Ontario Chapter
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Newsletter |
St. George's College Old Boys AssociationOntario Chapter |
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St. George's College
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Good & True ...issue# 31...May, 2001
Warren Abbott
Greetings to my fellow Georgians, our families, friends and supporters, our best wishes to you and our prayers go out for the sick and deceased relatives and friends. Our next big event is the Family Dinner on June 16th. Please note the change of venue. For the first time this will be held at the Milliken Mills Community Center at 7600 Kennedy Rd, in Markham (North of Denison). In addition to Van Hitchener, the headmaster and Fr. Winchester we are honoured to have as special guests as well Herman Athias, the new president of the Jamaica chapter and Peter Chang the Vice President. They have certainly heard about us from our visiting directors and from our newsletters and from donations, and know what we have accomplished. Come out in numbers to show them just what the Ontario chapter is all about. The $1,000 scholarship Award will be presented at this event. Call one of the directors listed on this page for tickets. We want to fill the hall and must confirm attendance early with the caterers. There will be a supervised room with TV for the younger kids. Like the cover photo of former president Derek Potopsingh and Shaun Wilson (taken at the communion breakfast) suggests, "Think Big! Act Big!" We Georgians not only physically, but also mentally tower over the rest, and nothing will deter us in our efforts to achieve our goals.
The
August 5th fundraiser over the Caribana weekend with the Fab 5 is a big draw (Caribana
is the largest West Indian festival in North America and spreads over one week
with tons of activities, drawing in in excess of half a million tourists to the
Toronto area. The table reservation call-in line is set up - 416- 681-6688. Family Dinner & $1,000 Scholarship Award Presentation- Milliken Mills Community Centre - 7600 Kennedy Road, Markham (North of Denison) Special Guests: Headmaster-Van Hitchener & Fr. George Winchester S.J. and Herman Athias- president St.G.C Old Boys, Jamaica
Sunday, June 24th Friday, August 3rd Sunday, August 19th Our Mass and Communion Breakfast and the AGM saw good attendance, and are well captured in articles and photos in this newsletter. Finally, check out our Chapter's new Toronto website: www.stgctoronto.com for lots of
information on our activities, access to all our newsletters and direct links to
St.G.C. site and Greg Chin's Jaweb site. |
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St. George's College
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Great news coming out of Jamaica. On January 30, 2001 the Jamaica chapter
elected the enthusiastic Herman Athias as president. Herman has established
early contact with our president Warren and liaison director Neil and will be
here for our June family dinner along with Vice-President Peter Chang. This is
the first time we have been so honoured and with this enhanced cooperation can
only come good as we move on to explore ways to help the school.
Fr. Ted Dziak is moderator of the Jamaica chapter. What a wonderful turn out at our Mass and Communion breakfast on February 25th at St. Aidan's church, with our two Georgian deacons, Patrick Chang and Peter Rickards assisting. This is deacon Patrick Chang's home church and he and Fr. Joe Fenech went out of their way to make us feel at home. Deacon Patrick delivered a most powerful sermon challenging us to stand up for the moral law (thou shalt not kill) even when doing so may run contrary to the prevailing views, as in the case of abortion, which now receives government assistance.
Our Annual General Meeting on March 25th had a good turnout of 29 for a non-election year. The President Warren Abbott and all the directors provided reports on the year's activities. And what a year it was, with the 150th Anniversary celebrations in Jamaica and Toronto and the wide coverage in our newsletters, which has seen a much-increased readership in Canada, Jamaica and the States. One good idea coming out of the AGM on a motion by Joe Richards was the forming of a care committee. This just streamlines what is already being done by individual members, Uncle P (Pat Ferguson) in particular, who has been visiting the sick Georgians; sending cards and providing much needed cheer in their hours of need. The number of sick is growing however and volunteers are needed to support this work. Uncle P and Joe will spearhead this effort. Contact them directly on those needing this help and don't be shy at adding your name to the list of volunteers, if you are able to assist. As Jesus said, when asked "when did I serve you, Lord" and His reply was "You did this when you cared for the sick, visited those in prison...", and we all know the rest.
The Good and True has been following with keen interest the musical career of young concert pianist Andrew Aarons. Andrew is currently a scholarship student in piano at the Royal Conservatory under the tutelage of Andrew Markow. We Georgians feel quite proud and share in his parents, Gillie and Adrienne's joy in his making his debut appearance at Carnegie Hall, New York on May 6th 2001.
Chris Chin, our energetic Social Director made his way down to Jamaica for the Annual St.G.C. Dinner on April 28, honouring the class of 1976. He was a member of this graduating class. The events leading up to the big night included a thanksgiving Mass at Sts. Peter and Paul Church on Thursday April 26 celebrated by Fr. Michael Linden who, as a scholastic, taught many of the graduates. Also assisting was deacon Clive Chambers, an active member of the Old Boys Association in Jamaica.
The Friday night saw a reunion party hosted by immediate past president Charles Williams and his wife Betty. Marlon (Tractor) Carter did a marvelous job organizing this event, which saw quite a number of graduates coming together, some for the first time in over 25 years. A memorable event at this party was the chance meeting of Tony (Count) Franklyn (class of 1954 & Asst.Treasurer Ja.Old Boys ) and Lennie Hew (class of 1955). Lennie resides in the Cayman Islands. The Big Night itself saw some 37 graduates in attendance from the 1976 class and plaques were presented to several teachers who contributed to their education. These included Mr. Patrick Donaldson, Miss V Gordon, now Mrs. Patrick Donaldson, Mrs. Vie Wilmot, now in her 80's and still going strong, Mr. Gladstone Wilson, Mr. Glenroy Thame and in absentia Messrs Joe Sanguinetti and Gladstone Wilson. The class also presented a cheque for $70,000 to Fr. Ted Dziak, president of the school. While there, Chris and other members of the 1976 class were given a tour of the library by headmaster Van Hitchener. Van incidentally is coming up for our family dinner. $10,000 Canadian dollars from our Toronto chapter's fundraising efforts assisted with the library project. Also flying off to Jamaica recently was our Treasurer Ray Chang to be guest speaker at the Jamaica Observer Business Leader Awards banquet at the Hilton Kingston. Ray doesn't like to trumpet his successes, but be that as it may, his significant achievements have outdistanced his desire for anonymity and he is now finding himself more often in the Canadian and Jamaican business limelight.
Guess What? The Toronto Chapter is now on the Web at: www.stgctoronto.com This is a marvelous site with access to our newsletters in colour, and just reams of information on our local chapter and its activities. There is also direct access to Greg Chin's JAWEB site and the St.G.C. Jamaica site as well. Special thanks go out to Georgians Greg Chin founder of the JAWEB website who has offered free formatting of our newsletters for web presentation and Gary Williamson who has provided us with free web hosting through his full service Internet provider Company EZPOST Internet. Much thanks as well to our website developer Ross Vito. But this could not have been accomplished without the tremendous effort of our Public Relations director Michael (Buski) Charley, who is the producer and web- master. Buski, a big "Thank You". Robbie Vernon
Please drop us a email if you read this Newsletter online. jaweb@pacificnet.net Top Of Page |
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 Newsletter Creation Courtesy Of JaWeb |
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