Newsletter for past alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I. Caracas, 15 of March 2003. "Ildes of March" Circular No. 71
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Dear Friends,
Some time back I asked Nigel Boos to write on scouting, here is his report.
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SCOUTING AT ABBEY SCHOOL
Maybe it’s because we grew up in the post WWII era, a time when uniformed
soldiers were on every movie screen and were great role-models for us young uns.
Maybe it’s because we loved to parade in our khakis, black and gold scarf toggled
at the neck, badges there to show as proof of achievement. Or maybe we all simply
enjoyed the challenge and the fun associated with scouting. But for sure,
Scouting at the Abbey School was an unique experience.
I believe it is true to say that we had more Queen Scouts than perhaps any other
Scout Troop in the island. But what else would one expect than a fantastic
record, with a Scout Master like Fr. Ildefonse in charge, a mighty man among men,
followed after his resignation by the friendly, humble and caring Fr. Cuthbert,
who had to learn everything about scouting from “scratch”, as the Canadians say.
Sunday morning band practice was something to which we looked forward, bringing
with it, as it did, noise, music (of a type), discipline, and great efforts by
our band to maintain a high quality of martial tempo. The trumpeters, who in my
day included John Golding, Juan Marini, Pablo Figuera, Dennis Gurley, and others,
led by Manuel Prada, set a wonderful, piercing tune, against the rat-tat-tat-tat,
rat-tat-tat-tat, ah-rat, ah-rat, ah-rat-tat-tat-tat beating of the side drums,
played by (fill in the blanks, fellas, I can’t even remember the names), and
backed by the Big Base Drum which was my job. (Wasn’t Stephen Clark my
understudy? I know he was involved, but exactly in which capacity eludes me now.)
Frankly, I had the easiest job, as all I had to do was to hit the thing hard and
keep time with everyone else. We marched around the School a few times, much to
the annoyance of the volleyballers who had to pause in their game as we ducked
under the net, and it was a blessed relief to everyone when, finally, we set off
down the hill and along the roadway to entertain / annoy the rest of Trinidad and
the monks of MSB. It was always a highlight of the parade when Mike Howard was
invited to step out in front of the band, with his silver baton (a thing with a
heavy wooden ball at the top end). Tall as he was, Mike led the parade from the
front and inspired us with his wonderful, fancy marching style and handling of
his baton.
Camping with the 1st Mount St. Benedict Scout Troop was an experience never to be
forgotten. Fr. Ildefonse would choose his camping ground, after much consultation
with the Scout Commissioner, local landowners, and I suppose, our Troop Leader,
Gerard Pampellone, and plans would be made. Each Patrol Leader (mine was
“Woodpeckers”) was responsible for ensuring that an adequate number of pots,
pans, skillets, mugs, plates, cutlery, tents, poles, pegs, mallets, shovels,
ropes, semaphore flags, etc. were packed into our “Patrol Boxes” and readied for
departure. On the big day, we’d board the bus and accompanying cars in our
uniforms and head out for a few days of glorious adventure.
On site, the routine began, with unloading, unpacking, distributing, checking,
choosing Patrol sites, pitching tents, cutting bamboo, building trestle tables,
making gadgets, cooking, inspections, hiking, mealtimes, camp-fires, games and of
course, sleeping. Each day began with a “Wake-Up” call, followed in short order
by Holy Mass, from the back of Fr. Ildefonse’s / Fr. Cuthbert’s Volkswagen van.
The back of the van was set up as an altar, and (these were pre-Vatican II days,
so the priest had his back to us, facing into the van) we stood around
respectfully as the holy sacrifice was offered, in Latin.
We camped at a number of memorable sites all over Trinidad and Tobago, and I
vividly recall one camp in Tobago, in 1961. I think, when Mr. Bishop invited us
to come to Tobago as guests of the Tobago Scout Association. The land chosen for
us was a concave basin, and we were positioned at the very base of the basin. Mr.
