Newsletter
for alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 15 of March 2014 No. 645
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Dear
Friends,
Correspondence
from 10 December as to WHY THE SCHOOL CLOSED follows.
There is
some more mail and it will be sent out as time permits.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
d lq
Dec 10, 2013
The oil industry had a lot to do with the slowdown in business as
oil prices dropped.
The economy was also weak in the US & Canada.
I recognized the impact while working in my dad’s business.
Tuition was among the highest in T&T for a private education,
and the quality of the education was declining.
I felt like Fr. Vincent was trying to make the school popular,
like American schools, by pushing sports and not considering the quality of
teaching.
The school hired a full-time coach.
Unfortunately, I always felt a level of distrust for the school
administration.
There was very little communication as to what was going on from
a micro-level.
I recall a group from the Ministry of Education spending a few
days at the school, but there was never a discussion why the group was visiting
the school.
There were sudden departures of two of my favourite civilian
teachers and no official explanation.
dlaiquong
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From: David De Castro (calypsobandit@gmail.com)
Sent: December-10-13 2:13:09 AM
Do not be naïve, my brothers -- there was a lot of in-fighting
with the priests and the brothers about black and white -- who should hold what
title at the Mount. And the Bishop and Archbishop of the Republic of Trinidad
and Tobago were glad to see the Mount close, and the government was no help. Even
from the very beginning of the Mount, Father Dowling, the bishop at that time,
made the first Abbot leave Trinidad never to return.
Because they are priests? -- Remember they are first men.
Read “Longing to Belong: The true story of the Mount”.
But then, that was a long time ago.
But with different leadership and vision, all things would have
been possible.
Now, too late -- too late is the cry---
"bandit"
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Jon Golding
Dec 10, 2013
Hey, Guys,
I have captured the photos from the Flick site, thanks to Jan,
which I want to share further with you.
If you want to do the same…..No problem, amigos!
Just do a screen capture (Press Ctrl+Printscreen, the Ctrl-V onto
a new WORD document - or onto ‘Paint’ where you can crop the photo as you
like).
Anyway, I have tried to recall the names of those in the photos
so if anyone in my era can recognise the ___? Then please send a note to the
rest of us with the name(s). Copy and paste the line with the ___?
I think the account of why the school closed in the book is
pretty accurate from all the comments I read here.
The school may be closed but out memories will stay with us till
our eyes close so that is what we should think about not trying to rewrite
history.
Those days are gone so let’s focus on the fellowship we have
today in the few years we have left and enjoy our alumni brothers’ stories,
favourite photos and jokes (or at least what they think are jokes!) Only
kidding!! (J!)
Keep well, keep smiling and keep in touch.
Salut
Jon
Jon Golding (MSB
1955-1961)
London, England
From: GEORGE [mailto:amickiew@att.net]
Sent: 10 December 2013 15:34
For whatever reason, I will offer that it was God’s will that the
AB ceased to be.
THE WHY - For God to know and for us humans to guess.
With Faith and prayers, there is always a possibility for God to
assist MSB to reopen the AB.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
Gmail Jan
Dec 10, 2013
Dear everybody,
Many thanks for the explaining texts below, especially Father
Harold's story is new to me, and yes Nigel, to me you address a sensitive
point, being left on your own after we left Mount.
Yes, I would have appreciated some alumni things happening.
I needed to look up who the layman Clive Pantin was, all nicely
explained in wikipedia.
Which leads me to this website http://www.fatima.edu.tt// of Fatima College,
and below right I see this F.O.B.A. link, Fatima Old Boys Association, and that
makes me feel jealous indeed.
Then something else, there is this woman, born in 1975, earning
plenty more money than we all together do.
Look at her here http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marissa_Mayer nice and blond.
She's the big chief of Yahoo=Flickr.
I have been doing some real good begging and pleading, and her
heart went weak, and now this website Flickr is back again in the old fashion
(at least on my pc).
And I checked and checked again, downloading of the picture is
possible again.
