Floreat - 2019 September Issue

www.rcobaa.org.au September - 2019

Floreat Editor Floreat concept & Design

GEORGE FERNANDO LOCHANA PREMARATHNA

From the Editor’s desk

In this issue of Floreat, Principal E L Bradby takes centre stage. One of our great principals, he will
always be remembered for having initiated the Bradby Shield for the rugby matches played by Royal
College against Trinity College twice each year. Bradby was our youngest principal, only 32 years old
when he started at the school in 1939. He served during the war years from 1939 to 1945. T D S A
Dissanayaka’s excellent article about Bradby is a fine tribute to our last British principal. The 75th year
of the Bradby Shield matches were celebrated this year. In his article, Rajiv Malalasekera re-lives the
50th battle with the Trinitians, taken from a book that celebrates 75 years of Bradby shield
confrontations.
The Royal Gala dance, attended by more and more Royalists each year, was a great success yet again.
The proceeds once more will be channelled into helping deserving students at Royal College.
The legendary Lorenz Pereira is one of the finest all-round products of Royal College and Mahinda
Wijesinghe tells his story very well. Lorenz fortunately now lives Melbourne. He enjoys himself
wherever he goes, and I wonder what wonderful thing he’ll do next.
An article about the Parsis (also spelled Parsees) has been included because some readers of our
newsletter may not have heard about them. They have been a small community in Sri Lanka having
come to Sri Lanka from Western India (mainly Mumbai) in the late 19th century. Their ancestors
migrated to India from Persia (now Iran) between the 8th and 10th century to avoid persecution
following the Muslim conquest of Persia. The Parsi’s of Sri Lanka are mainly professional people and
some of them studied at Royal College and are now well known to several of us.
Dr David Young the distinguished Australian orthopaedic surgeon has been honoured by being
awarded the Sri Lanka Ranjana. Dr Young is Known to us for the contribution he made to the Batticaloa
Emergency and Accident Project (BEAP) which is a project that was supported by RCOBAA. In
delivering the Edward Gray Memorial oration at our AGM Luncheon last year, Nihal de Run spoke
about the great contribution made to BEAP by Dr Young. The Sri Lankan sporting fraternity knows Dr
Young for the work he has done for them.
The Floreat covers some sport particularly the Indoor Cricket that has become very popular. Dumindu
Abeywickrema, Royal College under 17 Badminton Captain, has been in Melbourne participating in
the Australian Junior International tournament.
Dr Raj Barr-Kumarakulasinghe is an architect living in Washington DC. He tells us about his school days
and career. Now in his seventies, he still practices his profession. Raj joined Royal College in 1957 and
was one of my classmates.

I hope you will enjoy this issue of Floreat.

George Fernando

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Sacred to the memory of Principal E. L. Bradby

T. D. S. A. Dissanayaka

Member of the Royal College Class of 1949, Edward Lawrence Bradby,
Principal of Royal College from 1939 to 1945, was born in 1907 and
educated at Rugby and Oxford, where he took a double First in Classics. At
the time of his appointment he was General Secretary of the NGO The
International Student Service. Earlier he was a much respected House
Master at Merchant Taylors School, which like Rugby is a famous Public
School in England. By virtue of his educational background and proven
ability as a teacher and as an educationist, he was well suited to be Principal
of the renowned Royal College, which had celebrated its Centenary in 1935.
However, he had one major disadvantage, he was only 32 years old.

Fate decreed that Principal Bradby would be a wartime Principal of Royal College. His arrival in Ceylon
in mid-September 1939 in time for the commencement of the Third Term for schools in Ceylon, was
delayed by World War II. His initial contract as Principal of Royal College was for five years, thus ending
in September 1944. It appeared in 1944 that World War II would end in 1945. Therefore, he accepted
an extension of just one year because he wanted to get back to England, after World War II was over.
Before he left Ceylon in 1945 he presented The Bradby Shield for the two Rugby Football matches
which are played annually since 1943 between Royal College and Trinity College, one in Colombo and
the other in Kandy. Incidentally, from 1921 to 1942 only one match was played annually.

From a few hundred spectators in 1945, The Bradby Shield now caters for capacity crowds of several
thousand spectators, with many disappointed being left out because of lack of seats and even standing
accommodation. Besides the high standards in Rugby Football maintained by both schools, there is
much revelry organized by Old Boys of both schools. For years the Old Boys of Trinity College organized
a splendid Dance at The Queen’s Hotel, Kandy, of late the Old Boys of Royal College organize a dance
to match it at The Citadel Hotel, Kandy. In Colombo at Old Royalists Rugby Dinner, colours men in
Rugby Football scrum down to reminisce, to eat and drink in style at a five-star Hotel.

This year The Bradby Shield matches will be played as follows:

Saturday l9th July - Bogambara, Kandy

Saturday 2nd August - Royal College Sports Complex

What makes Principal Bradby one of our great Principals? This article will attempt to answer that
question.

Principal Bradby had only childhood memories of World War I when he was a schoolboy at Rugby. In
1939 he had no illusions. Even his departure from London for Ceylon, with his bride was delayed
because of the outbreak of World War II. When the Bradbys finally left London, their ship was diverted
at Gibraltar and had to take the circuitous route via the Cape of Good Hope. Before leaving London,
he had read widely about Royal College. That included every magazine of Royal College for the entirety
of the decade of the nineteen thirties and every annual report of the Principal read on Prize Day during
that decade. Besides he had many long and fruitful discussions with Major H. L. Reed MC, our Principal
from 1920-1932, acknowledged then and now as one of our great Principals, and Principal L. H. W.
Sampson, his predecessor who had served from 1932-1938. Now he not only had to implement his

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corporate plan to usher Royal College into the decade of the nineteen forties but also to place the
school on a war footing.

When Principal Bradby assumed duties
in November 1939, he exhorted the boys
of the Sixth Form at Royal College to join
the armed forces and fight for King and
Country. He gave vivid accounts of
Royalists who had seen action in World
War I. Some of them had won the
Military Cross, others the Military Medal
and many more were killed in action.

One of the best testimonials he gave for those seeking King’s Commissions was to D. S. Attygalle who
was our Head Prefect in 1940, the Senior Sergeant of our Cadet contingent, a coloursman in Athletics
and Rugby Football. He took the sword of honour the Army passing out parade at Diyatalawa in 1941,
whereupon he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Ceylon Light Infantry, our oldest
regiment. In 1967, Major General D. S. Attygalle was appointed Commander of the Army. When he
retired in 1977, he was a four-star General. Principal Bradby recommended to the Navy, in the
strongest possible terms, Kajan Kadirgamar who had Captained our Rugby Football team in 1940, was
a Prefect and the Senior Sergeant. As a Naval Cadet he took the sword of honour at the passing out
parade at Trincomalee in 1941. As a Sub-Lieutenant he saw action off the coast of Burma with the
Royal Navy and was awarded the Burma Star. In 1960 Commodore Rajan Kadirgamar was appointed
Commander of the Navy at the young age of 40 years. He was later promoted to the rank of Rear
Admiral.

To keep the momentum with respect to the Armed Forces, Principal Bradby himself applied for a
Commission in the Ceylon Cadet Corps. He was commissioned as a Major. However, at Royal College
he refused to be called Major E. L. Bradby because Major H. L. Reed MC, a Principal of legendary fame,
had seen action in World War I and was a much decorated Officer.

As a scholar in the Classics, Principal Bradby was puzzled that whereas Royal College down the ages
had some of her best pupils studying the Classics, the Oriental Classics, namely Pali and Sanskrit, were
not even in our curriculum. He set right that defect with immediate effect and took a personal interest
in the teaching of these new subjects.

Indeed, Pali and Sanskrit turned out to be very popular subjects at Royal College. Many years later
Principal Bradby was delighted to learn that one of his pupils, P. H. Premawardhana of the Royal
College Class of 1944, took a First in Sanskrit at the University of Ceylon and joined the prestigious
Ceylon Civil Service in 1956.

