Newsletter
for alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 8 of July 2014 No. 661 extra
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Dear
Friends,
I must
remind my readers that you must write to be able to appear in the Circular.
Following
are some of the exchanges from 21 of June to 23 June.
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vcl28@aol.com
Jun
23
Winston,
I did see your brochure. Don sent it to me, and I see that you have
computer skills which I do not. I wonder
if you can help me with something. Your brochure is more like a history of the
college, whilst what I have been doing is more like a day by day explanation of
the event plan of the reunion. So far,
it’s a power point presentation and I can complete it with all data, but this
is one thing with which I am not very adept, so your help would be invaluable. What I have in mind is that the messages I
have built up in the power point [they are on your left as you open the link
above] just now you have to click them individually one after the other. I have no idea yet on how to make them
transition to each other, and they tell a moving [as in transitioning pages]
story of what we plan day by day and how much each event will cost. Some pictures are there to make the story
easier to understand and to add attraction.
I was bringing
Sahadeo Bates tomorrow, a non linear video editor, who used to work with me to
give it the transitions etc. to bring it to life. If you have any ideas let me know. For it to work it would have to tell the
story simply, and formatted so that everyone must have the ability to open it. Don thinks that we can put it on the website
or the Blog, but my thought is that we send it as an email to everyone we have
in our database and let them see it first-hand. I am sure that Nigel Boos can
do that for us.
What I have here are just 18 pages so far, but I
checked and it took me around 4-8 seconds to read each page. The pages should transition to the next page
when you click on the mouse or 15 seconds whichever is first. So, in three or
four minutes you can see, day by day, what the Reunion will consist of, how
much it will cost, and how to pay [which still has to be added] etc. Of course, it cannot be finished until we cost
out everything. The catchier we make it,
the better we can sell this event. So we
are talking about transitions, better pictures, etc, and music. What about Frank Sinatra's “my way”? That ought to add the right amount of
nostalgia.
Do you have any thoughts?
Tony
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From: vcl28@aol.com <vcl28@aol.com>;
Sent: Mon,
Jun 23, 2014 11:10:36 PM
Don, Father, Winston,
In going through this agenda ad nausiam for the
umpteenth time, it appears to me that on the third day there is nothing for the
TT boys to do. The overseas boys will go
on the two trips, our potential new organizer told me and Fr. Harold that we
were offering too many tours, it would cause confusion so we should limit it to
two or three. I have not changed
anything, but we may have to eliminate a few, and leave a maximum three. But
now that I am looking at it, what will the TT boys do on the third day? Just stay home???
Day one; Picnic at the Mount. everyone
Day two; Maracas Bay lime. everyone
Day three; Tours. Only overseas participants expected to take
part. Originally, we had made this a
walk around POS etc. with everyone. But
it has since changed by Beemarketing and has disrupted the flow of the reunion.
Day four Luncheon. everyone.
Tony
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Don
Mitchell
Jun
23
Thank you, Tony.
All I am waiting for is the remitting instructions for
the registrants to pay their registration fees, and the address to which they
must send their registration form. Then,
we have to get that out to the public. We shall have to think how we can bombard the
alumni with encouragements to register and to attend. We can’t start without those two things.
Don
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vcl28@aol.com
Jun
22
Good Points Winston,
I have always been in favour of a chit system, and
which MUST be presented for all events [even for entering the buses to the events
for the overseas alumni]. All bars
contemplated will be Ca$h, includes cups, ice etc.
The event organizer will tell us how best to arrange
this. The EXACT mechanism of at which
point in the process we will have to pay for and share the chits is still to be
decided by us. I have been giving it
some thought and its solvable but not without some difficulties.
Tony
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Winston
Ramsahai
Jun
22
Greetings
On reviewing Tony comments on chits, found TT on line
company that sells tickets and charges a 5% fee, funds dispensed to ASA a few
days after event with promotions, RSVP, and more. It appears to be a trusted
company and Gabe will advise on its review.
