April 2012 - Queen`s College Alumni Association of Guyana

Transcription

THE QUEEN’S COLLEGE OF GUYANA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION (TORONTO) INC. NEWSLETTER
April 2012
CONTENTS
April 2012 | www.qcalumnitoronto.com
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01 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
PRESIDENT
Eden Gajraj
Eden Gajraj
02 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
04 TALKBACK
06 OBITUARIES
16
35
08 TRIBUTE - MAURICE MOORE
31
Victor R. Moses
11 EULOGY - AUSTEN SMITH
Abbas Edun
30
12 FORMATION OF QCAA
Leyland Muss
14 HISTORY & CELEBRATION
Ataur Bacchus
15 TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE
Kemahl Khan
16 CONGRATS TO ALUMNI
Kemahl Khan
20 KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Laurence Clarke
27 LYNETTE DOLPHIN AWARDS
Victor Moses
34 BBQ & FASHION SHOW
Melissa Enmore
35 QC VICTORIOUS
Adel Jones
Victor Moses
39 LIFE IN MY YOUNGER DAYS
Arthur Henery
40 GODFREY’S NOSTALGIAS
Saville Farley
Saville Farley
Melissa Enmore
Victor Moses
P.O. Box 312
West Hill, ON M1E 4R8
Canada
E-mail: [email protected]
www.qcalumnitoronto.com
Clement Marshall
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SECRETARY
Victor Moses
TREASURER
Audrick Chung
ASST. SECRETARY/TREASURER
Lester Fernandes
DIRECTORS
Gerald Alleyne
Saville Farley
Stanley Chan Choong
Syed Rayman
E-Mail Address
[email protected]
Website
http://www.qcalumnitoronto.com
Webmaster
Colin Rowe
The Scribbler
Official Publication of the
Queen’s College Alumni Association
(Toronto)
Editorial Committee
Kemahl (ARK) Khan
Victor Moses
30 LUCILLE MITTELHOLZER
33 TRIBUTE TO BOBBY MOORE
VICE-PRESIDENTS
Melissa Enmore
Ronald Wharton
Vivian Wong
P.O. Box 312
Canada
29 BACKPACK PROJECT
Kemahl Khan
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Kemahl Khan
37 ICQC ABM
28 FARLEY’S QUIZ 31 CELEBRATING THEIR 80TH
QCAA EXECUTIVE 2011- 2012
The – April 2012 Edition
Layout & Design
Colin Rowe
Phone Number.....................(416) 267-7227
message . . . FROM THE PRESIDENT
am pleased to
extend warmest
greetings to all
members of our QCAA
Toronto Chapter on
behalf of the Executive
Committee.
The Leap year
2012 is already here and
just last October we celebrated
the
20th
Anniversary of the
founding of our Chapter
with a formal Dinner
and Dance. Thank you
for attending and for
making it a successful
event. We are very grateful to our sponsors who made this
event a very successful fundraiser as well.
Last April I took up the challenge once again to serve as
President of our Chapter and, as one of its original members,
I am proud of our achievements over the past 20 years. Our
Chapter continues to meet the two objectives it set itself in
1991, by working towards maintaining the alma mater’s traditional high standards of excellence and by fostering a spirit of camaraderie among QC Alumni residing in Canada.
What we have achieved over the past 20 years would not
have been possible without the commitment and hard work
of those dedicated and loyal members of our Chapter. We
cannot afford to be complacent, as we have significant challenges ahead if we are to continue to be a vibrant organization. Like other associations, we are in need of more alumni, particularly the younger ones, if we are to justify our raison d’etre.
When we have completed the current projects of upgrading the School’s library with a computer network system
and installing a modern intercom system by the fall of 2012,
we would have contributed to the School and its students a
total amount of approximately CAN$135,000 since our
Chapter was founded.
We continue to hold and participate in several annual
local fundraising events which many of you are familiar
with and support, such as our 12th Night Dance in collaboration with Toronto BHSAA, our Father’s Day Brunch, our
Casino trip, our participation in Last Lap Lime with four
alumni association partners, and our Annual Awards of 4
Lynnette Dolphin Memorial bursaries valued at $4,000
CAN, a total of 16 bursaries having been awarded since the
spring of 1999.
I
We have planned the following activities for 2012 on the
basis of being more community involved:
Membership Drive: to encourage our inactive Alumni to
come out and participate in your association, we ask that
you spread the word to our alumni both old and young and
invite them to our Annual General Meeting to be held on
Sunday, April 29, 2012. We need you to get involved in your
association.
Charitable Status: Our Executive Committee has approved
the plan for our Chapter to become a charitable organization, and we are in the process of finalizing the process. This
way we can raise more funds and give tax receipts to our
donors and we do hope we will become your favorite charity.
Health Seminars: We plan to take the lead in creating a culture of health so we can achieve more and enjoy life more
by holding a series of health seminars for the Guyanese and
Caribbean diaspora with the involvement of other Alumni
Associations. Alumnus Dr.Vivian Rambihar, renowned
Toronto Cardiologist, will be the lead on these seminars.
E-mail Money Transfer: We are also arranging with our
Bank to accept e-mail money transfers which will make it
easier for our alumni to pay their membership fees and buy
tickets for our future events. You will be able to send your
money directly from your bank account to QCAA Toronto’s
bank account.
They say in a Leap year we must ask to get what we want,
so I am asking all QC alumni to attend our AGM at which
time we need alumni to become members and join our
Executive Committee to share their expertise, to fully discuss the above plans, and to participate in your association
for the coming years.
2012 is the year for you to get involved.
Eden Gajraj
President, QCAA (Toronto)
Attended Q.C 1955-1961
Raleigh “B” House
The Scribbler – April 2012 Edition
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1
LETTE
RS TO
THE E
DITOR
RECOGNITION FOR Q.C. ALUMNI
Q.C. Alumni Associ
Q.C.A.A (TORONTO) BURSARY AWARDS
As a former Prep Form student (1948-1949), it is a real
pleasure for me that my alumni association made the notable
and deserving gesture in awarding bursaries in the name of
the late Miss Lynette de Weever Dolphin, O.R.,
C.C.H.,M.B.E., L.R.A.M., A.R.C.M., G.R.S.M., our past
Prep Form mistress and music teacher. In her honour the
Association is now awarding up to four (4) bursaries each
year to students who apply and meet the established qualifying criteria. Each award is valued at $1000 CAD.
It recently crossed my mind that perhaps it would be fitting on the Association's part to have these four awards
shared among Miss Dolphin and other notable Q.C.personalities.
The first person that I would recommend, in whose name
one (1) of these bursaries should be awarded, is none other
than the late Mr. Doodnauth Hetram, M.A., B.C.L.,
L.L.B.,Dip.Ed., the first Guyanese ever to be appointed
Principal of Queen’s College (1963-1969). Mr. Hetram
served as a Q.C. master from 1952 to 1963.
Second on my list is the late Mr. M.T. Lowe, B.S.c.,
P.G.C.E., the first Queen's College “old student” to become
Principal (Headmaster) of our alma mater (serving from
1971 to 1974), for whom also one (1) of these four (4) bursaries could be named. Mr. Lowe also taught at Q.C. in 1952
and from 1957 to 1971.
If my math is still any good, this would leave two (2) bursaries to be awarded in the name of the late distinguished
Miss Dolphin.
I am of the feeling that this proposal might find support
among other alumni, and that the Q.C.A.A (Toronto)
Executive Committee, present or future, will give it very
serious consideration.
Joseph Arthur Permaul
Attended Q.C. 1948-1957
Weston (F) House.
Editor’s reply: Joe, your proposal will be submitted to
QCAA (Toronto) Executive Committee for their consideration, as you have requested.
Dear Editor:
I am seeking recourse to the columns of your newsletter in
repeating my attempt (first made on 17/01/12) at getting
some semblance of recognition accorded to certain Queen’s
College alumni and alumnae who, after the Guyana elections on 28 November last year, achieved significant successes in the Guyanese society, albeit in areas of public
endeavour that, to my knowledge, have never before been
recognized by our association. A suggestion that such recognition be accorded was recently rejected out of hand for reasons that I still cannot understand. I can only surmise that it
was considered not very prudent, or even politic, to raise
such an issue (construed, mistakenly, to be of a political
nature) in official circles, let alone to promote it, lest it
evoked in certain quarters invidious feelings and lead to discomfort and unease, and, possibly, embarrassment. Let me
say at the outset that I certainly do not perceive any such
possibility, since the field in which these achievements were
made, though not one of the conventional ones like law,
medicine, education, business, literature or public life, with
which we are all so familiar, is certainly one which has
always played an indisputably important part in the lives of
all Guyanese. I refer to that most important field of service
called politics.
Why politics, as a field of human endeavour, is regarded
among chapters as a ‘no-go’ area or a ‘mine-field (sic)’ not
to be ventured into, I cannot understand. Why should this
area be regarded as taboo and why should one refrain from
applauding or even mentioning the achievement of those of
our alumni and alumnae who distinguish themselves in this
field of public service? How different is attainment in this
field from that in any of those other hallowed fields mentioned above? I would have thought that the training imparted to us at our alma mater would have prepared us to be discerning in our judgment, and as alumni of mature years we
would be fully aware of our ‘limits’ and would use our discretion in deciding where and when credit and recognition
could and, indeed, should be accorded, without bias, fear or
favour, and where they should be withheld. Here we have a
case where recognition was being sought for achievement in
the field of politics in the full sense of the word, politics
meaning general governance, not politics in the narrow
‘ism-ic’ context. We are, here, not concerned with the
‘brand’ of politics espoused by the achievers nor are we concerned with the tendency they show in the broad spectrum
of ‘isms’, but, rather with the fact of the accomplishment of
the individual. If we are broad-minded enough, we will not
entertain such notions as ‘undesirable’ politics and ‘desirable’ politics. After all, as mature QC alumni with a sense of
sound judgment, we should be able to determine what is
worthy of merit and what is not, what redounds to the cred-
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it of Queen’s College and, incidentally, also of Guyana, and
what does not. So why should we be forbidden to even contemplate the notion of considering our alumni and alumnae
for plaudits in the field of politics? To give plaudits is not to
peddle or to approve any particular brand of politics or to
suggest that this brand is favoured and that one is not, since
our mission was never to influence party-political thinking.
Whence, therefore, comes this vehement, anachronistic
objection? Once we do not engage in promoting partisan- or
party- politics, but let our focus be on the subject of general
governance, we will be doing no more than concerning ourselves with effort and with meaningful contribution to a
field of endeavour which is of vital importance to our mode
of living and, ultimately to the future progress of Guyana.
This forum is certainly not concerned with party politics or
with the promotion of the various brands of politics now
existing in Guyana!!
It has been the accepted practice of all our chapters to
acknowledge and applaud noteworthy achievements of our
alumni. It is my considered view that the achievement of
alumnus David Granger, a relative newcomer to conventional Guyanese politics, deserves to be recognized as do those
of all others who were given particular parliamentary
responsibilities in the Guyana parliament, whether as a
member of Government or as a member of the Opposition.
This is clearly not to be interpreted as being partisan-political, but, on the contrary, must be seen as being even-handed, fair and perceptive. I am therefore proposing that accolade be accorded by our alumni community to all Queen’s
College alumni and alumnae (and there are quite a number
of these) who have been selected to fulfil a role in parliament. Particular recognition, I propose, might be accorded
to those who have been appointed or re-appointed ministers
of government or shadow spokesmen in the Opposition. I
see this as the proper function of the umbrella body of the
alumni community, namely the International Committee,
ICQC, or, if this committee is reluctant for any reason, legitimate, imagined or otherwise, I propose that the local chapter, QC-OSA, be requested to do so, this being the chapter
most physically contiguous to the achievers. Indeed, I do
feel that individual and personal communication might be
made with the Prime Minister, congratulating him on his
retention in the post, and the same be accorded to the Leader
of the Opposition on his preferment to that office. Alumni
Ministers of Government could also be contacted, either by
a personal letter or by a circular letter as, also, could those
Opposition Spokesmen who are alumni. I do sincerely feel
that the gesture being suggested here would assure the recipients that their achievements are as fully recognized by the
alumni community as have been those of others before them
for their achievement in other more traditional areas of
endeavour. It cannot be denied that the contribution and
achievements of some of the latter would have had less of an
impact on the lives of Guyanese than that of those I am pro-
posing for recognition. Is it not ironical that a local Guyana
newspaper could have seen fit to mention recently in its
columns instances where Guyanese in the US were not even
elected to serve in local government there, but were merely
candidates. This being so, how much more deserving should
it be to be recognized if one was selected to serve as a legislator in one’s own country and, to boot, at the highest legislative level, where the contribution of the achiever would
have a direct influence on the lives of Guyanese? Surely a
Guyanese legislator deserves as much (if not more) honour
in his own country than he is likely to be accorded in his
country of adoption.
I end on a humorous note. I anxiously look forward to the
prospect of the two distinguished alumni, Samuel Hinds and
David Granger, in the capacity of Prime Minister and
Leader of the Opposition respectively facing each other
across the political aisle in parliament and engaging each
other in a toe-to-toe battle debating ideas, issues and policy
and, occasionally, exchanging political punches!
Clarence Trotz
Editor’s reply: Clarence, your call for recognition of
Q.C. alumni and alumnae who have had significant
achievements in the field of politics (“general governance”) will be presented to the QCAA (Toronto)
Executive Committee for their review.
(Clarence Trotz is an alumnus, former master and
Headmaster of Q.C.)
<
Sunday June 10, 2012
Venue to be announced
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B
A
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TA L K
WHAT OUR READERS ARE SAYING
Thank you so much .....I truly appreciate the thought, kind
words and extra effort devoted to my Dad.....though beautiful and meaningful...it was not easy reading as you can
imagine. My Goodness some days I still can't believe my
Dad is gone...As you may or may not know I was a
Daddy's girl...it's so sad how fragile Human life is..!!!
With all sincerity, I Thank you ...
KEAN LOWE, QC ALUMNUS
What an impressive edition of the Scribbler! Truly inspiring stuff; the best I think I have seen in all these years - and
there have been some very good similar publications from
this and other Chapters in the past.
Congratulations to ARK, Victor, Melissa and the entire
team for a very rich effort. Keep it up guys!
LAURENCE CLARKE, QC ALUMNUS
FEBRUARY 7, 2011
Thanks a thousand for the current issue of the Scribbler. It
is a fine production and a tasteful celebration of Queen's
and its many talented alumni, unique and ubiquitous as
they are. Every few weeks, particularly for the last three
years, one of them "finds" me and we rejoice together in
our experience of Reginae Collegium. And they cast their
net wide. The British created an empire to saunter across
the world. Queen's boys do not need an empire to do the
same thing. The school, particularly in the 50s to the 70s
gave them a global outlook and they have been running
with it ever since.
Hail Scribbler
(DR.) BOBBY MOORE, QC FORMER MASTER
Many thanks for sending this - truly an enjoyable read, and
good to see so many of the old faces (still young at heart of
course) again also - Gerald Alleyne, David Singh and
Leyland Muss were among those I spotted in the photos,
and also read Albert Ramprasad's comments. You're right,
the Scribbler has indeed evolved into a magazine; I look
forward to subsequent editions.
ROD ALLSOPP, QC ALUMNUS
FEBRUARY 9, 2011
Thanks. An enjoyable read!
KEN BAHADUR , QC ALUMNUS
FEBRUARY 23, 2011
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Many thanks for your note
and for keeping me up-todate. What a great job you
(editorial committee) do in
maintaining production of the
Scribbler – it’s invaluable.
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VIC INSANALLY,
QC ALUMNUS AND
MEMBER OF QC-OSA
February 28, 2011
Congratulations on another great issue of the Scribbler.
Love the articles and appreciate the time put into the project.
NEIL SMITH
QC ALUMNUS
I totally agree with Neil. Congratulations on a job very
well done. We can see that lots of thought, time and effort
were put into it. Keep up the good work and great success
in the future.
PATRICK “BRADDIE” BRADSHAW
QC ALUMNUS
Many thx for sending The Scribbler & for keeping me in
the loop. Enjoyed all the news/info re folks whom I knew
so well both @ QC & UCWI.
Trust you are maintaining good health & that you continue to keep in touch. All the material was well written &
very competently put together--keep up the good work.
JOE BUTCHEY, QC ALUMNUS
FEBRUARY 11, 2011
This newsletter was really very well put together. Kudos to
your chapter for this good work. Will take a little while to
read through entirely though ☺.
NEVILLE BURKE, PRESIDENT, QC-OSA
FEBRUARY 8, 2011
Thank you for sending me "The Scribbler".
It is very interesting reading and your Assoc. must be congratulated on such tremendous achievements in the last
year.
JEANETTE SINGH,
SECRETARY, U.G. GUILD OF GRADUATES OF
ONTARIO
FEBRUARY 28, 2011.
Thank you. That was very interesting.
Thanks for the Scribbler. An amazing editorial effort!
Regards,
ANNE CASTANHEIRO, ST.JOSEPH’S ALUMNI
ASSOCIATION
FEBRUARY 26, 2011
IAN WISHART, QCAA (U.K.)
FEBRUARY 8, 2011
On behalf of my children, Chrystale and Jason and most
certainly myself, I would like to record our gratitude for
your inclusion of the passing of our beloved CHRISTINE
in your 2010 Obituaries.
We also take this opportunity to extend our sincerest
condolences to the others who endured the same experience of grief. I couldn't help but noticing that D’Urban
House was surely grieving.
Many thanks for taking the time to forward this to me. I
can hardly believe that it is nearly a year since my father
passed away and it is nice to see him remembered (in the
Scribbler).
MORAG HAYES,
DAUGHTER OF LATE RONALD BATCHELOR, FORMER
QC ART TEACHER
FEBRUARY 13, 2011
OLIVER BECK, QC ALUMNUS
Many thanks for the information which you have provided. I wish to congratulate you on producing such a quality
publication for the QC alumni community and to thank
you for carrying my remarks. The publication was indeed
interesting and satisfactory.
BAYNEY KARRAN
GUYANA’S AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.A.
FEBRUARY 14, 2011
I found this issue of the Scribbler most informative and
entertaining. The variety of subjects and high quality of
the photos fitted nicely together to convey a feeling of
togetherness that was quite comforting. Congratulations to
you and your staff for an excellent effort. Thanks for keeping me in mind.
