Newsletter for
alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas,
26 of April 2014 No. 651
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Dear Friends,
I have taken the
liberty to send out a conversation between Don Mitchell and Tony Vieira,
because most of us do not realize the details that it takes assure a successful
gathering.
The Circular has had
no meaningful news from the ASAA in relation as to pre preparation for this
event which I am sure you would like to participate and collaborate.
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The fifth part of REUNION AGENDA AND EXCHANGES - 26 March
An interesting list of organizational questions and suggestions
by Tony Vieira.
From: vcl28@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, March
26, 2014 9:24 AM
Don,
A few observations on the operating of the organizing committee;
first of all we need to identify again who is on the this committee; then we
should let the committee make some of the decisions you give them the facts at
your disposal and let them guide you, I advise this since it is for your own
protection, because this will be several people advising you what to do, that
way if anything fails the entire committee will be blamed and not just you.
1. I think that you should give more details about Michael
Howard's boat trip. I don't know what it is all about, and neither may the
other old boys. Personally I would much prefer the boat trip to walking all
over POS since I have seen it recently and I don't like walking that much, for
that long, any more. In fact, I am hoping that at some point we should have a
more complete description of each event even with pictures etc. So that the OBs
will have a comprehensive understanding of what we are planning each event to
be, did you discuss this with Ms. Mohamed?
2. The other comment I have is that given the accommodation you
are recommending, the OBs will be scattered too widely to be organized
properly, you should concentrate them in a more central location since this
will be a nightmare to organize and to mobilize them to the different
activities. If you are planning to have an attendance of 250 overseas old boys
[a very optimistic assessment] lets first find out what is the capacity to
accommodate them at the various locations, so the first question is this
"what is the capacity of the 3 accommodations on the mount? the Abbey, the
Guest House and the seminary?" as I have explained several times before if
we are all together in one location it would be easier to organize and control the
mobilization to each event. Are you still pursuing the line that it is the
responsibility of the OBs to get to each function on their own? Rather than us
contracting some buses to do it, making it much less expensive and very much
more manageable?
3. You did not say if the accommodations at the Mount could
accept credit card payments, this is important since the overseas old boys
should know if they have to walk with cash. Did you find out? Also a lot of the
necessities for a successful reunion is missing at the mount accommodations,
all of them, the pool side where the OBs can lime, the bar in the hotel where
the OBs could assemble to have a few, in the evenings etc. how do we fill this
need if we opt to stay at the mount [even if it is their preference] or do we
simple ask a hotel what their deal would be for 250 boys sometime in early
October. I was hoping that this was what you are going to TT to do.
4. Will the organizer, Ms. Mohamed, as I have recommended before,
give us a costing of attending each event planned. and if she is, have you
considered some sort of chit system for attending the various events? i.e. that
on signing in the OBs will be required to pay through a chit system for each
event they intend to attend from the various events planned including the
Luncheon? I am taking the lead here from what I see when I visit Disney
and Boat Cruises with my kids and it works quite well, so that having bought
these chits when checking into the accommodation, each person participating can
decide which event he/she wants to participate in an buy a chit for
transporting them to and from of the event plus and any other costs that may be
involved? that way, no one leaves owing for events participated in but not paid
for.
5. Will Ms. Mohamed prepare some sort of budget for this entire
reunion, sorted by event so that each OB will know before he leaves his home
overseas for TT what this could cost?
6. From your email I see that minutes of meetings you held in
Trinidad will be circulated, when will that be? since I have the impression
that its overdue now, but what sort of minutes will it be? I am not so much in
favor of circulating these minutes far and wide, I thought that you would
circulate the minutes on fact finding trip to TT among the organizing
committee, which will lead to the decisions about what we are going to be doing
at this reunion, where the OBs will stay costs etc and then circulate the
decisions made regarding this event to the wider membership, this does not
mean for example we are precluded from asking the wider membership their
preferences about specific matters on which we as a committee need
clarification, and it has already begun to happen this involvement of the wider
membership in matters which should not be of concern to them Fr. Harold's email
for example, it was circulated far and wide and turned everyone off, if you
have an organizing committee, shouldn't father Harold's email have been sent to
you and then you in turn ask your committee members what they thought? In the
end the matter was resolved without all of the rancour which I saw the OBs
levelling against the Abbot, whatever the justification; but was it necessary
that a matter which was so inconsequential was allowed to explode into such a
huge furore?
