Circular No 1056

 

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

Caracas, 1 June 2022. No. 1056

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Dear Friends,

Here is a series of emails with the title:  We thought they'd never end, we'd sing and dance our life away, ta ra ra ra

Some might wonder why I have included the comments by Donald Goddard.

He was a classmate of mine and an outspoken rebel against discipline.

One of controversial mind set, and still is today.

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Andres LARSEN <larsen.andres@gmail.com>

Wed, Jan 26

Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end, we'd sing and dance our life away, ta ra ra ra

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Alan Date <alandate@gmail.com>

Wed, Jan 26

Or, to use a saying of that good man, Christopher (Chris) Knowles, RIP, AS-MSB Ol' Boy:

"All good things must come to a pause..."

And stay safe and bless'd,

Alan

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Donald Goddard <liverpool.petroleum@gmail.com>

Wed, Jan 26

Gentlemen:

When I read the stories of the Mount Youngsters of the 1960s that have been coming out over the last week, it seems like you guys studied in a "country club of happiness" with theatre plays, girls, musical bands, etc.

My brothers and I studied at a much different Mount from 1953 until 1958.

What I recall was that the place was more like a "jail on a mountain" with lousy food and taught by nutty, Dutch priests.

However, a few of the brothers, especially Brother Vincent, were wonderful, normal people and our greatest pleasure was playing sports.

My question to you guys is:  Did we study at the same school?????

Donald Goddard

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Tony Johnson <jogncpa@gmail.com>

Wed, Jan 26

My experience was similar to Donald Goddard. 

I am glad that those who came after us enjoyed the experience of having young ladies on campus, as well as what sounds like great theatre and music. 

For the entire time I was at Mount in the late 60's the only time we got to see girls was on parents’ weekend when someone's sister came along. 

Never once did we have a dance.

A few boys expressed an interest in music. 

As a result, Fr. Eugene had installed giant conical speakers on the electric poles at the back of the building. 

The problem was that he only played high classical music. None of the stuff that we wanted. 

To get even some of the boys-soaked toilet paper rolls in water and jammed them into the conical speakers.

Not calling names!

I challenge you all to report some of the mischief you experienced at Mount.

Tony (Gabby) Johnson

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Father Harold Imamshah <frharold12@gmail.com>

Wed, Jan 26

Hello guys, of Theatre & Dances on the Mount,

Since I was one of the last monk Teachers, it's both refreshing and sad to hear of the enjoyable and the jail experiences at Abbey School.

I hope I brought some refreshing moments through the Art Room at the top of the school, a room with windows all around and lined with sinks which I got an Alumnus to cover with ply wood slanted desks, so the boys could paint or sketch at.

Fr. Edward Theunissen was puzzled at how I managed to get the boys to sing Parang at the Annual Prize Giving...

He shared that he could only have well behaved boys during his Music Class if Bobo was present.

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Tony Johnson <jogncpa@gmail.com>

Wed, Jan 26

Correction.  I was at Mount in the late 50's.

Also, I do not mean to imply that I did not have a good experience at Mount.

The emphasis on quality education, discipline, character building and morality has served me well. 

Unfortunately, some of these things are lacking in many schools today.

Tony (Gabby) Johnson

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Donald Goddard <liverpool.petroleum@gmail.com>

Wed, Jan 26

Friends & Amigos:

Our dear friend Harold was a very fortunate guy who arrived at Mount during the Enlightenment Period of the late 1960s, when most of the students were a "bunch of goodie two shoes", easily handled by Harold.

He was not around during the Dark Ages of the 1950s when life was quite different. 

At that time, most of the "Big Boys" were a bunch of pricks, except for the nice ones like Csaba, Isaias and Urbano.

Apart from studying and playing sports, our other fun pastime was stealing fruit, mostly mangoes and being chased by Brother Swa.

Occasionally, we would steal some honey as well.

When those delicious hops bread got hard, we would pelt each other with disastrous consequences.

Those daily masses were quite boring and inventing sins we didn't commit for the weekly confessions, needed imagination.

I plan to write my next book about Mount St. Benedict that will be titled: "The Hardasses at Mount of the 1950s vs. the Spoilt Pussies of the 1960s."

Donald Goddard

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B L <brucelocke@live.ca>

Wed, Jan 26

Lord. I will never forget that horrible music coming from those speakers.

And yet, after we emigrated to Canada my parents bought a Viking radiogram with mostly classical LPs and I have loved classical to this day.

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Father Harold Imamshah <frharold12@gmail.com>

Wed, Jan 26

Thanks Don,

Believe me I have had to grapple with some discipline problems either with corporal punishment or scrambling a Form 4 boy by the collar; there were no goody two shoes.

