Newsletter for Alumni of The Abbey School Mt. St. Benedict , Trinidad and Tobago
Dear Friends,
You may wonder why there is an out of phase condition with the circulars?
I have just worked on the photos for Circulars 245, 246, 247.
Since the blog, I have not been sending out personal email, just to those that have paid their dues.
I am trying to free some time and try to catch up, and when I do, I shall mercilessly send to all of you the email as always.
Short stores on your favourite teachers
From: "Don Mitchell CBE, QC"
Subject: Re: The truth - as told in Prep B.
Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 21:20:53 -0400
Hi Jon,
You don't know the can of worms you opened when you wrote the anecdote about Mr Rai below.
I have not heard his name called in 40+ years.
That man ruined my education completely.
He was my arithmetic teacher in Prep B and Prep A in the late 1950s.
His idea of teaching was to walk around the classroom with a blackboard duster clasped firmly in his hand.
If he detected the slightest error in one's calculations, the result was a sharp crack of the wooden back of the duster on the top of the head.
After two years of his tutelage, I emerged into Form 1 completely ignorant of the basics of arithmetic, far less of mathematics.
I was in my 50s before I learned that there was anything positive about mathematics.
I failed O Level Chemistry and Physics because of the phobias that that man induced in my childish psyche.
If he were here in front of me today, I would shoot him dead as an example of what should happen to a bad teacher.
And, I would not suffer a qualm about the consequences!
Don
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From: Jon Golding
Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2006 10:09 PM
Subject: Re: The truth - as told in Prep B.
Chris,
I was there in Prep B at the time and those who were will remember Jeanzie De Meillac who many years later met Mr Rai in a pub in Ireland.
Apparently Rai was being a pain in the ass as usual and it ended up in an argument and Rai got floored by a De Meillac right hand!
They say what goes around comes around - even if it takes a long time!
I guess it was one schoolboy fantasy come true!
Moral of Story - " Don't Mess Around With a Mount Boy
Regards
Jon Golding
in Trinidad
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From: "Chris Knowles" knowlescb@ntlworld.com
Subject: The truth - as told in Prep B.
Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 22:11:23 +0100
Mr Rai, teaching in Prep B in late 1955, hearing a small boy talking at the back of the class, called out:
'Boy, empty vessels make the most noise!'
Mr Rai didn't think much of this boy's brainpower.
The small boy replied instantly replied:
'What about a chac-chac without beads, Sa!'
I heard it myself, I was sitting in the front, and was awed by such wisdom.
This boy was the youngest of three brothers, and they were all fighters, especially the younger two.
The middle one once took a bite out of Woon Sam (I think it was Woon Sam).
I know from the 'To' list above that about 22 of you were there with these characters.
And the mystery small boy was:
Christian Goddard!!
Who else remembers this?
All the Best,
Chris Knowles.
MSB 1955 - 1960.
On 5/18/06, Don Mitchell CBE, QC < idmitch@anguillanet.com>
Hi CheChe,
But, it is good to get it off your chest!
Especially after 40+ years!
Keep well,
Don
Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 22:26:07 -0400
From: "Rafael Echeverr¨ªa"
Subject: Re: The truth - as told in Prep B.
C'mon Don ... you are a great man ...
I am the first Mount Boy to give testimony of what a good friend you always were ... you would never shoot anyone ... we all know it ... it's just a matter of reviving frustrations that happen to all of us during the times of our childhood or teenage times ... and pain comes around again.
I can clearly remember my own episodes with a teacher who absolutely humiliated me in College in the UK
His name was Robinson ...
But we must never let those poor souls ruin the richness of our lives.
You are a good man ... a great lawyer ... we are all proud of you ...
By this time ... Rai and Robinson must have paid very highly all the harm they have done ... people who act like they did ... they just reveal their own misery.
You Mount Boys
please keep in touch and don't you dare take me out of your list of which I am so proud to feel included.
Un Abrazo Fuerte !!!!...
Siempre Amigo !!!
CheChe ...
From: "Jon Golding"
Subject: Re: The truth - as told in Prep B.
Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 23:49:28 -0500
Hey Don
Next time you're in TT you can buy Jeanzie a drink and he'll give you the technicolour version which I think you'd enjoy!
I certainly did.
I used to sit next to Lawrence Scott in Prep B with Jeanzie behind me.
Scott tried to become a priest in the monastery, eventually quit and went on to write a couple serious porno books about gays in monasteries.
Very graphic and disgusting - according to Fr Augustine who told me the story a couple years ago.
We do have a few Mount boys as well as teachers who are better forgotten!!
Regards
Jon
For those that prefer this way to cooperate with the Circular and the expense that this generates. It is 52 issues per year.
God Bless
Ladislao
Photos in this issue:
59NB0001PTATAS, Peter Tadros
60NB0001NBOGRP, Fr. Cuthbert in Mass, at scout camp
11UN0002EDIMSB, painting in clor of the mud hut
03UN0001EVEGRP, Photo during the event in 2003, fr. cuthbert and UNKNOWN, help !!!!
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