7. If the Mount cannot accommodate 250 OBs then we have to have
identify the next best accommodation close by where the rest of the group will
be, and they will all stay there, I firmly believe that staying together the
old boys will mingle more and have a much better reunion is there any sort of
arrangement in place to have a bar at the mount accommodation if we decide to
stay there? or someplace where we can assemble to have a few? Did you get the
per diem cost for the various accommodations [Mount, hotels etc.] including
meals? I don't get the impression that you decided to ask the Hilton for
example if they got 200 OBs in October this year what they would offer as a
deal? Early registration and payment of the US$100.00 participating fee. this
US$100 fee is non-refundable, correct? and it will be used to pay the
organizers, videographer [?] etc. none of it will be used to attend the
functions. I think that you should say so.
As if to reinforce what I am saying [since I
wrote this some days ago buy was deciding if I should send it] I see an email
from you asking the general membership if they would prefer a dinner or a
luncheon, Don you have a committee you should use it, and if we cannot come to
some consensus then we put it to the general OBs. I know the answer already
some of these guys are bringing their wives to attend what they think will be a
grand BALL they agreed on that before, introducing this now will add more
confusion to an already confused situation.
I know that you have given up a lot to spearhead
this reunion and frankly I commend you for it since I would never be able to do
something like this at this time, so the last thing I want to do is to piss you
off, but you have a committee so let us help you to assemble the data and make
recommendations as to the best options.
I may have more thoughts when I see the minute of your meet in
TT.
Tony Vieira
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From: Don Mitchell <idmitch@anguillanet.com>
Sent: Wed, Mar 26, 2014 1:38 pm
Sent: Wed, Mar 26, 2014 1:38 pm
Hi, Tony,
I’m not replying to all copyees, as it is too much confusion and
no good will come of it.
I am happy to send the minutes, and they are attached, though you
will see why as I explained they are not of much use to someone who was not
present.
But, I did send you the last update. That is the document you are
commenting on. I assure you that you are sent every update. This one is
attached again.
For the rest of the detail, let us wait on the work product that
Justine is working on. No point us stabbing blindly in the dark.
All the best,
Don
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From: Don Mitchell <idmitch@anguillanet.com>
To: vcl28 <vcl28@aol.com>
Sent: Wed, Mar 26, 2014 6:43 pm
The problem with accommodation is a continuing worry to me.
Everything depends on whether the Abbot will permit it. Shira will, with Fr
Harold’s help, do her best. If that does not work out, she will advise on
other, suitable accommodation nearby that we don’t even know about yet. I
stayed in an inexpensive guest house in St Augustine once for a conference at
the University, and the only problem I had with it was the proprietors did not
permit alcohol on the premises!!
Don
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From: vcl28@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 5:35 PM
Thanks, Don
Frankly I understand it completely. It’s a good plan
very much what we agreed. I see that transport to and from events and a chit
system to pay for each event is going to be put in place.
I especially like the doubles for lunch on the first day.
Do you see the boat trip and the walk around POS as being together or separate
events? some off to the boat trip, and some off to the walk around POS? I
believe that they are separate operations. And from what Golding says I am
opting for that boat trip, apparently it’s incredible. You chaps can sweat it
out walking all around Fredrick Street.
I see that we will probably be staying at the Mount,
and that father Harold will tell us how many of us the facilities will
accommodate and the probable cost, but what is this special permission needed
to occupy the accommodation from Wednesday? This is a new element which I had
not factored in, have you? Suppose this uncooperative Abbot says no! Then what?