I have taught in Trinidad, St. Vincent, Grenada, Guyana and Louisiana in Boys High schools as well as mixed High Schools and students are the same anywhere and anytime.

Thanks for sharing and since I don't appreciate some of your disrespectful language in some of your comments, if you do choose to continue even in your new Book, I will choose not to purchase or read.

Thanks,

humbly,

Fr. Harold Imamshah

Servant of Mary for Jesus

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Donald Goddard <liverpool.petroleum@gmail.com>

Wed, Jan 26 at 11:06 PM

Harold:

I'll write two books; one with no "naughty words" for the "holier than thou" amongst us and a twin book with plenty of "bad words" for the enjoyment of the majority of the guys who cuss a lot in between their prayers. 

You won't have to buy the book because I will give it to you for free.

I promise you that when I finish writing such a book, those who read it will be greatly enlightened as to the realities of "Mount" boarding school life, especially for those of you who have been living in a fantasy bubble for so many years.

So as not to offend the delicate ones among us, I shall entitle the book with no naughty, naughty words: "Mount Normal Guys of the 1950s vs. Mount Naive Children of the 1960s".

Cheers,

Donald Goddard

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On Wed, Jan 26, 2022

Attila GYURIS <gyuris@yahoo.com> wrote:

When I first arrived to the Mount in 1964 I remember seeing a stage function in the Refectory that featured many of the senior boys in a comedy with "Maracas Bay Party" scene with guitars and straw hats and some dancing and singing.

I think Rafael Echeverria. Richard Clark, Norm Smith, and David Narraine were in it, along with many others I forget.

Over the years I have vague memories about some other theatre productions at the Refectory, some were plays with "borrowed" girls from St Joseph's, and other plays where some of the "better looking" boys playing the female roles dressed in female costumes, but I don't remember the names of those plays.

I just have a few "memory photos" of scenes from them.

I never participated myself in any Play while at the Abbey School.

After starting College, I formed did part of my University Experimental Theatre Group for about two years and I enjoyed it immensely.

We put on one play per quarter ...  however, after two years I had to quit because my studies became too intense, I had no time to attend the rehearsals, etc. 

Then, sometime later on, while living and working in the Los Angeles area, as a lark, I had a part as an "extra" in a Hollywood movie production called "Detour", which was being produced by my good friend & movie stuntman Tanner Gill.

It was a very interesting experience being part of a movie set.

The movie never made it into the big time.

Then and there I realized that that life was definitely not for me ... So that was the end of my "acting" career. 

As an aside,...Talking about the St Joseph's girls... 

I do have distinct memories of the occasional dances we had at the basketball court with steel bands and such. 

This social activity was thanks, in great part, to Fr Theo, (Fr Gregory's -(the Duck)-  brother).  

Fr Theo was a visiting teacher from Holland at the Abbey School for about two years (from 1966 to 1968 I think).

He had the philosophy that the Mount boys needed to rub elbows and socialize with girls as a natural thing, (in a controlled and supervised setting of course). 

This idea was quite revolutionary and risky at the time, and, I am sure, a hard sell to the school management especially the uptight headmaster Bobo and the rest of the religious cadre.  

But Fr Theo, being strong willed as he was, prevailed, and us boys had a few wonderful interactions and dances with the pretty girls from St Joseph's.  

The girls were bussed up from the St Joseph's girl's school for the events, always under the watchful eyes for both the Mother Superior Nun and the Abbey School priests.

No matter the supervision, after overcoming our shyness and awkwardness. many of us boys danced the night away and had much fun. 

Each of us had a "favourite" girl to dance with and some of us even had a "girlfriend" (whether she knew it or not) with whom we exchanged letters, (for a while at least), even if with little hope of anything would come of it ....

I remember my letter writing girlfriend was Annette Polderman, a beautiful Dutch girl who was the sister of Rudi Polderman, a boy at the Mount in my class who was a star swimmer in the Aqualads. 

I always wondered what became of Annette.

Sadly, after Fr Theo left in 1968 to go back to Holland, these dances and activities with the female gender stopped, never to return.

I guess I was lucky to have been there during Fr. Theo's tenure.

That's all I have for now.

Attila Gyuris

AS-MSB 1964-1969

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EDITED by Ladislao Kertesz,  kertesz11@yahoo.com,  if you would like to subscribe for a whole year and be in the circular’s mailing list or if you would like to mention any old boy that you would like to include, write to me.

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Photo:

55HH0012ENGLISH,

07LK0014FBFDV, Fr. Michael de Verteuil

06AL0001ALAR, Andres Larsen

04AD0001ADA, Alan Date