Just rightclick (if necessary do a leftclick first), and then
choose Original and in the following picture do rightclick again and choose
Save-As.
I added four more pages about the founding of the Abbey School of
the book.
The book goes about the monastery and then several chapters about
founding other monasteries elsewhere and some other schools.
Part III pages 73-83 is about the Abbey School.
So that part you now have complete with this link
I just wish to add one item to the mails going on, on page 74.
That before the war there was a lot of going to England of young
children to get proper education in boarding schools.
But because of the war all lines to Europe were cut off.
And here is where the Abbey School fitted in for those children
who would otherwise go to England, now could get their education at the Mount.
So they build the boarding school real fast!
The church bell-tower of the Monastery took much longer :-).
It was, quote, "white boys" who went there, but I think
it was more the children of the people who could pay the fee, say the rich
people’s children.
And that could be all sorts of people, also coloured, French,
Venezuela.
I think it is not exactly racist, but more the result of the
colonial way, rich people were the entrepreneurs, the other people were brought
is as labourers.
In Surinam after a few generations the plantation owners were
coloured too, only their name was European.
Founding the Abbey School was a hole in the market, I am just
guessing, was it good money too?
With that money the monastery could finance all sorts of other
monastic activities like raising new monasteries elsewhere and education?
Children went to a boarding school, not because local schools were
bad, but because there were not many and the distance to the school was too far
away.
But after about 1970 more schools were built, so the parents had
more choice.
Is it possible that the decline of pupils to the Abbey School is
also because of this, that after 1970 parents found equal schools nearby and
cheaper?
After the independence of Trinidad in 1962 preparation was needed
in advance, but can you say from 1970 on additional local secondary schools
came to life competing with the Abbey School?
In studying the history of Surinam I come across this term
"mercantilism" by which the finished goods were produced in Europe
and the colonies only delivered the resources.
And that after the independence Trinidadians started expanding
their industries and producing their own finished goods for trade.
And with that more secondary schools were needed which again
drained the amount of pupils at the Abbey School.
And when they needed money the government says, sorry we have
already enough schools?
Much regards,
Jan Koenraadt
'63-'68
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Hudsonmckoy
Dec 10, 2013
There are several reasons for the demise of the Abbey School:
1) After the Black Power Uprising, many Venezuelans got spooked
and pulled out their kids
2) Church attendance overall was declining worldwide and this
directly affected Abbey School
3) The past students of Abbey School were spread all over the
world and their kids attended other schools
4) The young generation was no longer interested in scouting, hiking,
swimming, seminary, an all-boys’ boarding school
5) There was no marketing scheme in place to promote the mount as
a viable new age high tech future academy
6) The spiritual, academic and social life at Mount far outweighs
& outlasts the present bricks & mortar that we left behind
7) It was God's will and His will was done and it was done for
all of us who were blessed to be part of Abbey School & the Mount
---- Original Message
--------------------------------------------------------
From: Glen Mckoy <mckoy43glen@hotmail.com>
My Dear Sirs,
Everything you have read, is the whole story.
However, in this Club, when the Grand Masters speak we listen, Sir
Jan, Sir Fr. Harold, Sir Cornel, Sir Tony, Sir Salah, Sir Nigel, all hitting
the nail on the head, but of course bandit have to bury the axe.
Sir David De Castro, (Calypsobandit), msb 1944.
And this is how it looked, to this Knight in dem days, ha!
ha!
Some things never change eh!
We remained a silent tribe for a long time.
We have crossed these borders a long time ago, we called that
time growing up, ha! ha!
We Stand alone, we protect our own, and the only colour we
recognize in this Club, is Grey Matter - Your Brain.
All good things must come to an end.
Dear Abbey.
Adios, Glen. (Gracias Banditto).
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Ladislao Kertesz at kertesz11@yahoo.com,
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Photos:
58RB0003a14,
07NB0003UNKNOWNS
59WV0001WVBGRP,
60LK0010BOOK, from my class 1960
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