And this time he may have a legitimate explanation since if their operations
are set up to function from Friday to Monday, his staff would be tied to these
days and probably be working somewhere else during the rest of the week and he
may not have people to man the operation Wednesday and Thursday. Father
Harold must work quickly since this is the cornerstone of all of our plans.
When we see the answers to the costs of the luncheon
v the dinner/ball and the mass at 10.30 am, we will know if we should opt for a
lunch or a dinner. But we should get the quotation for both. I see Nigel
suggesting some very ambitious plans for the mass and he's not even attending.
Kapok is in POS and has excellent food, best
Taiwanese restaurant in Trinidad, it’s close to the Queens Park oval I stayed
there once with my dad when he was sick and I took him to see a haematologist,
I also ate there on numerous occasions one time Ken Gordon took me to lunch
there, it has around 30-50 rooms totally inappropriate for us as accommodation
though, I see Glen mc Koy already dribbling all over it.
Tony
-----Original Message-----
From: vcl28@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 11:52 AM
I did not
receive the minutes. Could you send it to me please, or could Ms. Justine Low
do it as soon as possible. I have tried to address my thoughts to your email
below in red to each point.
Don, Remember that at all times I am trying to help, I am not trying to
disrupt, but like you I am mostly retired and so I am in a position to give
this more thought that the normal guy struggling with a job. It is not helpful
if you don't send me your updates. so that I can advise you.
Tony
Vieira
-----Original
Message-------------------------------------------------------
From: Don Mitchell <idmitch@anguillanet.com>
From: Don Mitchell <idmitch@anguillanet.com>
Sent: Wed, Mar 26, 2014 9:36 am
Hi, Tony,
All very sensible points, but let me try to explain.
The committee is a virtual one rather than a real one. As
with everything we do, its membership varies from day to day and week to week,
depending on who is available. You and I were the committee at one
time. Then, it expanded to include all the Trinidadian alumni who were
able to attend the organisational meeting on my second day in Port of
Spain. Now that we have handed over the management of this project to Mrs
Mohammed and Justine, I consider that she is the real management
committee. The rest of us are advising her and waiting for her advice to
decide what to do about the various ideas we have thrown at her and Justine. I see this as a
monstrous problem rather than a solution. I am aware that the TT boys got
involved when you visited TT, but our committee has to ensure that the overseas
OBs have a good reunion and not one riddled with problems and expenses. Since I
have not yet seen your minute of the meeting in TT, I do not know if you
handled the problems I outlined in my previous email as to the difficulties
which I see looming here, with transportation, budgeting etc being at the head
of the list. That is why you have a committee in which there are overseas OBs,
it is to make certain decisions which will accommodate them! Since they will
have special problems and needs over and above the TT OBs. so I see this as two
completely different matters. 1. the reunion for all attending, and 2. the
reunion bringing the OBs from overseas, in addition the organizer is executing
our wishes and this plan you have seems to me to be excluding us from giving
our concepts and letting them tell us which are workable and which are not, and
most importantly costing it out for us, we may end up with a reunion which may
not work for the OBs from overseas, because it’s too expensive.. So I have a
few questions for Ms Mohamed, for now I will assume that the persons to which
this is copied are the rest of your committee subject to what the others say.
1. Will we
be organizing transportation to each event for the OBs, or will they be
responsible for their own transport in TT, which is not notorious for the ease
of getting a taxi.
2. Where
will we seek to accommodate the Obs at the mount [cheap but not conducive to
having the type of togetherness required in this sort of reunion] poolside
liming, bar in the hotel etc.
3. Since
the Abbott has decided to be non cooperative, my original suggestion that we
use the rest houses located at the mount to give them badly needed revenue, is
no longer a primary consideration, so now we have to decide on the best place
including the economics of doing it, to this end we have we asked two or three
hotels to give us a package deal on accommodating 250 OBs in the first week of
October 2014?
The emails I send out are meant to be nothing more than stimuli.
