Circular No 965

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

Caracas, 29 of April 2020 No. 965

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Dear Friends,

This is the foreword for the next three Extra ISSUES Nos. 965, 966, 967, an investigation that Jan Koenraadt did for the Circular on the history of Mt. St. Benedict.

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Jan Koenraadt <jankoenraadt@gmail.com>

Sun, Jan 12 at 5:42 PM

Dear All,

In the Netherlands we have a website www.delpher.nl where you can search in old newspapers, magazines and books of Dutch origin from 1618 to 1995. I spent some time doing a search and found 90 articles about Mount St. Benedict from 1915-1995. They are all in Dutch, but it is a little too much to translate all of them. So I translated the most interesting ones and for all the others I made a summary in English. That is the first Word doc and pdf file with filename starting with 000.

I named every article by year-month-day and from which newspaper/magazine it is and what it is about. If you put the 90 files in one directory and sort by name you have all the articles in a timeline in chronological order.

There were catholic congregations in the Netherlands founded in little unimportant villages in the south of the Netherlands. They published a monthly magazine probably only known to the people who go to church in that congregation. They were probably not nationwide. In two of those magazines, the St. Antonius Bode and the Katholieke Missiën I found some interesting articles about the foundation of Mount St. Benedict.

There is a beautiful article in 1934 with pictures which describes the founding of Mount St. Benedict. I translated this three-page article with nice old pictures of the previous chapel in full. So besides the 90 files, there are three Word doc's which I also saved as pdf. So in total there are 96 files 31 Mb. I will try to mail them in three different emails to you.

If you type the Dutch text in Google Translate you get a perfect translation in English nowadays without grammatical mistakes. Google is doing it much better. So if you want to read some other stuff, some typing needs to be done! If I put all the jpg-files in one large pdf you cannot pull them out to put in the circulars. So I left them as separate jpg-files.

Hope you will enjoy this!

Many greetings, Jan Koenraadt.

P.S. If your mail server does not accept large files I will resend the same files to you with WeTransfer. So, either you get this email, or you get a link from WeTransfer.

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Natividad Cabello

24 March 2019 · 

Quien tenga fotos de Paraguana o Falcon en General diferentes a las publicadas tanto de paisajes en cualquier fecha como de personas que preferiblemente compartimos o estuvieron en ese estado amado despues de los anos del 86 ya que de ahi en adelante me mude para Judibana. Favor identificar paisajes y personas.
Soy ciudadano del mundo (sobre todo Venezolano) por eso amo a mi pueblo natal porque forma parte de mi infancia, tambien quiero a Caracas ya que fue un paraiso en cuanto a seguridad se refiere cuando estudie el bachillerato y la Univervidad (de los 70 hasta mediados los 80) , lamentalemente es una ciudad invivible en estos momentos pero guardo gratos recuerdos y siento mucha emocion cuando observo el Avila ver video. Mi vida laboral son 33 años los cuales han transcurrido en Punto Fijo, ( desde de 1986 hasta 2019), En esa empresa tengo todos los compañeros de trabajo, compre mi casa., me case y mis hijos nacieron aqui por tal razon amo a Paraguana y al Estado Falcon profundamente.

Whoever has photos of Paraguana or Falcon in General different from those published both of landscapes on any date and of people who preferably shared or were in that beloved state after the 86 years since from then onwards I moved to Judibana. Please identify landscapes and people.

I am a citizen of the world (especially Venezuelan) that is why I love my hometown because it is part of my childhood, I also love Caracas since it was a paradise in terms of security when I studied high school and University (from the 70s to the mid 80s), unfortunately it is an unlivable city at the moment but I have fond memories and I feel a lot of emotion when I watch Avila watch the video. My working life is 33 years which have elapsed in Punto Fijo, (from 1986 to 2019), In that company I have all the coworkers, buy my house, get married and my children were born here for that reason I love Paraguana and the Falcon State deeply.

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idmitch@anguillanet.com

Fri, 1 May, 06:01

Hi, Oscar,

Italy!  You have jumped from the frying pan right into the fire.  I am glad that Italy has made so much progress with the Covid-19 plague.  Italy has suffered only 300 deaths in the past 24 hours, a big improvement over the situation a month ago.

Good luck with phase 2.

Keep safe,

Best,

Don

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From: Oscar Cantore <oscar_cantore@aincosa.com>

Sent: Friday, 1 May 2020 04:44

Great Don, really happy to hear that, take care

I am in Italy right now should go in phase 2 on Monday

Regards

Oscar

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idmitch@anguillanet.com

Fri, 1 May, 05:54 (12 days ago)

Thanks, Neil,

Hopefully, all is well with you, and that all streams of revenue have not dried up.  After the Brexit campaign, I don’t trust Boris’ crew to do anything good for the benefit of UK citizens and residents.  I suppose you must be just overjoyed that you are not living under Donald Trump.

I feel for the poor people of the USA.  No one is safe under that buffoon, though I gather that a substantial minority in their madness still hold him in high regard.  It was the same with Hitler.  So, that form of mental weakness is not limited to the people of the USA.

Best,

Don

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From: Neil Trotman <jereviens1965@yahoo.co.uk>

Sent: Friday, 1 May 2020 00:51

Hello Don,

Congratulations on coming out of lockdown. Well done to Anguilla.

Best wishes to you all.

Hugs,

Neil (UK )

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idmitch@anguillanet.com

30 Apr 2020

Congratulations, Don, on having such a beautiful daughter.  I hope the young man will honour his family and yours.