Kindly view website http://www.o2tickets.com/ and await
further instruction.
Regards
Mr Winston C Ramsahai
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Joseph
Berment-McDowald
Jun
22
Tony,
I would prefer a much more carefully nuanced rendering
of role for the association. Our recognizing that the association may be
involved, if planning and organization were to take an untowards turn and
consequently needing to be involved as a necessity is not the same as the
absolute kind of ownership and involvement that your notes and terms of
reference seem to imply, especially so with an October deadline. Put another
way, postponement need not be contemplated if: financial prudence is abandoned;
the ASAA guarantees to be the payer of last resort in the absence of a tested
business model that is workable and assumes a significant logistical role (none
of which we have agreed to) OR the core group takes the necessary initiatives.
It is still up to you, Don, Fr Harold, Winston and any
others who you can recruit to be in the vanguard of this event to organize and
manage it. With the commitments and deadlines that I have, some important to my
business's continuity, I simply cannot afford anything more substantial than
the time and effort that I have contributed already. The kind of arrangements
that I believe we have tacitly agreed is one where the ASAA is kept fully in
the loop with a full yet succinct disclosure of all information. We will
reasonably support and facilitate the efforts of those active in the planning
and management process, including association directors.
To my mind, the terms of reference need to be more
explicit including a clause that requires the event’s organizer to do his best
to get the best value for money and that any discounts rebates considerations
and/or allowances which he obtains on our behalf or in the course of
negotiating managing our event will be our property i.e. that he works for a
firm fee. You may want to ask Dennis to prepare an agreement with more flesh in
it. A concern that I have with the suggestion that we farm out tickets to a
third party is the rigidity that this will introduce to the entire planning
process and its impact on the ability to change course and adjust quickly
depending on participation.
Yours sincerely,
Joe
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Don
Mitchell
Jun
22
Thanks, Howard,
I’m forwarding to the committee members. It appears
that the October date may still be on. We are arranging a new Events Organiser.
Don
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Winston
Ramsahai
Jun
22
Tony, suggest to incoming International guests that
they should buy their alcohol drinks duty free.
We will also have a sticker on the shuttle bus
enforcing no drinking and smoking inside shuttle.
We will get a shuttle bus from an alumnus, Kaloo
rentals, at a discount rate for a 24 seater
Regards
WR
--------------------------------------------------------------------.
From: Howard
Ho
Sent: Sunday,
June 22, 2014 9:52 AM
No problem on my end, Howard.
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vcl28@aol.com
Jun
22
Cheers Guys,
Just a reminder.
When I got home Friday night I made these final adjustments to the event
master plan and the agreement for the event organizer, both of which I will use
to brief Brian Pantin to complete the reunion plan. I don't remember getting any response except
that I am getting emails telling me to do exactly what I have already done. At this moment I know exactly what each event
will cost to each person, and therefore in total. If anyone has a suggestion having read the
"Tony's event plan and budget developing" which is a composition of
work done by the previous organizer but mostly by me through nearly two weeks
of research on the internet, then by all means let us know. But, my point is that you should not suggest
something which will be more expensive or does not contain all up costs.
But please, please, understand that at this time I
consider that we have a perfectly costed out, workable, economic plan already. It’s just to put in the safeguards which the ASAA
wants [and rightly so] and to pass on to the event organizer the responsibility
of collecting the commitment fee from both the TT old boys and the overseas
ones [an undertaking which has mired us in quicksand from day one] and
implement some sort of chit system which will allow us to allocate some chits
to each person paying the fee. Since
clearly you can’t take the fee without telling him/her what they are paying the
fee for, and what chits for which events they are entitled to attend, by virtue
of paying that commitment fee.
I am in the process of trying to come up with a
formula for this, and I think that I have a plan which I will pass on to the
Event Organizer if the ASAA hires him.
Now I have met you guys and a greater group of men
don't exist anywhere, but please let’s get familiar with what has been done
already and move on please. Please don't
take us back to square one.
