Dear Editor,

I read with nostalgia the comment by Laurie Lewis of the QC Old Students Association that in his schooldays five teams represented QC at various levels, and the troubling report that, after a decade, cricket returned to the QC ground.

My most formative days were spent at QC, "the intelligentsia of Guyana, the West Indies and the World," as "old boy" Dr. Cheddi Jagan aptly put it, from 1970- 1975. During those unforgettable days, QC presented us, not only with the customary academia to match any in the world, but also with ample exposure to athletics and sports, and to societies such as the Cadet Corps, the Scout Troop, the Literary, Drama and Debating Societies, the Science Society, the Music Club, the Stage Society, the Chess Club, the Co-Operative Society, the Classics Society, the Educational Tour Club, the Historical Society, the Geographical Society, the Philatelic Society, the Photographic Society, the Radio Club, the Art Society, the Beekeeping Society, the Karate Club, Religious Societies, et al. Our Formmaster David Thomas Alan Hales, and Spanish maestro H.E. Dolphin ("Dollo"), both accomplished cricketers, C.A.Yansen ("Yango"), Ada Akai, Stanton Sheogobind, the Trotzs ("Bulby" and "Jango"), and the rest of a wonderful staff, always instilled in us the importance of a rounded education. In those days, QC students could have digested Newton's three laws of motion and Nobel Laureate Sir V.S. Naipaul's "A House for Mr.Biswas" with some choice interaction with these wonderful clubs and societies.

A tour around the school on a typical day in my time would have taken us to the "bunsen burners" in the classrooms and science labs, to battling a few unsolicited choice math problems with genius Halvard White, to Rory Fraser driving powerfully down the lane and then shooting unerringly in basketball, to Dudley Thomas, Cecil Harris, Michael Christophe and Eric Phillips (the latter two being a duo of the most talented ballplayers I have ever seen) exchanging exciting and swirling loops, serves and smashes in table tennis, to Sasenarine Kowlessar (Minister of Finance), Jairam Harribarran, Colin Jackman, Raymond Brutus, Brian Woodruffe and Charlie Lawrence giving cricket exhibitions that would have made Gary Sobers, Rohan Kanhai and Lance Gibbs proud, to Vinod Ramgopal and Enrico Woolford outclassing hapless secondary school competition in the debating competition, to Rhodes Scholar Michael Chan checkmating the opponent in chess, to seeing the smartest military salutes yet from Head Boy Horace Nunes ("Dakey"), Neville Bissember Jnr. and Aftab Karimullah, to seeing Horace Nelson, V.Trevor Agard and Clive Too-Chung blazing down the track and hurtling over hurdles and high jumps setting new athletic records, to C. M. Plummer executing impressive badminton shots.

And to crown it all, we would get an annual holiday or two, after Speech Day, for producing over 50% of the Guyana Scholars. Yes, that was vintage QC.

How many of these activities are still available at QC? If a national sport took 10 years to return, then I shudder to think of the fatal demise of the others.

It is hoped that QC will be returned to its former glory, both physically, academically and in its extracurricular activities, and that every opportunity be given to its present and future residents to relive those halcyon days. It has been said that the brilliance of the latest heroine, Amlata Persaud flourished in spite of the inadequacies at QC, and not because of its amenities, and that her achievements are the exception to the rule. The traditions must be upheld.