Circular No 674

Newsletter for alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.

Caracas, 4 of October 2014 No. 674

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

Dear Friends

Someone for the Movies??

It makes me remember that during Fr. Cuthbert’s Lunch Reunion a movie crew made a movie recording at the luncheon.  What became of the film Joe???

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

Movies Movies Movies Movies

GEORGE

Dec 20, 2013

Hey Glen,

Congrats on your son John’s achievements; you must be very proud of him.

My sense is to go with a Hollywood smaller budget film which typically do well worldwide if well done. 

“True Stories” has become a very popular Hollywood theme with big $$$$$ profits. 

We would have to include the success recipe by including those themes that include the following aspects: Innocence, Adventure, Gaining Adulthood, Sex, Violence, Sports (but many of our AB sports are not popular worldwide), Food Fights, Religion, etc. 

A possibility would be to follow the success/failure stories of 6 or so AB graduates from their time in Trini to wherever they are today in different parts of the world. 

Bigger risk, more expensive but greatest potential for exposure and earnings. 

My guess is that we will need 2 to 3 million dollars as a very minimum if we finance it ourselves versus selling it to one of the big studios.

If very successful we could go with an AB2, AB3 and so on.

Then spin off a TV series that would concentrate on the AB days in Trini.

I am confident that we will get lots of ideas, volunteers and investors as we proceed with the implementation of the AB.

Looking forward to more on this topic,

George

------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

Glen Mckoy

Dec 20, 2013

Hello George,

There are so many angles to look at it from.

I think it depends, on how many stories we get, will dictate how many characters may be in the movie, for example a class, that goes for 4 years together.

It may only be the boys who submits their stories, a class could have 20 boys, can you see where I am going, and every boy have a story..

Then there can be a brief of the boy then, and who he is now.

Thank You George, My son John-Glen, is a great guy, a close friend, I'm a big fan, ha! ha!

Cheers Mis Amigos,

Adios- Glen.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------.

From: Glen Mckoy

Sent: Friday, December 20, 2013 10:14 AM

Subject: RE: ABBEY SCHOOL - THE MOVIE AND TV SERIES

My Dear, Sir George,  

On a serious note.  

I spoke to my son John. 

He is a script writer, he just got back from London England. 

He was one of the 10 people, picked every year by BBC T.V.. to come and do classes with some of the best in England, he was surprised to be picked. 

He has a British passport also, his mum is from London.

He was there for three weeks and did very well. 

He also won a competition at Vancouver Film school for $10,000 tuition.  

He is still undecided, he is waiting for some feedback from New Zealand on something else he wrote.   

Well he is only 23 yrs. old, he said dad, I will help you write the script, for the pilot. 

Now the pilot, if its good, will support itself to be financed, however with our experts in this Club, I don't have to worry about that, ha! ha!. 

Anyhow, the best attractions for sponsors, Trinidad Businesses, is for tax write offs for the arts, history, culture, all three in this movie, maybe Trinidad also has these tax loops ?? 

Or if we go International, it becomes a foreign film. 

Just picking yuh brains Sir. George.   

Ah see we already have a star boy, ha! ha!  

Cheers, Mis Amigos.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

From: andresfreytez@hotmail.com

Subject: RE: ABBEY SCHOOL - THE MOVIE AND TV SERIES

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2013 10:54:14 -0400

He He!!!!   Don is a Saga Boy!!!!

I also want to star in the movie!!! (In the location chapters at Bombshell Bay and Mayaro)

Andres (Freddy)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

Don Goddard

Dec 19, 2013

I agree with George but will only participate in the movie if I can be the “Star Boy” as Trinis would say.

Donald A. Goddard

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

GEORGE

Dec 19, 2013

With all the information bouncing room,

I believe we have enough for a screenplay for a Hollywood, Bollywood or Trini movie. 

Also for creating a TV series that would weekly present our adventures and misadventures.

This effort would also help Trinidad’s economy. 

This type of entertainment has been successful in past decades. 

The monks could use these $$$$$$ to resurrect the AB.

What do y’all think?

----- Original Message ------------------------------------------------------

From: Attila GYURIS

Sent: Thursday, December 19, 2013 5:47 PM

Subject: Re: ABBEY SCHOOL - THE MOVIE AND TV SERIES

Yeah, Jan,

We built some good "Dens" in the bush, but, eventually they all got discovered by the "enemy"and destroyed.  

I think that's where you got your interest in a career in Architecture, right?  :-)

As long as we are telling spooky stories.

I have another Mount story that I have never been able to explain to this day ...

This was back in the Autumn Term in 1965, when I was still a small boy, in Form I.  

One Saturday night I and another classmate were banned from the movies up at St. Benet's Hall above the Refectory for not doing our homework or something like that.  

The other boy with me was Michael Korda, from Venezuela, who stayed only for two school years ( 1964-1966).   