FRANK BIRBALSINGH, QC ALUMNUS,
QCAA(TORONTO) MEMBER
FEBRUARY 8, 2011
The Scribbler was very well produced and very informative. I always enjoy reading it. I did appreciate the article
by Roger Harper whom I met in Guyana when I went to
see World Cup cricket there in 2007. The Toronto Chapter
is the most active and best organized one. Keep up the
good work.
VICTOR BOODHOO, QC ALUMNUS
FEBRUARY 9, 2011
To all involved in putting out such an outstanding publication, you have done exceedingly well and you are worthy
of our highest praise and thanks for keeping the banner of
Queens College flying high. Again, congratulations and
keep up the good work.
Great eulogy and a well done Scribbler... you guys did a
lot of work.
RONALD LOCHAN, QC ALUMNUS
This was a fantastic newsletter. I enjoyed it. Thank you!
We will work on getting copies placed in the library, and if
possible, we will try to print a few copies to give to the students.
SHARON SINGH-KREUTER
SECRETARY, QC-OSA
FEBRUARY 8, 2011
Many thanks. This issue looks very interesting and I shall
certainly enjoy going through it in detail.
NANCY RICKFORD
BHSAA (TO) ALUMNA
FEBRUARY 7, 2011
Thanks for this. Thanks, too, for the Newsletter, which I
thought very well done, as usual. Glad my slightly adjusted piece on the Frank Birbalsingh Appreciation Awards
was found useful.
Regards,
COLIN RICKARDS
Quite a comprehensive issue! Thanks for including me in
your pages. It was very generous. Hope you have a good
year of support. The obit section was extensive and
brought back memories of so many people of my time e.g.
Rawle Farley. I remember his dad who got into Adult
Education after retiring as a headmaster.
BARNEY SINGH, QCAA (TORONTO)
ARDENT SUPPORTER
FEBRUARY 22, 2011
<
KENNETH MASIH DAS, QC ALUMNUS,
FEBRUARY 9, 2011
Fideles Ubique Utiles
Queen’s College Alumni Association of Guyana (Toronto Chapter)
Visit www.qcalumnitoronto.com or call 416-267-7227 today!
5
Obituaries
We say VALETE to the following persons who passed away since the last issue of our Scribbler (January 2011) and convey our sincere condolences to their families and relatives.
BOVELL, James Nathaniel - on
August 10, 2011 at age 91. He was the
father of QC alumnus Dr. Keith
Trenton (K.T) Bovell of Guelph,
Ontario. K.T. attended Q.C from
1962-69 (Percival “A” House, Head
Boy 1969-70, 100yds/100 metres
record holder).
BROWN, Karl Aubrey Lewis - on
July 5, 2011 in Aberdeen, Scotland at
age 87. Karl attended QC (1936-43)
on a Government scholarship and
taught Geography at QC from 1946-52
and 1957-63, after which he was
appointed Headmaster of Anna Regina
Secondary School in Essequibo,
Guyana. He was a member of the
QCAA UK Chapter until 2009. The
Anna Regina Secondary School AA of
Toronto held a memorial service for
him on November 5th last in
Scarborough which was attended by
several members of the Toronto
Chapter.
DALY, Paul - on January 20, 2012 in
Florida at age 54. Paul attended QC
from 1968-75. A former President of
the QCAA Central Florida Chapter, he
was the nephew of alumnus Desmond
Daly who was a QC Head Boy in the
late 1950’s and a cousin of the late
Norman “Nebu” Cameron, former QC
master.
FRASER, Henry Alonso - (DSS &
Rtd Commissioner of Police) - on
February 14, 2011 at age 88 in Guyana.
He was the father of alumnus Ian C.
Fraser (1959-66, Cunningham “K”
House).
GIBSON, Edward (Eddie) – on July
25, 2011 in Brooklyn, NY. Eddie
attended QC from 1967-72 and was a
member of Moulder “G” House.
HASSAN, Sheik (Nazeer) – on
September 12, 2011 in Hollywood,
Florida.
(Note: we were unable to get Sheik’s
QC Bio data).
LALL, Dr. Moti – on January 9, 2012
in Guyana at age 69. Moti attended
QC circa 1953/54 - 1961. He was a
well-known pulmonologist (pulmonary disease specialist) and in 1998
was awarded the Cacique Crown of
Honour (CCH) - Guyana’s third highest national honour - for his long and
dedicated service in the field of medicine, particularly for his resolute
efforts to help reduce the scourge of
TB (tuberculosis) in Guyana. He was
President of the Guyana Chest Society,
and a former Member of the Guyana
Parliament.
LATCHMIN, Alice – on October 13,
2011 in Brampton, Ontario at age 86.
She was the mother of alumnus Tyrone
Thomas (1962-68, Nobbs “L” House).
LEILA, Lennox Michael (Mike) – on
November 21, 2011 in Guyana. Mike
attended QC from 1948-57 and was
very good in Art. He was a member of
Austin “C” House and later of Woolley
“H” House. He was resident in
Vancouver, B.C. in the late ‘60’s - ’70’s
and worked as a graphic artist, draftsman and later as a qualified architect,
having obtained a degree in
Architecture from the University of
British Columbia. After resettling in
Guyana around the age of 60, he conducted courses in Architecture at the
University of Guyana. Mike was very
accomplished on the steel pan, playing
tenor pan with the “Moonlighters”
band at the Cosmos Club in North
Vancouver.
LOCKE, Donald – December 2010,
in Atlanta, Georgia, USA at age 80. He
was the QC Art Master from 1964-70.
Donald was awarded a Guggenheim
Fellowship in Sculpture in 1979, was
artist-in-Residence at Arizona State
University, a member of the part-time
faculty at Georgia State University and
Atlanta College of Art. He retired
from teaching in 1996. For three years
he wrote a weekly review for Creative
Loafing, Atlanta and is a member of
the Advisory Board of Art Papers.
(Note: Donald Locke’s obit is included here as we were informed of his
passing after the Jan 2011 issue was
published).
LUNCHEON, Sybil - on January 9,
2012 in New York. She was the mother of alumnus the Hon. Dr. Roger
Luncheon (1960-68, D’Urban “D”
House), Head of the Presidential
Secretariat in Guyana.
MASSAY, Lennox – on July 29, 2011
in Atlanta, USA. Lennox attended QC
in the 1950’s and was an ardent supporter of QCAA, having attended several alumni reunions.
MOORE, Maurice M. – on January 8,
2012 in Toronto at age 79. Maurice
attended QC from 1943-51, was school
prefect in 1949/1950, and Head of
Weston “F” House. He represented
QC in football, table tennis, hockey,
and cricket. He was QC’s table tennis
(TT) captain in 1949 and 1950, and
captained QC’s 2nd X1 cricket team in
the Wight Cup division. He also captained the national hockey team and
the then B.G. Cricket Club’s Case Cup
(1st Division) team. In 1950 he represented B.G. (Guyana) in the Regional
TT Championships versus Barbados,
and in football in the Caribbean
8
6
Obituaries
Championships held in Jamaica in
1951. During 1950-61, Maurice was a
three-time national TT singles champion and teamed up with Godfrey Denny
to become a doubles champion for the
entire period. See page 8 for tribute.
RICKARDS, Colin William – on
November 24, 2011 in Toronto at age
73. The well-known Journalist, Author
and Broadcaster was an Associate
Member of QCAA Toronto Chapter at
whose AGM in 2007 he was the Guest
Speaker. Colin covered the Toronto
Chapter’s Literary and Appreciation
Awards events in the local TO community newspapers – the PRIDE and the
Caribbean Camera.
ROBINSON, George Leslie – on
October 7, 2011 in Georgetown.
George attended QC from 1964-67 and
was a member of Nobbs “L” House.
George represented the school at cricket and built quite a reputation as an
opening batsman in the senior and
Case Cup teams. He was the Executive
Director and Chief Distiller at
Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL).
SAFRAJ, Ashmede M. – on March
26, 2012 in Scarborough, Ontario at
age 85. He was the eldest brother of
alumnus Kemahl (ARK) Khan who is
the Immediate Past President and
Executive Member of the QCAA
Toronto Chapter, and older brother of
Ashmat Safraj who is an Associate
Member of the Chapter.
SAM, Odette – on January 25, 2012 in
Georgetown, Guyana. Odette was the
sister of alumnus Robert Sam (197073, Percival “A” House, School
Prefect, and 1973 senior athletic champion).
SANKIES, Marius Geoffrey Noel –
on May 12, 2010 in Guyana at age 95.
He attended QC in the 1930’s and was
the father of Geoffrey, Marius Arnold,
and the late Melvyn and Gordon
Sankies (who all attended QC).
The senior Mr. Sankies was
Guyana’s Chief Labour Officer, retiring in 1969, and Personnel Director of
the Guyana Seafoods Ltd from 1969
until 1994. He is considered to have
been the oldest QC alumnus at the time
of his death.
(Note: Marius Geoffrey’s obit is
included here as we were informed of
his passing after the Jan 2011 issue
was published).
Cadet Corps in 1970/71. At time of
passing, Hayden was the Managing
Director of Courts furniture and appliance retail store, Jamaica.
SANKIES, Austen Melvyn (Mel)
Bernard – on August 25, 2011 in
Guyana at age 73. Mel attended QC
from 1947-1957 and was a member of
Raleigh “B” House. At the time of his
passing he was the Deputy Vice
Chancellor (VC) of the University of
Guyana where he served for 40 years.
He once acted as its VC and held the
position of Snr. Lecturer in UG’s
Department
of
Mechanical
Engineering. He was a past president
and executive member of the Guyana
Association of Professional Engineers
(GAPE), and was a member of several
organizations including the Guyana
National Bureau of Standards (GNBS).
His name is synonymous with
Engineering
and
Engineering
Education in Guyana, and he is considered to have been the first Guyanese to
have earned a degree in Aeronautical
Engineering.
STUART, Laurence McGregor – on
March 14, 2011 in Brooklyn, New
York. Laurence attended QC in 195665 and was in Nobbs “L” House. An
ardent supporter of all things related to
QC, he was also a founder member of
the New York Chapter. He was the
brother of alumnus Colin McGregor
(1965-72, Nobbs “L” House).
SANKIES, Gordon Wellesley – on
October 22, 2011 in Fort Myers,
Florida. Gordon entered QC in 1952
and was a member of Raleigh “B”
House.
SINGH, Rudolph Hayden – on
February 17, 2011 in Miami, Florida.
Hayden attended QC from 1964-71
and was a member of D’Urban “D”
House and was Sergeant Major of the
SMITH, Austen (Neil) – on Saturday
Jan 21, 2012 in Toronto. Neil attended QC from 1950-1957, was school
prefect in 1956, and Head of D’Urban
“D” House. He was “D” House athletic champion 54-56, QC’s table tennis
captain in 1955 and 1956. Brother of
alumnus W.H Smith (1944-51). A tribute is on page 11.
WILLOCK, Renee – on September
22, 2011 in Boston. She was the mother of deceased alumni Michael (1950s)
and Ronald Willock (1948-57), both of
Percival “A” House.
Editor’s Note: Our sympathies to
the Sankies family on their recent
losses. Please let us know if we
have omitted any names from our list
and we will certainly include them in
the next issue of the “Scribbler”. <
agm ‘12
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Sunday
April 29, 2012
TALL PINES COMMUNITY CENTRE
64 Rylander Blvd.
Scarborough
2:00 P.M
For information:
(416) 396-4350
7
Tribute to a Notable Departure
Remembering Maurice Montague Moore
Sometimes impressions or reflections
seep into head and latch onto your
thought processes. That is exactly
what happened when I read the eulogy
that was written for Maurice Montague
Moore by the Honorable Ret. Judge
Vibert Lampkin.
Judge Lampkin mentioned that “…
Maurice was born on the 8th day of
March 1932 … His mother died in
Canada in 1981... His father died in
Guyana in 1984. Maurice died on the
Maurice Moore
8th day of January 2012, two months
1932 - 2012
shy of his 80th birthday.” I suspect that
the intent is to pin-point the occurrences of “8” in these
events but I was diverted to that old English nursery rhyme,
Solomon Grundy. Remember it?
Solomon Grundy. Born on a Monday;
Christened on a Tuesday;
Married on a Wednesday;
Took Ill on a Thursday;
Worse on a Friday;
Died on a Saturday;
Buried on Sunday:
This is the end of Solomon Grundy.
I ask for forgiveness if I give you the impression that I
am trying to make light of the demise of a man who had
tremendous skills, who made a huge contribution to the
sporting landscape of Guyana, and who left lasting impressions even on those who only read about him and were
never fortunate to see him in action.
I surmise that I unconsciously wished that there was
some unique Solomon Grundy-like pattern to the milestones
surrounding the entry and exit of this extremely talented
alumnus and son of Guyana – something that sets him much
further apart from the rest of us.
I have always been fascinated by people who exhibit
exceptional talents in a wide range of sports. This article is
about a guy who played four (4) sports - football, cricket,
hockey and table tennis – and did well at all of them. He
also played chess and was an accomplished pianist. I don’t
think that I will get any disagreement if I were to extrapolate and indicate that he probably would have done well at
lawn tennis, squash, and golf.
Maurice was a former three-time national table tennis
champion and “ball player extraordinaire” mentions one
article. “A multi-sport athlete” indicates another. But I’ll
provide a synopsis of what others said about Maurice Moore
and let you come to your own conclusions.
We opted to provide a tidbit from Judge Lampkin’s eulogy and encourage you to read it or listen to it using the links
provided below. Judge Lampkin did an excellent job in providing a biographical sketch and in detailing Maurice
Moore’s resumé.
I hope that we can use Maurice’s legacy in our efforts to
revive sports at QC.
Victor R. Moses
“Maurice Montague Moore was one of the great all-round
Guyanese sportsmen of his generation …”
“…But it is for his athleticism, perhaps more than anything else that we remember him. He excelled in football,
cricket, hockey and table tennis. I once heard it said that
‘Maurice Moore had the best ‘ball sense’ of anyone of his
era’…”
“… There are two things that many people may not know
about Maurice. Yes, we all talk about his prowess in terms
of the ball games. But not many of us know that he was also
an ardent chess player, at a time when the game was not
widely played in Guyana. He also loved music and was an
accomplished pianist. This was indeed a talented man with
a wide variety of interests …”
Ret. Judge Vibert Lampkin
Full eulogy can be read at http://guyaneseonline.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/eulogy-for-maurice-moore-by-vibert-lampkin/ or heard at http://youtu.be/rIK7hqIWynY
Maurice was a contemporary, a year my junior or perhaps
same year; we played cricket together for 3½ years both
Case and Wight Cup, but his forte was Table Tennis at
which he represented British Guiana and Guyana. A fine
person and good friend, with a ready smile who avoided the
traps of race that entangled many in the fifties and sixties;
last re-united in Toronto four years ago.
Mohan Ragbeer
QC Alumnus (1943-50, D’Urban “D” House)
8
8
me, won the National title for a wide-eyed, now fully confident, young lad from the Bauxite town.
Thanks Mr. Moore, you were my hero then, you were my
inspiration before that, and you will always be the beneficiary of Mackenzie Table Tennis history. Good Night Sir,
may God rest your soul, bless your loved ones, and comfort
all of us who will miss you dearly.
Horace Benjamin
QC T.T. Senior Champion (1971), Guyana Jnr T.T.
Champion (1970), runner-up Caribbean Jnr T.T. Champion
(1970).
Photo was taken at the Maurice Moore’s funeral service
in Canada.
Front row left to right: Quentin Newcomb standing next
to his mother Dr. Edith Grannum (wife of Doug
Newcomb); Joyce Moore (mother of Maurice’s three
children); Colleen Grannum (Maurice’s sister and the
mother of Edith Grannum and Lesley Grannum); Karen
Moore (Maurice’s daughter). Back row left to right:
Lesley Grannum (with her right arm around her sister
Edith); Trevor Moore (younger son and twin brother of
Karen Moore); Roger Moore (eldest of Maurice’s three
children) Inset top left Maurice Moore.
Winning Mackenzie's first National Junior Table Tennis
(T.T.) title in July 1970 – big deal, right? Some might think
so, but there’s a much bigger story to be told. It’s one of
selflessness and graciousness, all for the sake of inspiring a
young mind and body. Yes, winning that title was a big deal,
but was owed in a big part to the magnanimity of Mr.
Maurice Moore.
Prior to the weekend National tournament in
Georgetown, I earned a final berth in our Mackenzie
(Linden) Championships against the indomitable Maurice
Moore. Foregone conclusion? That’s right! I did not stand
a chance against the multi-crowned former National Men’s
champion who was not past his physical prime. But, by the
end of the night, I was being congratulated as the new
Mackenzie champ. What just happened? I’ll tell you …
disregarding all the headlines that might later scream
“Young Mackenzie upstart upends former Men’s Singles
Champion”; disregarding all whispers from older folk,
insinuating “how could he lose to that l’il boy?”; disregarding all personal pride that could be at stake, this moral giant
of a gentleman chose to subtly allow me to win just so that
I would be equipped with enough confidence to face the
supposedly unbeatable competition in Georgetown.
Mr. Moore and I never did discuss the result, but he was
with me every step of the way later that weekend in
Georgetown, encouraging and prodding. But all that was a
bonus, because earlier in the week, he had, by “losing” to
“… According to five times men’s national singles champion Mike Baptiste, he lost his first men’s singles final to
Moore.
… “The first time I ever reached the men’s singles final
I lost to him,” he told Stabroek Sport last evening in an
invited comment.
“He was a very good ball player,” Baptiste recalls.
“He won the national men’s singles title in 1965 and again
in 1966 when he beat me,” he added. According to Baptiste,
Moore had won his first men’s singles title in the late 1950s.
Baptitse said his most enduring memory of Moore was
when he coached the national table tennis team in 1971
before he migrated.
… “He was rated as one of the all time greats,” Baptiste
said.
By Mike Baptiste via Earl B John
In “Former national TT champion Maurice Moore dies in
Canada” at
http://www.stabroeknews.com/2012/sports/01/24/formernational-tt-championmaurice-moore-dies-in-canada/
The president and executive members of the Guyana Table
Tennis Association (GTTA) wish to express heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the late Maurice Moore a
former national table-tennis champion who passed away on
January 8, 2012, two months shy of his 80th birthday.He
leaves to mourn his three children, Roger, Trevor and
Karen, four grandchildren, sister Colleen, two nieces and
two great-nephews, along with his friends Vivian Wong better known as ‘Bungy’ and Carl Benjamin better known as
‘Benjie’ and the extended table tennis fraternity.