Principal Bradby was so pleased with the standard of English, troth spoken and written, at Royal
College and repeatedly said that our standards in English were even higher then those at Merchant
Taylors School. By the same token he was puzzled, by all accounts he had received, that Sinhala and
Tamil were woefully neglected. Therefore, corrective action was taken without delay.

Principal Bradby was a devout Christian and read the Bible frequently. However, professionally he had
misgivings about one aspect of the traditions of Royal College, namely readings from the Bible at
school functions. In his opinion Royal College, was a secular institution as opposed to a Christian
institution, therefore there should be readings from the Buddhist, Hindu, and Islamic scriptures as
well. Thus, in one master stroke in early 1940, he honoured Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and

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Islam by having readings from all four scriptures at the daily general assembly. His strategy worked
like a charm and it is a tradition of Royal College even today.

Thus, quite clearly Principal Bradby had quickly got into his stride. Before his first year at Royal College
was duly completed, he decided to utilize the inadequate funds collected to build a swimming pool
ever since our centenary to build instead a gymnasium. It was ceremonially opened in 1941 and
gymnastics was introduced to our curriculum with immediate effect.

Principal Bradby displayed the human side of him in the supervision of the Royal College Hostel at
"Maligawa", across the street and opened in May 1939. Mrs. Bradby who was expecting their first
baby, was put in charge of all welfare measures. With food rationing due to World War II, Principal
Bradby was an unexpected visitor for a meal to check for himself that nourishment was adequate.
Every day he was a visitor to the sick room, where he comforted the inmates. Periodically he invited
a few hostellers at a time to join Mrs. Bradby and him for high tea.

In December 1941, Principal Bradby was given a few days’ notice to vacate our splendid premises on
Reid Avenue, to make way for a Military Hospital. Ironically Royal College made virtually homeless on
Sunday 7th December 1941, the day Japan bombed Pearl Harbour, resulting in the United States
entering World War II. Principal Bradby and the boys of Royal College marched out through the Boake
Gates singing,

“Are we down hearted? Oh no, No ‘.

Somehow Principal Bradby obtained special permission for just one term to locate Royal College next
door, at The Colombo University College, now The University of Colombo. In that short period of time,
Royal College was re-located at Turret House and three bungalows on Turret Road duly rented out for
classrooms and even laboratories for Science practicals. The Colombo University College continued to
make available their grounds for sports. The makeshift arrangements were operational for four long
years reflecting much credit on the resilience of Principal Bradby.

Exceptionally able though he was, Principal Bradby had a clear idea of his limitations. He needed to
have the full support of the Old Boys and his staff. In The Royal College Union he had a series of special
committees. For example, the Committee on University Education had luminaries such as Professor
Nicholas Attygalle (Medicine), Professor A. W. Mylvaganam (Science), and Professor J. L. C. Rodrigo
(Classics). The Games Committee had former Captains of the Ceylon teams, such as C. C. Dissanayaka
(Athletics), Dr. H. S. R. Goonewardene (Athletics), Dr. C. H. Gunasekera (Cricket), S. S. Jayewickrema
(Cricket) and Danton Obeysekera (Boxing). On the Staff he regularly consulted Vice-Principal H. J.
Wijesinghe, his successor Vice-Principal J. C. A. Corea (later Principal), Senior Science Master M. M.
Kulasekeram (later Vice-Principal), C. Samarasinghe (later Senior Science Master and still later Vice-
Principal), J. E V. Pieris (Head Master of the Lower School), Bernard Mendis, and H. R . Fernando both
Hostel Masters, senior teachers C. E. Belleth (Science) and R. Rajaratnam (Science), both of whom had
played in the Royal-Thomian Cricket match in their time and other senior teachers, Captain C. P. De A.
Abeysinghe (Cadeting), Captain B. C. Anghie (Rugby Football), R. C. Edwards (Art) and T. M.
Weerasinghe (English).

Principal Bradby was indeed a practical man. He rarely spoke in parables but instead spoke of well-
established truths in the context of Royal College. Thus he spoke not of:

Mens sana in corpore sano (a healthy mind in a healthy body) as his distinguished predecessors had
done, but instead he quoted from the Royal College Anthem:

"We will learn of books and men, and learn to play the game"

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Accordingly, he accorded the highest honour at Royal College to those who simultaneously shone in
studies and sports. A supreme example was Lakshman Wickremesinghe, our Head Prefect in 1944. He
won both panel prizes in English, the Steward Prize and the Shakespeare Prize, another panel prize
the Dornhorst Memorial Prize, the Best Speakers’ Prize and several other prizes, was Chairman of the
Senior Literary Association, Editor of the Magazine, won Colours in Athletics, and Rugby Football and
entered The University of Ceylon on a scholarship. Four years later he took a First in Economics and a
scholarship to Oxford. There he studied Divinity and was ordained a priest of the Church of England.
At the age of 35 years he became a Bishop, the youngest Bishop in the worldwide network of the
Church of England.

Principal Bradby also observed that young Upali Amerasinghe of the Royal College Class of 1939 was
cast in the same mould. Our Head Prefect in 1946 he went on to win four panel prizes and four Colours
and was the Editor of the Magazine. He took a First in English at the University of Ceylon and won four
Colours. At Cambridge he obtained a doctorate in English and a Blue in Boxing. Unfortunately, he died
of natural causes at the young age of 29 years.

Principal Bradby gave every encouragement to sports even when Royal College was evicted from our
traditional base. He gave the highest priority to team work as opposed to individual brilliance which
he never commended at a General Assembly or in public. However, in private he greatly appreciated
individual performance. Accordingly, in 1940 he publicly commended the Athletics team, which won
the Public School championship, in 1941 the Rugby Football team which for the first time ever
defeated Trinity College and in 1942 the Cricket team which defeated St. Thomas’ College.

On the other hand in private he was thrilled in 1942, when our Cricket Captain and Head Prefect
Gamini Salgado scored a splendid century in the Royal Thomian Cricket match. In 1943 he was
delighted when Summa Navaratnam, Captain of Rugby Football scored a splendid try to defeat Trinity
College for the first time in a match played in Kandy. He went on in due course, to Captain Ceylon. In
1944, Principal Bradby was astounded when our Captain of Cricket George Rajapakse, later a Cabinet
Minister and Member of Parliament for Mulkirigala, scored twin centuries against Trinity College at
Asgiriya. That was a feat no schoolboy in Ceylon could match for the next twenty years or so. Principal
Bradby was also most appreciative of the excellence of Basil Henricus in boxing at the Stubbs Shield
encounters. He went on to represent Ceylon at the Olympic Games and to represent Ceylon in
Athletics and Rugby football to become a triple international.

Amongst other star sportsmen the Bradby era produced were Mahesa Rodrigo, who in 1946 was our
Head Prefect, Captain of Cricket and Captain of Rugby Football. He went on to Captain Ceylon in Rugby
Football and to score a splendid century for Ceylon against the West Indies. Hugh Aldons, captained
Ceylon in hockey a sport which was then not played at Royal College, represented the nation regularly
in rugby football and in one match in cricket against England. Principal Bradby observed that young
Gamini Goonesena was a spin bowler of rare calibre. In due course he went on to captain Cambridge
University and Ceylon. He also observed that young John De Saram was an athlete who trained
exceptionally hard and was a very diligent student. He went on to represent Ceylon at the Olympic
Games and to win academic honours at the University of Ceylon, such as winning a Smith-Mundt
scholarship to Yale University. He wound up his distinguished career as an UN international civil
servant as Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN, a prestigious Ambassadorship.

Principal Bradby attached much importance to debating. He was in raptures in listening to the oratory
of one of our Head Prefects in 1941, the dimunitive Neville Kanakeratne who was a scholar in History.
At the height of his career as a diplomat, Ambassador Neville Kanakeratne was looked upon as the

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finest orator Sri Lanka ever produced, even better than Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike and
President J. R. Jayewardene.