They are meant to keep the alumni on the topic of thinking about the Reunion,
and planning to attend. They are not meant to be definitive about anything. Don, how can this be
helpful? This is the sure path to confusion. A concept of not being definite
about anything is by itself a tip to the sort of confusion this can cause us.
We must make decisions based on the economics of the situation and the
convenience it will bring to the OBs attending, and send out those decisions to
the general membership, not more questions.
I have the minutes, but I incorporated the most important parts
in the last update I sent out. I did not mean to circulate the actual minutes,
since, as they are bullet-points rather than text, they may not mean much to
those who did not attend the meeting. I
did not get the last update you sent out! perhaps that why I have more
questions than answers. I would like to see the minutes though can someone send
it to me?
I have now learned from Fr Harold that the last Mass at the Abbey
is at 8:30am. Heaven knows why it is so early. I would imagine that most
hard-working Catholics would just be waking up at that time on their Sunday off
from work. However, that time puts paid to my suggestion that we have a Lunch
after Mass. Mass will end about 9:30. Fr Harold has come up with the suggestion
that we go on to a Brunch after Mass. That is certainly a possibility. On the
other hand, we may go back to a Dinner. We only changed from a Dinner to Lunch
because if we could have had a Mass at 10:30 that would give us time to
assemble at the venue. Since there will be no Mass at 10:30, there seems no
point in having a Lunch. This
may not necessarily be so. [see
below] Normally this
would be a small issue not even worth considering but it creates a big problem,
what do we do between say 9.30 am to 7 PM when the dinner begins. if we were
lodged at a hotel we could lounge around the pool etc. but we had decided on
this mass as an item on the agenda when we decided that we would use the
Facilities on the mountain to accommodate us, if we stay at a hotel in the
city, how will be get to this mass? it’s something we will have to consider. So
first of all we would like to know from Mss Mohamed and Low what facilities
exist at the three locations at the mount bar etc. or what we can ask to be
installed there and how much it will cost, accommodation and meals etc,
and especially how many OBs it can accommodate in total? then we have to
have quotes from some hotels telling us that during the first week in October
2014 the cost of a package deal for 100 OBs will be W; for 150 boys it will be
X: for 200 boys be will be Y and for 250 OBs it will be Z!
Mrs Mohammed and Justine are working on costs. We will decide at
some point which events the attendees will bring cash, and which will be
pre-paid. Her recommendation is that for the assistance of the caterers it
would be preferable to have as much as possible registered for and pre-paid. This is consistent
with what we agreed. But other decisions are being made before we get to the
costs to decide on what we will do. That can’t be a reasonable or logical way
to proceed, our decisions have to be made in a sequence, we offer a suggestion
we get a cost and we decide if we will go ahead with that plan or go on to
something else, for example the dinner/ball v the Luncheon. Before we decide
which we must have the cost of these two options. secondly If we are staying at
the accommodations on the hill, the luncheon now seems to me to be a better
option, i.e. we go to the mass at 8.30 AM after which we leave the hill around
11 am and go to the luncheon in POS, we eat, drink, talk, lime, then wander
around the hotel where the luncheon is being held until evening 6-7 PM when we
jump into the buses and go back to the hill. It’s neater and uses the time
better. so you see we need more answers before we make our decisions and the
organizer won´t be able to decide on these alternatives for us and so before we
ask the OBs what they think, we should present them with more data and the full
impact of the difference of utilization of time between the two times, before
they can make an informed decision as to which [we] they want. So after arguing
with myself here I see that we have to resolve the problem of accommodation first!
Then we can make intelligent decisions about the other things. And to repeat as
far as is humanly possible, not to end up with a disaster, the Overseas OBs
must stay at one primary place. If we accept that then we have to decide where!
Once we have made those decisions we can then decide other things and fine tune
the list of activities.
Hope that helps to clarify.
Hope that
helps to clarify.
Off to school now.
Don
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Photos:
6003 East St. George Sports Event p01
03SC0013EDIMSB, Vehicle repair and bakery
07RE0146GRP, Reunion 2007
08DM5200REUNION2008, Reunion 2008