It is always sad to lose someone more particularly one
from the table tennis fraternity and in this time of bereavement, the GTTA truly hopes you find comfort in God and
the great spirit Maurice exemplified as a human being.
Guyana Table Tennis Association
8
9
QC’s Reed League Team Back row: (left to right) W I Lee
(captain), J Van Sertima, R C Bacchus, R N Lee, V P
Chung. Middle row: R M Glasford, M M Moore, A F R
Bishop, J A Phillips. Front row: W O Morris, B A Eyre, L
E Owen. Absent: M Branker.
Hockey XI Back row: (left to right) C Yhap, F E Mongul,
R M Glasford (captain), R C Bacchus, M M Moore Middle
row: N L Fung, G A Lee, V P Chung, R N Lee. Front row:
R V Luck, D A Carrington, I R Wong.
The era of the multi-sport athlete competing at a high level
in two or more athletic endeavours, it seems, is a thing of the
past.
In North America, there was Deion Sanders who is the
only individual to play in the Super Bowl and the World
Series and also the only athlete to hit a home run and score
a touchdown in the same week.
The Caribbean has also produced its fair share of exceptional multi-sport athletes. Among them were Guyaneseborn Maurice Moore and Eddie Caetano, both of whom
passed away in the last month in the Greater Toronto Area.
“… He was one of the best when it came to soccer,”
recalled Colin Cave, who represented the Catholic Youth
Organization before coming to Canada. “He could play any
position and he used both feet well …”
Former national footballer, Norville, credited the late
Maurice Moore with being the author of his career.
Norville related that he is one of only four players to ever
play every position on a football field for Guyana except
goalkeeping. He informed that the other three players
included Moore, Patsy Pieters and Dion Barnwell.
Ron Fanfair
In “Great multi-sport athletes remembered for their
prowess” at http://sharenews.com/great-multi-sport-athletes-remembered-for-their-prowess/
Guys:
I heard that Maurice Moore former national champion of
Guyana had passed away. I cannot confirm this. Maurice
was a friend of all players in the Toronto area, a regular at
Carvo's club, Malteenoes, and a drop-in during past years at
SKTTC. A very good old school chopper; played him many
times. I am sure he will be missed.
By Edison Jefford
In “No place for disabled, destitute former national footballers” at:
http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2012/01/28/no-placefor-disabled-destitute-former-national-footballers/
The QC magazine of 1949-50 described Maurice as “a hard
kicking centre-half, and fearless tackler”. He went on to follow in the footsteps of his legendary father – Stanley Moore
– of the historic Victoria Football Club, and played for, and
eventually captained the national team.
Maurice was also included in QC’s Hockey X1, playing
at “outside left” and “showing good stick work” (according
to the QC magazine). He went on to represent the BGCC at
hockey, along with Aubrey Bishop.
By Earl B John
In “Former national TT championMaurice Moore dies in
Canada” at
http://www.stabroeknews.com/2012/sports/01/24/formernational-tt-championmaurice-moore-dies-in-canada/ <
Posted on MyTableTennis.Net Forum by blogger sharkcard
10
AUSTEN RYCROFT (NEIL) SMITH
June 30, 1938 - January 21, 2012.
EULOGY
BY ABBAS EDUN
A brief eulogy to the memory
of my close friend and contemporary, Austen Rycroft
(Neil) Smith.
t was with much regret that I
learned of Neil’s death. I was
very upset when I received the
sad news of his passing; we had
known each other for more than 60
years.
I first met him on Wednesday
September 20, 1950 when he came
into Form II A at Queen’s College
in British Guiana (Guyana). He had
come to us from St. Stephen's
Church of Scotland School. In 1956
he was made the Head of D’Urban
"D" House because of his athletic
ability and excellence as a table
tennis player.
Neil and I left school in the summer of ’57, and both of us were
employed as clerks in the Local
Government Office in Brickdam,
Georgetown. I left that post after 10
months, in October 1958, and we
did not see each other again for
many years.
He attended the University
College of the West Indies in
Jamaica from 1959 to 1963 and
majored in French. Austen spent the
last year, before his graduation with
B.A. (Honours), in France. He had
become an expert in the language,
and returned to Guyana to teach at
his old school for a few months
from September 1963.
I
A London-based Group of companies,
Booker
Brothers,
McConnell and Co., at one time
dominated the economy of British
Guiana. They had owned sugar
plantations in the colony since the
early 19th century. Neil joined them
as a Management Trainee in 1964,
and 2 years later was awarded a
scholarship to West Germany. He
graduated with M.B.A. (Honours)
from the University of Mannheim.
In Frankfurt, he worked in the
Marketing Division of Farbwerke
Hoechst Aktien Gesellschaft from
1968, and later represented this
pharmaceutical company in Kenya,
Tanzania, Uganda, France and
England. He had resided in each
one of these countries until 1974.
The urge to return to the land of
his birth was so great that he did go
back. Austen was General Manager
at Guyana Timbers for a few
months before emigrating to
Canada. In 1975, he worked in the
Marketing Department of Merck
Sharp and Dohme, a global health
care provider; two years later he
joined the Canadian Imperial Bank
of Commerce. When he retired
in1998, he was the Manager and
Training Consultant at the CIBC
branch located at Woodbine and
Steeles Avenues in Toronto.
He was a scholar, an athlete and
a gentleman, and had incredible
strength, both physically and mentally. Throughout his life he demon-
strated a strong work ethic with the
expertise and long hours which he
contributed to the pharmaceutical
and banking industries.
Austen was married to Eleen
Munroe whom he met while she
also was a student at UCWI. She
and the family are aware that I am
very sad at Neil’s passing.
Edward Oliver “Bogus” Pilgrim,
the grand old man of Mathematics,
once said that Neil was like “cold
pap.” Requiescat in pace, my
friend.
Written on the Ides of March 2012.
Abbas Edun
Austin ”C” and Woolley “H”
Houses
Editor’s Note:
Abbas is involved in beekeeping
as a hobby and contributes articles to “Bee Culture”, the magazine of American Beekeeping.
As a result of his interest in
bees, he is still in touch, nearly
60 years later, with his Biology
teacher Dr.Howard Samuel
Irwin who taught at Q.C. from
1952 to 1956. You can read
more about the eminent
botanist, Dr.Irwin, in an article in
our Scribbler of January 2010.
<
11
THE FORMATION OF THE
QUEEN’S COLLEGE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
TORONTO CHAPTER
BY LEYLAND A. MUSS
“The Founding Fathers of QCAA (Toronto Chapter)". From left to right - Leyland Muss, Alwyn Cumberbatch,
Dennis Lord, David Rohee and Des Chang Sang.
n early 1990, Dave Rohee invited me to a dinner party
with Val Smith, his cousin, who was living in New
Jersey. We covered a lot of subjects and in the course of
conversation Val mentioned that he would like to have a
reunion of the class of 1940 as September 21 1990 will be
the 50th anniversary of the day they
entered QC. This conversation went
early into the next morning over a
fair amount of XM “10” and black
pudding. The general consensus that
evening was that we should have a
“general” reunion rather than keep it
to just to the class of 1940 in the very
near future. It was also agreed that a
number of us from Toronto should
meet shortly to further discuss the
logistics of a reunion.
Later in that year four alumni,
David Rohee, Dennis Lord, David
Singh and I with our wives travelled to New Jersey for a
weekend to discuss the reunion at Val Smith’s home. We
were aware that Washington had already established an
alumni chapter although much was not known of it. At the
end of the weekend, two major decisions were made; firstly
the four Toronto alumni agreed to organize a reunion in
Toronto in 1991 and secondly, alumni from Guyana, New
York, Washington and Toronto be invited to form an umbrella organization. Val offered to host such a gathering.
On our return to Toronto Dave Rohee, Dennis Lord and
I
I decided that we will form the nucleus of an alumni association and invited Des Chang Sang and Alwyn “Cassie”
Cumberbatch to attend a preparatory meeting. David Singh
indicated that he would not be able to participate at that
time. A number of meetings were held at Dave’s home to
bring the association to fruition and
it was agreed that a committee
should be established to pursue the
formation of an association. It was
agreed that Dave Rohee would be
President, Dennis Lord, Vice
President, myself, Secretary, Des
Chang Sang, Treasurer and Alwyn
“Cassie” Cumberbatch, member of
the committee.
The first public meeting of the
association was held at the Henry
Kelsey Sr. Public School on
Birchmount Avenue one Sunday
with over 100 alumni and Masters, including Malcolm
Boland, Ronald Rock and Basil Eyre in attendance. Dave
Rohee welcomed the gathering, introduced the five founding members and advised that the meeting was twofold i.e.
to have an alumni association in Ontario to assist our alma
mater to return to its former glory and to organize a reunion
in 1991.
That Sunday morning meeting was a huge success and
the steering committee was given the “thumbs up” to pursue
both objectives. Additional members, including Eden
“There was a lot of
back slapping, hugs
and some tears as
many alumni and
friends had not seen
each other for years.”
8
12
Gajraj, Arthur Henery and David Singh were then added to
the committee to pursue organizing the reunion. I was
charged with drafting a constitution for the association. I
had inputs to the draft from Aggrey King and Percy
Anderson and the final document was presented to a general meeting of the association for approval. This constitution
has been amended from time to time to keep it as a living
document and to reflect the needs of the day.
In order to have a successful reunion the committee realized the first task was to build a database of alumni not only
in Toronto but across Canada and beyond. This initially
seemed to be a herculean task but it proved easier than we
thought. Dennis Chow Woon was given the task of compiling and maintaining the data base. A planning subcommittee was formed which included Mike Leila who designed
our logo and programme, Ossie Tang who did all the printing from programmes to napkins, Ricky Mc Rae who maintained the list of tickets sold and allocated the seating
arrangements, Chet Mangal and others to decorate the hall,
collect tickets at the door etc.
The reunion was held at the Royal York Hotel from July
26-28 1991. It was a three-day affair, starting with a cocktail reception with a fountain dispensing wine on the Friday.
This event was hosted by the Bishop’s Alumni Association.
A Dinner/Dance was held on the Saturday with 650 guests
for dinner, the first inter-chapter meeting on the Sunday
morning and a 40-over cricket match (reduced from 50
overs as the “old bones” couldn’t take it especially after the
dinner/dance) on the Sunday afternoon. Alumni came from
the U.S.A., the Bahamas, Bermuda, Africa, the West Indies,
the U.K, and Guyana to name a few countries. It was very
pleasing to see the sons of Captain Nobbs, a former Head
Master in attendance. This was truly an international affair.
There was a lot of back slapping, hugs and some tears as
many alumni and friends had not seen each other for years,
some since they left QC. There were draw prizes including
a prize to Captain Chee-a-Tow, the oldest living alumnus in
attendance, an air trip to any destination of the winner’s
choice donated by Air Canada through alumnus Bill King,
a Senior Manager at Air Canada. Cyril Bryan, who worked
in the office with Doris Wan Ping, donated a desk top computer with peripherals through his computer company
Cycom Systems to be used in the QC office.
At the first inter-chapter meeting ever held, representatives were Alissa Trotz from Guyana, Allan Johnson,
Leyland Grant and David Archer from Washington, Henry
Edwards from England and the Toronto delegation of
myself, Dave Rohee, Alwyn “Cassie” Cumberbatch,
Dennis Lord and Rick McRae. Alissa Trotz brought us up
to date on the situation in Guyana as it related to Queen’s
and outlined what the needs were both short and long term.
There were a number of key areas she suggested, viz. the
rehabilitation of the sports pavilion, a reference library, a
photocopier, a portable grass cutter, faucets etc.
The success of this weekend propelled us to redouble
our efforts to assist our alma mater. After Dave Rohee’s
term of office was completed, Dennis Lord took over the
helm for his term followed by myself. The work started during these exciting periods continued under very energetic
leadership by various alumni. The focus continued to assist
our alma mater and many noteworthy projects were accomplished through dedicated alumni.
It is a tribute to our five “founding fathers” or as some
members use to call us the “gang of five” that conceived
and implemented the idea of an alumni association. The
association has had its bumps along the way but it has made
us stronger in the final analysis.
Let us continue the work that was started twenty years
ago long after the “founding fathers” are gone.
<
TORONTO CHAPTER’S 2012
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Annual General Meeting
Annual Father’s Day Brunch
Appreciation Awards
April 29
June 10
July 15
Boat Cruise or other event
(Caribana week-end)
August 3
International Committee of Queen’s College
Annual Business Meeting (ICQC ABM)
Last Lap Lime
Annual Casino Rama Bus Trip
August 5
August 6
October
Applications for Lynette Dolphin
Memorial Scholarship
October – November
Details of events will be circulated and posted on our website www.qcalumnitoronto.com
13
A Few Thoughts On History & Celebration
by Ataur Bacchus
A FUNNY
THING
HAPPENED
ON MY WAY
hese days I keep lightly in touch
with friends who once shared
youthful ambition and horseplay
on the St. Augustine campus of the
University of the West Indies Trinidad. The email circulating among
these friends, who make up a sizable
splotch of cream risen from the farflung West Indian crop, is nostalgic.
We write of good times, professional
achievements, sojourns in learned
institutions. We’re humble enough not
to voice these things often or loudly;
on very rare occasions, if we must, we
whisper our arrogance.
Those of us hibernating in Toronto,
meet once or twice a year, eat and
drink well if not wisely, and moan a
little about our once dependable
organs, now gone over to the enemy.
But as in any place where two or more
West Indians are gathered, our long
standing, comforting rod and staff has
been our reputation for Celebration,
something that we invented, that no
T
14
TO THIS
other group can match. Our deportment is Laid-back. Picturesque, not to
mention acrobatic combination, if you
can work out the knots.
Until a few days ago, that is. That’s
when a serpentine twist came into our
story. In the short span of a dozen
rapid-fire exchanges one morning of
last week, some point must have
tipped, some piece of hell broken
loose from the continental mass,
insults flew and with only a short
delay, the old social fault lines came to
the surface. These heavily booktutored men even traded spirited
advice about “going back where you
come from”. Interestingly, men all.
Among the dozen individuals moved
to express these feelings there were no
women, leading to the perhaps hasty
speculation that women may secretly
be the superior race.
Small consolation: at least there was
no threat of physical violence. I have
sparse testimony from fellow-immiThe Scribbler – April 2012 Edition
grants of colour (OK, two brown guys
and one black guy) that physical
threats via email are far from rare in
their cultural exchanges back home.
Some preliminary conclusions, conceivably skewed by shock. We shouldn’t extrapolate the St. Augustine experience too far; on the other hand they
are not a species apart. The pathways
from the kick-their-ass core in every
human brain are most efficient and
will trump all else unless mediated by
culture, the kind that comes from
broad reading of cultures. Naive
observation suggests that no modern
monoculture, originating in religion,
“democracy”, or nationalism seems up
to the job. We need a process view in
addition to a monuments view of history, need to look up from fading
album photographs of fun events like
fetes, christenings, and speech days to
a living moving panorama that
includes life in the void between the
picture-perfect events.
As for social conduct I am not asking that people fall in love with
“other” people. But respectful codes
of conduct, even coldly observed, may
be at least a good start.
Meanwhile we might look around:
there are more worthwhile and urgent
performance measures to watch for
and meet than short-term triumphalism running on fumes of invective.
The urgency? If our educated elite
doesn’t perform better, who is going to
midwife the transformations the next
generation needs? From improved
quality of street life to scientific
patents that ultimately provide good
jobs, do we ever need transformations!
.............................................................
.Ataur Bacchus
<
Nobbs “ L” House
e
c
Tradition
of
n
e
l
l
e
c
x
Lives
On
E
Kia attained 4 grade ones and 1 grade two, while Sheniza
earned grade ones in four subjects. Kia Persaud was also the
Caribbean’s top CSEC student in 2009 and featured among
the top CAPE first-year students in 2010 as well.
Year-one (2011) of the CAPE programme saw four QC students among the top performers. They are Youni Abdool,
Kelly Ann Persaud (younger sister of Kia), Sophia King,
and Stefan Farrier.
Excellent results by QC students were also achieved at
the CSEC level, resulting in QC being named the top school
in Guyana based on its 98% pass rate (the total scores of all
students combined). QC ‘s Anuradha Dev with 15 grade 1
passes shared the number one CSEC spot in Guyana with a
student from the New Amsterdam (Berbice) Multilateral
School. She was also the top overall student in the
Caribbean and the fifth QC student in six years to achieve
that honour. Sixteen others from QC obtained between 11
to14 grade ones at the CSEC exams.
It is against this background of a tradition of academic
excellence and with a view to upholding that tradition, as
one of its goals, that some QC
alumni got together and founded the Toronto Chapter of
QCAA in 1991.An in-depth
account of the formation of the
Chapter by Leyland Muss, one
of its founding members, is at
page12.
ueen’s College was established in 1844 by William
Piercy Austin, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese in
the then British Guiana.
Over the years of its long and illustrious history, QC,
undoubtedly an educational icon renowned for its high standards of academic excellence, has produced many outstanding Guyanese who have distinguished themselves in the
fields of politics, government,
law, foreign affairs, education,
the social and natural sciences,
and several other professions.
QC students continue to
excel academically, earning top
honours every year at the
Caribbean
Examinations
Council (CXC) exams. Their
consistently high level of performance has earned QC the Anuradha Dev receiving her award from former
distinction of being at present Education Minister Shaik Baksh for her overall outstanding performance at the CSEC last year.
not only the leading secondary
(Stabroek News file photo).
school in Guyana, but also one
that can hold its own competitively among its counterparts Editor’s Note: The CXC Caribbean Secondary
Education Certificate (CSEC) is considered equivalent
throughout the Caribbean.
The 2011 CXC results further attest to QC’s reputation of to the former GCE “O” Level, while the Caribbean
academic excellence. QC’s top performers in year-two of Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) have
the CAPE programme are Kia Persaud and Sheniza Haniff. replaced the GCE “A” Level.
<
Q
Kemahl Khan
QCAA (Toronto) 20th Anniversary
Dinner & Dance Event-October 29, 2011
FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTORS
Dr. Jamal Deen
George McLean
ADVERTISEMENTS
Azimuth Resources
Sandspring Resources
Beaverdale Veterinary Health Clinic
Guyana Frontier Mining Corp.