Bishop brought over the largest “grass-cutter” I’d ever seen (which he probably
used to cut the bush between his coconut trees), a huge apparatus pulled behind
his tractor. In no time at all, the area was cleared and we began to set up camp,
pitching tents randomly around the inside of the basin. We cooked supper and were
preparing for bed when the heavens opened up. Rain fell bucket a drop for the
entire night and the water rose inch by inch inside of the tents. Everything was
soaked, in fact, everything was underwater, and we were cold and miserable. An
SOS call was sent out, presumably by Fr. Cuthbert, and in the middle of the
night, cars began to arrive to extricate us from the bog which our campsite had
become. We were taken to a local school-house and offered accommodation in a few
of the classrooms, which thankfully were dry. We slept blissfully into the
morning, all semblance of order having temporarily disappeared. But not for
long.. . . . . . . as soon as we had woken up and cooked breakfast, back we went
to the campsite to salvage everything, travelling back and forth in Mr. Bishop’s
tractor-trailer unit to a new campsite chosen for us, a lovely spot right on the
water’s edge, with a beautiful view of sea and sand as only those who know and
love Tobago can understand. A very memorable camp indeed.
And so the years have flown. We graduated from Abbey School and moved on with our
lives. Some of us went on to Form 6 at St. Mary’s, others attended Canadian,
American, British and Venezuelan Universities, among others, and settled down,
some with families, others not, but all retaining somewhere, in the backs of
their minds, distant, lingering memories of those happy days of our youth, when
we were ready to take on the world.
Ladislao Kertesz has been asking for someone to write something about Scouting at
Mount, for the benefit of us all, and I have tried to fulfil his request. I knew
that somewhere among my albums I still had a small collection of photographs
which I had taken with my box camera and I’ve dug them up. Hopefully, some of you
guys will recognize yourselves. Hopefully, these pictures will remind you of
where we’ve been together. Perhaps some of you may feel inspired to write about
your own memories of MSB and the Abbey School.
At any rate, here they are, for your enjoyment. I recognize a number of the guys
from these photos, but perhaps not everyone, so help me out, if you will:
Best regards,
Nigel
----------------------------------------------------
Those that I have not contacted on placing names on the faces in the photos,
please write me so that we can get history straight.
----------------------------------------------------
A recent news from Nigel
Laz,
Please pass this on:
Bernard Stone (MSB alumnus of approx 1951) has had a heart attack 5 days ago in
Calgary. He has had open-heart surgery and is slowly returning to health.
He is still in hospital in Calgary and has asked for prayers for his recovery.
His first request on opening his eyes, after the operation, was for Holy
Communion.
(Or, so I was told.)
Nigel
-------------------------------------------------------
Hope that by now Bernard Stone is recuperating satisfactorily, please write him,national@aol.com, nathose@hotmail.com,
God Bless
Ladislao
-------------------------------------------------------
Listado: C71.xls
Photo: Scouting Norman smith, roger ames
Joe azar and his patrol
Jeff gransaull and h
Column: wvb - No column has been received, sorry.
Column: dbratt –030309 100
------------------------------------------------------------------
Send information to: Ladislaokertesz@hotmail.com, if you would like to be in the
circular’s mailing list or any old boy that you would like to include. Telf. 0(212) 263.5346 Caracas.
Please note: you may have missed some of the circulars, if you have not received
one every week, do not hesitate to ask for the missing number.
For those that would like to contact me here I include my telephones:
Telf.Office: 58 (212) 263.5346, 267.2416, From: 11:00GMT to 22:00GMT
FAX: 58 (212) 261.0829,
Home: 58 (212) 238.4084. From: 00:00 GMT to 04:00 GMT
Cellphone: 58 (0416) 612.5695
ICQ# 158597413
Remember that Venezuela’s time is the same as Trinidad’s, -04:00 GMT.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends,
Some time back I asked Nigel Boos to write on scouting, here is his report.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SCOUTING AT ABBEY SCHOOL
Maybe it’s because we grew up in the post WWII era, a time when uniformed
soldiers were on every movie screen and were great role-models for us young uns.
Maybe it’s because we loved to parade in our khakis, black and gold scarf toggled
at the neck, badges there to show as proof of achievement. Or maybe we all simply
enjoyed the challenge and the fun associated with scouting. But for sure,
Scouting at the Abbey School was an unique experience.