Principal Bradby also activated the Drama Society, which produced a play every year "The Sham Trial"
starring Neville Kanakeratne and "The Merchant of Venice" starring Neville Kanakaratne, as Shylock
the Jew, were the most successful of such plays. All proceeds were donated to war charities. By the
same token Principal Bradby attached much importance to literary skills and hence the Editor of the
Magazine was a key school appointment. Accordingly, several Editors, B. St. E. De Bruin (1940), Neville
Kanakaratne (1941), Lakshman Wickremesinghe (1944) L. C. Arulpragasam (1945) and Upali
Arnerasinghe (1945) wound up their distinguished careers at Royal College as Head Prefect and were
awarded the Dornhorst Memorial Prize. C. G. Weeramantry, the Editor in 1943 was such a good writer
and a scholar that he won the Dornhorst Memorial Prize without being Head Prefect. Today, he is a
world famous author on Law and was a Judge of the International Court of Justice, at the height of his
career.

With the fall of Burma, Malaya and Singapore in early 1942, Ceylon could conceivably be the next
victim. That became a stark reality on Easter Sunday 1942, when carrier - borne aircraft from Japan
under the command of Admiral Chechi Nagumo of Pearl Harbour fame, bombed Colombo and
Trincomalee caused havoc. Against this background Principal Bradby opened a branch of Royal College
in Bandarawela, as a wartime measure. At peak, twenty percent of the school operated from
"Glendale" Bandarawela. With the threat of an invasion by Japan receding in 1943, Principal Bradby
continued expanding the school activities as he deemed fit. The Royal College Farm at Narahenpita
which was opened in 1940 on a four acre plot was expanded in 1943 to twelve acres and provided the
Hostel with all the fruits and vegetables that was needed, and the Boy Scout Troop, was established
on a permanent basis in 1944.

Principal Bradby was a strict disciplinarian but a just man. As a matter of routine he put into operation
the Royal College Motto "Disce Aut Discede (Learn or Depart). There were no exceptions, not even for
those who had excelled in the Royal-Thomian cricket match or in The Bradby Shield Rugby matches.
He went a step further and applied a similar discipline on the teachers. He came into class, sat at the
back, and listened to them teach. Those who were sub-standard had to teach or depart.

Perhaps the greatest contribution Principal Bradby made to Royal College was to ensure that our
hallowed traditions stood firm in dark days and in happier times. By virtue of these traditions, success
is important but honour is even more important. Consequently, being a successful man is important,
but being a gentleman is even more important. May those hallowed traditions of Royal College never
perish.

In 1983 Principal and Mrs. E. L. Bradby visited Sri Lanka as the guest of The Royal College Union for the
centenary of Rugby Football match with Trinity College They were treated right royally. In 1996 he
passed away at the age of nearly ninety years. Royal College. honoured him with a touching memorial
service held at The Cathedral of The Church of Ceylon in Colombo. When His Lordship The Bishop of
Colombo, The Right-Reverend Kenneth Fernando of the Royal College Class of 1943, waxed eloquence
in saying an appropriate final prayer, his pupils, then in their seventies, were moved to tears, while
some even broke down and wept.

May the turf lie gently over this great Principal of Royal College.

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Bradby Shield: Anniversary Matches

This year we celebrated the 75th Bradby Shield encounter which Royal College emerged winners with
an aggregate of 47 to 41 points. When Principal Mr. E.L. Bradby presented the shield in 1945 on his
retirement, he wouldn’t have imagined that his name would become a household name in the country
and the Bradby Shield series would be the Blue Ribbon of school’s rugby in Sri Lanka.

The article below features the Royal College Rugby team which played the 50th Bradby Shield encounter
in 1994. Four of the current RCOBAA members namely Aslam Assen, Dr Reza Rahim, Shanaka Perera
and Emesh Gankanda were part of this all conquering team that year.

The article was taken from the coffee table book “Behind the Shield” produced by The Royal College
Match Organizing Committee to commemorate the 75th Bradby Shield encounter. This article was
written by the captain of the 1994 team Rajiv Malalasekera describing his team that won the 50th
Bradby Shield encounter.

Reminiscing on the 50th Bradby Shield

Rajiv Malalasekera

As I observe the excitement build and the grand preparations being made for the 75th edition of the
Bradby Shield, a strong sense of deja vu envelops me as I recall the events from 25 years ago when we
donned the Blue & Gold for the 50th Bradby Shield Encounter. Still immersed in present day with a
huge sense of pride having had the privilege to lead my team out on that historic day, I must confess
that at the time we really weren’t fully appreciative of the significance of the event, the rich traditions
and the aura that is unique only to the Bradby Shield. Teenagers are notorious for being free spirited
and living in the moment rather than being traditionalists, and we were no different. Our passion was
to play rugby anywhere that we were allowed to and the burning ambition was to wear the Royal
jersey at every given opportunity and the ultimate desire was to play in a Bradby match regardless of
which edition it was.

That said, we only realized the true enormity and grandeur of this occasion only when we walked out
onto a perfectly manicured pitch at the Sugathadasa stadium that sunny June afternoon in 1994.
Seeing some of the legends of Bradby encounters in years past did more than raise a few hairs on the
back of the neck for most of us. The indomitable Geoff Weinman, a true legend of Royal Rugby and
for Ceylon, was the chief guest and he still had a handshake that could remind of you of the wrath a
few Trinitians had faced decades before.

Though slightly overawed by the spectacle we were now taking centre stage on, the adrenaline rush
we got from the packed stadium that day is unlike any feeling I had ever experienced. That
unimaginable sense of pride in leading out the RC 1st XV team was only enhanced upon seeing my
team mates beside me, many of whom had been my team mates and friends from childhood. It was
hard to fathom that our journey which began playing barefoot rugby at an under 13 level, when the
only spectators were our parents, had culminated in us now becoming figures akin to gladiators in the
colosseum with thousands cheering us on. Inspired by the heroics from Bradby encounters in the past
from the many stories shared with us from the ‘60s and ‘70s, to having seen firsthand the heroics of
the invincible 1988 RC XV side led by Bonsa, to the magnificent win in 1990 by underdog side under
the leadership of Ruwan Jayasuriya and of course lessons learnt in 1992 under the mentorship of

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Harindu Wijesinghe, for whom we had the highest regard then and even to date, as an exemplary
leader on and off the field.

Though acting confident to the level of almost being seemingly arrogant which is part and parcel of
rugby, we could not help but notice our opponents’ strength and focus on the day. The Trinity team
was peaking at the right time and had future Kandy and Sri Lanka stars in the form of Harris Omar,
Pradeep Basnayake, Suranga Amarasinghe in addition to the dangerous Rangika Ranasinghe, Sanj
Kulatungam, Channa Curera and their Skipper Munthazeer Rally that could have us on the retreat if
we handed them any advantage. We knew that this wouldn’t be an easy battle.

But we were quietly and humbly oozing with confidence heading to the business end of an unbeaten
season culminating in this 1st Leg of the 50th Bradby Shield. The majority of our squad had played first
fifteen rugby together as a team for 2 years. Those of us playing in our last season had gone into many
a bruising battle starting with the famous win against the much fancied Thomian team in ‘92 as well
as the historic “Tied” Bradby that year in which a formidable and highly favoured Trinity outfit was
stopped in their tracks. Also, still quite fresh in our memories was the hard fought win we had the year
before winning 3-0 at Nittawela and the last minute win we snatched in the Colombo leg after trailing
for 60 minutes to win the Bradby back to Reid Avenue after a lapse of a few years.

Our team that year was the perfect balance of youth and experience, totally committed at practices
all year, we had versatile players that had brute strength, speed, flair and natural talent. The pack was
ably marshalled by my deputy Sanjaya Lakpathirana who was feared by most opponents and even
some team mates for his work ethic at practice! Shivaan Kanag-Isvaran at number 8 was solid from
the get go and quite the steadying influence and together with our Black Englishman “Chama”
Wijesinghe on the blind, they made certain no fleet flooted Trinitian broke our line of defence. The
halves combination of Sampath Perera and Asanka Rodrigo were a tricky pair and truly talented
footballers that could conjure up a sneaky opportunity to score.