Just as a by the way, Maggie and I could not stand for the family thing.  We got married in a small Roman Catholic church building in the countryside of St Kitts.  It had been built by my grandfather for the use of the village nearest the estate he managed.  Instead of the preferred civil ceremony, we did the church marriage out of respect for her father who was a committed Roman Catholic.

Maggie’s only qualification was that she re-write the service, leaving out the “honour and obey” parts.  The priest was a delightful, young, and understanding Irishman.  Only her parents and mine were invited to the wedding ceremony.  Our two fathers were the witnesses.  Friends and family were invited to a large drinks and eats party later that evening.  It was held at Hermitage Great House, with a band in the garden.  After the ceremony, we had no honeymoon.  We never did have one, even years later.  After all, we had been happily living together “in sin” for the previous four years, since 1968.  That was 52 years ago!!

I well know how I managed to remain faithful through the usual distractions and temptations.  At some point early in our relationship (probably when I was ogling some pretty girl), Maggie turned to me and said, “Remember, anything that a man can do a woman can do also, only better.”  The memory of that ominous warning was always sufficient to put a stop to any hanky-panky that might have occurred to me.

It is a really first class video.  Better make sure to back it up in several formats on more than one hard drive so that you don’t lose it.  Sadly, software is changing so rapidly that any format of today will be unknown in 20 years’ time.  Putting it in the “cloud” is a waste of time; you’ll only give it to Bill or Mark and they will lose it to hackers one of these days anyway.

Best,

Don M

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From: Donald A Goddard <dgodda1@lsu.edu>

Sent: Wednesday, 29 April 2020 23:05

Dear Friends:

This is an amazing video we've just received during this stay a home time. It's regarding our daughter Nicole's wedding last October in Tampa, Florida.  It was wonderful being with all our family at this most enjoyable event.

Please enjoy.

Don G.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D_Zi2l5oVNRSBIjzCEnBytQig_V48iT1/view?usp=sharing

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From: idmitch@anguillanet.com

Sent: Wednesday, 29 April 2020 17:29

Thanks, Gary,

I read the Miami Herald each morning, and always look to see how the Coronavirus is treating you.  Hopefully, Florida won’t reopen too quickly.

We in the West Indies are screwed by this pandemic.  Most of our islands rely on tourism as the “engine that drives our economy”.  Well, tourism is dead for years to come.  Most of our airports and seaports are closed until further notice.  Even if we reopen soon, the visitor won’t be able to arrive if his/her home ports are shut.  Even if you can get into our island, you still have to be quarantined here for 14 days.  Fortunately, you can be self-quarantined in your hotel room.  But, when you get back home, most countries also require another 14-day quarantine.  Anyway, only a very desperate person would risk going on an aeroplane for the foreseeable future.  As for cruise ships, only the most reckless or ignorant and uninformed would take the suicidal risk of going on one.  Cruise ships are banned from Caribbean ports, but if one is permitted entry, eg, for food and supplies, it is on condition that not one person lands.

Our hotels won’t re-open for another year or two.  There is no hope for the coming 2020-21 season.  By January 2021, all tourism workers will have been let go (most in Anguilla at least, are home on half-pay).  Our ministers have announced they will cut their salaries by 15% and all public servants by 10%.  With raging unemployment, I fear for the coming civil disturbances.  We are adding a fourth dog to our yard.  Dogs won’t be much protection from determined home-invaders, but at least their screaming from the poisoned meat they will have been fed may be enough to wake me up to arm myself with my father-in-law’s Afghanistan scimitar souvenir that I keep in the bedroom.  I am giving Maggie lessons in how a lady uses a pickaxe handle to best effect.

So, altogether, Florida may be a better and safer place for you than Anguilla 

Best,

Don

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From: garry henderson <birdman268@yahoo.com>

Sent: Wednesday, 29 April 2020 14:24

Don,

Congratulations, sounds like the island to be on at this time. We are not free as yet in Florida.

Regards,

Garry

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On 26 Apr 2020, at 11:12 AM,

Ladislao Kertesz <kertesz11@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Harry

No nickname stuck on me during my stay.

Maybe Laz, Ladi, Kertesz, there were many depending on the classmate.

I am the editor of the Newsletter and I wanted to set straight the information I have.

So please tell me what is true.  I graduated in 1960 when the year always ended in December

I would appreciate your CV, and a photo, 

Who were your friends?  When did you take GCE ??

Vice-President of the "MOLDS' (Mount Outside Literary and Debating Society 1964.  Scout - Scouts.. PL of the "Robert Falcon Scott Patrol for senior boys. President's Trophy for Best All-Round Student 1967. Victor Ludorum prize one year.

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On Wed, 29 Apr 2020 at 16:50,

Harry <hvltech@gmail.com> wrote:

Some of what you said maybe correct; you must be mixing me up with some other boy; I am working on “ life& times” at the Mount and will forward to you soon - by the way what was your nick name?

Harry 

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On Sun, 26 Apr 2020 at 11:08,

Ladislao Kertesz <kertesz11@gmail.com> wrote:

Thank you for your input. Harry

Maybe you would like to send it to your classmates.

Now, can you write a CV for the Circular, maybe with interesting material with your classmates?

Also, two lines or a paragraph on each of the guys on the photo?

The circular would appreciate it.

God bless

Ladislao

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EDITED by Ladislao Kertesz, kertesz11@yahoo.com, if you would like to be in the circular’s mailing list or any old boy that you would like to include.

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Photos:

10LK7908FBTAR, Tardieu

56GF0012CASTRO, by Gregory Farfan

14LK3679FBFFE, Fr. Felix

36LK1331FBEDIMSB, Buildings