Scorpio Mining Corporation
U308 Corp
DOOR PRIZE CONTRIBUTORS
Ardene Merrie Lee
Terry Headley
Stan and Anna Chan Choong
Western Union
IRIE
15
CONGRATULATIONS
TO THE FOLLOWING
ALUMNI
PROFESSOR M. JAMAL DEEN, recipient in 2011 of an
Honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from the University
of Waterloo, and the IEEE Canadian R.A. Fessenden
Telecommunications Medal for pioneering contributions in
electronics and optoelectronics for communications.
Jamal Deen is a McMaster University professor and
Senior Canadian Research Chair in Information Technology.
He is a highly accomplished researcher, inventor and scholar who has helped McMaster to become a major centre for
innovative and cutting-edge research in optoelectronics. He
has contributed enormously to university teaching at both
undergraduate and graduate levels .He has co-authored/coedited 15 books and has presented many papers at international seminars and conferences relating to his studies and
research. He is regarded as the world’s foremost authority
on modeling and noise of electronic and optoelectronic
devices for communication systems.
Prof Deen is a fellow of several professional societies,
including the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers), the Royal Society of Canada and the American
Physical Society, to name a few. His illustrious career has
been marked by several previous awards in addition to the
two named above.
Jamal attended Queen’s College from 1967-73 and was a
DR. VIVIAN SRINIVAS RAMBIHAR, MD, recipient of a
2011 Toronto Arya Samaj /Vedic Cultural Centre award in
recognition of his outstanding accomplishments and community service in the field of medicine and health issues
across the diaspora. The award was presented to him at the
Annual Dinner and Awards Ceremony held at the Vedic
Cultural Centre, Markham, Ontario on September 24th.
In addition to his medical practice, the internationallyacclaimed Toronto cardiologist and researcher is a pioneer
in chaos and complexity science and its application to medicine, health, peace and development, being regarded as the
first in his field to do so. His ideas are set out in his groundbreaking book –“Tsunami, Chaos and Global Heart”- published in 2005. He is also credited with being the first practitioner in Canada to identify, research and address the diabetes and heart disease epidemic in South Asians.
Dr. Rambihar attended Queen’s College from 1962,
16
University of Waterloo Chancellor Prem Watsa (left)
presented an Honorary Doctor of Engineering degree
to M. Jamal Deen.
member of Cunningham “K’ House. Last year he took out
paid-up Life Membership in the TO Chapter in addition to
making a substantial financial donation to the Chapter’s
funds.
We salute his achievements and wish him continued success in his future endeavours.
Editor’s Note: More info on Prof Deen and the previous awards that he has received can be found in the
Scribbler editions of April and December 2007, and
December 2008. These editions can be accessed
using the “ARCHIVES” link on the Homepage of our
Chapter’s website:
Dr. Vivian Rambihar (2nd from left) with another QC
alumnus Dr. Unus Hack, 2009 awardee (extreme left).
8
excelling in academic and extracurricular activities, and
winning the coveted Guyana Scholarship in 1969. He was a
member of Weston “F” House. After graduating, he taught
Mathematics for one year at QC. He is a member and strong
supporter of the Toronto Chapter of QCAA .He gave the feature address at the Chapter’s AGM in 2010. His address centred on his “chaos and complexity” concept. At several of
the Chapter’s other events he was accorded the opportunity
to give his popular “2-Minute Heart” talks. He has also contributed several articles to previous issues of the Chapter’s
newsletters.
His Arya Samaj award is one of many distinguished
awards that he has received over the years for his accomplishments in medicine and community health. He will
receive yet another award when he is honoured at the New
York Chapter 21st Anniversary Ball and Presentation
Ceremony to be held in Queen’s, NY on May 19th next.
Many, comprising Members of Parliament, family, relatives, close friends and associates, were present to witness
the presentation of the award to Dr. Rambihar and to wish
him well in his future endeavours. Among them were several QC alumni including Dr.Joe Butchey, Dr. Budhendra
Doobay, Dr.Unus Hack, Dr.Vinod Raghubir; and Syed
Rayman and Kemahl Khan of the current Executive
Committee of QCAA Toronto.
Last year was the third consecutive year that a QC alumnus, residing in the GTA, received an Arya Samaj award.
The 2010 recipient was Hemdat Sawh (a member of the
QCAA Toronto Chapter) for his professional accomplishments and community work. In 2009 the recipient was
Dr.Unus Hack.
Editor’s Note: Googling the title can access the full
text of Dr.Rambihar’s “Tsunami, Chaos and Global
Heart”.
Kenneth,
who
holds
dual
KENNETH A. C. BENJAMIN Guyana/Antigua citizenship, attended
appointed Chief Justice of Belize on
Queen’s College from 1965-72, winning
September 15, 2011.
the coveted Guyana Scholarship in
Justice Benjamin is an experienced
1972.He was a member of Weston “F”
Judicial Officer and Attorney-at-Law
House, as were his brothers Neil (1965with highly developed research skills
71), Allan (1970-72), and Denys (1980and a profound knowledge of the laws
85). His extracurricular activities at QC
of Commonwealth Caribbean States and
included being a patrol leader in the
Territories. He is a trained and accomScout Troop; representing the School in
plished Judicial Educator with firstthe
Patrick
Dargan
Debating
hand experience in the application of
Competition; participating in athletics,
case-management techniques and inforspecializing in high jumping which
mation technology to the art of judging.
earned him the title of House Champion
Justice Benjamin graduated from
in 1972. In that year he was also a
Hugh Wooding Law School in 1977. He
Company Sgt. Major in the Cadet
is a graduate of the University of the
Justice Kenneth A. C. Benjamin
Corps.
West Indies and has practised at the Bar
Justice Benjamin will be the Guest
in Guyana. He has worked as a
Magistrate and then Chief Magistrate in 1991– 1993 in Speaker at the QCAA New York Chapter 21st Anniversary
Ball and Presentation Ceremony to be held in Queen’s, NY
Antigua and Barbuda.
He has also held positions as a High Court Judge of the on May 19th next.
Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court as well as acted as a
Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of the Eastern
Caribbean Supreme Court. His last undertaking before
assuming his role as Chief Justice of Belize has been that of
a practising Judge of the Criminal Division of the High Editor’s Note: Professional Bio Data source - The
Court of Saint Lucia, a position which he held since Belize GUARDIAN
September 2007. His judicial experience spans seventeen
years.
He is a member of the Commonwealth Magistrates and
Judges Association, a former Rotarian, and a former cricket
executive in Antigua.
8
17
inception, followed by senior executive
PETER J. JULY, Senior Banking
positions with RBBT, he was its chief
Executive, inducted into the Business Hall
architect effecting change, growth and
of Fame of the Chamber of Commerce of
progress in its operations. His vision and
Trinidad and Tobago at its 7th Annual
initiatives led to the expansion of the
Induction ceremony held on October 15,
Bank’s branches not only in T&T, but also
2011. He was recognized for his outstandto the emergence of the Bank as a powering professional accomplishments and
house throughout the Caribbean region.
invaluable contribution to the development
For his invaluable work in the field
of the banking business in Trinidad and the
of Banking in Trinidad and the Caribbean,
Caribbean region.
Peter was honoured with several other
Peter’s first employment on leaving
awards, including the Award for
school (Queen’s College) was with The
Mr. Peter J. July
Outstanding Contribution to the Caribbean
Royal Bank of Canada in New Amsterdam,
Berbice, British Guiana (GUYANA) in 1957.This start led which he received in 2005.
to an illustrious and productive career in banking which Despite his onerous duties and busy schedule, Peter was
spanned 52 years. RBC relocated him to Trinidad in 1961, very active in community work in Trinidad through the
and then to St.Lucia in 1971 as Manager of the RBC’s only Rotary Club, and the Young Leaders Programme which
evolved from the “Star Class Programme” that started years
branch on that island.
In 1974 he returned to Trinidad where in 1981 he was earlier under his guidance and leadership.
Peter attended QC from 1948-1956 and was a member of
appointed Director of the Royal Bank of Trinidad and
Tobago, incorporated by the RBC in 1972.This was his first Raleigh “B” House. He is the brother of Paul July who also
executive milestone which was followed by elevation to attended QC during the same period and was in Raleigh as
CEO and Group Chairman of RBBT Financial Group in well.
1998. He remained Chairman of RBBT, LTD (the parent
holding company established in 1987), after RBC, re-establishing business in Trinidad, bought out the RBTT Financial
Group in 2008. He retired as Chairman in 2009.
Editor’s Note: Peter July’s bank career info adapted
During his lifetime career in banking, with RBC at the from the Trinidad press.
DR. CARY F. FRASER
– appointed President of
the state-owned University
of Belize by the Belize
Government with effect
from August 2011.
Dr. Fraser is a historian of International
Relations who has written
Dr. Cary F. Fraser
on U.S. foreign policy in
the Caribbean, the history and politics of race in the United
States of America, the Caribbean, and the international relations of the Middle East and Islam.
He obtained his B.A. in History from the University of
Guyana, the Diploma and M.Sc. in International Relations
at the Institute of International Relations at the University of
the West Indies, St. Augustine, and his Ph.D. at the Graduate
Institute of International Studies of the University of
Geneva, Switzerland. He has held fellowships from the
Swiss Federal Government, Cornell University, the Social
Science Research Council in New York, the John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation of Chicago, the
University of Rochester, and has been a Visiting Fellow at
the University of Maryland and Princeton University.
Dr.Fraser has pursued a career as a high school teacher, a
researcher on indigenous and other populations in the
Mazaruni area of Guyana, and as a project officer for the
Caribbean Conference of Churches working in both Guyana
and Suriname. He has also served as a Human Rights
Observer for the Organization of American States (O.A.S.).
in Haiti.
He came to the University of Belize from the
Pennsylvania State University where he taught in the
Departments of African and African American Studies and
History. He had also served as the Director of the Africana
Research Center.
He is the author of Ambivalent Anti-Colonialism: the
United States and the Genesis of West Indian Independence,
1940-64 (Greenwood, 1994).
Cary attended Queen’s College from 1965-72 .He was a
member of Percival “A” House and a School prefect. He is
the younger brother of QC alumni George Fenton (1963-71)
and Rory F. (1964-71).
We wish him all success in his new appointment.
Editor’s Note: Source for Dr. Fraser’s bio –
“Belizean.com/news”
8
18
DR. HUGHLEY H. HANOMAN (Snr.)- elected in 2011 a
Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (FESC). The
FESC has only 3500 Fellows out of its 76,000 members
worldwide. Dr. Hanoman is the first Guyanese to have won
the prestigious award and the sixth West Indian to do so. The
award is given to outstanding cardiologists for research or
clinical excellence.
Dr. Hanoman graduated as a medical doctor from
Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and did his
post- graduate studies in Cardiology in London, Canada,
Northern Ireland and Scotland. He did several short professional courses between 1972 and 1988 in the U.S.A, the
U.K. and the Caribbean.
The well- known physician worked in Berbice (where he
was born) and Georgetown, Guyana. He was Associate
Senior Lecturer Medicine, University of Guyana Medical
Programme, and Associate Lecturer, University of the West
Indies Medical School in Trinidad. He has held many other
professional positions in the field of medicine and is at present the Consultant Cardiologist at the Open Heart Surgery
Programme at Mount Hope, Trinidad and Tobago. He is also
currently Examiner Final MB.BS. UWI Exams.
Dr. Hanoman was a former president of the Guyana
Medical Association and served as a Member of Parliament
in Guyana for eight years. He has during his career received
other awards, including Fellow of the Royal Institute of
Public Health & Hygiene (U.K.), and Fellow of the Royal
College of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow, Scotland. He
has written several medical manual manuscripts for the
West Indian Medical Journal and other medical publications.
Hughley, who holds dual Guyana/Trinidad & Tobago citizenship, attended Queen’s College from 1950 to 1956 and
was a member of Raleigh “B” House. He completed his secondary education (A Level) in the U.K. in 1957 at the
University Tutorial College, London. At Q.C. it was not all
DR. AUBREY R. MORRISON recipient in 2011 of two awards
from the American College of
Physicians (A.C.P.). He has been
named a Master of the American
College of Physicians and also
received the American College of
Physicians Award for Outstanding
Work in Science as Related to
Medicine. The latter puts him in
highly distinguished company,
with the likes of several Nobel
Prize winners. He is the first person from Washington
University to receive the ACP’s Award for Outstanding
Work in Science.
The American College of Physicians is a national organization of internists — physicians who specialize in the pre-
Dr. Hughley H. Hanoman (Snr) with the FESC Award for
top worldwide cardiologists.
bookwork for Hughley as he participated in several
extracurricular activities including football and was a member of the Cadet Corps.
Editor’s Note: Adapted from Oscar Ramjeet’s article
in Kaieteur News of June 20, 2011.
vention, detection and treatment of illnesses in adults. ACP
is the largest medical-specialty organization and secondlargest physician group in the United States. Its membership
of 132,000 includes internists, internal medicine subspecialists, and medical students, residents, and fellows.
Aubrey attended Queen’s College from 1953-63 and was
Head of Nobbs “L” House 1961/62, Deputy Head Prefect
1962-63, and Deputy Head of School. He represented QC at
cricket in the Rajah up to the Case Cup Divisions.
Kemahl Khan
Editor’s Note: Awards info source – Washington
University School of Medicine, St Louis, USA.
<
19
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
AT QCAA (TORONTO) 20th ANNIVERSARY DINNER AND DANCE
Address
Laurence Clarke, Ph.D
Alumnus1962-69
Sts. Peter and Paul Banquet Hall
Toronto, ON
October 29, 2011
“DEVELOPMENT AND THE IMPERATIVE OF INCLUSION”
Introduction to Keynote Address
Gerald Alleyne
t gives me great pleasure to introduce our keynote speaker, a renowned alumnus, Dr Laurence Clarke. Laurence is the embodiment of what Queen’s
College represents. He has made his mark in the world. His resume reads like
a map of the world. His footprints are to be found everywhere. His life experience and distinguished career make it extremely challenging for someone who has
to do a brief introduction. But I am a QC boy trained in the art of Precis by experts
like Ivy Loncke and N.K. Robinson, so I will try.
Laurence had his humble beginnings in the village of Plaisance. He
entered Queen’s College in 1962. He excelled in sports and athletics. He won
school colours in both track and field and table tennis. He was a member of the
QC Wight Cup Cricket team. He was editor of both the School’s Magazine and
Lictor Newspaper. He also attained the rank of Sergeant in the Cadet Corps. In
addition, he excelled in his academic studies securing, by the end of his tenure in
1969, eight O Levels and three A Levels. He was such a well rounded individual
Gerald Alleyne
Past-President Q.C.A.A. (Toronto) that he also achieved the honours of School Prefect and Head of Austin House.
With this tremendous grounding, his career is easy to comprehend.
Laurence’s academic credentials are outstanding. He obtained his first degree in economics from the University of
Guyana, an MBA in Finance and International Business from the University of Windsor and a Ph D in Monetary Economics
from the University of the West Indies. He joined the World Bank under the Young Professionals program at the age of 26
and carved an outstanding career for himself in that auspicious organization. Over some 30 years and counting, Laurence
has gone from strength to strength at the Bank. Notably, he has served in Africa, where for 12 years he was the World
Bank’s Country Manager and Resident Representative in Zambia, Angola, and Sudan in three separate stints. He is now a
Director responsible for Portuguese-speaking countries – Mozambique, Angola, and Sao Tome and Principe. He has had
secondments as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Botswana and as Executive Director of the Caribbean Centre for
Monetary Studies based at UWI.
Laurence’s passion is the elimination of world poverty which he has witnessed at close quarters. He has been to 42 of
Africa’s 54 countries, worked in 20, and lived full-time in seven.
It is now my pleasure to call on tonight’s keynote speaker, Dr Laurence Clarke, a son of the soil, a product of Queen’s
College, Guyana, of whom we are all extremely proud. I give you ---- Dr Clarke.
I
8
20
Keynote Address
Laurence Clarke, Ph.D
Director of Ceremonies:
Executive of the QC Toronto Alumni Chapter:
Fellow Alumni and Alumnae:
Friends of Queen’s College:
I
thank you all for the exceedingly kind words of introduction and welcome by Gerald
Alleyne, who has been a boyhood friend from our dear Village of Plaisance and a fine
gentleman from an equally fine and distinguished family in our Village.
Let me at the outset this evening, convey my deep appreciation for the special
honour bestowed on me by the Toronto Chapter of the Queen’s College Alumni
Association as the Keynote Speaker at its 20th Anniversary Commemorative Event.
When alumni peers confer such an honour, one feels a very deep sense of awe and humility, as it emanates from perhaps
one’s toughest and potentially most discriminating group of professionals and individuals. Peers undoubtedly know you
the best – your abilities, competencies, but equally your secrets and historical and current foibles and transgressions! So
the point of my presence here with you in this capacity tonight is certainly not lost on me. I am truly humbled.
Let me also acknowledge the group of friends from Plaisance(the Kings, Cuffy’s: Boxhills; and Staglands); as well as
some of my friends form my early days at the GNCB(Guyana National Cooperative Bank(Patsy Russell; Gwenny Sue; Ann
Wong; Cheryl Frank-Grandsoult) – all of whom made the extra effort to make it here this evening. A special welcome and
recognition also of four members of my entering QC class of 1962- Keith KT Bovell; Vivian Rambihar; and Wally Boxhill.
One other distinguished member of that class Mayo Robertson, who unfortunately could not be here this evening, sent me
a nice message of regret apology earlier today, apologizing. Ours the QC Class of 1962 to 1969 was an extraordinarily gifted one, as the records and evidence clearly show, both while we were at school and thereafter. I am proud to have been a
modest member of that distinguished group of peers.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
In our part of the world, it is fair to say that twenty years is a milestone of no mean significance for a modern day
Queen’s College or any other High School alumni fraternity, manifesting as it does the culmination of two long decades of
evolution and yes, as other less active Chapters can attest, even survival- while discharging the higher order of service
and sustained commitment to one’s Alma Mater. This is even more admirable in the context of the stresses and vicissitudes
of today’s global reality - egregious times that could easily have spawned divergence away from the ideals and aspirations
of such benevolent Associations, in preference to the distractions and complexities of normal arcane life. So I salute the
Executive and committed membership of the Toronto Chapter for all they have done and achieved for our School, and
beyond, since 1991.Yours has been a truly exemplary trajectory of growth, remarkable for its imagination and its multifaceted responses, solutions and programs of support and outreach. For this, and more, we commend and congratulate you
all.
