Newsletter
for alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas,
11 of November 2020 No. 992 extra
------------------------------------------------------------
Dear
Friends,
Very sad news the demise of the current ASAA.
Winding
up of the Abbey School Alumni Association
------------------------------------------
Joseph Berment-McDowald <bermentmcdowald@yahoo.com>
Tue, Nov 10 at 11:37 PM
Dear Fellow Alumni,
Please see a
copy of correspondence from Dennis Gurley, which is self-explanatory and is
reproduced below.
Peter
Sammy's passing has left us without a treasurer and the only other reliable
board member resident in T&T.
We have been
unable to make contact with the secretary for the past few years.
Apart from
Dennis, I myself will be resigning nonetheless if some of you would like to
continue the organisation, I'll make myself available to facilitate a handover
and assure some continuity.
Accordingly:
A meeting will be held by Zoom on Thursday December 3rd 2020 at 3:00 PM and
there will be two items on the agenda:
1. A
declaration that the office of the secretary has been vacant since our last
statutory meeting and a motion to that effect.
2. A motion
of the Winding Up of The Abbey School Alumni Association.
This is your
notice.
I'm sure
that I speak for myself and the other directors in thanking you for giving us
the opportunity to keep the Mount Spirit alive.
We have had
both our tremendous successes and intractable challenges.
We wish you
all the best in your future endeavours and life's journey.
We look
forward to your participation in the meeting and will be sending you each a
Zoom link.
Yours
sincerely,
Joseph Berment-McDowald
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Dennis
Gurley <dgurley@jdsellier.com>
Fri, 21
Aug, 10:46
To
Joseph, Peter, travellingcompanion@hotmail.com, kertez11@yahoo.com, Joe, Don,
Gabriel, infowinston@yahoo.com, Father
Dear Directors, Secretary
and other Alumni,
I refer to
the above mentioned recently proclaimed Act of Parliament and attach hereto an
Important Notice relating to the Act.
As a result
of this new legislation, the “Abbey School Alumni Association” (which is
incorporated as a Non-Profit Company under the Companies Act) is required to
register under the new Act.
In this
regard please find further attached a Form 1 – Application for Registration
under the new Act which was enacted on June 14, 2019 and more recently
proclaimed.
Upon
registration the Association will be issued a Certificate of Registration which
would be valid for 5 years at which time the Association would need to
re-register.
The said
Application for Registration must also be accompanied by an AML/CFT/PF Risk
Assessment Questionnaire a copy of which is also attached.
It is also
necessary to supply the Registrar with a copy of the ASAA Certificate of
Incorporation and By-Laws.
Further, the
legislation requires that each “Controller” (see explanation below) must supply
a copy of his/their photo identification together with a copy of the letter of
approval of exemption from corporation tax, where applicable.
There is
also an application fee of $100.00 that is payable.
The new Act
defines “Controller” to be a person who has the control or management of the
company and includes a director or directors.
I have had a
recent discussion with Mr. Joe Berment-McDowald who, with Ladislao Kertesz, was
a promoter and is a founding member of the Association and perhaps its most
active member, and I have informed him of my intention to retire from the Board
of Directors.
Indeed, I
suggested to Joe that the Association has not held any annual meeting of its
members or indeed even any meeting of its Board of Directors within recent
years, and I further suggested that the Association has failed in its mission
and does not serve any useful purpose.
I recognise
however that Joe has been organising ongoing fund raising initiatives with the
support of some generous T&T old boys for the benefit of the needy long
suffering Venezuelan alumni.
I am 70
years old and shall be retiring from my practice as an attorney-at-law as at
the end of this year.
In these
circumstances I propose to also resign from my position on the Board of
Directors of the Association.
I am hopeful
that there may be some other “old boys” who would not like to see the
Association dissolve, in which case I would be happy if they would offer
themselves for appointment or election in my place.
In these
circumstances I suggest that a meeting of the Board be convened to discuss the
future of the Association, to attend to the matters required by the new Act and
to receive my formal letter of resignation.
Because of
the COVID-19 situation I suggest that the Secretary of the Association, Gary
Matthews, convene a ZOOM meeting of the Board someday next month.
If however
the meeting is not convened within the next 14 days I shall ask Joe to do so.
I look
forward to hearing from you as to your availability to attend the proposed
meeting, and with your thoughts on the possibility of injecting a new life into
the Association.
Regards,
Dennis Gurley, S.C., FCIArb.
Partner|
Corporate Commercial Department
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The
history of the DIRECTORS OF ASAA 2009
President:
Joseph Berment,
Vice-President:
Ladislao Kertesz,
Legal:
Dennis Gurley,
Treasurer:
Peter Sammy,
Secretary:
Christopher Knowles (RIP 2016), replaced by Gary Matthews,
Peter
Sammy (RIP 2020) was not replaced.
-----------------------------------------------------------------.
“the Association has not
held any annual meeting of its members or indeed even any meeting of its Board
of Directors within recent years”.
But, why?
Why
were the legal formalities neglected?
I agree that
“the Association has
failed in its mission and does not serve any useful purpose” in its present
form. But, why?
Thru
the last eleven years there have been initiatives to breed life in the
functionability of the Association, as evidenced by the numerous emails that
have been published in the Newsletter.
Neither
the Secretary nor the vice president was notified of a board meeting to discuss
bringing the company to an end before the decision was taken.
The
first, the Secretary was not reachable, but since when??
The
second, the vice president was reachable since I am in Venezuela, but I was not
notified of any board meeting.
I
hope that the ASAA will continue, you can count on me, as you have counted on
my Circulars for about twenty years.
------------------------------------------------------------------.
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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Photos:
09LK1767VISITTTASS,
Christopher Knowles, Joseph Berment, Ladislao Kertesz, Peter Sammy
09LK1769VISITTTASS, Dennis
Gurley, Christopher Knowles, Joseph Berment, Peter Sammy
20LK1566FBHBAPDE, Henry
Bailey and Paul Dewan
19LK4825FBDPHWFE, Derek
Phillips and wife
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