The centre combination of Charith Chickera and Dammika Kulatunga were ferocious runners and
fearless tacklers and possibly the most experienced in schools rugby that year. The wings were the
effervescent Aslam Assen and Kamal Ganewatte who could both turn it on like a Sri Lankan MP being
chased by the mob, I had manned the last line of defence and joined in the fray in attack albeit at a
slightly slower pace as the Full Back that year. We also had a tough as nails forward pack with a gritty
front row in Murali Manickavasagar, Reza Rahim and Rajiv Chickera, and the immovable giant Sashika
Cooray and Roshan Hettiarachchi coming into play in front row positions during the season holding
their own against all opposition with two towering locks in behind them in the form of Rukmal
Gunatilaka and Harith Jayasuriya, both of whom were mighty tall and could luckily just pluck it from
the air with just a slight leap off their toes, as if it were today none of our lads would have been able
to lift them even an inch off the ground, as is allowed nowadays in the sport. While we were blessed
with a few talented guys that had that unique ability to play in several key positions, it was a truly
versatile group of experience and newcomers that also had athletic prowess from other sports, hence
the flexibility the coaches and I as a captain, could call upon depending on strategy for opposition we
had faced throughout the season. While Rugby is a fifteen man game on the field we had a group of
20 plus that played in our 1st XV games throughout that season and that certainly helped us emerge
as unbeaten schools league champs, hence much gratitude goes out to Cooray, Hetti, Preme, Ashan,
Iri, Jehan, Manesh, Dilan, Imesh, Sabry, Suraj and of course a few talented lads coming up from U-18
team who would shine in their own right in the years to come.

The 1st leg in itself was a tight affair as is the case of most big cup finals or crucial encounters. Tough
grinding out of inches was the favoured approach as no team wanted to throw it away going for that

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one glory pass or kick. It was a case of who blinks first in these intense psychological battles and in this
instance, it was the Trinitians. We had just minutes earlier missed out on scoring on right corner flag
after a blistering move with the back line in full flow and almost immediately thereafter a well-placed
up and under (or Gary Owen to those of a finer vintage) was spilled by the Trinity fullback under
immense pressure from our chasers and the ball was collected by our winger Aslam who cut through
and off loaded inside to Rodda to go over for the only try of the game. Trinity of course mounted a
ferocious comeback, but our coaches Dr. Maiya Gunasekera and CP Abeygunawardane had come up
with a master plan in defence and the Royal wall held firm and we won the first leg by a narrow margin
of 10-3.

Going into the second leg we were weary that the Lions would be licking their wounds and out to hunt
us down in their fortress at Bogambara. It seemed the whole of Kandy was there to cheer the Trinitians
on but we did not let it intimidate us as we knew this was our last chance at glory and etching our
names in the history books.

Another tight battle ensued up in the hill capital, and we took the lead mid first half when Laki our
one-man battering ram took a short tap and barged over a tired Trinity defence. We had led for the
majority of the match and had dominated possession, a clearing kick by yours truly was charged down
at the 25 metre mark which allowed the Trinity wing Wickramanayake to chase it down and score in
the corner thus giving the Trinitians a chance to equalize and some hope of salvation. The last few
minutes of the game seemed to last an eternity as both sides gave it their all as so much was at stake
with tackles flying all across the ground. But we held firm and when the long whistle was finally blown
in fading light at Bogambara we knew we had finally done it! A mass exodus of supporters running
onto field saw us looking for each other to embrace in collective relief and celebration.

Until we finally held aloft the beautifully crafted silverware that was THE Bradby Shield by dusk that
evening in Kandy we were the sons of our fathers, whom in some of our cases were idolized Royalists
that had excelled in their given sports in the ‘60s, but by the end of the night, as a loud rendition of
the College song was rung out by an inebriated choir of very proud Old Royal Ruggerites led by former
Royal rugby stalwart Mr. Ken Balendra at the now designated home of ardent Royal Rugby followers
in Kandy, The Citadel, they were the fathers of their sons and we had marked our place in the annals
of this hallowed series between the two schools by winning the shield in its 50th Commemoration
Year.

It was at that moment that we realized that although we were the First XV players blessed to play in
that year, we had taken part in something much bigger. That the jersey we wore on that day was
handed over to us by our esteemed forefathers and now it was up to us to hand these traditions and
learnings down to coming generations to take Royal Rugby onto even greater heights.

Let’s hope the 75th encounter is an exhilarating game to watch for all of us that have been involved
with and around this traditional and wonderful battle that is THE blue riband in SL Rugby. While we
hope that the better team shall prevail, naturally it is with fingers crossed for a Blue & Gold victory.

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Standing Back Row (L-R): S. Bahaudeen, R De Chickera, H. Jayasuriya, M. Murali, E. Gankanda, R.
Hettiarachchi, Irshad Ally
Standing Middle Row (L-R): N. Raheem, K. Ganewatte, S. De Silva, M. Panchavarnam, A.
Premasooriya, D. Jayasinghe, C. Wijesinghe, J. Fernando, R. Rahim, J. Ranatunga
Seated (L-R): R. Gunatilleke, S. Cooray, A. Assen, C. De Chickera, S. Lakpathirana, Mr. B. Suriarachchi
(Principal), R. Malalasekera (Captain), S. Kanag-Isvaran, D. Kulatunga, A. Rodrigo, S. Perera.

More articles, paper cuttings of the Bradby Shield encounters gone by and pictures of all 75 Bradby
Shield teams from both schools can be found on this amazing coffee table book “Behind the Shield”.
You could pre-order this book by contacting Dinesh Rahim (Secretary RCOBAA) on 0451 900 203 or
Aslam Assen (Committee Member RCOBAA) on 0421 484 290. Cost of a book is $65.00. Limited
stocks available with the RCOBAA committee for sale.

10

11

ROYAL GALA 2019

Aynkaran Sivaratnam

The ‘Royal Gala 2019’ was held at the Grand on Cathies on the
23rd of June 2019. What a night it was! A night of glitz and
glamour. There was a great level of engagement from Royalists
spanning from different generations. The dance floor was
packed with Royalists, partners and friends re-living their
youth.

As they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Click on the
link – Royal Gala 2019 by DreamArt Photo Gallery to view the
photos of The Royal Gala 2019.

You will no doubt agree that this event is likely to have been
one with the largest number of Royalist and partners outside
of Sri Lanka having a great fun filled night. Having two thirds of
the dance floor packed with Royalists singing the college song
was certainly a sight to be proud of. The packed dance floor
was a reflection of the performance of the two great bands
who played to this fantastic audience. The dance committee
should be commended for the planning, organisation, and thought put into every aspect of the night
- lighting and ambience created to give our audience a great experience of glitz and glamour.

Finally, a big thank you must go to the sponsors, donors and the guests who took part in the Raffle
Draw. Their active participation and support enable RCOBAA to be the largest single
contributor/donor of the RCU Loyalty Pledge Programme in Sri Lanka. 34 deserving boys are currently
being sponsored by RCOBAA and will continue to be sponsored until they complete their Advanced
Level Exams and follow their chosen careers.

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Lorenz Pereira: So Multi-talented, So Royal … A Man to Follow

April 24, 2016
Mahinda Wijesinghe

Eustace Lorenz Pereira could quite easily be regarded as the most outstanding sportsman produced
in the 180-year-old history of Royal College, Colombo, an academic institution that can trace its
beginnings way back to 1835. As the college song goes “and thence did Lanka’s learning thrive.” Lorenz
(Lollo to some), as he is affectionately known, excelled – and that is merely putting it mildly – with five
colours in major sports – cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics and, in addition, Public Schools athletics
colours. He also captained the Royal cricket and tennis teams and captained rugby football at the
national level. It was not just the five colours, but the quality and high standard achieved in each that
stands out. Over and above all of that he was the epitome of a well-rounded sportsman and a role
model for any youngster to follow.

As an attacking left-hand batsman,
wily off-spinner, and a gully fielder
par excellence he was the best
among equals of any era. I too had
the privilege of playing alongside
him in the college first XI in 1957 and
was elated when the print media (no
TV at that time!) referred to us as
“the best spin combination in
schools”. I am greatly indebted to
him for picking catches from
practically nowhere from his
accustomed gulley position off my
bowling. He often reminds me, with
a twinkle in his eye that it was as a direct result of his intimidating, life-threatening close-in gulley
positioning to my bowling that enabled me to get those four wickets of four successive balls against
Ananda College.

