Newsletter
for alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 30 of December 2017 No. 843
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Dear
Friends,
Have a
look at vintage Trinidad:
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Don and Maggie’s Christmas Letter – 2017
Dear All,
Strictly speaking, the only significant event
that impacted us in Anguilla in the year 2017 was Hurricane Irma. We are still
today, in mid-December, recovering from this 6 September event. Chinnix and four
of his men worked all of September, October and November restoring our yard and
guest shack and main house. We are nearly back to normal, with only wi-fi and
internet not yet restored, and only Cable & Wireless can do that.
The guest shack windows are smaller and
stronger than before, and the bedrooms are now air-conditioned. The garden is
devastated; sadly, only 13 of Don’s 60 hot pepper shrubs survived.
The other two big events of 2017 were the
celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Anguilla Revolution, and
the 50th anniversary of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. Not many outside
of Anguilla remember that in 1967 Anguilla was the first English-speaking, West
Indian country to successfully mount an armed rebellion against the state, and
to evict the government police and establishment. Grenada was the second in
about 1979. Anguilla’s revolutionary hero, the Father of the Nation, Ronald
Webster, died only a year ago.
Don wrote about the significance of the two
anniversaries. One, a speech on historical
aspects of our Eastern Caribbean court system, titled Celebrating
the Past, was delivered in Antigua on 27 February. The second speech, on Anguillla's
Judicial System, was circulated to the lawyers and judges by email. A third speech, on the need for constitutional
reform, in honour of Time
Kendall QC of Antigua, was also delivered in September by email as the
event was cancelled for obvious reasons. If you are desperate for something to read you
can find them all on Don
Mitchell's Published Papers website
or by Googling Don’s name with the words of the topic.
The Antigua programme
In March, the Constitutional and Electoral
Reform Committee delivered its final Report on proposed reforms to the
Executive Council of the Government of Anguilla. All that remains now is for
Government to consider and approve the Report, present it to the House of
Assembly for discussion and approval, and then persuade the British Government
to enact it as an Order in Council.
Yvette and Jean at Soufriere
In July, Don attended the court’s gala
anniversary dinner in St Lucia, were he met old friends and colleagues. There,
he went exploring Soufriere with Yvette and Jean.
At dinner
In April, we cruised from Miami to Europe with
Kathy, Ginny, Susan and Valarie on one
of the Celebrity boats.
In case there is any doubt, the principal
activity of the cruise was enjoying the good fare on board.
Don and Maggie with the obligatory Trevi
Fountain pic
We also enjoyed the tours at each of the
stops. In all the 16 days at sea, we visited Tenerife, where we explored the
island; Malaga, where Don visited the Alhambra and Maggie did a city tour in a
bus (no walking!); Cartagena, for a day-long city tour; Barcelona, for two
days, where at long last we got to see the inside of Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia
church (they hope to finish it by 2026); Nice, where Maggie inspected a perfume
factory while Don preferred to stay with the driver in the coach, and we later
had lunch in Monaco where it rained all the time; Florence, where we went to
Pisa and inspected the Leaning Tower; and Rome, where the cruise ended. We
stayed for a few days in a B&B on the Via Corso in the centre of Rome and
walked to many tourist traps and ate good food. Just one more cruise photo:
The ‘cruise photo’, 2017
At the end of the cruise, Maggie stayed on in
Europe visiting Flurry and Julie in Birmingham, Mac and Erica in Brecon,
Bridget and Harry in France, cousins in Jersey, and nieces, great nieces and
nephews in England, as well as old friends. Don returned to the Caribbean to
attend the annual conference of the Association of Caribbean Historians in
Tobago. There, one midday, while he and Gordon were helping the fishermen to
pull a seine, reminiscent of childhood days at Mayaro, a leatherback turtle
climbed up on the beach and laid her eggs in front of everybody.
A gigantic leatherback laying eggs at
midday on Turtle Beach in Tobago
In June and July there was plenty of
excitement as we hosted four archaeology students who were doing a practice dig
at Wallblake House.
Earlier in the year, Alix and Brian visited
from Canada, and Susan from Florida.
With Brian, Alix, Kathy and Susan at
Scilly Cay
In early November, we took a break in Marie
Galante (a dependency of Guadeloupe) with Mary Ann and Kathy. The first hot
showers in months!
What can we say? That, and the French cooking,
were pure bliss.
At the end of November, we went off to the
Bahamas for a few days to attend a CCJ-related conference organised by APEX.
There, we celebrated Maggie’s 70th birthday on the 28th.
Maggie’s 70th birthday parade (thanks to
Mac)
While in the Bahamas, we stayed on Paradise
Island in the 5,000 room Atlantis Resort (built by Trump) which on any given
day allegedly houses more guests and staff than Anguilla’s total population.
More hot showers, and hot food! More bliss.
Maggie trying to kiss a chubb at the
Atlantis Hotel aquarium
A week later, we returned to Anguilla to find
our electricity restored.
No more dipping six buckets of water from the
cistern and ‘heading’ them up the stairs each morning, at least until next
year’s hurricane. No more forced dining by candle light. We only weakened and
borrowed Stephen’s stand-by generator in mid-November (too much noise and
bother). By early December, the solar panel was back in place, providing hot
water on tap.