There is one thing which I would need to know. We talked about it but we did not make a
decision and I think that after you accept the new Event Organizer you have to
tell us [committee] if you want us to add an ASAA % markup? And, how much? I am suggesting, since there is little risk,
that we can easily add 20%, but you have to decide.
Tony
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vcl28@aol.com
Jun
21
To assist Gary I have recorded what we talked about at
the Meeting in Dennis' office, it’s not necessarily a minute but a skeleton of the
decisions we made. Hopefully it will
help Gary to fill in the body of what we discussed and to add anything which I
might have left out, which he considers important.
The meeting began at around 1300-200 PM with Joe
Berment-Mc Dowald as chairman welcoming us, noting that this was the biggest
turnout he ever saw at one of these meetings. Present were Dennis Gurley,
Anthony Vieira, Peter Sammy, Winston Ramsahai, Ron Hadeed, Father Harold,
Michael D' Ornellas Chris Knowles, Gary Mathews
On behalf of the ASAA the chairman expressed concern
that too often in the past the ASAA was left holding the bag [containing mostly
unpaid bills] and that the first order of business was to decide if we should
defer the Reunion for a few months to see if we can generate more enthusiasm
and better safeguards, so that it can be an even bigger success than we
planned.
The reaction from those assembled was that:
a. Some of the alumni would/may have already committed
to the date in question by paying for their passage to TT in October 2014.
b. Others expressed the opinion that the announcement
outside the core members of the ASAA was not made long enough to prompt persons
to rush to pay their plane tickets. It
was therefore most unlikely that anyone had. We asked that a quiet investigation be made in
the unlikely event that anyone had bought flight tickets. The event flyer currently on the internet
should be quietly be withdrawn until we make a firm decision to proceed.
c. We discussed ownership of the event, and it
was agreed that since, in the end, it is the ASAA, which will stand the cost in
case the matter was an economic disaster, that they should own it and be part
of the decision making process.
d. It was suggested that since the matter is so
complex, and past failures may have been the result of poor organization since
a professional was not retained, retaining one now was a good plan, but that we
should have a very tight terms of reference to guide and to bind him/her to
performance..
e. It was explained that the perception that we were
in trouble flowed from the fact that the previous event organizer was not being
focused carefully enough, and too many people were getting involved in the act
of communicating with them causing a confused situation which was not conducive
to proper event planning, and they did not know who exactly they were supposed
to report to, and that since the ASAA were the primary organization
responsible, that the ASAA should agree to appoint a 4 man committee who will
make decisions by consensus and that they will set up among themselves a
mechanism whereby when they report to the ASAA and give instructions to the new
Event Organizer and they will be doing so as one unit by consensus.
f. The four man management committee proposes was
Winston Ramsahai, Don Mitchell, Tony Vieira and Father Harold.
g. That the first step to determine the feasibility of
holding this reunion in October/November 2014, will be to obtain a professional
opinion, by retaining a new event organizer, whose opinion will be communicated
to the board, before the event is given the go ahead by ASAA no one else.
h. That a tight terms of reference will be produced
for the ASAA which will guide and bind the Event Organizer to perform the
necessary functions for an economically successful reunion which can ensure
that the ASAA does not end up holding the bag [of debts] again..
Essentially, these were the decisions
we made.
Father Harold and I met with Brian Pantin the next
day, and we outlined the conditions as enunciated by the ASAA, which I had
written for him and which is attached herewith.
Pantin has agreed to the conditions, and will express his professional
opinion as to whether we have enough time to conduct a successful Reunion
within the period June 20th to October 29th and his price. Dennis Gurley should look at it for any legal
loop holes it may contain and which he may want to plug. But, Pantin has agreed to the
principles/responsibilities which I gave him, and which is copied above. Father Harold also had these conditions when
we met Pantin since I made three copies. I could not give you Guys an electronic copy
since I was using Omar Khan's computer and not mine.