So we were bored and sitting around the back (the east end) of the big school building, towards where the stairs went down to the Physics and Chemistry lab, next to the small boy's dormitory. It was already night, around 8:30 pm or so.

If you all remember back then the school had a small Chapel, which was in the small East building, next to the small boys' dormitory, and right above the Chemistry Lab.  

It had white wooden doors that were kept locked. 

There we sat in the darkness talking and looking out on the lights towards the town of St Augustine and the plains below us.

The night sky was clear and starry.  

We were pissing and moaning about the big injustice and how unfair it was that we were not allowed to watch the movies. 

Suddenly, out of the blue, the ground started to rumble and shake, (like an earthquake) and the chapel doors started to shake VIOLENTLY and making a LOT of noise, like they were coming off the hinges.  

The rumbling and shaking lasted for about 5-6 seconds then it stopped. I remember I lost my balance and I fell to the ground.  

We both were wide eyed and terrified shitless and didn't know what to do.  

So we started to run towards the little road up to the refectory.  

And just then we began to see the first few boys starting to come down the road because the movie had ended. 

We started to ask our friends if they had felt the earthquake just now, ... and NOT ONE had felt or heard anything, and they thought we were crazy ....  

We could not believe they hadn't felt anything, while we fell down from the shaking. 

Up to this day I can't explain WTF happened that night, ... but it happened.

Attila Gyuris

Mount 1964-1969

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

Intersting story, and a good shop

Y DE LIMA AND CO. FREDERICK ST 1947

Yldefonso De Lima was a Sephardic (Spaniard) Jew who came out to Trinidad in 1888 to seek his fortune.

This he found when he opened a jewelry store which bore his name on Frederick St in the heart of the busiest commercial district in the island.

De Lima brought out to Trinidad, his wife and young daughter, Zillah who lived in a neat townhouse he built for them on St. Vincent St. on the present location of the CLICO building.

The latter died shortly after her marriage and birth of a son in 1906 while the former took ill and was soon on her deathbed. Mrs. De Lima was nursed by her 12 year old sister, who married Yldefonso after his wife died.

The second Mrs. De Lima was 13 and her husband in his 40s, and a grandfather.

Yldefosno had several children from his second marriage , and took into the business, his grandson Alfonso, whom he raised as a son after the death of his daughter.

Yldefonso had a fascination with automobiles, and although he never drove himself, became one of the motoring pioneers in Trinidad.

As early as 1911, while the car was still a rich man’s toy, he became the dealer for EMF and Flanders vehicles which he sold from his showroom on Frederick St. He also had a branch at High St. in San Fernando.

Yldefonso was also the first importer of Ford Model Ts , the famous Tin Lizzie, from the United States, until the franchise was taken by J.N Harriman and Co. in 1916 and then by Charles McErnerney and Co. in 1919.

He not only sold cars, but also rented them out, although fares were high- $8 from POS to Mt. St. Benedict which was twice the monthly wage of a domestic servant in the era.

Yldefonso was quite a remarkable man, for in addition to being fluent in English Spanish and French, he also spoke some Hindi since rich Indians were a significant customer base.

Y. De Lima and Co. was responsible for pioneering the manufacture of the cocoa-pod bangle or bayra which is a hoop of silver or gold, wherein the loop is closed by two knobs resembling cocoa pods.

These became wildly fashionable and are still obtainable from the firm which began making them around 1904.

The company also manufactured gold-coin haikals.

These are to be seen in many turn-of-the-century photos of rich Indo Trinidadian women and were a public statement of the wealth of their husbands.

These haikals were gold sovereign coins which were linked together by the jeweller and were mounted on a headband or lanyard of woven cotton.

Since sovereigns were valued at $100 at the time, one haikal could be of incredible value.

Occasionally, gold Spanish reals or Dutch florins were used.

Haikals are now exceedingly rare since on the death of the original owner, the piece would be cut up and the coins shared among heirs.

A complete haikal from the 1920s was once to be seen in the National Museum, but this has now disappeared.

Yldefonso became very rich indeed, owning several hugely expensive cars such as a 7 seater 1922 Buick, a 1924 Cadillac and a Pierce-Arrow which was the American equivalent of a Rolls Royce.

He suffered from gout and was confined in the later years of his life, finally passing away peacefully at home in 1927.

The enterprise he founded grew and became a nationwide concern with branches in most major towns outside POS and San Fernando.

It weathered the bad years of WWII by catering to American soldiers with tourist trinkets, cheap costume jewellery and other paraphernalia.

The oil boom years were kind, but the recession which followed in the Chambers-NAR era was a blow.

However, Y. De Lima and Co. remains an example of the resilience of family owned firms in a sea of uncertainty.

------------------------------------------------------------------.

Now to the most interesting part, the photos

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

Photos:

58 TH2087THE, Tim Healy

73SC0001SCOUTS

13PA5434PALWFE, Peter Alkins and wife

57CJ0020FOOTBALL, The MSB team