN, secretly hate. Goodwill to all men turns out to mean goodwill to all women and the children.

We men first become aware of the Christmas feeling when we come home from work around the 9th of December and find the entire house in total disarray. Our wives have decided that they must BREAK UP the house for Christmas and all the furniture is piled up in a corner and you have nowhere to sit, if you, like me, like your afternoon siesta you discover that your cozy dark bedroom, now devoid of all curtains, is too bright for a proper lunchtime nap, you also discover that YOU are required to climb up in the most inaccessible parts of your house, since the ladies can’t, and help to cobweb and wipe the walls, the ceiling and the windows.

You are then reminded that you will have to find several thousand dollars, you cannot afford, buying gifts for people you really do not like and you know that you will have to listen to the fall out of this exercise until the middle of the next year, that so and so, and THAT SO and SO got a present from US for three thousand dollars and they only bought US a present for one thousand dollars. It is very important to remember this ladies and gentlemen, only the good Lord in heaven will help you if you reciprocate with a present which is cheaper than the one you got, and believe me, prices are checked very carefully.

We men have to work harder at Christmas because we have to earn more to clean up and fix everything. We are for example presented with all of the old Christmas tree lights along with the old tree and we have to make sure that all of it works. Your wife, you very quickly realize, does not care if the lights are not working, you realize that it is a matter of complete indifference to her, that, if only one bulb becomes displaced in the packing up operation after the last Christmas, YOU have to spend 4 hours lying on the floor trying to get the things to work. Tell me men, Did you ever notice that all the adapters you had last Christmas which you thought was packed away with the lights last year, are now missing, so there is no way that you can put the lights on the tree without taking ISO bars from your favourite stereo player or your computer to make the tree work, and it does not matter if your stereo and your computer does not work anymore, only the tree is important!!!

In all of the financial planning that goes into the Christmas operation, not one cent is usually allocated to the purchase of new lights, and why should it? we men have to make the old ones work. How so many new lights are sold at Christmas time, is still a mystery to me perhaps some men after fighting with the old one for two-three days throws them out the window, Of course on Christmas day when we men accompany our wives and our children to the tree to see what Santa [YOU] brought for Christmas, you discover that you got nothing. You ask yourself how could I possibly have forgotten to buy ME, anything?

After everything is cleaned in the house you now discover that YOU have to help to put all the furniture back in place, have any of us men actually ever asked where the manpower required to pile up all of this furniture in one corner of the house came from in the first place? Even those of us who are lucky enough to have domestic help, have you noticed that the ladies can pile up all of the furniture in a corner but that YOU have to help to put it back? I wonder what the incidence of hernia among men is in December?

So by the 18th of December your house is now in perfect order and ready for the season, you are exhausted but relieved that all of the climbing and lifting is over. If you think that you can now relax and watch TV, think again! You have to write cards, you have to help in the decisions of who will get what gift,…. you have to have a response to ridiculous questions like “do you think that Kim’s baby will like this gift?” you discover that you and your wife have family which you did not even know you had, or care about.

Now we come to the most dangerous exercise of Christmas, men, the question of the various dresses that will have to be worn for the many functions during the season!!!! It is a matter of total indifference to most men what we have to wear for Christmas and whether we wore this or that pants or shirt last year to this or that function and whether, so or so will remember that we wore it. I don’t care if my brother Eddy thinks that I have only one shirt, not so the ladies.

So the fashion show begins, pretending to be interested in the proceedings, since you do not want a war on your hands or to sleep on the couch which is now dusted and clean, you are required to pass judgement on whether this or that dress for Christmas eve night, Christmas night, old years night, so and so’s party are NICE, now we are talking about at least six outfits here men, so this can be a protracted exercise.