We expect to hear from Pantin on Monday and will
communicate same to the ASAA. We should
communicate nothing to anyone until the ASAA decides otherwise.
Michael D'Ornellas, Vieira and Gary Matthews
reported on their visit to the Regent Star and the Holiday Inn and stated that
it was their opinion that Regent was it better than the HI and their rates were
so much cheaper [40%] that in fact it can attract more alumni from overseas.
The meeting ended after 4PM
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vcl28@aol.com
Jun
21
It’s nice, Don,
Joe's assessment was made too hurriedly, they did have
some problems since it is a brand new hotel and not completely finished. But the rooms are terrific, the restaurant
impeccable, and by October they will have more rooms available plus the indoor
pool. Currently they only have around 90
operational rooms, but it's a 182 room hotel.
They promised us that they will finish by October. But promises are just promises but what they
have now imminently satisfies me.
When I reviewed the comments of Guests on line they
were complaining that the elevators were not working as yet. I specifically went to the second floor with
Michael, D'Ornellas and Gary Matthews in the elevator and it worked fine. I will myself quite happily stay there. Quite frankly I liked it in preference to the
Holiday Inn Express, especially since they are prepared to offer such a great
deal. Since they have their own
restaurant you can dine there, breakfast is complementary. And the Holiday Inn has made no effort to give
us a group price and so unto this time the price for a single can be as high as
US$167/day +tax [Caricom] to US$187/day [non caricom]
We will be eating lunch elsewhere throughout the
entire stay, so it’s only dinner, and those who don't want to go to a bar a
grill in Trincity can eat at the hotel.
In fact the people who supplied reviews of the complimentary breakfast
at the Holiday Inn said that it was awful since they did not have a restaurant,
and the place where they showed us as the location for having this awful
breakfast had around 15 chairs and no formal set up.
Subject to what he will tell us on Monday, Brian
Pantin has told Father Harold and me that he does not see any reason why we
can't pull this off in October, so it’s a go, but let’s wait for his final
word, and especially his price.
I enjoyed meeting Joe and guys of the association, and
my trip was all in all a very pleasurable one for me.
Tony.
----------------------------------------------------------------------.
Don
Mitchell
Jun
21
Hi, Tony,
I have read the terms of reference and it all seems
quite clear and workable. I look forward to hearing his advice on Monday. I am
sure we are all convinced of the urgency of getting the accounts for the
receipt of Registration Fees set up. I think I will stay at the hotel for
convenience. It is cheaper than staying home in Anguilla.
Keep well.
Don
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vcl28@aol.com
Jun
21
I am opening it OK, but I have sent it again. Note, of essential importance to us is collecting
this commitment fee in US and TT, and making a ledger of the persons who have
paid the fee, and telling us how much is collected and from whom, is now the
responsibility of the event organizer.
Tony.
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From: Cornel
de Freitas
Sent: Saturday,
June 21, 2014 5:25 PM
Hi Don,
Thanks for keeping me in the loop,
But as sad as it is for me I will not be attending.
I do hope and pray that all attending have a safe
journey to and from, and a most fantastic and enlightening time.
It would be nice if the OB's can offer a prayer at the
mass for all the OB's that are not able make it to Our Grand Reunion.
GOD bless,
Cornel.
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Winston
Ramsahai
Jun
21
Greetings All
From previous appraisal the weak link in the profit /
loss scenario is the traditional stormers and some guests simply forget to pay:
And it's embarrassing to ask.
We have to address and enforce the following
1 No meals served without a ticket
2 Cash bar for the lunch
3 Field event consumables such as ice / bottle water /
tips / ect appears nominal but for 100 persons is quite a sum
4 Events must be ticketed in advance with a close-off
date
5. Checklist to develop for each event and generate
budget
When catering for a large group a detailed budget with
contingencies must be factored to avoid the oversight
Regards
Winston
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Photos:
6003
East St. George Sports Event p13
14KA1029KAL
Keith Allen
14BG1920BGO,
Brian Goddard
57IF0002IFAMSB
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