Newsletter for Alumni of The Abbey School Mt. St. Benedict , Trinidad and Tobago
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Dear Friends,
Right of the bat, I am sending the resume of Jan.
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From: "Jan Koenraadt" <jankoenraadt@casema.nl>
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 20:09:08 +0100
Dear Ladislao Kertesz,
I tried before to search the internet for information on the Abbey School
I would like to be included in the newsletters about the ex alumni of the Abbey School
I was a Dutch boarding student from Surinam
My two elder brothers Gerard and Thijs Koenraadt also attended the Abbey School
With great sorrow also to my old parents he died of illness in May 1973.
When I entered the school I only spoke Dutch and had to learn English first.
That gave me the nickname Dutch.
I have some old pictures of the school dating back to about 1958 which I would like to share.
I even have a beautiful picture of Form II in 1964 with all the names made by the one and only technical science man Father "Woosh" Benedict.
In turn I am very much interested in old pictures and what happened to the buddies I knew so well.
To start I enclose a few to hear your demands about sending more.
I try to keep them large in kilobytes for good quality.
I left the Mount unexpectedly in the summer of 1967.
Not because the school was not good enough, but because the O-level of the final GCE-exams would not meet the demands of a university in Holland
I needed A-level or an additional year in between.
Upon that it was suggested why not enter the newly founded Dutch secondary school in Paramaribo
So the decision was made overnight and I never saw my friends back again.
The new school was a modern mixed boy-girl school.
Most of my classmates had never had it different, but for me it was difficult to cope with that.
At the Mount we did not learn anything about that.
My last term a boy was even punished writing homework in studies the rest of the term during movies only because he was spotted thru a telescope from the monastery talking to two girls.
Please post my message and pictures on the newsletter, I am anxious to hear replies.
My email is jankoenraadt@casema.nl.
I live in the south of Holland , a place called Oosterhout about 60 km north of Antwerp
My postadres is
Jan Koenraadt
Remy van Haanenstraat 4 4907
NR Oosterhout
The Netherlands
Greetings from Jan Koenraadt
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Andres Larsen wrote:
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 09:22:34 -0800 (PST)
Hello Stanley
Here is an e-mail for you from Jan Koenraadt in the Netherlands
I no longer remember him but he is the second Abbey School Old Boy along with Attila Gyuris who lauds your guitar lessons on the main building staircase.
While you were doing that I was probably in the library above the refectory busily cutting out photographs of Field Marshalls Rommel (of the Afrika Korps) and Montgomery from books.
I also remember the Saturday night black and white movies like Stromboli with Sophia Loren; To Kill a Mockingbird with Gregory Peck; and Of Human Bondage with Kim Novak.
Incidentally I also recall that in our literature classes we read Somerset Maugham's classic about the Gilbert and Ellice Islands out in the Pacific.
Regards
Andres Larsen
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Jan Koenraadt wrote:
Thanks for the photo of Stanley Achong.
The name rings a bell, the face looks familiar, I crack my memories how he looked like then.
Any picture of him in his guitar lessons time?
Got myself only two lessons, this “Tom Doodle song".
Then Bobo came, we disturbed his afternoon nap.
No more guitar lessons.
But I kept my guitar, so nowadays my son is playing hard rock metallic on stage in a beat group, all electric, ha ha.
Greetings from Jan Koenraadt
Attila GYURIS
Saturday, December 2, 2006 10:09:50 PM
Here is what Jan Koenraadt looks like:
Jan left the Mount in 1967 after finishing Form IV.
During the MSB years he was there, his brother was a monk: Bro Alphonse.
His family lived in Paramaribo , Surinam
After some years they all eventually moved back to the home country, Holland
Jan lives in Holland
He is a successful Architect.
Attila
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From: "Don Mitchell CBE QC"
Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006 10:12:58 -0400
Hello Jan,
It was good to see the name Koenraadt after all these years.
I remember the name better than I will remember the face, as I suspect that you were a couple of years behind me.
I did Form V in 1963.
What year were you?
Don
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From: "Don Mitchell CBE QC"
Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006 15:47:20 -0400
Hello Jan,
I hope Ladislao will publish the photo.
Do you have any more of these historic ones.
If so, please send them to him so that he can use them in the Circulars.
I understand that Ladislao is having computer problems.
He is normally very prompt, year after year, in his weekly Circulars.
However, we have not heard from him for some months now.
I only use the website to upload Ladislao's circulars, and have abandoned them since the Circulars stopped.