My dear friends, this evening as we celebrate, let us also reflect. Let us step back, take stock of our wider contextbeyond Toronto, beyond Ontario, beyond Canada. Rather, let us reflect on our higher order roles and responsibilities as
global citizens, or more accurately, global villagers. Let us recall that when most of us in this lovely banquet hall tonight
were at school in Queens’s College or elsewhere, four to five decades or more ago, the world was enormously different. At
QC we learnt in the classes of Ada Akai’s Geography, Basil Eyre’s or Pat Dyal’s History; Claude Yearwood’s Economics;
Samuel Moffat’s Comparative Religion and in other classes, how huge and complex our globe was, with its five (or was it
six?) continents, its huge seemingly insurmountable oceans, its diverse cultures and religions, and sadly at that times, its
veneers of discriminations and apartheids. For us then, easily transcending the universe was a mere dream, a mere aspiration, underpinned by snail mail, noisy telexes, clattering manual typewriters, cranky rotary telephones, room-sized computers etc. But blessed as our generation or two have since been by the enormity of technological advances, it is indeed
common cause tonight that the world has now truly become a global village. So my conversation with you this evening will
revolve around this enlightening reality. It is essentially about development, but more than that-it is about inclusive development, where no local, national or global stakeholder is left out, or behind. And about how vibrant and emerging institutions and constructs like our Queen’s College Alumni Toronto Chapter, and indeed other QC and non-QC alumni fraterni-
8
21
ties and societies, could raise their game in the delivery of more comprehensive
and participatory local, national, regional and global development, going forward.
Hence the thrust of my remarks is around “Development and the Imperative of
Inclusion”.
My dear colleagues, as I speak at this very moment, women in Bangladesh and remote rural communities in other parts
of South Asia , are expanding trade and commerce, through savings painstakingly mobilized , in part via Nobel Laureate
Prof Younis Khan’s now well known Grameen Bank .This bank builds on earlier pooled savings schemes and models such
as “throwing box” that many of our parents in our early days in Guyana earnestly utilized , to procure our school uniforms
and the fancy gear we were required to have at QC and all our other schools. Rwanda which witnessed the most horrible
genocide in nearly 1990s, was by end of last year boasting presently some of the most magnificent social and economic
outcomes on the continent, building over the post-genocide years as it did, an open ,transparent, fully accountable society, not only at the central, but at local levels of governance, and reducing previously strong intra-ethnic cleavages across
the Hutus and Tutsis. In doing so, importantly, Rwanda actively and purposefully sought out and suitably engendered all
its development activities, boasting currently among the highest ratio of women in Government and Parliament at all levels in it society anywhere in Africa and many other countries beyond. These South Asian and East African women and villagers in thousand of communities are not only improving their own lives, but are increasingly also becoming a part of the
value- added of their local an d national economic systems in a way that twenty five to thirty years hitherto, they were not
able or allowed to. They were persistently constrained from moving integrally into the mainstream of economic life of their
world, by virtue of all sorts of administrative, social, religious and cultural barriers and taboos. Today these women are
fortuitously a part of a growing and more inclusive world where, according to the just released World Development Report
of the World Bank, which had Gender Development as its theme, women now represent some 40 % of the global labor
force, 43% of the world’s agriculture force and more than half of the world’s university students. Further eliminating barriers that discriminate against them in certain sectors could increase labor productivity by as much 25 % in some countries.
Already improvements in women’s education and health have been linked to better outcomes for children in countries as
diverse as Brazil, Nepal, Pakistan and Senegal. In India, giving more power to women at local level has led to increases in
the provision of public goods, such as water and sanitation. Since 1980 women are living longer than men in all parts of
the world .Over that same period more than half a billion women have joined the world’s labor force. That clear progress
notwithstanding, too many women are still dying unnecessarily in most developing countries. In many Sub-Saharan and
South Asian countries enrolment in primary and secondary school is still too low; women are still farming smaller plots on
average than men; and in too many countries are women still relatively voiceless and under- represented in the upper echelons of public life. More can and must be done to correct this but development has become in many places on earth much
more inclusive with stronger women participation-smarter politics, smarter economics, and ultimately smarter development.
Almost fifty years ago the small African island state of Mauritius, was a predominantly agricultural economy mainly of
sugar, and with a high population growth rate, and very marginal rates of growth and development. During the late 1980s,
the nation firmly recommitted itself to liberalizing its trade, improving the efficiency of its state enterprise, cutting back its
public sector expenditure, and rebranding itself, upgrading its investment climate, while establishing export processing
zones, to underpin a strong program of economic diversification into textiles, financial services and information technology. Above all, Mauritius confronted the need to seriously involving all its national stakeholders, including dramatically
reducing the ethnic tensions that plagued it among its African, Indian and Franco-Mauritian citizenry. The result- over the
past years Mauritius’ GDP per capita expanded a remarkable seven fold to some $7000 today. And importantly, there was
not only growth but growth with equity, or comprehensive, inclusive development, with its human development index also
surging dramatically in the process.
Similarly, when Julius Nyerere led Tanzania to Independence in the early 1960’s, it was a fragmented nation of some
scores of diverse ethnic, often religious and cultural groups , especially among Zanzibaris and mainland Tanzanians. In
1967 the Arusha declaration ushered in under President Nyerere the period of ujaama socialism, that brought in its wake,
as in our own Guyana, statist orientation to economic management, large inefficient state enterprises and severe budget
deficits. But by the mid-80s Tanzania had changed economic course embarking on major structural reforms at both the
macro-economic and sectoral levels, building on the tremendous national cohesiveness and social capital that the ujamaa
system engendered for the country. Today Tanzania is one of Africa’s best performing economies, capable of feeding the
whole of East Africa .And if there is a monolithic and true nation with much diminished ethnic cleavages in Africa today,
it is Tanzania.
When I lived in Kenya as recently as twenty years ago if any of my staff in the World Bank Office there wanted to send
some money to their relatives in rural Kenya, they had to wait until someone was going there or their relatives took a
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
8
22
tedious, costly journey by bus to Nairobi, taking as much as two to three times as
long than the distance would suggest on decent roads. Today Kenyans are benifitting from the us e of cell phones to transact money transfers anywhere across
Kenya and elsewhere, in matter of minutes , thanks to the enormous penetration
of cell phones .Kenyans now use technology unsparingly for the betterment of their daily lives. In many African countries
now the World Bank is beginning to work with Google to use satelite technology to geo-map entire segments of the continent, a device that is already making it easier to monitor water supply, agriculture, rural schools, and infrastructure investments especially in insecure areas, thus raising the effectiveness of such investments. In Liberia tests are already underway
for citizens to purchase rural produce using cell phones, while in most Asian, Latin American and Caribbean and EuroAfrican countries, Information Communication Technology is already in use for enhancing budgetary planning, execution,
and accountability.
Mozambique, where I have the good fortune to now live and serve, has been for many years now Africa’s and among
the world’s fastest growing economies since a devastating 16 year civil war ended in 1992. It has made enormous progress
at the macro-level through a few mega-investments in aluminum smelting hydroelectric energy ,and coal. But having concentrated extensively on these mega-projects in its first generation of post-conflict response, it now finds a strong dichotomy in development between its urban and rural communities, and with its social development indicators not moving as
quickly and still among some of the weakest in the world, especially in child and maternal health, HIV/AIDS and education. A broadly similar phenomenon seems to be emerging in the oil giant, and Sub-Sahara Africa’s third largest economy
Angola, where development has not been as inclusive as it could have been. Angola now produces at almost 2 million barrels of oil per day and with the highest reserves of diamond in Africa, and an enormous GDP per capita of some $5000.
But though there has been some improvement since the end of its civil war in 2002, it still needs to work harder on aspects
of its engagement with civil society; it seems committed to that course. Even diamond rich Botswana , the epitome of good
governance and credible planning, now on to its 10th Five Year Development Plan, and at one time the fastest growing
country in the world second only to China , is still evidencing weak education and health indicators, though much progress
has been made. In part because it has not done as good a job in involving all its citizens at local levels, in the management
of the lowest levels of the state. And another glaring example in which non-inclusion of stakeholders in the development
process is inefficient would be Sudan, for many years among the fastest growing nations in Africa, but with virtually no
real progress in its social indicators, manifesting instead extraordinary intolerance to the voice of its civil society, and perpetuating often in brutal and long running civil strife, what some consider religious apartheid or even worse (Arab North
versus Christian South; Arab north versus African Muslims in Darfur). It was therefore not surprising that the Southern section of Sudan broke away last July 9th to become Africa’s 54th nation, South Sudan had easily perhaps the worst health
,education and nutrition indicators perhaps in the world. These contrast and compare though an impressive all round development performance in Vietnam which came out of a devastating war with the Americans some forty years ago. Today it
is almost on the verge of emerging market status, leading in world exports of rice, coffee, and doing very well in rubber,
once dominated by West African exporters. The ideological differences that split its country some fifty years ago, has been
systematically planned out of existence and the country is now known for its strong systems of consensus seeking and
building, resulting in its extra-ordinary and impressive post-conflict development over the past four decades or so .And the
inspirational stories of Brazil, India and China need no repetition; these will be the global economic forces for the next
twenty years and beyond, despite major cultural, religious, and governance issues (especially India) two to three decades
ago .And lest we forget, China in particular as recently as fifty years ago was less developed than Liberia and many other
African Caribbean countries, as one Provincial Governor reminded now Nobel Laureate and President of Liberia Mrs Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf , during a visit I was privileged to make with her to China in 2008. In another Province another Chinese
Governor made the even more poignant comment later that while Liberia was wrenching its gut out in civil war for twenty five years, China was over that very period transforming the now technologically leading Province that we visited of
Tinjin, from a poor fishing village, increasingly building their new transformative dispensation on an inclusive basis among
its citizens.
So Comrades, each and all of the above impressive examples tells its own striking and impressive story of prime relevance to us tonight .Once we drill down , once we bare the bones of their evolution and transformation especially over
the past two decades , we would notice four important common elements . First, innovative, transformative, and enhanced
accountability and planning, especially at all levels- nationally and locally. Second, increasing absorption of technology
and assimilation of technical knowledge from more knowledge-rich parts of the world; and third, enhanced and enlightened efforts at increasingly more inclusive development, be they in reducing ethnic tensions and cleavages; or reducing
centre-local governance gaps and dichotomies; or religious and cultural tensions; or in mainstreaming and more robustly
engendering development activities, through better empowerment of women.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
8
23
Two other points of related interest was that many increasingly sought to
actively include their own citizens outside their physical borders, their diaspora,
increasingly in the development process. There are some 215 million migrants
living outside of their own communities today, and who are repatriating yearly
almost 400 billions of dollars per year (2010). In fact, these remittances are so phenomenal that in many countries they are
already larger than official development aid received, and can account on average for almost 2 to 3 percent of national
GDPs. These flow of funds from citizens based abroad are often the difference between poorer communities at home in
many countries without basic infrastructure ten to twenty years ago, in upgrading rural health clinics, schools, creation of
non-skilled jobs for young people, if organized and managed properly. The Phillippines has been a remarkable example of
this, whereby a significant proportion of its migrant populations working in the Gulf States and elsewhere, repatriate to
their country some hundreds of million dollars yearly. One of our QC alumni Richard Cambridge is in fact doing a fine
job in the WB today, mapping out the flows and deployment of diaspora remittances from Africa, which he estimates for
instance, to total some $35 billion in 2010, with sizeable amounts from Canada alone (from its some 300,000 African diaspora there).
A final but important point of note from the sample of countries above, is an increasing recognition and perception on
the part of many of them of their increasing potential to be the recipients and beneficiaries of millions of jobs in coming
years, which China ,India and Brazil, will lose in their manufacturing sectors because of their now rapidly surging costs of
labour, a factor of comparative and competitive advantage they enjoyed 30 to 40 years ago, but which is now fastly receding. Africa, growing impressively over the past decade at over 5% pa , and which has the bulk of natural resources remaining in the world, is best placed to exploit those and create thousands of new jobs for their citizens. As Prof Paul Collier
recently reminded a group of us at a dinner for Portuguese speaking African and other countries at a Bank of Portugal
Seminar In Lisbon last month, effectively the Africa, and other resource rich countries in Asia, Latin America and including Guyana, has a mere one generation left to productively exploit and manage such wasting resources. If these are squandered , then this generation commits future ones to almost economic and development nihilty.
So Ladies and Gentlemen, I have purposely spent a little while on this global reality, because of its growing relevance
to us here tonight, given our own rich endowments as senior and emerging professionals in the world and our own origins
from still developing economies, such as our resource rich, but management poor Guyana. But in a way I am very conscious that I may be speaking somewhat to the converted on aspects of this, especially on the importance of inclusion and
equally diversity in whatever we do in our lives and communities. For, the good news is that our Alma Mater Queen’s
College, and I have no reason not to think other schools in and outside of Guyana with our kind of traditions, got the imperative of inclusion and diversity business right for a long, long time now .But it is and was something many of us have perhaps taken for granted, and not fully appreciated well enough in our lives beyond QC. For you see, as we all know Queen’s
opened its door for the first time on August 5, 1844. In practical terms that means that there is today no developing country, even Liberia which became independent in 1847, that is older than our school. It started as a fee-paying Anglican school
for the sons of the Colonial service employees, who now had the option of Grammar Education within British Guiana.
However, as Prof Norman Cameron tells us in aspects of our school history ,owing to the perceptiveness and good judgement of some outstanding early teachers, especially one of our earliest Principals, Mr Exley Percival, by the late 1850s and
early 1860s, the sons, as they were exclusively then, sons of Creole Guyanese, or those from other ecclesiastical denominations were soon able to attend QC .Scholarships at times paid for by teachers themselves, were being offered to the less
priviliged in the society for a free place at the leading Secondary school .That enabled access by an increasingly wider
diversity of Guyanese community over the several decades ,and on to today, of the school’s existence . Moreover, over
these years increasing effort was made by the School to introduce in its curriculum, subjects to deepen and ensure a more
inclusive consciousness among students, one notable introduction in the 1960s being Comparative Religion for us all from
Form 3, and for all sixth formers, regardless of their stream, to study Social sciences, on a compulsory basis.
But most interestingly, in a way it was not only in the sphere of academia that QC ha d over the years of its evolution
become increasingly inclusive and diverse in its orientation. That was equally the case in extra-curricular activities-especially in the area of religion and culture , whereby all the major religions had societies an d clubs dedicated to their teaching and followers , and to which membership was open even to non-practitioners of those religions or cultures .We alumni of the generations of the 50s, 60s and 70s will all recall also the seriousness with which participation in sport was taken,
being mandatory for every student; we were required to play at least one sport- indoor or outdoor. And that’s why for
instance in Track and Field we had not only the track events, but also the field events that allowed not only the fastest, and
the strongest to compete, but equally those who could jump, long or high. And why we also had such items included like
putting the shot; throwing the cricket ball; late for school and the famous tug-of-war event, that was typically the leading
entertainment on any Sports day. But in a way that was inclusion by rule and imposition by our school authorities.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
8
24
For me, though the epitome of inclusion manifest at Queen’s College over
our long history has always been in the area of the “false names “that we students
gave each other. (Or if we want to be more sophisticated the “nicknames”; or even
more so, “sobriquets”). These were usually gratuitously, unceremoniously and
often spontaneously conferred by anyone on anyone, once an event, or a context, or even a non-event so dictated or warranted. But the key is that is that there was usually no discrimination knowingly accorded as to whom would be so “blessed”
with name. So if peers, reports or principals thought you deserved a false name you got a false name, and without obvious
regard to rank, class, creed, or what have you. If you were, for example fat, you could be either Fat-boy, Blimpie, Rolly
Polly or Billy Bunter or something. If you were fine or thin, you could be Ratty, Floaty, Skele , or Match Stick . If you
were aggressive ,or at least you think you were a “bad john”, in or outside of a sport or game, you could be Bracker, Ripper,
Killer, or more dangerously and ominously Bomber. If you were a Black man (i.e. of African descent - especially of a darker hue ), you could be Woggy, as in Golliwog; Blackit; One Minute to Midnight (1159 pm) ; or more distressingly and
painfully Corbeau (carrion crow). If you were a coolie man or of Indian descent, you could be Tarzan; Bandit; Proto, Saga
Boy or as in one case a very dark and handsome Indian boy from Industry, Bajan! If you were Chinee man or of Chinese
descent, you might have been Viet Cong; Bobo; or Wang. If you were white, or thought you were white, even though you
may not have been, you could be John White! And so on. If your head was shaped in a certain way, you may have been
Bullet; or Gammo or Saddles. But for sure these names were inclusively not confined to student peers, the masters had
them too, as already mentioned in a few cases; hence Bup; Wang; Breezy; Nutty, Patches. Or if through swimming or something your sexual endowments became evident, you may either have been Wapo or by contrast Kiskadee, much to the
annoyance we understand of one of the Masters so nicknamed Kisakdee; his manhood seemed very badly bruised by the
boys, I am told by Michael Wishart . Even If you were the groundsman ,and you had a big belly, you would be called
Rubber Guts, much to the irritation of one particular groundsman in the Sixties. But names were not always explicit or spoken. If your hair was groomed to look a certain way, eg like the mane of a lion, a loud lion-like roar would go up in the
Assembly Hall if you appeared late in school; or if you were deemed to be too effeminate in your ways, a hissing sound
would accompany you all the way from the back of the Hall through to the front as you walked up the aisle. And of course
if you had small feet or small voice you were a Pussy or Missy; or large strange shaped boots on extraordinarily large feet,
you were sadly crowned and given the name for life of Warboots. And for that I regrettably take full responsibility.
And the story went on and on..any body could secure or be given a false name at QC - irrespective of class, creed, age,
ethnic origin, or status in the school .
So then, formally or informally, Queen’s College long taught us all the importance of diversity and inclusion, and that
these were important traits to our own personal evolution and growth. In addition, as we saw earlier, the world at large has
validated the importance of inclusion in the sphere of growth and development. It is therefore against that background of
history and present global reality that I leave some closing thoughts for our brothers and sisters of the Toronto Chapter, and
indeed for all Chapters of the QC Alumni Association, across the globe, as well as to other alumni fraternities from other
schools in Guyana, some of whom are indeed be graciously among us tonight.