And you better pay attention, this is dangerous ground, you have to know that certain observations regarding this ritual are completely unacceptable, observations like “that is a little too tight” is out of the question, even if she put on 15 pounds since last Christmas, you have to be cautious, you resort to the cowardly path “it looks great babe but didn’t you wear that one, eight months ago and the GIRLS saw you in it” that is always a good strategy. This ritual can go on for days and of course new dresses will have to be gotten and judgement will have to be passed on those as well, but here again extreme caution must be exercised, one wrong word can precipitate a war and destroy the season of peace, at no time must the words gravity or drooping be even contemplated much less mentioned.

You realize that fighting with the old Christmas tree lights and the cob webbing was actually relaxation compared to this. Especially when the shoes and the bags have to match, I love the one when they tell us that quote “I want to look my best for YOU”.

Now we know that this is a complete fabrication men, but we bite our tongues and nod our appreciation. We need to have a lot of good cheer indeed, to get through this season men, I guess that that is why we all get drunk on Christmas Eve and old year’s nights, we deserve it too, indeed we have earned it.

But seriously now, ladies and gentlemen my wife’s name is Jewel, she is arguably one of the most exotically beautiful women in the country, she is my whole life and despite our age difference she understands me better than anyone I have ever known, she is my best friend and to her and the two beautiful children we have, I would like to tell them that I do not just love them, I cannot conceive of life without them. I only have one other son living here, Anthony Jr. and I extend season’s greetings to him also.

To the rest of my audience I would like to extend the most heartfelt greetings and best wishes for the season and for the New Year. To you men who can relate to what I have laid out here, I offer you my sympathy.

We have problems, of that there is little question, but we make do with what we have, we give thanks and try harder, Dale Carnegie once said, that he was sad because he had old shoes until he saw a man who had no feet. Let us thank the Lord for what we DO have, and let us celebrate the season by remembering that it is a season of goodwill, peace and love to all men and women.

Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year to you and yours.

Tony Vieira

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I want to join Tony in wishing you the best with a post card.


Ladislao
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Circular No 58

Newsletter for past alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 21 of December 2002. Circular No. 58
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends, a couple of lines from the Circular Santa, OOOOOO!


Like last year I want to use this circular to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, envious of those that can, wishing them a white Christmas and those that have snow, slow down when driving. This reminds me of the time I was in Washington D.C. at the Catholic University, which is just in the borderline for any serious snow activity, how I waited for some of the white fluffs (movie type, big as a fist), especially during my first year. When snow arrived, the horizon was misty white, the air was still and I was happy even if these fluffs were rice sized. When they hit ground they melted fast, with it my illusion, at least momentary, for as a saying reads, a lot of grain make a mountain?
Last year I mentioned Graham Gonsalves who sent a FW on Nativity in TT, I had hoped that this year he would have contributed some so that I could include it in this circular.
Now backing up a couple, two figure, years. I can remember the pre Christmas moments at the Mount, everybody was talking about the Xmas holidays ( was it because of the illusion of presents?) and the impending school year end. The future trip home, away from jail, as we prepared to travel home to meet our families. Those that did not travel far it was a vacation with festivities and beach, and those, especially those that had to travel by air, there was the excitement of the gifts that were bought on one or more Wednesdays when we were allowed to travel to Pos and shop. The first stop was at George Habib´s store by Marine Square, then make the bags, load the green Bedford flat bed truck and the VW buses and go to the airport for the flight. The excitement of seeing our parents and family (freedom) at the end of the trip. Make up a lot of excuses for those of us for the poor qualifications and notes from Fr. Bernard.
I am including this new circular earlier than usual, to celebrate Xmas, I know all of you are busy playing Santa, with or without red robe and white hair and beard, pouch or not. The white hair, beard and all if not in evidence, shall be with us in a few more years ??
Here in Caracas we are not lucky to celebrate the holidays with snow and all the cold, but to emulate you snow bound folks, I bought a real West Virginian pine tree, the smell is here!. This manner of seeing things puts a question in my mind as I suppose that those that have to deal with installing chain on the tires, shovelling snow in the morning, keeping the grand children dressed up for the cold, etc. would prefer the tropics while we would like to see some snow and the accompanying cold for at least a few days, just for the taste. I presume that is why those in the cold and have the means, migrate to Florida and we tend to go North.