I believe it is true to say that we had more Queen Scouts than perhaps any other
Scout Troop in the island. But what else would one expect than a fantastic
record, with a Scout Master like Fr. Ildefonse in charge, a mighty man among men,
followed after his resignation by the friendly, humble and caring Fr. Cuthbert,
who had to learn everything about scouting from “scratch”, as the Canadians say.
Sunday morning band practice was something to which we looked forward, bringing
with it, as it did, noise, music (of a type), discipline, and great efforts by
our band to maintain a high quality of martial tempo. The trumpeters, who in my
day included John Golding, Juan Marini, Pablo Figuera, Dennis Gurley, and others,
led by Manuel Prada, set a wonderful, piercing tune, against the rat-tat-tat-tat,
rat-tat-tat-tat, ah-rat, ah-rat, ah-rat-tat-tat-tat beating of the side drums,
played by (fill in the blanks, fellas, I can’t even remember the names), and
backed by the Big Base Drum which was my job. (Wasn’t Stephen Clark my
understudy? I know he was involved, but exactly in which capacity eludes me now.)
Frankly, I had the easiest job, as all I had to do was to hit the thing hard and
keep time with everyone else. We marched around the School a few times, much to
the annoyance of the volleyballers who had to pause in their game as we ducked
under the net, and it was a blessed relief to everyone when, finally, we set off
down the hill and along the roadway to entertain / annoy the rest of Trinidad and
the monks of MSB. It was always a highlight of the parade when Mike Howard was
invited to step out in front of the band, with his silver baton (a thing with a
heavy wooden ball at the top end). Tall as he was, Mike led the parade from the
front and inspired us with his wonderful, fancy marching style and handling of
his baton.
Camping with the 1st Mount St. Benedict Scout Troop was an experience never to be
forgotten. Fr. Ildefonse would choose his camping ground, after much consultation
with the Scout Commissioner, local landowners, and I suppose, our Troop Leader,
Gerard Pampellone, and plans would be made. Each Patrol Leader (mine was
“Woodpeckers”) was responsible for ensuring that an adequate number of pots,
pans, skillets, mugs, plates, cutlery, tents, poles, pegs, mallets, shovels,
ropes, semaphore flags, etc. were packed into our “Patrol Boxes” and readied for
departure. On the big day, we’d board the bus and accompanying cars in our
uniforms and head out for a few days of glorious adventure.
On site, the routine began, with unloading, unpacking, distributing, checking,
choosing Patrol sites, pitching tents, cutting bamboo, building trestle tables,
making gadgets, cooking, inspections, hiking, mealtimes, camp-fires, games and of
course, sleeping. Each day began with a “Wake-Up” call, followed in short order
by Holy Mass, from the back of Fr. Ildefonse’s / Fr. Cuthbert’s Volkswagen van.
The back of the van was set up as an altar, and (these were pre-Vatican II days,
so the priest had his back to us, facing into the van) we stood around
respectfully as the holy sacrifice was offered, in Latin.
We camped at a number of memorable sites all over Trinidad and Tobago, and I
vividly recall one camp in Tobago, in 1961. I think, when Mr. Bishop invited us
to come to Tobago as guests of the Tobago Scout Association. The land chosen for
us was a concave basin, and we were positioned at the very base of the basin. Mr.
Bishop brought over the largest “grass-cutter” I’d ever seen (which he probably
used to cut the bush between his coconut trees), a huge apparatus pulled behind
his tractor. In no time at all, the area was cleared and we began to set up camp,
pitching tents randomly around the inside of the basin. We cooked supper and were
preparing for bed when the heavens opened up. Rain fell bucket a drop for the
entire night and the water rose inch by inch inside of the tents. Everything was
soaked, in fact, everything was underwater, and we were cold and miserable. An
SOS call was sent out, presumably by Fr. Cuthbert, and in the middle of the
night, cars began to arrive to extricate us from the bog which our campsite had
become. We were taken to a local school-house and offered accommodation in a few
of the classrooms, which thankfully were dry. We slept blissfully into the
morning, all semblance of order having temporarily disappeared. But not for
long.. . . . . . . as soon as we had woken up and cooked breakfast, back we went
to the campsite to salvage everything, travelling back and forth in Mr. Bishop’s
tractor-trailer unit to a new campsite chosen for us, a lovely spot right on the
water’s edge, with a beautiful view of sea and sand as only those who know and
love Tobago can understand. A very memorable camp indeed.