How can we best collectively and individually confront the enormous challenges of development ahead of us over the
two decades or more , not only for our respective Alma Maters, but for the societies in which they are anchored, in our case
Guyana, and beyond those our communities of origin, such as Canada, and especially the wider polity of developing
nations? In response I proffer a few key thoughts:
First, we alumni have got to organize, and better strategize. In the case of QC, the time has come for all Alumni
Associations for instance, Toronto included, to have an indaba or common meeting of the mind to define a common vision
covering the next decade or two. Let us appoint a small but representative group of thinkers, to put together a clear strategic framework within which we could unleash the enormous professional competencies and energies that reside within us,
buoyed by our extraordinary institutional history and tradition. I envision in this context a global strategy that in the end
would probably embrace two Pillars - one centred around the continued support to our Alma Mater; and a second centring
around the innovative growth area of supporting national and global development in an inclusive way. Underpinning these
two Pillars, I see a common base or foundation of inclusive development, ensuring that whatever we do we do so in a more
inclusive way.
Second, with respect to the traditional measure of support, my dream is for a far more active role by the enormous body
of alumnae (female) now out there. As in the countries we cited, involving themselves not only as workers , but also as
effective decision- makers in our Chapters. In similar manner, as we push for our stronger female roles in our school itself,
and in all its academic and extra-curricular activities, we must earnestly identify and earmark dedicated alumnae supporting the engendering of inclusively agreed activities in the school, and its immediate environs. This can be done, if we want
to do it. We could perhaps consider a special Task Force to consider this in a more dedicated and definitive way. This,
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
8
25
notwithstanding the fact that there is strong sense out there, especially among
younger QC alumnae (female), that older alumni (male) in our Chapters must
make greater effort to change archaic attitudes and approaches to female involvement and participation in our Associations. We need a fundamental and radical
rethink in this area- and the voices of both women and men alumnae/alumni must be strongly heard and considered, if the
status quo is to change, as it must.
Third, in respect still of the more bread and butter things that we might continue to do as Alumni Associations, we
deserve a greater and shared stronger conceptualization at the level of the International Chapters of Queen’s College
(ICQC) to ensure we are adding the best possible value to our school, and to its current and future generations, in better
alignment with the changing development needs and realities in an age of globalization. One such area is in deepening the
use of technology to stay better in touch with and support our school. Can we, for instance, structure stronger and more
expansive programs of distance learning for QC, beaming in instructions to the Classrooms by VC, drawing on our enormous professional and institutional capabilities out there, so that those poorer current QC students who cannot afford extra
lessons after school could also have access directly to state of the art transfer of knowledge and technology?
Fourth, as regards Pillar 2 -deepening alumni support outside the direct walls or immediate environment of QC- given
our extraordinary residuum of talent and competencies, how can we in the mould of the consultancy entities or wings set
up by Harvard , Columbia and other top schools, in which many of us were educated, build up like-minded cells of professional excellence via our own Alumni Associations, that can tap into World Bank, IMF, CIDA,IDB, CDB, AfDB, ADB
development efforts and resources across the world, directly supporting inclusive development in today’s rapidly emerging
areas? These might especially include work in agriculture, health, education, economics and public investment management, all forms of engineering, statistics and data management, so badly in deficit in most of our countries. Building and
organizing such technical cells could benefit not only the consulting groups themselves, but it could be agreed that from
each transaction secured, a small portion might flow back as good-will to the coffers of Alumni Associations and therefore
indirectly back to QC. Or even if the work is not for pay, how can we better organize ourselves in professional groups, to
go off for a few weeks at a time to provide “pro bono” support to developing countries, especially in their rural communities? There are all kinds of Trust Funds today that the World Bank and other bilateral and multilateral partners manage, that
could facilitate the contacts and delivery of such pro-bono support, within a better coordinated and more systematic framework. A special team within our Alumni Associations might, for instance, tackle this important form of technology and
knowledge transfer.
Finally, and related to the Pillar of possible innovative activity over the coming decades, how can we as members of the
QC diaspora, join the growing army across the world already productively channeling and deploying remittances to our
home communities , that could make a real difference developmentally? Can a few of us say adopt a village each in Guyana
and work with other villagers , to assist through the development of remittances bonds or other instruments, to better intermediate and unleash more inclusive development in our communities? One important element in this regard is better leveraging the private sector outside and in Guyana say, to more effectively invest in communities back home. In short,
catalysing and unleashing a new wave of innovative activities, consistent with the growing opportunities now attending our
own currently less that optimally inclusive Guyana, and other global communities, as signaled earlier. We all have a special and higher duty to ourselves and to others away from home-especially the resource and opportunity poor.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Director of Ceremonies, Distinguished Brothers and Sisters:
Needless to say, my wish in all of the above would be for our Toronto Chapter to spearhead all of this new thrust by
appointing a capable team to do a study of the possibilities and to then share this finding within its membership and indeed
with other Chapters. I will personally be willing to work with that team, despite all on my plate, to progress and comment
on the study, and to move the process forward.
It has been truly a pleasure for me to share these thoughts with you all tonight. I thank you for the special privilege and
opportunity. As you can see, we all need to search for new paradigms of assistance and service for our Alumni Associations;
the history of our own school has imbued us with many talents to doing many of those, but in a genuinely inclusive manner. The rapidly emerging world is signaling enormous opportunities ahead. If we truly seek, we will find, and consistent
with our School Song: Lux Dei discentium, Corda Illuminato - May the light of the Almighty continue to shine on the
crowns of those of us willing to learn.
On that basis, Reginae Collegium, Sic Diu Florebit - May our School Queen’s College continue to go from strength to
strength!
<
Thanks all for listening!
26
TORONTO QCAA AWARDS FOR
THE 2011 LYNETTE DOLPHIN
MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
ince its introduction in 2000, the Toronto Chapter of
the Guyana Queen's College of Alumni Association
(QCAA) has awarded bursaries to 16 students.
For 2011, QCAA has selected 4 deserving students for
the award: Sonnel David-Longe, Katerina Eyre, Brooke A.
Ihnat, and Shara Nirvani Nauth. They will each receive a
one-time cash award of $CAN 1,000.
S
Sonnel attended QC in 2002-09,
was the Head Prefect, and is only
the second alumnus to be awarded the bursary. She is currently
in the final year of the LLB
degree program at the University
of Guyana. Sonnel plans to
attend the Hugh Wooding Law
School in Trinidad but has indicated that her career plans are
Sonnel David-Longe
“more in line with politics”.
Sonnel has an extensive extra-curricular and volunteer
portfolio: currently Vice-President of the University of
Guyana Law Society, a member of Executive Committee of
the Bethel Gospel Hall Youth Group, member of the Board
of Operations (NGO), volunteer with the Guyana Red Cross
and the Rights of the Child (ROC) organizations, peer tutoring, and playing competitive tennis (lawn & table), cricket
and badminton.
In addition, Sonnel has received training in videography
and has worked to produce public service announcements
on climate change. She received a Certificate for Theatre
Arts from Carifesta for her performance in dramatic productions and her poetry is used by the National Road Safety
Council during Road Safety Week. With all this, Sonnel has
managed to maintain a 3.8 GPA.
Katerina Eyre
Katerina is the grand-daughter of
alumnus (1942-51, Austin “C”
House) and QCAA Toronto member,
Kenneth Stanton Eyre. Katerina
graduated in 2011 from the St.
Matthew High in Orléans, Ontario
with a mid-80s average and is currently in the first year of a BSc
degree program in Biochemistry at the University of
Toronto.
At St. Matthew, Katerina participated in many fund-raising activities and helped to raise $7,000 for Lupus. She was
also an excellent Marketing student and is considered by
many to be an excellent communicator.
Katerina played competitive basketball for St. Matthew
and the city (Orléans).
Brooke is the grand-daughter of
associate member Abdool (Rudy)
Gafur. Brooke graduated in 2011
from the Bill Crothers Secondary
School in Unionville, Ontario with
an above-85 average. She was an
Honours student throughout elementary and high school and graduated
as an Ontario Scholar.
Brooke is in the first year of a
Psychology degree program at the
Brooke Ihnat
University of Western Ontario, plans
to attend Teacher’s College, and to pursue a teaching career.
Brooke is an avid soccer player and has been playing for
a Pickering, Ontario club for the past 10 years. She has also
been dancing competitively for the past 3 years. Brooke has
been working part-time for Holister & Co. for the past 14
months and is about to be involved in the Terry Fox Run
fund-raising events. In addition, she has attended
Leadership Camps while in High School.
Shara is the daughter of QCAA
Toronto member and alumnus
Rabindra
Nauth
(1976-78,
Cunningham “K” House, 1978
Guyana Scholar) and alumna
Sharon Nauth (Vivian Rambihar's
sister) who attended QC from
1975-81 and was in Austin "C"
House.
Shara Nauth
The Scarborough, Ontario resident graduated in 2010 from
Town Centre High School with an
8
27
above-90 average. She is currently in the second year of a
Health Science (BHSc) degree program at McMaster
University.
Shara intends to apply to med school and evaluate career
opportunities involving health care and cognitive neuroscience. Alternatively, she will pursue research in applications of music cognition in health care and therapy programs.
Shara has extensive volunteer experience and has been
an acclaimed singer, musician, and community performer
since age 9. In 2007, she showcased her musical and dancing talents at the QCAA Toronto Father's Day Brunch with
her solo vocal performances and with the Tarana Dance
troupe, of which she was a member. In High School she
participated in 10 clubs and volunteered over 400 hours.
She is currently involved in classical opera, plays 3 instruments, and won the lead role in her faculty drama presentation.
At University, she worked as a Child Life Volunteer at
Sick Kids Hospital, was an assistant at the Hamilton
Children’s Choir, and volunteered with the Alzheimer’s
Association. She was also volunteer research assistant in 4
psychology and neuroscience PhD-level labs – performing
electroencephalogram (EEG) and behavioral experiments
on infants, children, and adults. Her hobbies include creative writing, hiking, Bollywood and ballet dancing.
The Scholarship was instituted to honour the memory of
Lynette Dolphin who died in February 1999. She joined the
staff of QC in September 1943 as Prep Form Mistress and
music teacher. After the Prep Form was abolished in the
early 50s she continued as a music teacher until 1966 when
she was appointed Chairman of the National History and
Culture Council.
Initially, the CAN$500 bursary was awarded to 3 children of members of QCAA Toronto. In 2009, after considering the need to assist more students and the rising costs of
post-secondary education, the bursary was increased to
CAN$1,000. The eligibility criteria were also modified to
cater to QC alumni and grand-children of members. The
number of awards was increased to 4 in 2010.
The awards are for students who have gained acceptance to
or already attending an accredited college or university for
a first degree/diploma/certificate program. Candidates must
be Queen’s College alumni or children / grand-children of
members of QCAA Toronto. There is no Canadian residency requirement.
Typically, QCAA Toronto would request that applications be submitted during the period September - November
of each year. Additional details on the scholarship can be
found at:
http://www.qcalumnitoronto.com/files/Scholarship.pdf.
Victor R. Moses
Editor’s Note:QCAA (Toronto) regrets that there was
only 1 applicant from Guyana and wishes to encourage other candidates from there to apply for the 2012
bursaries.
<
Farley’s QUIZ
1. Before moving to High Street, where was Radio
Demerara in Guyana situated?
7. What is the name of the Governor after whom a
street in New Amsterdam, Berbice is named?
2. What were its call Letters?
8. What is the name of the Governor after whom a
town in the Interior of Guyana is named?
3. Which is the most northerly point in Guyana?
4. What is the third largest river in South America?
5. At the time of the Berbice Slave Rebellion in
British Guiana (Guyana), how many slaves were
there in Berbice?
6. Who was the Governor at the time?
28
9. In what year did the late President Desmond
Hoyte launch his Economic Recovery
Programme for Guyana?
10. Mrs. Janet Jagan was elected the first female
President of Guyana - in which year?
Saville A. Farley
Austin “C”House &
Cunningham ‘‘K” House
Answers on - 33
Update April 2012
A
non-profit organization that helps deserving chil- of Guyana. We were
dren in the Caribbean, The Backpack Project con- also able to raise
tinues to thrive. In 2011, 28 backpacks were awareness about The
shipped to and distributed in Guyana, and 46 were distrib- Backpack
Project
uted in Trinidad. Thus far in 2012, 45 backpacks were after our first newslet- Contents of the Backpacks preshipped to Guyana, 27 backpacks were distributed in ter, which was created sented to the St. Rose’s Alumni
Trinidad, and a barrel containing backpacks full of sta- and distributed in Association.
tionery and personal items was shipped to Haiti. Of the 45 November 2011, and highlighted our achievements from
backpacks shipped to Guyana this year, thirty-five were 2009 to 2011.
shipped to the Guyana Red Cross Convalescent Home, and
The Backpack Project continues to expand because of the
the most recent shipment of backpacks was to 10 deserving generosity of our Canadian donors and sponsors such as
students at St. Rose’s High School. Our goal for 2012 is to Queen’s College Alumni Association (our very first spondistribute a total of 100
sor), Tutorial High
backpacks in Guyana
School’s
Alumni,
and 65 in Trinidad.
Trinity
College,
In 2011, Carmen
Women’s
College
Logie, a researcher and
Research Institute,
fellow employee at
Faith
United
Women’s
College
Ministries and the
Research
Institute,
most recent addition
Toronto, was awarded
to our list of sponsors,
a grant to help educate
St. Rose’s Alumni
women in the camps in
Association
(see
Haiti about HIV prephoto) As a growing
vention. However, she
organization,
we
was worried about the
depend heavily on
women and children in
your contributions,
Haiti who lack the
whether it be through
Members of St.Rose’s Alumni Association. (Left to Right) Jennifer
basic necessities ever
monetary donations
Welshman, Cheryl Braz, Terry Kim Katchay, Tessa Ng See Quan,
since the devastating Sheila DeGannes and Desiree Buckley with donated backpacks.
made
online
at
earthquake in January
www.backpackpro2010. Subsequently, Carmen collaborated with The ject.ca or in-kind donations or sponsorship. We are countBackpack Project and in February 2012, backpacks full of ing on your continued support in 2012 as we change chilstationery and personal items, all of which were donated by dren’s lives, one backpack at a time.
the staff at Women’s College Research Institute, arrived in
Haiti to help deserving women and children.
Not only were we able to distribute backpacks in 2011, Co-Founder/Director
but also we were able to raise awareness about The The Backpack Project
Backpack Project at several events last year, including Website:www.backpackproject.ca
Queen’s College Alumni Association’s Barbecue and Telephone:647-207-6355
Fashion show at Earl Bales Park, and at Last Lap Lime, Facebook Fan Page:
where there is the largest congregation of Guyanese outside www.facebook.com/TheBackpackProject
<
Melissa Enmore
29
Lucille Mittelholzer, M.B.E; Matchmaker
had crept in. Her advancing age notwithstanding,
The letter below was included in the February
many of her UK-based friends and relatives hav14, 2012 issue of the Guyana Kaieteur
ing died, visitors were far and few between.
News as a tribute to a Guyanese and
My connection with the Mittelholzers was
London-resident Lucille Mittelholzer.
that my father and his seven brothers often
The letter was written under the capvisited with the Mittelholzer family in their
tion “Lucille Mittelholzer, M.B.E;
youth. Upon hearing that she was living on
Matchmaker” by QC alumnus (1970her own, at her advanced age, I began visit74, Percival “A” House) Rod Westmaas
ing Lucille at her London flat four years ago.
who is a member of the QCAA UK
Conversation one afternoon led to the discusChapter.
sion of her famous brother, the author Edgar
This letter was so well received by the
Lucille Mittelholzer
Austin Mittelholzer. His book entitled, The
QC alumni community in Toronto, we
Swarthy Boy, written as an autobiography, was on
thought we’d include it in this issue of our
display
in her home. With Lucille’s permission I borScribbler.
Thanks Rod. You have produced a blend of a trib- rowed it with the intention of learning more about her family background.
ute, nostalgia and love story.
In the meantime a student, Juanita Cox, pursuing her
PhD had befriended Lucille. Her thesis was based on the
writing of Edgar Mittelholzer and his sister had provided
much insight into the world in which he grew up. In
Lucille’s advanced age she mistakenly informed Juanita that
DEAR EDITOR,
some tall chap named Westmaas had come into her flat and
On February 9th 2012, this proud daughter of Guyana stole her book. Enraged that someone would actually do
such a thing, Juanita tracked me down. Fortunately
turned the grand old age of 101. Miss Lucille Irene
she bought my explanation and we decided to
Mittelholzer M.B.E, has lived a life that has
meet shortly thereafter and visit our mutual
touched many. So much so that in 1966 she
friend. We have been visiting together ever
was awarded an M.B.E (Member of the
since!
British Empire), for her social service work.
The contribution of this wonderful lady has
From the Red Cross and Girl Guides to
been
acknowledged in many ways, except
assisting in the establishment of an old
matchmaker. Possibly her final accomplishfolks’ home in New Amsterdam, she gave
ment. Juanita and I were happily married
unselfishly to others.
last April. Happy Valentine’s Day!
A native of Berbice, Lucille always
spoke with pride and a glint of ‘longing to
return home’ in her voice. In recent months
her mind has taken refuge in the era in which she
was recognized for her community work. She
London, UK
speaks mostly of long deceased friends and relatives that
made up her world back then.
British Guiana, to Lucille, was a wonderful country with
so much promise. Her family home in Coburg Street stood
opposite the Police Station and next door to the Luckhoo
family. Mangoes, jamuns, grapefruits, oranges and five fin- PS: Lucille Mittelholzer died peacefully in London on
ger were just a few of the fruit trees in her yard. Her neighth
st
bours and friends were never short of jam and fresh fruit, February 24 2012, two weeks beyond her 101 birthday. Juanita and I had visited her the week previous and
courtesy of the Mittelholzers.
Shortly after the passing of her parents in the early ‘70s, saw signs of 'closing down'. We somehow knew it was
<
she moved to the UK, continuing her altruistic efforts. possibly the last time we would see her alive.