Of course, in lighter vein, he still maintains he made a “bowler out of me” while my contention being
that I helped him become a “competent catcher”! That was an added skill, along with his good looks,
he developed with great success off the field as well. Flippancy apart, not only was he awarded cricket
colours from 1956 to ‘59, he ended as captain of the college team in 1958 and led an unbeaten side
under his leadership. Royal College remained unbeaten for three years ending in 1959. Naturally, he
was picked as the Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year in 1959.

His record as an all-rounder at the Royal-Thomian matches places him at the pinnacle of such
performances, in view of his comparatively (three matches and over) outstanding statistics – runs
scored 174, average 58; wickets taken 14, average 20. Needless to say, he also captained the

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Combined Colleges XI against a visiting Western Australian schoolboy team. In 1957, Lorenz was the
vice-captain to skipper Michael Wille. If ever there were two characters possessing diametrically
different attitudes to the sport and life itself is difficult to imagine. Michael was the staid, focused and
serious thinker of the game – six decades later he still remains the same – as compared with the free-
spirited Lorenz, and they are different as chalk is to cheese.

The only common factor was both were left-hand batsmen. Still, the pair pulled us through unbeaten
during the 1957 season and we notched three wins as well. Now, both live in Australia and keep
needling each other (as the closest of friends) at every available opportunity via e-mails; in good faith
of course, giving all of us endless laughs.

I remember an incident
just before the 1957
Royal-Thomian
encounter which typifies
Michael Wille’s
character and his
attitude towards the
game. Of course, he was
the captain who ran a
well-disciplined ship.
The Thomians, led by
another Michael
(Tissera) had a very
strong team. To counter
that situation, our
Michael said: “I will get
a 100 and I want each of you to try and score at least 20 runs which would make things difficult for
the Thomians.” As promised, Michael scored a brilliant century, threw his wicket away when he
knew we were safe, and saved us from possible defeat. I remember the Thomian paceman Denis
Ferdinands obtaining Michael’s autograph on the ball to keep as a souvenir!

Lorenz Pereira
captained the
Combined College
Cricket Team in 1958
Standing L – R: M.L.
Idroos (STC), Raja de
Silva (SJC), Anton
Perera (SPC),
Kingsley Fernando (St. Seb C), Priya Perera (SJC), Y. Amaradasa (Ananda), Suranjith Mendis (POW).

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Seated L – R: Lionel Fernando (SBC), Lorenz Pereira (Royal), L.R. Gunatilleke (Wesley C) and Sarath
Samarasinghe (Royal).

Two outstanding feats by Lorenz, amongst a multitude of them, that still linger in my memory are
firstly the blazing century he made on the first day, before the tea interval against St Benedict’s at
Kotahena in 1959 that greatly enabled Royal to cruise to a facile win before tea on day two. His sibling,
Bryan assisted with a freak bowling performance by capturing four (wickets) for five (runs) with his
(very!) occasional off-spinners that hurtled the hosts to a humiliating loss.

The next memory I still cherish is Lorenz’s face-saving knock (65 not out) he belted, batting with the
tail in the Royal - Thomian encounter some weeks later. It was his first innings after dislocating his
nose whilst attempting a hook in an earlier game, and helped Royal escape the ignominy of being
asked to follow on. Maybe the strain of batting in an uncharacteristic style was weighing on his mind
for too long and when just four runs were required to breast the tape and prevent the follow-on, with
No.11 batting at the other end – and best he remains nameless since his contribution to the
partnership was nil – Lorenz blasted a six that hit slap-bang on to the scoreboard and Royal declared!

Today, one of his closest friends is Michael Tissera who captained S. Thomas’ when Lorenz captained
Royal in 1958. In an amazing sequence of events, in that Royal-Thomian, Michael was out caught
wicket-keeper Sarath Samarasinghe, bowled Lorenz; and Lorenz was out caught wicket-keeper Errol
Lisk, bowled Michael.

Lorenz says that one of his most satisfying achievements at Royal College was to wake novice, the
gangly, left-arm seamer Daya Sahabandu at the crack of dawn and run with him on the beach, then
go to a “kadè” in Wellawatte for an egg flip, to make him into an opening bowler. Sahabandu went on
to play with great distinction for Ceylon, though as a left-arm spinner.

Lorenz was the Head Prefect at Royal and was awarded the highly sought Dornhorst Memorial prize
for the best All-round Student. Younger brother Bryan too was an outstanding sportsman, winning
colours in cricket, rugby and lawn tennis. During his tenure as the captain of the tennis team, Royal,
for the first time, won the senior (De Saram) and junior (Laing) shields. In addition, Bryan toured India
with the Combined Colleges team under the captaincy of Anandian Yatagama Amaradasa, and went
on to win the batting prize at Royal in the 1960 and ’61 seasons – a chip of the elder Lorenz! Bryan
later played for NCC along with Michael Tissera.

The feats of the brothers’ sporting achievements certainly cannot be considered common in the
history of the sporting annals of the island. The youngest of the brothers, Alan who possessed other
extra-curricular attributes, did not emulate the sporting feats of his elder brothers and has migrated
to Australia, as has Lorenz.

In rugby football, Lorenz’s career would have put the antics of Shakespeare’s Puck and Scottish
playwright James Barrie’s evergreen Peter Pan riding together on the Greek mythological horse

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Pegasus to shame. Such was his meteoric rise. Playing on the wing, the fleet-footed Lorenz became a
“star” practically overnight, with his deceptive and skillful running skills. He was picked in the national

XV while still in college, went on to captain Ceylon and played against a full international England
rugby team.

Ken de Joodt, the Trinity rugby stalwart and an opposing contemporary of Lorenz, remembers an
instance during a Bradby Shield encounter between the two schools: “Lorenz was playing on the right
wing where he threw the ball in for a line-out. From the ensuing maul, the ball moved at great speed
down the line, handled by six players, right across the ground to the far left wing, where Lorenz had
sped in anticipation to collect the pass and score a sensational try.” The left winger, Lal Senaratne,
who made the final pass still has nightmares of the ghost Lorenz that appeared from nowhere. The try
is generally recognized as one of the finest ever scored in a rugby match worldwide.

His introduction to rugby is fairy-story stuff. Ratna Sivaratnam, later to become his brother-in-law (and
Chairman of Aitken Spence & Co. Ltd.) was the skipper of the Royal First XV. Ratna was also the captain
of his Boake House XV and was short of players for a house match one evening. He spotted Lorenz at
tennis practice and literally kidnapped him, despite violent protests from Lorenz (“I have not even
seen a rugby game nor do I know the rules.”). From personal experience it is not easy to thwart Ratna.
To cut a long story short, Lorenz played for Royal that year and went on to captain Ceylon as well in
rugby football. Be it in any of the sport he excelled in, his approach and attitude was in his own words:
“We played sport not for glory, but for the joy of mere participation. My greatest memories are the
life-long friendships that evolved. Sport in my day was a pleasurable passport to an amazingly
indulgent lifestyle.”

Now a sprightly 76 (or a tad more but looks much less!) he visits Sri Lanka quite regularly. “When I
catch up with my old teammates once or twice a year in Colombo, it’s like I’m a kid again. We all start
telling stories (often repeats), joking and reminiscing about the old days,” he says. Of course, Lorenz
does not admit that he is the butt-end of most jokes! Yet, he laughs the loudest! That is our Lorenz.
However, his former captain, Michael Wille, at this juncture would love to quote Goldsmith’s “Village
Schoolmaster”: “The loud laughter that spoke the vacant mind.” Am sure Lorenz would still be
laughing! Tennis was another sport that took his fancy – in the senior public schools singles final he
ended up runner-up to P.S. Kumara who eventually represented Ceylon. Tennis is still a sport he
indulges in though he has had some recent injuries that has now put a damper. On each of his visits
to Sri Lanka one of his favourite pastimes is to play a few sets of tennis with Bryan and his captain at
Royal in 1959, Sarath Samarasinghe, at the SLTA and socialize thereafter over a few arracks.