I should really visit them and make sure they are all still functioning.
Don
(All photos are published one day or another. Ed.)
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From: Ervehaes
To: Don Mitchell CBE QC
Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2006 10:47 AM
Hello Don,
Very good to hear from you.
If you did form V in 1963, I just arrived at the Mount in august 1963, I must have been a little boy to you then.
But I had two elder brothers Gerard and Thijs Koenraadt who also went to the Mount.
You might have known Thijs very well, he went from 1955 on but he did the seminary.
After five years he joined the monastery as brother Alphonse.
I will add a picture of my brothers and me during Mount time to sparkle memories.
Only last month I discovered your old boys website http://msbtunapuna.blogspot.com/, almost going out of my mind after so many years, and established some contact.
I already mailed to Laszlo Kertesz but still waiting for his reply.
Greetings from Jan Koenraadt
MSB 1963-1967
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From: Don Mitchell CBE QC
Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2006 3:12 PM
Hello Jan,
It was good to see the name Koenraadt after all these years.
I remember the name better than I will remember the face, as I suspect that you were a couple of years behind me.
I did Form V in 1963.
What year were you?
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From: "Gmail Jan"
Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006 23:15:32 +0100
Hello Don,
Yes I have some more old pictures of the Mount.
I was meaning to contact Ladislao, to join the club and then get instructions from him to send him my old pictures to publish in the circulars.
But I didn’t get any reply yet.
I just hope he did not pick this period to retire.
I have already been mailing with Attila Gyuris, he was my close friend at that time, and he explained to me how it works.
Your name starts with Don, are you a monk of the monastery?
Could you fill me in, I just arrived.
My steady email address is: jankoenraadt@casema.nl, or jankoenraadt@gmail.com.
I have two others for common use but they are just aliases, so don't mind them.
I send you recent pictures of me and my family, to show who is on the other side,
I have four sons, big boys now.
Greetings from Jan Koenraadt from the Netherlands
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Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2006 13:42:24 -0800 (PST)
From: "laszlo kertesz"
Dear Jan
I hope to be around for a long time, if work permits get the weekly circulars going.
The best size for the photos in my case, is around 600kbtes which I reduce to around 100k using photoshop inserting a code and names if there are any or otherwise the circular gets heavy for some as there are 4 photos average.
You can send them to this email which has a large capacity.
There are about 1000 alumni of which we think we know 400 or so.
The old boys 1942-3 have little remembrances and photos, the newer ones 1970 to 1985 are non existent.
The golden period for the school was between 1953 to 1973, from the amount of mail I get.
The best years were around 1963 before the change of school year from January December to September July. 100% GCE.
So you were on the down slope but still vibrant Mount.
In 1973 the school was turned into a dayboys only school and the Venezuelans sent home.
Well this is to give you an insight and for me to include in a future Circular!!!!.
God Bless
Ladislao
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From: "Gmail Jan"
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2006 23:34:47 +0100
Dear Ladislao,
At last and very much pleased I get a message from you.
Thank you very much that I will be included in the circular's.
It's been so long since I first made new contacts.
I would like to send you my class picture Form II April 1965 to publish for everybody but it is 3 Megabyte. (this photo shall be sent later, ed.)
I have it without names, and with names, that makes 6 megabytes.
I will try to send it to you with www.yousendit.com which accepts up to 100 Megabytes.
You will get a message with instructions to download it from the website.
If it fails I will scale it to 600 kB end send it by mail.
But when big you can manage yourself what is best.
These are the only big ones I have, the others are smaller and I will send them by mail.
I know most names because I wrote them on the back of the picture long time ago.
A few I missed.
But here is a clear picture of Paul Quesnel.
About 1987 I got a letter from Lindsay Moffat from Glasgow
His address is
Lindsay John Moffat
Flat 3/2
email L.Moffat@ayrcoll.ac.uk (might be old)
But except him and a visit of father Cuthbert in Holland
What you write about the years, some of it is new to me.
Greetings from Jan Koenraadt
(I need large format photos so that they can be edited. Ed.)
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God Bless
Ladislao
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58JK0001JKOTHIJS. Thijs Koenraadt and Fr. Cuthbert et all.
05JK0001JKOWFE, Jan Koenraadt and Berthy in Greece
66JK0001JKOSBE, Jan Koenraadt at St. Benet´s Hall
85JK0001JKOFCU, Jan Koenraadt and Fr. Cuthbert in Holland
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