Never marrying nor having a long term partner, loneliness
Victor R. Moses
Rod Westmaas
30
1931
80
2011
CELEBRATING THEIR 80TH
DR. ROBERT (BOBBY) MOORE, former QC Master, recording.
was feted by family, relatives, friends, academicians, colIn thanking QCCA Toronto and the alumni contingent,
leagues and several QC alumni at a function held in Ottawa Dr. Moore referred to the enriching experience he had as a
on November 26th, 2011 to celebrate his 80th Birthday. The teacher at QC and acknowledged the continuing important
event which was a tremendous success was organized by his contributions of its alumni to the School and the welfare of
wife Barbara and daughter, Fauzya.
the students. He taught history and other
The numerous guests were treated to varied tributes and
subjects at QC from 1955 to
congratulatory messages from those who knew Dr.Moore
1964.During his tenure he initiated
for many years and those with whom he was professionally
the teaching of West Indian History
associated. The tributes and messages bore testimony
to the middle and upper forms,
to his stature and the high esteem in which he is
and, by using his own prodiheld.
gious debating skills, enriched
Among the tributes that he
student debates which
received was one from the
became a dynamic element
QCAA Toronto Chapter
in the School’s extracur
d
which also bestowed
ricular activities. His
r
wa
A
upon him the
formal expression of
ip
h
s
C h a p t e r ’s
“Thanks” to the TO
er o
b
t
m
Honourary
Chapter is at page
d
Me presente
s
Membership,
32.
y
t
n
ar hereby
de
r
f ts stu
u
o
awarded to those
The cele
t
i
s
i
por nd
no
o
sup lege a
r
u
l
who have supported
bration
of
o
o
H
_
of y n's C
___
1
e
ion
___
nit Que 6, 201
the Chapter over the
D
r
.
R
o
b
e
rt
_
g
_
o
o
t
ec
r2
___
in r bution vembe
___
o
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i
years and have also
Moore’s
80th
r
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N
cont ded:
j__ ent
r
ajra esid
ding Awa
made an outstanding
was a very warm and
n G aj , Pr
e
tstan
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r
__E . Gaj
ur ou
_
_
o
contribution to Queen’s
memorable occasion - one
_ _ _ en M
and y
_ _ _ Ed
___
_
College and its students.
that
those
present will cherish for
_
___
The congratulatory letter,
having been given the opportunity to
signed by the Chapter’s current
do honour to a person whose life has been
President, Eden Gajraj, was read
marked by so many outstanding accomplishments
by Kemahl Khan, immediate Past
as an academic, high-school teacher, university lecturer,
President, after which he presented
adult educator, co-author of Audacious Anglicans - Heroes
“Bobby” with the framed Certificate
of the Anglican Communion, radio broadcaster, diplomat,
of Membership.
and public servant.
The other QC alumni in attendance
We wish Bobby a healthy and continuing productive life
were Orson Forbes, Wally Boxhill, Martin Wickham, Ron in the years to come.
Medas and John Dennison. Orson and Wally gave their personal tributes. Orson also read “Greetings” from Dr. Editor’s Note: Although based in Ottawa, Bobby
Clement Marshall, another QC alumnus. Clement’s message found the time over the years to be Guest Speaker at
is reproduced at page 33. Another “Old Boy”, the well- several of the TO Chapter’s events, and has conknown Dr.Haslyn Parris, gave his tribute by way of a taped tributed articles to our newsletters.
t
r
e
ob
R
r.
e
r
o
o
M
D
8
31
DR. MOHAN M.S. RAGBEER, MD – QC alumnus and umn in the Indo Caribbean World, a Scarborough, Ontario
member of the QCAA Toronto Chapter was honoured by his newspaper. He is the author of “The Indelible Red Stain: The
wife Mary and six children, other family members, relatives, Destruction of a Tropical Paradise-a Cold War Story”
friends, and close associates who gathered at the Albion Hall (Books 1 and 2).
of the Hamilton (Ontario) Convention Centre on October15,
Despite his busy schedule, he is very active in commu2011 to observe his 80th
nity work through the Indo
Birthday.
Canadian Network Council and
Mohan was a student at QC
the Canadian Indo- Caribbean
from 1947 to 1950, having
Association in Hamilton.
entered from Berbice High
Mohan is a member of the
School which he had attended on
QCAA Toronto Chapter and has
a full scholarship. He was very
participated in the Chapter’s
active at QC. Besides “hitting the
activities over the years. In 2009
books” and winning Sixth Form
he was the Guest Speaker at the
prizes in several subjects, Mohan
Chapter’s Annual General
Meeting – his topic being “QC,
was Vice-captain (Deputy Head)
of D’Urban “D” House, and a
UWI, UG- charting the course of
higher education in the anglomember of QC’s Case and Wight
Cup cricket teams. He was the
phone Caribbean”. He graced
Wight Cup captain in 1949 and
our Scribblers of May 2008 and
Mohan Ragbeer and wife Mary at his 80th birth1950, earning prizes for best day function.
December 2008 with a tribute
bowling averages both at QC and
on the passing of another QC
in the Wight Cup. He was the Founder and first Editor of the alumnus, Dr. Ronald Rabindranath Sahoy, and his nostalgic
Q.C. periodical, The Lictor, (1949-50) and Co-editor of the piece-“The Reunion”-about QC Principal, the late Capt.
Annual Magazine in 1949 and 1950.
Nobbs. We wish Mohan many more years of good health
Dr. Ragbeer graduated with an M.B, B.S. (London) from and success in his future endeavours.
the University College of the West Indies (now UWI)
in1957. At age 80, he is still an active medical practitioner,
working in the field of Geriatrics and Palliative Care at Editor’s Note: Dr. Ragbeer's "The Indelible Red Stain
St.Peter’s Hospital in the city of Hamilton where he resides. - Book 1 and Book 2" are available for sale on
In addition to his medical skills, he is a prolific writer with Amazon.ca
<
many publications in medical journals and has a weekly col-
Kemahl Khan
hank
Tyou
With appreciation to the Queen's
College Alumni Association (Toronto
Chapter):
It is a privilege to receive the
"Honourary Membership Award" certificate from the Toronto Chapter of
32
the Queen's College of Guyana
Alumni Association. I was very
pleased that it could be presented personally by Kemahl Khan at my 80th
birthday celebration party in Ottawa
on November 26, as I have known him
for a long time.
Kemahl read your tribute to an
appreciative gathering, and added his
own gloss to the message on behalf of
Queen's Graduates. The gathering
included other graduates, including
Orson Forbes, Wally Boxhill, Martin
Wickham and Richard Barrow with
whom I often share happy memories
at Ottawa events.
My teaching days at Queen's
College stand out as a pivotal point in
my various careers. For almost ten
years, I enjoyed being at Queen's, both
as part of the dynamic teaching
staff and in my role with students
whose enthusiasm, humour and initiative gave me immense pleasure as
teacher and mentor.
One of the joys of my retirement is
receiving letters, phone calls and emails from former students, especially
when they tell me of their own
achievements in the fields that they
have espoused.
To all Queen's alumni, both longstanding and recent, I express my gratitude for past experiences and current
tributes.
O
Gratefully yours,
Bobby Moore
TRIBUTE TO DR. ROBERT MOORE
Dear Sir, Also Known as
Dr. Robert Moore.
26 November, 2011
A
generation and a half ago, we eleven year-olds stepped into high school
in Guyana as an amorphous multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-cultural
mix-up from every region and class; our 2B Form Master was Dr. Robert
Moore. He made us all feel valued and valuable, at a time although I knew my
own Caribbeanized Afrikan community and culture very well, I was steeped in
the superficial ideas about all the other groups that floated around me. It was precisely at that moment that “Bobby” Moore breezed into our lives at The Queen’s
College of British Guiana - QC in BG. For me the young and enthusiastic
“Bobby”, to us behind his back, was in fact the first stranger of another ancestry
whose thinking I was exposed to in depth and over a long term. It was our good
fortune that he was already a superbly talented, multidisciplinary educator. It was
only after I became a teacher myself that I truly realized what rare gifts Bobby
Moore shared with us over those years, and how they enriched our absorbent
minds.
Being in Booby Moore’s classes in Latin, History, Scripture or whatever else
the Administration could fit into his timetable brought us a host of social skills.
They not only included the art of witty repartee and the give and take of good
humour, but also scrupulous respect for anyone whose background was different
from our own.
Today I remember how along the way we learned to make presentations in
class; to enjoy writing our own poems and plays; to produce radio shows and to
take delight in exploring the intellectual unknown. The skills Dr. Moore passed
on probably still shape my own approach to teaching to this day.
There is however a focus to these reminiscences. I consider myself a PanAfrikanist and freethinker, and the night those seeds took root is still vividly alive
in my imagination.
It was the night that Dr. Moore offered up his personal time to be the guest
lecturer at our small History Club, which usually met at seven in the evening at
school. His lecture was based on CLR James’ peerless history, “The Black
Jacobins”, the story of General Toussaint L’Ouverture and the Haytian
Revolution.
By that time I had already been taught about the Caesars of Rome, Alexander
of Greece and Napoleon Bonaparte of France, but I had never encountered someone who looked like me of equal stature, equally accomplished and equally worthy of his people’s pride. But, because he is at heart a Hamlet, Bobby Moore
made the Haytian heroes come alive on the stage his presence created in that
small room, in a tiny colonial enclave.
Toussaint and Dessalines and Christophe and their indomitable fighters strode
forth like Colossi from oblivion into the full glory of spectacular triumphs that
transformed their world and mine.
That was the beginning of my journey back into the power of my stolen
Afrikan identity, the pleasures of my disinherited past and into the educational
work to which I have dedicated my life – recapturing the rhythm, ritual and reasoning that have preserved Afrikan humanity and guarantee that humanity endless rebirth. With Blessings and Best Wishes.
QC from 1955 - 1962, Head of Percival "A"
Clement Marshall Attended
<
House, Prefect in 1961, Head of School in 1962.
Answers to QUIZ
1. In New Garden Street- opposite the Georgetown Cricket
Club.
2. ZFY.
3. Pointa Playa.
4. The Essequibo River.
5. 3800 slaves.
6. Van Hoogenheim.
7. Sir Charles Woolley.
8. Sir Gordon Lethem.
9. In 1989.
10. In 1997.
<
ICQC ANNUAL
BUSINESS MEETING
AUGUST 5, 2012 TORONTO
The Toronto Chapter of QCAA is planing to host the 2012 ICQC ABM on
Sunday August 5, 2012 in Toronto.
The tentative programme is as follows:
Friday Aug 3 - Evening entertainment
and Boat Ride
Saturday Aug 4 (Day) - Caribana
Parade
Saturday Aug 4 (Evening) - Lots of
Parties
Sunday Aug 5 (Day) - ICQC 2012
ABM
Sunday Aug 5 (Evening) - Lots of
parties, BBQs
Monday Aug 6 - Last Lap Lime hosted by QC, Bishops, St. Stanislaus, St.
Roses, and St. Joseph.
Note: Please visit Toronto Chapter’s
website www.qcalumnitoronto.com
for further details as they become
available.
33
QCAA
FIRST BBQ
&
The hosts of the day’s events, Michael Omitiran (left) and
Jamohl Rutherford, did an amazing job.
A
day of food, fashion and fun, Rutherford, a Queen’s College alum- audience in several games and activiQueen’s College Alumni nus, did an amazing job introducing the ties, allowing not only adults to particAssociation’s first Barbecue performers and models, and keeping ipate, but children also, who had their
and Fashion show was a success. The the crowd entertained between per- own little corner where they did severevent, designed to attract younger formances. The performers included al crafts.
alumni, was free of charge and held the Cuffy Sisters whose soulful harMembers of Queen’s College
outdoors at Earl Bales Park’s amphithe- monies filled the air, Michele Mitchell Alumni Association’s Toronto Chapter
atre on a beautifully sunny day, Sunday whose melodies soared as she flawless- worked together to ensure that the
July 10th, 2011.
ly played the flute and Purpose who event ran smoothly, providing help
The fashion show featured
needed behind the scenes,
pieces from fashion designers
ensuring that the crowd was
Stacy Irving and Kirk
fed and hydrated, selling
McIntosh’s clothing line
refreshments including burgShandina, and accessories
ers, hotdogs, watermelons and
from T.A.G. Although I am no
soft drinks. A special thank
fashionista, I had the privilege
you is extended to all those
of being on the runway with
who volunteered before and
the other models Kimani
after the event, and an even
Williams, Denise Johnson,
more special thank you to our
Tenisha Yonge and Tanesha
associate member Angela
Bolton. Not only did we enjoy
Thomas who helped with the
preparing for the event, but we
set up, decorations and who
had even more fun ripping the
organized the children’s corrunway on the big day. After
ner. The food, fashion, live
having our hair and make-up Kimani Williams (L), Melissa Enmore (V.P Membership entertainment and fun in the
done by make-up artist and Comms.) and Tenisha Yonge strutting their
sun all contributed to the barVanessa Roberts in the dress- “stuff” on the runway.
becue/fashion show being a
ing room below the amphithesuccess. Although the turnout
atre, we changed into our outfits, which had the crowd on the edge of their seats of QC alumni, particularly the younger
were designed specifically for the event with his spoken word/hip-hop. alumni, was less than expected, this
and were as elegant as they were styl- Vintage, a five-member band which event, which was the first of its kind,
ish. The T.A.G. accessories comple- had the audience jamming to our was indeed a memorable one.
mented the outfits well and we all mod- favourite Caribbean tunes, was led by
eled and showcased the beautiful Queen’s College alumnus Eric Azeez,
designs to the audience’s content.
who was one of the founding members
The hosts of the day’s events, of QC’s first band, The Jets in 1961. Attended Q.C. 1995-1997
Michael Omitiran and Jamohl Michael and Jamohl also engaged the Percival “A” House
<
Melissa Enmore
34
Q.C. VICTORIOUS
Proud achievement
by Queen’s College
Steel Orchestra
Player Naomi Dos Ramos, is one of the many students who made sacrifices to ensure that they had what it took
to win the National “Panorama” Competition in the School Band category.
ueen’s College – the Premier
Institution of Guyana and one
of the top schools in the
Caribbean – had for many years coveted National Awards in the respective
regions for outstanding academic performance. However, Queen’s College
is not a school whose sole focus is only
academics; extra-curricular activities
are always urged on its students. Aside
from over ten clubs – three of which
are religious – different groups have
been roused from what seems to have
been a dormant state. One such group
is the Queen’s College Steel Orchestra.
The oldest members of the Steel
Orchestra are currently in their first
year of sixth form. They recall attending the college from the first form, and
took an immediate interest in steel pan
music. On their arrival, the steel
orchestra had only been in existence
for an approximate period of two to
three years. Throughout the years, the
present lower-six members have taken
new members under their wings, which
Q
led to the steel orchestra having a
membership of twenty-two students.
To the knowledge of its members,
the Queen’s College Steel Orchestra
had never entered the National
‘Panorama’ Competition until last year.
In February 2011, under the direction
and arrangement of Mr. TJ (GuyaneseCanadian Musician), the nervous students bravely played their part before
the large audience. They were bitterly
disappointed when their efforts granted
them fourth position out of the five
bands in the ‘School Band’ category.
However, the Principal and Board of
Queen’s College richly rewarded them
for their efforts.
The students were not surprised
when they were once again asked to
participate in the competition this year
– 2012. With great determination, the
students purposed in their hearts to
work extra hard this time around. At
the time, they thought it would be nice
to defeat the reigning School Band
champions – The North Georgetown
Multilateral Steel Orchestra – and
make Queen’s College proud.
However, they would be contented
with any position from first to third
place. “After all”, one student had
remarked with great excitement, “We
have the best arranger in the country!”
Any one who had heard the name of
the arranger would have heartily
agreed; he was no other than Mr.
Colgrain White – a National Steel Pan
legend and the best of his kind. Mr.
White confidently remarked, “I am
taking you guys in to win because I am
not accepting anything less than a first
position!”
The other steel orchestras had started practice sessions months earlier.
Could the students of Queen’s College
start rehearsals late and still come out
victorious? They were about to find
out. With only three weeks remaining
until the day of the competition, the
students and their arranger, plunged
head-first into the music.
“It was not easy balancing school
8
35
work and so many intense hours of
practice, but we made it”, Senior
Double-First player Johann Crandon
recalls. And looking back we all tend
to agree with her.
During the first week of practice,
rehearsals were held in the afternoons
after school was dismissed. However,
as the time for the competition got
closer, it soon became clear that an
increase in practice hours was necessary if the arrangement of the song was
to be completed in time. So, with permission from the Principal, the students began rehearsals after lunch each
day for the remaining two weeks.
They were excused from classes and
put school-work on hold; all their concentration went into their music.
“Most of us had to sacrifice our
Saturdays, and it was not easy”, Senior
Guitar player Shaquiyl Williams stated, “but we understood why it needed
to be done, so we did it. This was a
pretty serious thing for us and we had
no intentions of loosing”.
Smiling, Senior First Pan player
Adel Jones recalls, “Because I am a
member of the Seventh-Day Adventist
Church, I could not make it to practice
sessions during the day on Saturdays. I
remember meeting with my fellow
melody pan players on Saturday night
before the competition, so that we had
our melody perfected. We all make
sacrifices, because we wanted to show
people that we had what it took to actually win.”
The competition was scheduled to
begin at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, February
9th. Early that morning, the band
members met for the last time at
school. Excitement charged the air as
they prepared the instruments to be
transported to the venue of the event –
The National Sports Hall. From 10:00
a.m. until 2:30 p.m., they were busy
transporting and arranging the instruments. The competition began on time
– 4:00 p.m.
When the first school band was
introduced the students of Queen's
College made their way over to the
prep area. Gathered together by Mr.
36
White, they formed a circle and sent up
a prayer. Finally, it was time…..
"Please welcome Queen's College
Steel Orchestra!" The announcer's
voice rang out, and the audience erupted with loud cheering. Encouraged by
the support being given them, the
members of Queen's College Steel
Orchestra made their entrance. With
the drummer providing an upbeat
rhythm, the students - contrary to the
expectations of the audience - did not
enter dancing, but instead walked elegantly to their instruments. Once in
position, the drummer ceased and
silence reigned. What a sight it was to
behold - the wonderful school colours
pleased the eyes of the lookers - black
and yellow. The posture and facial
expressions of the students seemed to
scream, "Queen's, Queen's forever!"
Mr. White gave the signal, and they
bowed. Then, with the flick of his
hand, they were off. Appropriately
captioned "A New Day", the arrangement of the song obviously appealed to
the tastes of the audience. With a dramatic introduction, they were led into
teasing calypso, follow by waltz,
tango, jazz, salsa, sentimental and
finally soca. A crescendo run ended the
song so beautifully that for a few seconds after the song was finished, the
audience seemed to sit spell-bound.
