Saturday, 21 January 2017

Circular No 794








Newsletter for alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 21 January 2017 No. 794
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Dear Friends:
Emails below.
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DEBIDO A LAS LIMITACIONES DE TODO TIPO QUE HE TENIDO QUE AFRONTAR, Y QUE MI HUMILDE PROPUESTA HAYA SIDO TOMADA EN CUENTA Y FAVORECIDA POR PERSONAS DE JAPÓN, CHINA, COREA, AUSTRALIA, POLONIA, REINO UNIDO, ITALIA, HOLANDA, PORTUGAL, ESPAÑA, CHILE Y ESTADOS UNIDOS, Y QUE ADEMÁS ENTRE ELLAS SE ENCUENTREN DJ'S CON MILES DE SEGUIDORES ME LLENA DE SATISFACCIÓN Y ORGULLO. POR SI FUERA POCO, EL CARIÑO Y LEALTAD CON EL QUE USTEDES MIS PANITAS ME HAN APOYADO HACE QUE ME SIENTA INMENSAMENTE AFORTUNADO DE TENERLOS MAS QUE COMO AMIGOS COMO HERMANOS. HABER LLEGADO A OCUPAR ESTA POSICIÓN ME COMPROMETE A SEGUIR HACIÉNDOLO CADA VEZ MEJOR YA QUE SIENTO ES LA MEJOR FORMA DE RETRIBUIRLES SU SOLIDARIDAD Y APRECIO. LOS QUIERO MUCHO!!! OH YEAH!!!
Due to the constraints of all kinds that I have had to face, and that my humble proposal has been taken into account and favoured by people from Japan, China, Korea, Australia, Poland, United Kingdom, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Chile And The United States, and also between them are DJ's with thousands of followers fills me with pride and satisfaction. If this were not enough, the love and loyalty that you my buddies have supported me makes me feel immensely lucky to have them more than as friends like brothers. Have come to occupy this position I committed to continue doing so every time I feel better now that it's the best way we can repay you for your solidarity and appreciation. Love you both so much!!! Oh yeah!!!
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Blessings Nigel...
Thank you very much for your leadership, commitment, contributions and guidance provided over the last 30 plus years to the "old boys" alumni.
We look forward to another 30 plus years of the same and more.
Have a great birthday in union with your family.
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Big Happy Birthday to a Big Brother, List Maker. Great Grand Master Knight from the Light, Sir Nigel Boos,
Your contribution to this group has been tremendous, also a past president of our Alumni.
How can we ever thank you for so much, we love and wish you so much amigo, have a great one,
Cheers To Our Brother. Free Roti & Beer all knight@the Club. Have a good one.  Glen.
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Birthday Blessings to you Nigel Boos; remembering you at Mass this evening @ 6pm.
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Thanks, Fr. Harold.
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All the best Nigel...stay healthy!
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Nigel shared this with me by email:
"Thanks, Kaz, for all your good wishes.
My love and greetings to all the OB’s as well.
God bless us all. Nigel"
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REPRINT OF AN ARTICLE WRITTEN IN 2003 BY DAVIS BRATT
A beautiful corner
Perhaps the loveliest corner in Port-of-Spain is the one downtown where Hart Street crosses Pembroke, the one where the old fire brigade station stands.
Port-of-Spain is such an ugly city, with few streets, buildings or corners that are attractive. Not that these two streets themselves are pretty. Far from it. The only thing attractive about Pembroke is the view of the Northern Range from its southern end.
Hart Street is pleasant enough when it starts off in Frederick Street. At that point, it must be the widest street in town and its boundaries of Woodford Square and the Anglican cathedral are interesting enough. After it crosses Pembroke, it’s too short and narrow to appeal to the eye, despite being bordered by the old Red House and the new National Library.
Like most streets in Port-of-Spain, Pembroke and Hart are in dire need of reconstruction. Not paving. We certainly don’t need another Minister of Paving, like Mr John, who did more than anyone else to mash up the streets of Port-of-Spain and decrease the little bit of green in the Savannah that we have.
I would think that any Minister who fixed the Port-of-Spain streets would automatically be re-elected by a grateful citizenry. Regardless of whatever party he or she belonged to. That would be a bit of history. First independent elected to Parliament on a “Save the Streets” campaign.