Maggie continues to volunteer two days a week
at WISE, while Don works intermittently on his 2,500 page bibliography of
English language, non-fiction, West Indian books and pamphlets. With any luck,
and once the internet is restored, it should be completed for publication by
Emmanuel Publishing in five volumes next year. Indeed, for most of the first
half of the year (before Irma) Don switched his energies between proof-reading
the bibliography and building up the APEX database of all the lawyers and
judges in the West Indies. It was supposed to be all done in the first half of
the year, but that target has been long missed.
Don continues his walking exercises with the
ladies three mornings a week. May there be many more.
Don with Viviane and Kathy walking at West
End
Once a month, the Anguilla National Trust
organises a walk to a wild and wonderful place in Anguilla or one of the
offshore cays, which always provides Don with some exercise and plenty of
opportunities to shoot snapshots. One recent walk took us to Windward Point at
the eastern end of the island overlooking Scrub Island. That was a first for
Don.
The Windward Point light with Scrub Island in the
distance
And so, we potter gently into 2018 and
whatever the New Year will bring to us, even including advancing senescence.
We hope it will all be good news for you and
yours.
Don and Maggie
16 December 2017
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Don Mitchell <idmitch@anguillanet.com>
To: Orvis Noel
Dec 25, 2017 at 8:51 PM
My goodness, Orvis, you have an interesting story to
tell.
Please tell it all to Ladislao, who is copied.
That way it will get in the Circular, so we
can all enjoy the story of your life after Mount.
Keep well,
Don
-------- Original message
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From: Orvis Noel <orvis.noel@gmail.com>
Date: 12/25/17 19:08 (GMT-04:00)
Hi Don,
Thanks for the reception.
I am Orvis Noel, graduate from Abbey school in
1964.
First village boy to receive a local
scholarship to the Abbey.
My sincere thanks to Fr Gregory Kleog, our
local Parish Priest at the time and of course Fr Dom Vlaar, the Principal at
the time.
Through his efforts I was hired as a Law Clerk
at JD Sellier & Co.
I was fortunate to work with an among the like
of Lawyers Brian des Vignes, Humphrey Stollmeyer, Wayne Smart, and Clarke.
(first name skips me)
I got married in 1967 to my childhood
sweetheart Kathleen (nee de Souza).
Migrated to Canada, Vancouver in 1969,
university educated, with degrees in sociology and Journalism.
Got involved in the entertainment business and
was fortunate to bring Sparroe, Kalyan, Crazy, Rose to these parts for summer
shows.
We have a very vibrant Trinidad & Tobago
Cultural society in British Columbia and I am involved in the homeland culture.
I would like to make contacts with some of the
guys who graduated in my time period.
Felix Reyes from Curepe, Keith Phillip from
Laventille/Morvant, Brian Waithe, Harold De Pass,(cyclist) Howard Ho (Tennis).
Would love to continue to keep in touch.
Happy Holidays to all...
Orvis
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On Mon, Dec 11, 2017 at 5:38 AM,
Don Mitchell <idmitch@anguillanet.com> wrote:
Dear All,
Ladislao’s latest Circulars, Nos 835 and 836, are now
posted: https://
abbeyschool2017circulars. blogspot.com/
Keep well.
Don
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productintnl Jerry Chin Cham
25/12/2017 (12 days ago)
Hello Ladislao
Thank you and a very blessed Christmas morning
to you..
Wishing you, family and friends a Very Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year..
May God continue to bestow his blessings and
guidance onto you..
Pray that 2018 is filled with joy, happiness
and good health.
God bless
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Greeting from
BlueMountain.com <ecards@bluemountain.com>
To: kertesz11@yahoo.com
Dec 25, 2017 at 1:38 AM
Happy New Year
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Jorge Iwaszkiewicz
28/12/2017 (9 days ago)
Saludos Ladislao:
Estaba fuera de Bogota cuando me mandastes la
informacion para transferir el dinero, y por error se me borro!!!!
Me la puedes mandar nuevamente???? Hago la
transferencia en estos dias, ojala antes de fin de ano.
Te deseo un Feliz ano Nuevo 2018-bajo
las circumstancias actuales en Venezuela y esperamos que algo se mejore para
todos.
Saludos...
Jorge Iwaszkiewicz
Bank & International Management Consultant
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Don Mitchell <idmitch@anguillanet.com>
To: John Pereira
Dec 19, 2017 at 11:17 AM
Dear Fr Abbot,
Many thanks for the copy of your
newsletter.
I was impressed and pleased to learn of the
several positive advances at the Abbey.
May the community grow from strength to
strength in the coming year.
Sincerely,
Don
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From: John Pereira
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2017
11:08 AM
Thank you Don and Maggie for your wonderful and
interesting Christmas letter.
On behalf of the Abbot and Community on the
Mount we wish you everything good for the season.
I am attaching a copy of our annual Christmas
newsletter 2017.
Regards,
Abbot John Pereira and Community
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On Dec 19, 2017 10:32 AM,
Don Mitchell <idmitch@anguillanet.com>
wrote:
Maggie and I wish you and yours a Happy Christmas and
a Prosperous New Year.
Attached is our end of year newsletter. Enjoy.
Don and Maggie
[Taking advantage of a friend’s internet, since ours
is still down.]
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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:
87UN0004JUBILEUM p7
14UN0001BROPJO, Brother Paschal Jordan
17AA0001FERRY, Ferry used by Adolfo
Aumitre to go to TT
17UN0001REUNION2018, Get together in
Maturin