And so the years have flown. We graduated from Abbey School and moved on with our
lives. Some of us went on to Form 6 at St. Mary’s, others attended Canadian,
American, British and Venezuelan Universities, among others, and settled down,
some with families, others not, but all retaining somewhere, in the backs of
their minds, distant, lingering memories of those happy days of our youth, when
we were ready to take on the world.
Ladislao Kertesz has been asking for someone to write something about Scouting at
Mount, for the benefit of us all, and I have tried to fulfil his request. I knew
that somewhere among my albums I still had a small collection of photographs
which I had taken with my box camera and I’ve dug them up. Hopefully, some of you
guys will recognize yourselves. Hopefully, these pictures will remind you of
where we’ve been together. Perhaps some of you may feel inspired to write about
your own memories of MSB and the Abbey School.
At any rate, here they are, for your enjoyment. I recognize a number of the guys
from these photos, but perhaps not everyone, so help me out, if you will:
Best regards,
Nigel
----------------------------------------------------
Those that I have not contacted on placing names on the faces in the photos,
please write me so that we can get history straight.
----------------------------------------------------
A recent news from Nigel
Laz,
Please pass this on:
Bernard Stone (MSB alumnus of approx 1951) has had a heart attack 5 days ago in
Calgary. He has had open-heart surgery and is slowly returning to health.
He is still in hospital in Calgary and has asked for prayers for his recovery.
His first request on opening his eyes, after the operation, was for Holy
Communion.
(Or, so I was told.)
Nigel
-------------------------------------------------------
Hope that by now Bernard Stone is recuperating satisfactorily, please write him,national@aol.com, nathose@hotmail.com,
God Bless
Ladislao
-------------------------------------------------------
Listado: C71.xls
Photo: Scouting Norman smith, roger ames
Joe azar and his patrol
Jeff gransaull and h
Column: wvb - No column has been received, sorry.
Column: dbratt –030309 100
------------------------------------------------------------------
Send information to: Ladislaokertesz@hotmail.com, if you would like to be in the
circular’s mailing list or any old boy that you would like to include. Telf. 0(212) 263.5346 Caracas.
Please note: you may have missed some of the circulars, if you have not received
one every week, do not hesitate to ask for the missing number.
For those that would like to contact me here I include my telephones:
Telf.Office: 58 (212) 263.5346, 267.2416, From: 11:00GMT to 22:00GMT
FAX: 58 (212) 261.0829,
Home: 58 (212) 238.4084. From: 00:00 GMT to 04:00 GMT
Cellphone: 58 (0416) 612.5695
ICQ# 158597413
Remember that Venezuela’s time is the same as Trinidad’s, -04:00 GMT.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ATTACHMENTS
Listado C71.xls | Names | Form V | Contact | nickname | business address | Phone | ||
| Alcala, Roberto | glen | YV | |||||
| Alexander, Cl | |||||||
| Alkins, John | Hugg | ||||||
| Alkins, Peter | Hugg | ||||||
| Allain, Peter | |||||||
| Allen, Keith | TT | ||||||
| Allen, Kurt | 1972 | dornellas | puggy | TT | (868) 662 6248 | ||
| Allum, Kenrick | lk | Allum Import, Caracas, Venezuela | (0212) 285 7772 | allumsmusic@telcel.net.ve | |||
| Alves, Leon | huggins | TT | Alves Eng. And Filtration | kelly@trinidad.net cherchers@hotmail.com | |||
| Aman, Antonio | glen | YV | |||||
| Amare, Juan | glen | YV | |||||
| Ambard, Frankie | Hugg | ||||||
| Ames, David | 1957 | urbano | NC Elizabethville | davidames1@cox.net, | |||
| Ames, Geoffrey | 1961 | dav | Big head | ||||
| Ames, Michael | 1954 | lk | Cork | TT oil | (868) 628 6335 | michaela@opus.co.tt | |
1 comment:
Nigel Boos recognises in the 3rd photo:
1. Jeffrey Gransaull
5. Humphrey Ho Koon
6. Richard Anderson
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