I have a special message for the following classmates from my Class 1960:
I have been asked by some of the oldboys that have known you during or stay at MSB, on your whereabouts and general information, I have not been able to satisfy the inquiries because of the silence, so if you can send a few lines they would be appreciated by all of us and by me specially.
Can anyone relay this to them I would appreciate it very much:


Richard Galt, Christopher Webster, James Seheult, David Pampellone, Egan Baichoo


All of us hopefully would make it to the 31th, if the children and grand children help us, after the big day!! (see the gif image I am sending of the typical granpa) The step from the 31st to the year 2003, I am sure is going to be easy and smooth as silk. Of course if we do not try to eat (or swallow) a grape per bell stroke at midnight as some traditions demand.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date : Mon, 20 May 2002 08:16:25 -0500
Phillip DE Pass wrote

Michael De Verteuil is a very good friend. Unfortunately his dad died on Wednesday last. He was a top class man. Michael is the rector of the seminary among other things.

Bishop Charles is in Grenada and Bishop Mendes is the auxiliary bishop of Trinidad

Send me your mailing address and I will send some more info on same.

If I had stayed at The Abbey I would have been in Form V in 64.

Good to hear from you.

Many Thanks

Philip

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am sorry tell that I have lost touch with Philip as his email address cannot receive the Circulars, maybe some of you can telephone him my best wishes. If anyone meets Fr. Michael De Verteuil, Bishop Charles and Mendes, again give them my Christmas greetings.


I can mention that I have made contact with Richard Driver who left in Mount 1949 in Form I and would have graduated in 1953, maybe Leary O’Connor would remember him??


This circular would commemorate the 42 year since our class graduated from Form V in 1960.


I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and as a gift, that some of us would be able to meet and in some cases talk by telephone and share past friendships.


God Bless


Ladislao
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Listado: C58.xls
Photos: familia 01 Kertesz
carrito jugete ani
xtree 16
Column: WVB I have not received your column, sorry. Maybe we should try my way??
Column: David Bratt, No.88
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ATTACHMENTS

Listado C58.xls

Names	Form V	Contact	Nickname	business address	Phone,	e-mail
Prypchan, George Roman		glen		YV
Pugh, John (RIP)				Dominica
Quesnel, Paul		ornellas		12-14 castro st. chaguaramasTT	(868) 673 3447	Kissbaking@carib-link.net
Quesnel, Peter				UK???
Raffensperger, Fransisco	1963	lk	hugi	YV
Ramos
Ramos, Miguel Becar		glen		YV
Raydan, Guillermo		glen		YV
Reid, Arthur (RIP)		roger	Fido
Rezende, Michael		roge		TT	Pilot
Rezende, Patrick		roge

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Circular No 57

Newsletter for past alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 14 of December 2002. Circular No. 57
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends, now a short conversation with Wayne Vincent Brown in answer to my inquiries.
---------------------------------------------------------------
From: Wayne Brown
Date: Mon, 6 May 2002 14:43:25 -0400

I would like to ask you about your photo with the two pretty girls!! I do not have their names, please write me about them.

By the way I noticed in your articles that the letter "z" in organize, etc. is written with an "s", also in an article that I have from a newspaper of TT, is this peculiar, my corrector for British indicates "Z". Why would be this???

We are having our reunions about once a month here in Caracas but no luck with Manuel Prada as yet. At our last dinner there were two present, Bernard Fontaine and Peter Morvay. I am preparing a guest room at my house for when you come thru Caracas.!!, it should be ready by June.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You must notice that there are no more Who is Where, I have lost contact with Roger Henderson since he left Bank of Scotia. I am expecting soon his new email address??


God Bless


Ladislao
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Listado: C57.xls
Photo: y wvb 020107dan
Wb saffrey(I)mariel 1994 T&T
Column: wvb no manuscript has been received
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------