Newsletter for alumni of The
Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 31 of May 2014 No. 656
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Dear Friends,
This is the second part of the
conversation between Don Mitchell and Tony Vieira,
I have included it because most
of us do not realize the details that it takes assure a successful gathering.
The Circular is still expecting
soon some news from the ASAA in relation as to preparation for this event.
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The sixth part of REUNION AGENDA
AND EXCHANGES - 26 to 27 March
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From:
vcl28@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2014 8:03 AM
Don,
Anyway
this may have a fundamental change on our date of the reunion, if we started it
from Wednesday 1st October to Monday 6th October the price for the 5 nights at
the Hilton would be $695.00 for one adult and at the Normandie US$599.95 but if
we held this conference one week later the hotel accommodation would be double
at the Hilton it would be US$1245.00!! You will recall when I did this
preliminary investigation, I told you that October begins the high season and
we should do it more in mid to late September than October, the OBs preferred
October but that is economically not the best time. If we change the date to
the first week in October to the last week in September flight prices will also
be rising. But we have to decide now. So Father Harold must give us the Abbot's
response today! Later than today these hotels will not be able to offer the
deals for the first week in October. Here is the negative all attending may
have to make a deposit now for October. let’s find out how much?
So let’s
ask Justine through this email to find a hotel/s very close together which will
have 100 to 200 rooms available and are prepared to offer a package deal for
the first week in October 2014. This will form the basis of a plan B, in case
the accommodation at the Mount falls down dead. Which at this time I am almost
sure that it will. The several hotels around the queen’s park oval will be best
more to see more to do etc. totally eliminate all transportation costs for
Saturday's exercise. and reduce, by quite a bit, transportation cost for
Maracas and the dinner/lunch. Don if we got a good deal in the end it may work
out cheaper let’s find out.
I am
astonished to find that the Normandy is offering $100 less than the Hilton for
the 5 nights as an off season rate we could pursue this one. Anyway let’s find
out what is available in the first week in October and which is the best deal,
Ms. Mohamed had told us that the hotel near the airport, bad location for
centralism unless the cost will be very reasonable since it has the potential
to cost more because of the in transportation to the major events except for
those activities at the Mount, since its closer. But if it is the only option
what can we do? In any event these hotels near the airports usually are stop
over flights and rarely accommodate more than 50-60 people.
I gotta
prepare for court; I am giving evidence in my matter against the govt. of
Guyana today.
Tony.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------.
Don
Mitchell <idmitch@anguillanet.com>
26 Mar
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Hope that
helps to clarify.
Off to
school now.
Don
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Nigel Boos <nigelboos@yahoo.ca>
26 Mar
Fr.
Harold,
Is it not
possible to celebrate Mass for the Old Boys at a time and a place suitable to
meet a general consensus. I don't know what Canon Law has to say about this,
but for a special one-off, unprecedented occasion such as this, does not the
Archbishop have the right to approve of a separate Mass to be celebrated
wherever we might request it? For example, if a church cannot be found to
accommodate our group, how about a "Mass in the Hollows" (in the area
south of the Emperor Valley Zoo, and diagonally NE of Archbishop's House). Or
how about in the grounds of the Archbishop's House itself, if a church cannot
be found?
Just a
thought.
-----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 vs 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.
-------------------------------------------------------------.
Nigel
Boos <nigelboos@yahoo.ca>
26 Mar
Another
thought,
Perhaps
it might be an idea too, to invite our newly consecrated Old Boy, Cardinal
Kelvin Felix to celebrate Holy Mass with us in the Cathedral of the Immaculate
Conception together with Archbishop Joe Harris C.S.Sp., Fr. Abbot John Pereira
O.S.B., Msgr. Mike de Verteuil (Class of 1963), Fr. Cuthbert O.S.B., Fr.
Augustine O.S.B. and Fr. Christopher Theunissen O.S.B. and yourself as
concelebrants. Prior Br. Paschal Jordan and any of the other monks who would
wish to attend should also be invited to do so. The OB's attending the Mass
should be asked to wear the T-shirts being printed for use during the Reunion,
with the logo as suggested by Dennis Gurley.
And since
the Old Boys of the Abbey School had donated dalmatics to the 20 men who were ordained
as Permanent Deacons in 2010, perhaps we could invite them all / some of them
at least, as well to be present at the Holy Mass, wearing our donated
vestments. Salah Wilson, our resident steel-bandsman should be asked to prepare
appropriate liturgical music, with the advice of Br. Paschal, for use during
the ceremony. Now, wouldn't that be a fantastic picture?
I should
also like to earnestly request that Lionel Roberts (formerly Bro. Vincent of
MSB, our old Sports Master), be invited to join us during the proposed Holy
Mass and to be an integral part of our Grand Reunion celebrations. As Brother
Vincent, he was a father, brother and friend to all of us boys at MSB, so far
away from our families, and he had been a source of comfort and understanding
during our teenage years. Lionel is himself also a deacon and he had worked
very hard 4 years ago to get the OB's involved in the ordination ceremony of
the 20 deacons. I suggest that he has earned a place in our ranks, and I
recommend that he be especially invited to attend the Grand Reunion. I believe
that he may be reached in Florida, where he works as a lawyer. His email
contact is: lrober17@tampabay.rr.com
Nigel
--------------------------------------------------------------------------.
From: "Schaefer,
Glen O CIV MSC, N131" <glen.schaefer@navy.mil>
Subject: RE: Reunion 2014
Date: 26 March, 2014 11:24:33 AM EDT
Greetings
Brothers,
With the
gracious consent of the 2014 reunion lead organizers myself and a few others
would like to organize a nice All Fours Tournament on Saturday night 11 Oct
with food and drinks to be included. If we have the blessings of the committee
our intent moving forward would be to ask for donations dollars, assets or
connections to reduce and offset the cost of eats , drinks music, facility,
tents, tables and chairs. Purpose is to invite as much of our brothers who
cannot attend some of the more cost bearing events. This is our MSB old boys
reunion a chance to meet greet and enjoy. Peace.
Pugs,
Joe, Jimmy or Winston: I do not have Ian Gomes email could you please forward
this email to him for me. Thanks God Bless.
Glen
Schaefer aka Skippy.
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Photos:
6003 East St. George Sports Event p06
03SC2004GRP
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