It’s on Carnival Monday and Tuesday when one realises what a horror story the streets all over town have become. There’s nothing like walking on a generally uneven surface, spotted here and there with potholes and little crevices and bumps, to take you out of a calypso move.
No wonder doctors’ offices are always full on Ash Wednesday morning, with twisted ankles, aching knees and damaged bottoms.
It also becomes clear how much we have mucked up the surfaces of the streets when you try to push pan. Pushing pan was a time-honoured tradition of some Corbeau Town gentlemen, back in the ’60s and ’70s and even up to the mid-’80s. Strand to the Oval was the move. That’s when you realised that Tragarete Road, to the West, is uphill. A lot of rum used to be drunk on that particular las’ lap. But no more. There is no more pan on the street.
I sometimes wonder if the streets of Port-of-Spain are ultimately responsible for the decline in the number of pan sides on the road, as opposed to being transported behind smelly, smoke-belching tractors that are even louder than the steelbands. Another pleasant, old-time custom gone through.
You realise how unpleasant life in Port-of-Spain has become when you return from a vacation abroad. Whether you arrive from Grenada, Miami or London, the dirtiness and squalor of the city hit you squarely in the face, eyes, nostrils and ears, as you pass the broken-down lighthouse on South Quay, next to the mashed-up pavements and the stinking water. Not to mention the absolutely atrocious driving.
Where are the traffic police, anyway?
So, it was special to stand up on a pleasant, though overcast, Saturday morning in front of the old fire brigade station and savour the appeal of an old-time corner — few cars on the road and, for once, Port-of-Spain quiet.
The fire brigade station is being renovated and well done too, if a look through the open windows is a good enough inspection.
Looking North to the hills, off to the right is the stately Anglican Cathedral, surrounded by its freshly cut lawn. Across the road, the original green centre of Port-of-Spain, Woodford Square, today filled with white tents. In front, the imposing facade of the Red House, as grandiose as anything you can see in the Caribbean.
Next to the fire brigade station, and still on Hart Street, is the brand new National Library, outwardly impressive, but with an even grander interior. Today, the spacious central atrium and its elegant circular staircase are festooned with balloons and a huge, brightly-coloured children’s crayon hanging from the five-storey ceiling.
The library is a must visit for anyone interested in civil society. Its genteel appearance is only bettered by the attention of what has to be the most agreeable and smiling staff of any public service in T&T.
If the variety and number of its books can be improved over the next few years and its appearance and attention maintained, then we will have a library service that we can continue to be proud of.
As proud of one corner in town.
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From: "Isaias Farcheg" <farcheg@cantv.net>
Date: Sat, 4 Oct 2003 23:44:11 -0400
My dear good friend Ladislao AND OF COURSE MY OLD GOOD FRIENDS OF PAST YEARS...
You have been asking me to write you my experience as a Scout, precisely as a leader of the Tucans patrol, and also with the merit that I made it as a Queen Scout.
I have to confess after some many years, that in order to acquire this Badge, I had to cheat in my swimming test, since I have always been a very bad swimmer. I still recall that the last test was carried out in the American Base during one of our camping experiences.
We were made to carry out about 4 different swimming tests, and for me it was exhausting, since I did not have the perfect coordination between legs and arm, in summary I was a mess swimming, and really made to the finish line by cheating.
My brother Elias, and a few like you and the Fedaks were not Scouts, and I really believe that you all missed a lot.
With Scouting one was able to make plan on the week ends and participate with the different marching parades that we had to assist, and that was a way to show off in front of the girls down in Port of Spain.
The camping days were wonderful, and what made me start this recalling of the memory, was a camping we had in the American Base in 1956.
Each Patrol was given a chicken or a duck to cook on a specific day, which Father Ildefonse, our troop leader, assigned.
I remember that Roberto Lipavsky belonged to Woodpeckers patrol.
We were taught a trick that made the pieces of chicken to be a little brownish, this was to put a slight amount of sugar while frying it. On the day Roberto had to prepare his chicken, he started adding a little tea spoon of sugar, while the piece of the chicken was put to fry. Roberto was not patient enough, and he saw that there was not change in the colour in the pieces of chicken, so his occurrence was to keep adding still more little tea spoons of sugar, and of course, after a few minutes, that seemed like hours, what he ended up in cooking was a sugar syrup with fried pieces of chicken.
Fr. Ildefonse went from patrol to patrol testing the food and of course making notes, which accounted for the final marks in the competition of the best Patrol in the Camp.