Athletics was not a sport that he did have time for with all his other sporting commitments, but the
college athletics master-in-charge, Mr de Bruin, observed Lorenz when he ran the 100-yard dash in
the usual “standard test” where all the students had to participate. What happened thereafter is
history. Mr de Bruin included him in the 4 by 110 yards relay team in the Public Schools Athletics meet
in 1957. The result? The Royal quartet won the event with a record-breaking time, and the entire

16

team, naturally, was awarded Public Schools athletics colours as well! In fact, the Royal team
(Captained by Dr J C Fernando) that year won the Tarbat Trophy for the champion athletics school
team.

After leaving Royal, Lorenz played cricket for the SSC under Derek de Saram and rugby for the CR & FC
before leaving to study at Cambridge Univerisity. He obtained an MA in Land Economics whilst playing
a few county games for the University under Tony Lewis and Mike Brearley, who both went on to
captain England. On his return to Sri Lanka, he joined the tea brokering firm of John Keells and indulged
in numerous sporting activities, becoming the first non-white to captain the CCC and CH & FC, cricket
and rugby clubs respectively. Lorenz says he feels extremely privileged in playing some little part in
getting his rugby teammate and close friend at Royal, Ken Balendra, to take his position, vacated at
John Keells, when he resigned to migrate to Australia. Ken’s subsequent achievements at John Keells
and the commercial world outside have given Lorenz immense pride and elation.

From the above, one can see why to regard Lorenz as the most outstanding sportsman in the history
of Royal College is not mere rhetoric. His advice for a young Royalist: “Acquire a keen interest in
something which becomes a driving passion in your life and get out there and innovate and never give
up due to initial setbacks.”

After Lorenz migrated to Australia in October 1974 with his family and he joined the Town and Country
Planning Board in 1975. Next, he was seconded to the Victorian Tourism Commission, thus becoming
an integral part of a special Government Task Force that prepared the first Tourism Strategy for
Victoria. He is now a Senior City Planner with the Victorian Government Planning Department and
Project Manager for quite a few residential development projects, with a value of more than
Australian dollars three billion!

His major achievement was the introduction of the retractable roof for the now internationally
acclaimed National Tennis Centre in Victoria. In 2012, he was awarded the Urban Development
Institute of Australia, Award for Excellence for his work on Urban Renewal. He was also responsible
for establishing the Cambridge Society of Australia. The list is endless and his capacity for work still
continues with great zest. Referred to as Mr Fixit in the office, Lorenz is reputed to have the subtle
knack of listening to an unhappy client and resolving various sticky issues. He also has a reputation for
socializing with his colleagues (mostly less than half his age) over red wine. On October 1, 2015, Lorenz
completed 40 years of service with the Department of Planning of Victoria. Lorenz is currently working
on a program, hopefully to be funded by the Australian Government, to bring Australian City Planners
to assist with major planning initiatives proposed by the new Sri Lankan Government.

Lorenz’s parents, Professor E.O.E. Pereira, Dean and Founder of the Faculty of Engineering and
subsequent Vice-Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya, a renowned scholar from Royal and
Cambridge University and respected humanitarian, and his mother Mavis, would indeed have been
thrilled to know that their eldest son had reached such heights thereby not only bringing honour to
their family and to Royal, but also to Sri Lanka. Lorenz and his dad’s joint respective achievements

17

could rightly place them as one of the most outstanding and distinguished father and son products of
Royal College. Lorenz is ever grateful for the wonderful legacy bestowed upon him by his dear father
of Unconditional Love and Humility. Well done Lorenz. All your old friends too are very proud that we
broke bread with you.

A rare collector’s item, The History of Royal College, reprinted

By Yomal Senerath-Yapa
Sunday Times, August 11, 2019

A reprint of “The History of Royal College”, a 1932 biography of the school authored by students
was launched at the BMICH yesterday in an event organised by the Royal College 1960 Group, in
association with the Royal College Union.

Head of the Project Team
Senaka Weeraratna hands over
a copy of the second edition of
the 1932 publication to Prime
Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Royal College Principal B.A.
Abeyratna stands by. Former
Royal rugby football captain
and coach U.L. Kaluarachchi
made the keynote address at
yesterday’s launch. Dr. Ajit
Wijesundera and Mr. Vajira
Gunawardene were the other
members of the Project Team.

The chief guest was Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, a member of the 1960 intake of Royal
College.

The book is recorded to be the second history of a school written by its students, the first being the
biography by students of the Merchant Taylors’ school in Northwood, Hertfordshire- which served
as a model for the Royal students. Twenty boys, aged 15 to 19, compiled the book under the
guidance of four masters and the then Principal H. L. Reed. It was launched by the old boys on the
eve of Mr. Reed’s departure as Principal, at the Galle Face Hotel on March 12, 1932. The book later
became a rare collector’s item.

A search for the book began in recent years following a reference in S.S. Perera’s ‘History of Royal
College’ published in 1985 in connection with the 150th year of the school. A digital copy was
consequently discovered by a member of the 1960 Group- an online version of a volume preserved
at the Library of the University of Michigan, USA.

Originally published by H. W. Cave and Company, the second edition has been published by Vijitha
Yapa Publications. Reproduced as a facsimile of the original, the history begins with an appraisal of
“Education in Ceylon before the time of Royal College”. The first chapter is devoted to the prototype
called the “Hill Street Academy”, run in the back veranda of a Pettah church for twenty boys. It is a
record of the school’s progress from being the “Colombo Academy” to Royal College and ends with
the role the school played in ‘the Great War’ (the first world war).

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The Parsis of Sri Lanka

Daily Financial Times
Tuesday, 21 May 2019

A small but vibrant community

Very few people today have heard of the Parsi community in Sri Lanka, because there are only about
60 in all including men, women and children. Although small in number, the contributions to our
nation by this intriguing community throughout the years, have left an indelible mark in the history of
Sri Lanka. They have produced eminent citizens, including a Government Minister, a Judge of the
Supreme Court, barons of business and industry, high ranking military officials, media and educational
personalities and philanthropists, among others.

Prominent Parsi families in Sri Lanka today are the Captain’s, Choksys, Khans, Billimorias, Pestonjees
and Jillas. Their ancestors were originally from Persia, who later migrated to Gujarat in India. The Parsis
are a very religious community who follow the Zoroastrian faith which is basically a monotheistic one,
centred on the belief in the One True God whom they call Ahura Mazda or ‘Wise Lord’ in the Gathas
of Prophet Zarathustra and his Great Maga Brotherhood. The Parsis have made invaluable
contributions to the economy and development of Sri Lanka. The Captains are a Parsi family who have
long settled in this country. Sohli Captain owned Wellawatte Spinning and Weaving Mills and his son
Rusi went into corporate investments. The Captains are well-known for their services to humanity.
Sohli Captain developed Sri Lanka’s first Cancer Hospital, and his sister Perin Captain has contributed
immensely to the Child Protection Society.

Another long established Parsi family in Sri Lanka were the Billimorias who established the Britannia
Bakery in 1900. Homi Billimoria, a renowned architect who designed Mumtaz Mahal, the official
residence of the Speaker of Parliament and Tintagel, which became the family home of the
Bandaranaike family. The Khan family owned the Oil Mills in Colombo and built the famous Khan Clock
Tower, a landmark in Pettah. The Jillas, another well-known Parsi family, established Colombo Dye
Works. Homi Jilla became an army Physician, Kairshasp Jilla became a Naval officer, and Freddy Jilla
served as a civil aviation officer.

The Pestonjee family arrived in Sri Lanka much later. Kaikobad Gandy was the father of Aban
Pestonjee, the founder of the prestigious Abans Group. He was a marine engineer who sailed around
the world and finally made Sri Lanka his home, which he called ‘the best place in the world’. In 1930
he was awarded a Distinguished Citizenship by S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike in recognition of his services to
the country’s ports as Chief Engineer. His daughter Aban founded Abans Group, a business
conglomerate that handles everything from hospitality and electronic goods, janitorial services to
garbage disposal and keeping our streets clean.

“Sri Lanka is our home, we love this country, and our small community lives in peace and harmony
with the people of this country, always looking for ways and means to contribute towards its
development and prosperity,” said Aban Pestonjee.

