Circular No 151

Newsletter for past alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 25 of September 2004. Circular No. 151-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends,

Here is on new oldboy for the Circular, John Skinner.
If you remember he was mentioned in the Bull.
I have done some editing of his emails as some of the information that I got go back to 1800´s.
I have included John’s description on his malady because he asked me to, so if you write him, please be patient.
From the emails he must have been to our school for about a year and in 1948. Maybe Arthur can help.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: John Skinner
Subject: School, Aphasia
Date: 8/16/2004 4:54:39 PM

Dear Ladislao,
I did not send you my schooling years, I presume it was in 1947-1948, I don't know, probable about one year, I started work about that time 1948.
My schooling was:
Mount St. Benedict College, Trinidad.
Jamaica College, Jamaica. –
St. Benedict, San Fernando Trinidad.
The Covent, San Fernando, Trinidad, where I started school.

I wrote this with difficulty, as I have been diagnosed to have: APHASIA: THE HIDDEN DISABILITY

Communication is fundamental to our lives. It's how we relate to each other; how we express our personalities. But what if, overnight, your ability to talk, to convey our language was erased? a tragedy.

The words are in your head but you can't utter them; numbers mean nothing to you; you can't even write your own name. That's the reality for the people with APHASIA, a crippling disability that affects all of us, some more so than a speech difficulty. Some speak a lot other don’t say a word.

Then one day without warning, my life was changed for ever. I was at a meeting away from home, it was in Birmingham, I sat down to meeting, all of a sudden the coffee spilt from my cup in my right hand, it spilt right down my leg, I mumble, the speech was not there, all of them around me. Any way, I was admitted to Sandwell Hospital in Birmingham, and then the Derby Hospital, D.R.I. It was a long time ago.

I have APHASIA, due to a stroke. Although I know what I want to say, I have great difficulty getting it out because I have very real problems speaking, and writing. I have had help writing this letter. Aphasia is a DISABILITY that I share with about 255,000 other people in the UK, but because we have difficulty communicating, everybody ignores our needs.

I am a member of a Self-Help Group, that is part of the network of self-help groups set-up by the charity SPEAKABILITY. The charity helps in different ways: Organising information workshops for people without aphasia who work with people with aphasia. Campaigning for greater recognition of aphasia and the needs of people with aphasia.

There sufferers meet to discuss how they can break down barriers they encounter, for example, how to combat a transport system that won't give them free passes because they don't recognise APHASIA AS A DISABILITY, even though you can't work and therefore have no income.

"APHASIA is very, very poorly understood" It's A HIDDEN DISABILITY. Most people don't know its name or how to react when they're confronted with it. But its effects can be devastating. Speech may not be an option, but there are other ways you can communicate using gesture, facial expression, pointing, materials such as maps and newspapers.

I want everybody to understand that when I tell them I have APHASIA, it means that I need help with communicating so, I COMMUNICATE with sign and gesture. Remember APHASIA affects each one of us differently, and that our communications abilities can vary from day to day depending on factors such fatigue and stress levels. Having APHASIA doesn't mean you are stupid.
Yours Sincerely
John Skinner

Like to keep on getting the newsletter???. Yes
Did you look up the web page?? WWW.theabbeyschool.com, Yes
Maybe the photos would bring back good memories, Yes

Jems
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: kertesz12@icqmail.com
To: John@renniks23.freeserve.co.uk
Date: 10 August 2004 02:33
Subject: Re: family over there

Thank you John,
I sent you a newsletter where you can see Arthur’s address and you can correspond with him.
Who else did you know of the Mount St. Benedict??
Your curriculum is extensive, impressing!
Maybe you would like to keep on getting the newsletter???.
Maybe there are others that you would know of the era, and even they may have an email address?.
Retake contact with old friends.
Did you look up the web page?? WWW.theabbeyschool.com
Maybe the photos would bring back good memories, I hope.
God Bless
Ladislao Kertesz
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: John Skinner
Date: 8/9/2004 4:50:38 PM

Dear Ladislao,

oh! I am 71 year old. The same as Arthur.
Jems

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: kertesz12@icqmail.com
To: John@renniks23.freeserve.co.uk
Date: 04 August 2004 19:22

Dear John,
I wrote to you a several days ago.
Please inform me if you knew Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell General Manager Tate & Lyle, when you were in Trinidad 1963 - 1964 and their sons, Don, Gordon and Alix?.
Also if you knew Arthur Knaggs who was an alumni of the Abbey School??
God Bless
Ladislao Kertesz
------------------------------------------------------
El día Mon, 2 Aug 2004 21:43:29 +0100, "John Skinner" escribió

Dear Ladislao,
Do not know Mr & Mrs Mitchell
I returned on the (Aug 1963 appro.) from Trinidad.
Arthur is my 1st cousin.
My class mates were Ian Shoul, Stanley Ferguson, Arthur Knaggs.
I think Abbot Bernard was then in charge.
John D. Miller, I met him at Fletcher’s in Derby.
jems
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: John Skinner
To: kertesz12@icqmail.com
Date: 8/2/2004 4:50:06 PM

Dear Ladislao Kertesz,

I am John Shinner, My wife is Gill
My full name: John Edgar Martyn Skinner

Career :-
1948 - 1951 Apprentice & Shift Superintendent Sevens Ltd, Jamaica, West Indies
1951 - 1956 Premium Apprentice Geo. Fletcher, Derby, England
1956 - 1959 Assistant EngineersGrays Inn Certral, Annotto Bay, Jamaica
1959 - 1960 Assistant Engineers Sevens Ltd, May Pen, Jamaica
1960 - 1963 Assistant Engineers Ste Madeleine (Tate & Lyle), Trinidad
1963 - 1964 Technical Estimator Fletcher & Stewart, Derby, England
1964 - 1965 Assistant Installation Engineer Bacita, Northern Nigeria
1965 - 1967 Contracts & Projects Engineer Fletcher & Stewart, Derby, England
1967 - 1071 Quality Engineer Rolls Royce, Derby, England
1971 - 1977 Senior Project Engineer Fletcher & Stewart, Derby, England
1977 - 1984 Senior Quality Engineer Internation Combustion, Derby, England
1984 - 1985 Senior Project Engineer Scomack Eng. Ltd. England
1985 - 1987 Inspection & Quality Audit Engineer Renniks Q A Services, Derby, England
1988 - Suffered a Stroke in February 1988 Right side was weak & had speech difficulties (I could speak)

The members of the Skinner Family.
Robert David Marc Skinner is my Son.
Gilbert Sweyn was my father.

jems
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope that this long exchange makes us aware of problems that some of us live through, please elevate our prayers to our Lord so that His will be done. He is the only one that knows the strange road of our lives.

God Bless
Ladislao
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Photo. By Luciano Mellone, Family and photo of MSB
Photo of John skinner and wife.
Column: dbratt , The massa mentality
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Look us up at http://www.theabbeyschool.com an all class msb web site.
Look at www.paxabbey.com for information on the Monastery, Mt St. Benedict.
For those that want to communicate with the web, use, webmaster@theabbeyschool.com
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.
Use Kaviacion@cantv.net or yv1aci@yahoo.com for photos as I leave enough storage space for these.
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 to idmitch@anguillanet.net
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
Remember that Venezuela’s time is the same as Trinidad’s, -04:00 GMT.