We had wonderful ideas in order to keep up with the time that we were allowed during the day. Thus we had to plan the hours dedicated for cooking.
One trick we practiced with regards to cooking the potatoes, was that we dug a hole, put the potatoes in, and above it we started the fire, so that the heat of the fire prepared the potatoes at the same time we were cooking with it the chicken, the heat was cooking in a indirect way, our buried potatoes.
We had to make good plans in the handling of the cans of food we were given, and also every one had to participate in the kitchen section.
The initial day was very interesting, because, we had to choose the ground where to settle the tent. In the rainy period we had to be aware of the water drainage, so that we had to be engineers in a way.
Discipline, handling of the time, handling of the food, was the way of getting a lot of points in the competition. We also had to handle the different competition according to the scouting book of Baden Powell ( did you all know who was the founder?)
I am sure Lipavsky he still remembers how it was to be a Scouts, to be a troop leader, as did our pledge with the flag and Our Queen.
I took the opportunity of reviewing and recalling with the help of internet, the essence of Scout, and I do believe that we need in the younger generation is the bringing back a lot of the virtues or values, of which humanity as a whole have forgotten...to trustworthy, to be loyal, to be a sincere friend, to be helpful, courteous, kind and obedient, cheerful, thrifty ( ahorrativo para lo que se olvidaron del ingles fino, atencion Lipavsky, quien siempre fue el mejor), brave, clean and reverent.
Scouting still goes on in the world, and I regret I did not have the time to have gotten my children in the Scouting movement here in Venezuela.
LADISLAO, LET ME IN THE FUTURE WRITE A NEW REMEMBERANCE OF THE OLD DAYS...REMEMBER THAT WE WHO LEFT SCHOOL SINCE 1958, HAVE TO WRITE SLOWLY AND SURELY, IN ORDER THAT THE CRITICAL ONES AND WHO ARE GOOD IN ENGLISH WILL NOT CRITICIZE US ( I AM REFERRING TO MANUEL PRADA AND LIPAVSKY).
On My Honour, I promise that I will do my best
To do my duty to God and to the Queen,
To help other people
And to keep the Scout Law.
Scout Law is:
A Scout is to be trusted.
A Scout is loyal.
A Scout is friendly and considerate. (Helpful)
A Scout belongs to the worldwide family of Scouts. (Friendly).
A Scout has courage in all difficulties.
A Scout makes good use of time and is careful of possessions and property.
A Scout has self-respect and respect for others.
The Scout Motto is:
Be Prepared
A Scout is Trustworthy.
A Scout tells the truth. He is honest, and he keeps his promises. People can depend on him.
A Scout is Loyal.
A Scout is true to his family, friends, Scout leaders, school, and nation.
A Scout is Helpful.
A Scout cares about other people. He willingly volunteers to help others without expecting payment or reward.
A Scout is Friendly.
A Scout is a friend to all. He is a brother to other Scouts. He offers his friendship to people of all races and nations, and respects them even if their beliefs and customs are different from his own.
A Scout is Courteous.
A Scout is polite to everyone regardless of age or position. He knows that using good manners makes it easier for people to get along.
A Scout is Kind.
A Scout knows there is strength in being gentle. He treats others as he wants to be treated. Without good reason, he does not harm or kill any living thing.
A Scout is Obedient.
A Scout follows the rules of his family, school, and troop. He obeys the laws of his community and country. If he thinks these rules and laws are unfair, he tries to have them changed in an orderly manner rather than disobeying them.
A Scout is Cheerful.
A Scout looks for the bright side of life. He cheerfully does tasks that come his way. He tries to make others happy.
A Scout is Thrifty.
A Scout works to pay his own way and to help others. He saves for the future. He protects and conserves natural resources. He carefully uses time and property.
A Scout is Brave.
A Scout can face danger although he is afraid. He has the courage to stand for what he thinks is right even if others laugh at him or threaten him.
A Scout is Clean.
A Scout keeps his body and mind fit and clean. He chooses the company of those who live by high standards. He helps keep his home and community clean.
A Scout is Reverent.
A Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others.
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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:
01LK6817FBABO, Anthony Boos
16LK1662FBLCH, Leonardo Chacin
90LK2658FBKCA, Kerry Castillo and wife
58IF0018SIGNATURES, Signatures of class 1958








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