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“Local sports arena praise Dr. David Young’s feat of ‘Sri

Lanka Ranjana”

Sunday Times, 25.8.2019

His many friends across Sri Lanka hailed the Presidential award
of the ‘Sri Lanka Ranjana’ to distinguished Australian
orthopaedic surgeon Dr. David Alexander Young for his services
to the country describing it as ‘well deserved’. The Presidential
Awards ceremony was held at the BMICH on August 19.

Dr David Young The Sri Lanka Ranjana is the second highest honour awarded to
non-nationals for ‘praiseworthy services’ to the nation. Lankan
cricketing great Kumar Sangakkara said, “I am delighted that the
efforts of Dr. David Young in his charitable endeavours in Sri
Lanka are being recognized nationally. It has been a long time
coming and to say it is well deserved is an understatement.”

Dr Young is known in the sporting fraternity for his contribution
to Sri Lanka cricket, having treated and cared for many of the country’s star cricketers and athletes
over the years. His care extended to sportsmen in fields from athletics to rugby and badminton. He
has worked closely with the Orthopaedic Association of Sri Lanka and was instrumental in the setting
up of a Foundation Supporting a National Trauma Service in Sri Lanka and Australia – the Batticaloa
Teaching Hospital Emergency and Accident Project (Project BEAP).

The state-of-the-art Accident & Emergency Service the foundation built within the Teaching Hospital
in Batticaloa was opened in 2018 and now serves the people of the Eastern Province.

In a statement, Sangakkara said his association with Dr. Young had started many years ago through
his work with Sri Lanka cricket. “He has been over the years a passionate and deeply loyal fan and
an advocate of the cricketers of Sri Lanka. His work with Murali (Muttiah Muralidharan) during the
difficult times of the throwing allegations made it obvious that Sri Lanka possessed a bowler of
immense, unorthodox talent who bowled well within the laws of the game. His work as a surgeon
has helped so many of our cricketers, with the inclusion of myself, to get back to playing following
injury.

“His love for our cricket and cricketers has engendered in him a deep love for Sri Lanka as a country.
His work in conceptualizing and completing the Accident and Emergency Service wards in Karapitiya,
Galle and Batticaloa shows his deep commitment to, and affection for, our people.

“David, like all in his profession is a highly skilled and intelligent professional with a curious mind,
but what sets him truly apart is his nature. He is generous, loyal, and his heart is large and soft. Ever
ready to help, ever ready to be of service to others, ever ready and willing to give of himself. I am
very grateful for his service to my country and am fortunate to call him friend.”

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, National Hospital and President-elect of the Sri Lanka Orthopaedic
Association (SLOA) Dr. V. Swarnakumar said Dr. Young had been offered a fellowship by the Sri Lanka
Orthopaedic Association (SLOA) for his invaluable service in Sri Lanka. “Dr David Young loves Sri
Lanka and has treated many Sri Lankan sports personnel. Since the Tsunami in 2004 he has helped
in establishing and expanding orthopaedic services in Sri Lanka especially and contributed to

20

Batticaloa, Ampara and Karapitiya Hospitals. The newly built Accident and Emergency Departments
in Karapitiya and Batticaloa are due to his personal efforts.

Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama commended his
work with rugby players. “He has been a source of strength to all our rugby players. With the
assistance of Dr Wasantha Perera, Dr Swarnakumar and Dr Ashan Abeywardena, he has done many
complicated surgeries on our players. As a result they have been able to get back on the field quickly.

“Dr. David was instrumental in setting up the Trauma centre at Batticaloa hospital along with Nihal
De Run and it was only due to his perseverance and commitment that the project was completed.”

Dr. M.S. Ibralebbe, former Director, Teaching Hospital Batticaloa said the state-of-the art Accident
and Emergency Care Service Unit was able to manage the 21/4 bomb blast with more than 100
casualties without any hardship.

“He (Dr. Young) and well-wishers worked tirelessly towards this goal along with the Ministry of
Health and was able to establish the unit in 2018. In addition to the construction of the building,
they have contributed for medical equipment, hospital furniture and training of staff attached to
this unit. This facility is being fully used and providing the expected service to the people of the
Eastern Province and adjacent districts,” Dr. Iralebbe said.

“The contribution made by Dr. David Young and his well-wishers will be remembered for ever and it
will be written in golden letters in the history of the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital. It was a huge
humanitarian assistance provided to the Eastern Province and adjacent districts and will contribute
to the improvement of the socio-economic status of Sri Lanka,” he added.

Michael Jayasekera, Chairman of the Selection Committee of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union
said, “We are extremely fortunate that Dr. David Young opted to ‘adopt’ Sri Lanka! His contribution
towards our sportsmen over the years with proper diagnosis of complicated injuries and surgical
correction is now legendary! His determination to set up the Trauma Centre in Batticaloa amidst
many obstacles and challenges bears testimony to his love for Sri Lanka. A kind, compassionate
human being whose generosity is boundless, this is an honour well deserved!

The Old Halves combination of Raja Potuhera and Maurice together again in April 2019

Obituary

REMEMBERING MERCURIAL MAURICE ANGHIE

U L Kaluaratchi
The sad news of dear friend and team-mate Maurice Anghie’s
recent demise came as a shock to all of us who knew him. No
sooner than the news reached us, some of us, who enjoyed his
excellent company on and off the field, foregathered at Ken
Balendra’s residence to reminisce over him and to honour his
memory by observing two pregnant minutes of silence.

Maurice Lee Anghie, to give his full name, was born in Kandy on
9th March 1942 and was the youngest of four siblings; Tony, Dr.

21

Trevor and Maureen, the progeny of Mr. B.C. Anghie, a highly respected, legendary school master at
Royal, and Alicia, who had lovingly played foster mother to the hostellers when Mr. Anghie was the
Warden of the revived Royal College Hostel in the 1940s. His two elder brothers Tony and Trevor were
great sportsmen representing Royal at many games (Tony at cricket, rugby and boxing and Trevor at
rugby, athletics, boxing and tennis). Coming from such a sporting background, and also with his
paterfamilias, having been at various times during his tenure at Royal, the master in charge of rugby,
boxing and swimming and as rugby coach as well, it is small wonder that young Maurice would take
to sport as duck would to water. He represented Royal Primary School, (RPS-a separate entity then
from Royal College), at cricket, football, (which team he captained in 1952) and athletics and was
awarded the coveted Prize for the Best All-Round Boy of the Year in 1952.

However, at Royal, quite unlike him and unlike

his elder brothers, he opted to focus on playing

rugby, though he did play some cricket and

tried his glove at boxing, too. Yet, it was for

rugby that he was best known. Playing as

centre for Royal at just 14yrs and 2 months,

under Lionel Almeida in 1956, he became

probably the youngest player ever to

represent Royal at rugby. Thereafter, he

played as fly-half under two captains, to wit,

Ratna Sivaratnam (1957) and Dudley Fernando

The Old Halves combination of Raja Pothuhera and Maurice (1958), before eventually captaining the Royal
together again in April 2019 team with distinction in 1959 at just 17 yrs.

plus showing a rugby maturity, well beyond

his years. He could have played for two more years for Royal had he remained in school but left to

play for the Havelocks and eventually for Ceylon at 19 years. He would certainly have continued to

regale us with his rugby skills but for an injury that ended an otherwise promising rugby career.

Maurice was a strong, daring, centre cum fly-half, mercurial in attack and fierce in defence. With a low

centre of gravity, woe be unto anyone who dared to tackle him. He was so strong that one would

rather hit against a rock than against him. Often he was seen deceptively slipping through many tackles

to feed essential good ball to his centre three-quarters and at times taking two or three opponents

clinging onto him. As a captain he always led from the front. He led Royal to win the Bradby Shield in

1959. His daring leadership qualities came more to the fore in the Royal-Zahira rugby encounter played

at Longden Place that year.