Then the audience once again erupted
into loud applause and much cheering
and seemed reluctant to let up, for they
continued long after the orchestra had
exited the floor. Then it was our turn to
observe the other bands play.
Pleased with their performance, the
members of the band happily resolved
to enjoy the rest of the evening. But it
was not long before the time came for
the announcement of the results. With
bated breaths, the members and their
supporters - other students and teachers - waited.
"And now, the results of the school
band category," the announcer began.
"This category was not easy to judge,
but I assure you that our judges have
been fair. Remember that the judges’
decision is final." He paused then conThe Scribbler – April 2012 Edition
tinued, "It's rather interesting, we have
a tie for second position - North
Georgetown Multilateral and Parkside
Academy!"
As the audience cheered once more,
the students of Queen's College looked
at each other in confusion. Did that
mean they weren't in the top three? If
so, who had won?
"Oh, my," a student began, "we did
not make it." But the words were
scarcely out of her mouth when the
announcer shouted, "And in first position - Queen's College!" The audience
began to cheer louder than before.
Stunned, the students sat in stupefied
silence for about thirty seconds before
also jumping and screaming in excitement.
"We won! We won! We really
won!" was the joyful cry. Even the
principal was ecstatic. Queen's College
had done it. They had indeed emerged
victorious despite the odds.
"When I look back at the night, I
remember thinking of all the
Chemistry Labs we missed was totally
worth it. I did not expect us to win, so
I was shocked, but what else can you
expect from Queen's College but the
best" laughs Senior Double-first player
Nikkita Chetram.
"I told you we would do it," Adielle
Rosheuvel, Senior First-pan player
remarked matter-of-factly, "because
we're the best."
"We're very proud of our students”,
said the Principal of Queen's College.
As they swept Mr. Colgrain White
in a group hug, the students all laughed
happily. With God's help, we did our
best and emerge winners. Queen's,
Queen's forever!
Adel Jones
(2006 - , Lower VI., Austin “C”
House)
Editor’s Note: Adel is a member of
the Steel Pan Orchestra and Bible
Club and has participated in field
sports (javelin, discus, shot putt).<
ICQC Annual Business Meeting (ABM)
The 2012 Annual Business Meeting (ABM) of the International Committee of the Queen’s College (ICQC) of Guyana
Alumni Associations (ICQC) will be hosted by the Toronto Chapter and is scheduled for Sunday August 5, 2012 in Toronto.
The scheduling of this event is deliberate to take advantage of the large number of alumni who would come to Toronto for
Caribana.
2011 ABM
The 2011 ABM was hosted by the UK Chapter in London on Sunday October 9 and was held at Eversheds, an International
Law Firm, in the City – courtesy of alumnus Rod Westmaas. This followed a reception that was held by the Guyana High
Commission on Friday 7th October for the visiting overseas delegates. The reception was attended by approximately fifty
(50) persons, including His Excellency the High Commissioner (Laleshwar KN Singh, CCH), the visiting delegates from
the overseas Chapters, and members and friends of the UK Chapter and members of the Bishops Alumni Association.
Toronto was represented by its President, Eden Gajraj and Director, Syed Rayman. On Saturday, 8th October 2011 there
was a trip to Stone, Staffordshire - the birthplace of the founder of Queen’s College of Guyana, Bishop Dr. William Piercy
Austin D.D.
The Chapters agreed to focus on the Special Awardees program for the school that is administered by the Guyana Chapter
(QC-OSA) and on improving the provision for sports at QC. The Toronto Chapter reported that the library project was
almost complete. The ICQC Officers elected for 2011-2012 are:
President – Christopher Chunnilall.
Executive Secretary – Lloyd Houston.
Deputy Executive Secretary and Information Officer – Gordon Wilson.
Recording Secretary – Amegah Blackman.
Fund Raising and Project Coordinator – Alfred Granger.
It was agreed that Toronto would host the 2012 ABM and that the 2013 ABM would return to London so as to coincide
with the 25th anniversary celebrations of the UK Chapter.
What is ICQC?
ICQC is a non-profit, representative body that was established to coordinate support provided by Alumni Associations to
Queen’s College of Guyana.
The ABMs are held annually - no more than fifteen (15) months after the previous business meeting and Chapters take turn
in hosting the meeting. The Guyana ABM is a Reunion and is held every five (5) years. The next Guyana Reunion is scheduled for 2014. During the year, teleconferences are conducted quarterly where the Board and Chapter delegates / representatives review and plan for on-going projects.
The ABM shall comprise of Officers of the Organization and Chapter delegates, who shall by their votes, determine the
outcome of meetings. Each Chapter is allowed 2 delegates but any alumnus/alumna can attend as an observer. Non-affiliated alumni, that is, alumni who are not affiliated with a Queen's College Association/Chapter, may participate in the deliberations of an ABM but may only be allowed, as a bloc of independent participants, two (2) votes, similar to
Association/Chapter delegates.
The President of the host Chapter/Association or his/her nominee shall be the President of ICQC for the ensuing year and
shall be elected by acclamation. The Presidency will therefore pass from Chris Chunnilall (President of UK Chapter) to
the President of the Toronto Chapter (currently Eden Gajraj or whoever gains the nod at the April 29 AGM).
8
37
2012 ABM
The 2012 ABM is scheduled for Sunday August 5, 2012 in Toronto’
We are requesting that you plan to arrive on/before Friday Aug 3 as we are contemplating hosting some form of entertainment that night, and to leave on/after Tuesday Aug 7 (see events below). We are also investigating accommodation options
for those who will need it.
You should consider the following events that will be held around that time:
Friday Aug 3
Evening entertainment planned by QCAA Toronto, with a Boat Ride being the
prime consideration
Saturday Aug 4 (day)
Caribana Parade
Saturday Aug 4 (evening)
Lots of parties
Sunday Aug 5 (day):
ICQC 2012 ABM
Sunday Aug 5 (evening)
Lots of parties, BBQs
Monday Aug 6
Last Lap Lime hosted by the following alumni associations: QC, Bishops, St.
Stanislaus, St. Roses, and St. Joseph
We will develop a registration process to track who plan to attend and to make adequate catering and other arrangements.
We aim to keep you informed as plans develop.
Your Participation is Required
It is important that there be participation by Chapters and non-affiliated alumni as the ABM does provide an opportunity
for advancing new ideas that can be incorporated into ICQC’s short and long-term plans. These ideas would typically be
fully discussed in one of the ICQC teleconferences.
August 5 is a significant date.
Did you know that the first assembly at QC was held on August 5, 1844 with an enrollment of fifteen boys?
Formal classes commenced on 15 August 1844.
Victor R. Moses
LAST
Date:
Location:
<
LIME
Monday August 6th, 2012
QUEEN’S COLLEGE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
(TORONTO CHAPTER)
LYNETTE DOLPHIN
MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
Woodbridge Fairgrounds
100 Porter Avenue
Woodbridge, Ontario.
Kipling Avenue & Highway 7
Parking is $5
Large Parking area!!
Tickets: Early-bird purchase - $15.00
At the event
- $25.00
38
Life in My Younger Days
I
was born in the little town of New
Amsterdam in Berbice, Guyana at
the mouth of the Berbice River. It
was a muddy river that empties into the
Atlantic Ocean. New Amsterdam was
hot and plagued with mosquitoes that
descended on the little town about 6
p.m. when it was cooling off after a
steamy day. I remember running as if
my life depended on it to try to get
inside our house before the swarms of
mosquitoes could get there, and made
it just in time to find my mother and the
servants "flitting" the house with a
spray called "FLITT".
I wish to assure you these little
monsters were horrible, and could
make our lives unbearable if you
stopped anywhere. Hearing the buzz
of their little wings as well as seeing
the swarm of them coming added to
my dislike of them. My father, possibly because he was born in New
Amsterdam, had a more casual attitude
to these pests. My mother who was
born in Georgetown was more hostile
in her attitude. I was closer to her attitude and never got over my fear and
dislike of them. In my little mind they
were violators and I just wanted to kill
them. When the invasion was ongoing
you could brush them off your arm as
they lay there like a carpet over your
arm. My memory of New Amsterdam
is unfortunately darkened with these
recollections as I shudder just thinking
about it even now – many years later.
Anyway, it was not all bad. We had
neighbours that were wonderful, and to
this day they still resonate in my memory. On one side of us there was Uncle
Charlie Waite who was a wonderful
storyteller. Some of his stories I can
still remember as they activated my
childish imagination. One of them was
as follows:
"A well-traveled man owned a bakery
in town and on his return from his trav-
els he decided to bake. He lit up his
oven to let it warm up. About an hour
later, he opened up the oven only to
find that three bodies had been baked
in there. He did not know who they
were but felt he had to get rid of them.
If he could get someone to throw them
into the river that would solve his problem.
He looked at the bodies and realized
they were dressed in identical clothes
so they must have been triplets and
may very well be known in the community. He therefore had to find someone who was unknown to the community to dump these bodies in the river.
He quickly put a body in a crocus bag
and searched for a prospective carrier.
In a little while he saw a sailor coming
along and engaged him in a conversation. He told the sailor that he had a
baked person who had unfortunately
been left in the oven and was now
dead. If he could take the bag and
throw it into the river, he would give
him fifty dollars.”
In those days fifty dollars was a lot
of money, so the sailor quickly agreed
and left with the bag and its contents.
When the baker and the sailor met
again the sailor said, "Yes I have
thrown the bag into the river!" The old
baker asked to see the bag and "lo and
behold" there was the bag still containing a body with the same suit as the one
the sailor had thrown into the river. So
the sailor hoisted this bag over his
shoulder and set off to get rid of the
bag and the baked man.
When he returned the same scene
was repeated because the old baker had
put the third body into another identical bag and the poor sailor was facing
the same problem. "You are trying to
defraud me!! You better get this man
out of here or I will call the Police,"
shouted the baker. So the poor sailor
once more picked up the bag with the
body and set off again for the river.
This time the sailor was not just afraid;
he was angry, so he pulled the body out
and broke one leg, all the while swearing under his breath, "This S.O.B. will
not get back here if I have anything to
do with it."
On his way back from the wharf he
saw a one-legged man walking with a
crutch and immediately ran up to him,
tripped him, all the while swearing
"You Bastard, where do you think
you're going?" He broke his other leg,
threw him in the bag, took off for the
river and promptly threw him into the
river. "Well," he said,” some people
just don't know when to stop!" He
never saw a one-legged man again
without looking at him seriously just to
make sure it wasn't one of the three
men."
In addition to Uncle Charlie Waite,
another neighbour living across the
road had three daughters and a son. I
befriended the son and he became my
lifelong friend until his death three
years ago. One of the daughters sought
me out in Canada more than twenty
years later. It was as if we had never
lost our connection. This proves that
good neighbours can become friends
forever.
My father died when I was eleven
years old. Shortly after that I was
awarded a scholarship to Queen's
College, so I left New Amsterdam to
attend Q.C. in Georgetown. As with
my neighbours in New Amsterdam, I
met students in Queen's College who
would become my lifelong friends.
My experiences at Q.C. are material
for another story sometime.
Arthur Henery
Raleigh “B” House
<
39
Reflections
Godfrey Chin’s
Nostalgias
:
Golden Memories of Guyana 1940- 1980
By Saville A. Farley
Dr. lan McDonald describes
'Nostalgias' as '...truly a classic of its kind’ to which I
would like to add
'Certainly!'
Delving into the social
mores and littered with
observations and memories
of 'Good old B.G.’, Godfrey
Chin takes us on a journey
into the life and times in
British Guiana when it was a
treat to play ‘bat and ball’ on
the sea wall in the 40’s, when
it was such a marvelous
thing to take one's kite to the
sea-wall, when boys used to
play cricket on St. Phillips green (the Lords of Guyana), and
play football in their neighbourhood,
An alumnus of Central High in Georgetown, Chin takes
us on a journey to his school (he describes himself as a
cook-shop -fly), studying Girlometry and Boyology and
“raiding” neighbours’ fruit trees.
Who cannot recall the tramping of the steel bands, the
plaiting of the Maypole? Suspend your imagination and let
Godfrey Chin take you back to the playing on the gramophone of “Patti Page”, the “Platters” and “Nat King Cole” as
you danced to the their latest hits. To shanto singer Bill
Rogers of “BG Bhagee” and “The Weed Song” fame!
Godfrey reminds you of the Black Friday in 1962 when
riots enveloped Georgetown.
Humour when Prince Phillip visited Guyana in 1962 and
out of a box on one of the floats in the parade to mark the
occasion of the visit there appeared Jack-in-the-Box, with
the slogan 'Jack- Go- Back'
The times in Bourda Market when we went to get one of
“the sweet delights of our childhood “ - the churned coconut
40
ice cream, served “in mini
cups and schnapps glasses”.
When we went to the cinema
for our fun!
Oh yes, Godfrey Chin,
Guyanese history buff and
culture enthusiast, certainly
takes us back on a journey of
nostalgia as he recalls the
days of yore.
It would be a shame if
Guyanese do not avail themselves of a copy of this journey into the “good ole days”.
Editor’s Note: The late
Godfrey Chin was a friend
of QCAA Toronto Chapter. His “Nostalgia 101 –
“Guyana’s Men’s Fashion From Yesteryear!” was one
of the topics presented at our Literary Evening in
February 2003.The presentation of this nostalgic
piece, a light-hearted humourous account (written in
Chin’s unique and inimitable style) that traced
Guyanese men’s fashions over the years, resonated
well with the audience. The full text of Nostalgia 101
was published, with Godfrey’s permission, on page 6
of the 2003 Spring Edition of our Scribbler newsletter
which can be accessed using the “Archives” link of our
Chapter’s website www.qcalumnitoronto.com.
For the 2009 QCAA Reunion in Guyana, the local
organizers enlisted the services of Godfrey to do displays of his collection of archival photos of QC and
Guyana. The photo above shows Godfrey promoting
his “Nostalgias” book at the 2008 Last Lap Lime.
Requiescat in pace
<
LAST LAP LIME 2011
Toronto Chapter members with Major General (Ret`d) Joe
Singh at the LLL. (L to R) Victor Moses, David Singh, Maj Gen
Singh, Gerald Alleyne, Conrad Griffith and Angela Thomas.
Melissa Enmore at the Backpack Project
booth flanked by (L) Michael Omitiran
and Jamohl Rutherford and guest.
Just another example of the all-out effort made by team members of the various Alumni Associations to win the tug-o-war
trophy at the Last Lap Lime.
Stanley Chan Choong (Right) and
Etobicoke Elvis, one of the many local
talents at last year’s Lime.
Central High Alumni Association President, Jennifer St.
Aubyn (Right) and friends, among the regular supporters of
the Last Lap Lime from other Associations.
The main stage was the place to be for
the many eye-catching dance attractions at the Lime.
Secretary Victor Moses with the help of David Singh, ensuring
that attendees would have no trouble locating the QCAA
Toronto Chapter’s booth on the grounds.
41
20th ANNIVERSARY DINNER & DANCE
Dance floor jam-packed with guests dancing the evening
away.
Some of the guests (those seated on right half of hall) enjoying their sumptuous dinner.
Featured well-known Guyanese singer, Pamela Maynard,
rending a soulful piece.
Pat and Bernard Stephens, like so many other folks at
the event appeared to be having a good time.
Myrna (right), wife of Toronto Chapter's Treasurer Audrick
Chung, in company with sister-in-law Gloria.
BHS alumna Merrie Lee , the event's hall and table decorator
and door-prize contributor.
42
2011 FATHER’S DAY BRUNCH
Toronto Chapter members Joseph Permaul (left) and Ataur
Bacchus.
Toronto Chapter member and past president Albert
Ramprasad and family.
Toronto Chapter Executive Committee members Lester
Fernandes (left) and Vivian Wong.
Alumnus Malcolm Taharally, our choice to play the late
Cheddi Jagan in any movie.
Staunch supporter of Toronto Chapter fundraisers, Carl
Veecock, his wife June (sitting on his right), and friends.
Toronto Chapter's Secretary Victor (left) with wife Shelley and
son Wesley.
43
QCAA Toronto members at dinner with Conrad
Plummer, QC Board Chair, during his visit to Toronto.
L to R: Patrick Chan, Stan Chan Choong, David Singh,
Conrad Plummer, Conrad Griffith, Neil Smith and Peter
Bhola. Sitting: Victor Moses.
Immediate Past-President Kemahl and daughter Michelle
enjoying the day’s outing at the 2011 BBQ/Fashion Show,
along with former Past-President Gerald Alleyne.
Queen's College's longest serving teacher, Mr. Frank Maloney
(2nd from left) visited by Andrew Dookhan, Dawn Holder and
Roger Harper.
QCAA (Toronto) member Pat Chan taking in the BBQ/Fashion
Show with BHS Alumna, Lynette Spence.
HAVE YOU RENEWED OR TAKEN OUT MEMBERSHIP?
The Toronto Chapter‘s 2012/13 financial year
began on February 1st.
Members are reminded to pay their annual
subscription of $25.00 before the April
2012 Annual General Meeting by completing the membership form available on
our website www.qcalumnitoronto.com and
sending it with their payment to the P.O.
Box address stated on the form.
RENEW
NOW!
Our paid-up members in Canada average each year
about 40 out of approximately 400 alumni listed in our
database. We need to improve this situation. Our aim is
to increase our paid-up membership to a more realistic
level and therefore we appeal to those who have not yet
44
taken out financial membership of our Chapter to
do so.
The annual membership fee adds to our
finances and, along with the funds that are
raised by some of our annual events,
helps in meeting our expenses with respect
to donations to our alma mater, our website domain and space, the Webmaster’s fee
for maintaining the site, the production of
our newsletter,The Scribbler, the Lynette
Dolphin Memorial Scholarship awards, and our
non-fundraisers like our AGM, Appreciation and
Literary events.
Your membership and payments will therefore be most
<
appreciated.
The Toronto Chapter Executive Committee 2011-2012. From L to R: Front Row - Saville Farley, Vivian Wong,
Audrick Chung, Melissa Enmore, President Eden Gajraj, Kemahl Khan and Lester Fernandes.
Back Row: Victor Moses, Syed Rayman, Gerald Alleyne, Ron Wharton and Stanley Chan Choong.
The Scribbler
Official Publication of the
Queen’s College Alumni
Association (Toronto)
P.O. Box 312
Canada

April 2012 - Queen`s College Alumni Association of Guyana

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