Zahira College had just revived their rugby that year and for reasons best known to them, the Zahira
players threw themselves at everything in sight ever so dangerously, risking life and limb of their
opponents; attacking more the players than the ball. As a result, three Royal three-quarters were
carried off the field with no replacements possible. One remembers with great reverence how Maurice
led his team to victory, he himself playing in a daze, for a better part of the game, as a result of much
more than a few stunner, deadly tackles. His erstwhile scrum-half the omnipresent Raja Potuhera
gamely kept him company himself carrying a badly injured arm! Maurice was all over the place
inspiring the rest of his players in a do or die effort, eventually to bring a memorable victory for Royal.
As one of his early team-mates from 1956, Ralph Wickremaratne (RW), so aptly describes, Maurice
was a “no-nonsense” man and a “dare devil” in fact. It was RW, who got an early inkling in the late
1940s of Maurice’s dare devil spirit, when he discovered a little Maurice Anghie creeping out of a
storm-water drain from near an RPS class room, having entered it from somewhere near the hostel!
Frighteningly, once one entered this drain there was no turning back! Surprised though he was, RW

22

never could guess then that,

eventually, this ‘daring little

chappie’ was going to be his

team mate in the future! It just

showed that Maurice loved

challenges. It is this same daring

spirit and love of challenges that

Maurice displayed ,on the filed

with his superlative rugby

prowess, as well as off it, when,

while being an articled clerk at

Alles, Martin& Co, he ventured

into a successful restauranting

business with his cousin David

The Royal Rugby Team 1959 Standing ( L-R) Gyi running the ‘Chopsticks’ in
J..V.P.Smarasekera,R.Potuhera,G.VanGeyzel,E.L.Pereira,A.Rankine, the Fort. He then joined his
M.L.Loos,L.D.deSilva,G.Tiruchittampalam,R.H.Fernando, friend, Rajan “Bole” Phillips at
O.G.Samaratunge, U.L.Kaluaratchi.Seated ( L-R) H.S.de Silva, American Lloyd, which became a
Mr.M.T.Thambapillai,(MIC),M.L.Anghie(c),Dudley de Silva successful travel company. His
(Principal) D.N. Fernando, Mr. G. C. Weinman(Coach) On the restless spirit later impelled him

Ground : Lal Senaratne and T.V.A. Wickremasuriya, Absent: to move onto Hong Kong to do

C.de Zoysa and K.Balendra shipping business with his friend

Ten Chu. But the true Maurice

Anghie really burgeoned when he migrated to Perth, Australia, in the mid-seventies. Here he began

right from the bottom as an articled clerk at McLaren & Stewart where he completed his chartered

accountancy studies, while simultaneously obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Business, from Curtin

University. Fairly soon he had become a partner in that firm.

When McLarens eventually
transformed into Bentleys MRI, a
national chartered accounting firm,
Maurice became their partner for
audit and corporate services. As such
Maurice had been responsible for the
audit of many large public companies
in Western Australia in the 1980s and
1990s. After his retirement from public
practice, Maurice continued to serve
as a director of Wollongong Coal Ltd
and was on the board of some other of
the firm’s client companies. Not
surprisingly, Tony Anderson and
Hillary White (HW), two of Maurice’s
All-Ceylon: Maurice Anghie seated on the ground extreme close, long-standing friends in Perth
right assert that Maurice was very generous
with his time and assistance to a lot of migrants from Sri Lanka through employment in that firm, in
settling them in, as well as in helping them to pursue a career in Accountancy, including his old
principal from his articled clerk years in Sri Lanka.

23

Humble as he was about his own achievements , one can be sure that Maurice was proud, inter alia,
of at least two occurrences: that his father, the legendary school master , first at St.Peter’s College
and then at Royal , was deservingly honored with the award of a Trophy in his name for the annual
Royal-SPC rugby encounter and that his son , Michael , not only represented Western Australia schools
at cricket and, in fact, opened batting with Justin Langer , the current Australian coach, but also
followed Maurice to the accountancy profession and is a Managing Partner of Ernest and Young in
Perth.

Though very much settled in Perth, Maurice scrupulously continued his contact with his friends
scattered over in many distant places. He was a caring friend. As RW rightly reflects on behalf of all of
us: “our friendship remained strong and grew in strength. Occasionally meeting him after many years
was a thing of great joy, indeed. He stood for what was right never bothering about the harm this may
do to him personally.”

Maurice will be missed greatly by his family and friends. He was a devout catholic and apparently
was very fond of a sing-a-long stacked with Irish songs. One agrees with HW that it is, indeed, most
apt to say Au Revoir to our very caring and daring friend, with the following Irish Blessing:

May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
May the rains fall soft upon the fields,
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

-ULK

Obituary

SELVI PERINPANAYAGAM (25 July 1936 – 31 July 2019)

Mike Wille

I was saddened to hear of the recent passing of Selvi Perinpanayagam.

He and I played for Royal for three years. Of those three years we
opened the batting for two years. Opening partners often develop a
close friendship having been bonded by having to go out and ‘face the
music’ at the start of an innings.

I have noted that when a person dies, they often acquire virtues that
they never displayed while alive. This is not the case with Selvi. He was
a true gentleman, the real deal. He was a compassionate and caring
human being and in the lines that follow I will try to give you examples
as to how he demonstrated these qualities.

Although he was two years older than I, we bonded strongly in 1954, being two ‘freshers’ trying hard
to break into a very strong team. In addition, he was just a very nice guy.

Selvi opened the batting with the mercurial Nirmalalingam in 1954 and when Nirma left College I was
conscripted to open with Selvi in ‘55.

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In ’55, under Ranjith de Silva, with the retirement of players like Nirmalalingam, Ubhaya de Silva,
‘Frecko’ Kreltszheim and Rabindran we were a team of average strength.

Wesley were always tough competitors. We had thrashed them in ’54 and they were determined on
revenge in ’55. Selvi and I battled against Lou Adihetty and Samsudeen, arguably the best opening
bowlers in school cricket in ’55. I called Selvi for a non-existent single and ran him out. He departed
staring daggers at me. I was out soon afterwards and our Cricket Master, Harold Samaraweera, gave
me the bollocking that I richly deserved. Selvi was sitting quietly in the Dressing Room and I walked up
to him and apologised. He stared at me for a minute, then took my outstretched hand, smiled and
laughingly said “apology accepted but don’t make a habit of running me out” or words to that effect.

As ‘openers’ we were moderately successful in 1955 and we both ‘lived’ for cricket.

One Sunday morning, following a match the previous day, he rode his bike from Kollupitiya to my
home in Bambalapitiya.

I was surprised to

see him. He said

that he wanted to

talk to me because

he was concerned

that he was not

scoring fast enough

and was putting all

the pressure on me

to keep the

scoreboard moving.

I assured him that I

was playing my

normal game,

didn’t feel any

pressure and since

Barney (our

revered Coach) had not said anything we should carry on with ‘business as usual’. This satisfied him

and we then got around to talking about other aspects of how we approached our cricket.

He told me that he was superstitious and always wore his ‘lucky’ socks because he had scored a half
century when playing against Wesley at Under14 level while wearing them.

I said “Come on Selvi, the socks must be five years old and how did they last so long?”

“Well” he said, it goes like this, “After every match I wash the socks in expensive soap, they have got
no heel or toes but they are still my lucky socks and I would not dream of walking out to bat without
them”

Anyway, he must have still been wearing his ‘lucky’ socks on that Friday morning in ‘56 when we played
St Joseph’s at Darley Road. We won the toss and when we walked out to bat nothing was different.

From the first ball he launched a ferocious attack against the Josephian bowlers. He cut and hooked
like there was no tomorrow. I just stood at the other end, watched in amazement, and gave him as
much of the strike as possible. The Josephian bowlers had no counter to this onslaught and he went

25

on to make a brilliant 99. This was the most aggressive knock that I witnessed in my four years of
playing College cricket.

We played Nalanda the next week and this time we batted second. We went into bat late on that day,
made a fifty partnership, but I lost my wicket just before ‘stumps’. That night my Dad fell seriously ill,
I didn’t play on the Saturday, and I did not see Selvi complete his first century for Royal.

Royal then played St Peters and I did not play as my Dad had died the previous weekend.

I was not missed because Fitzroy Crozier, our Captain, and Selvi had a record partnership with both
making centuries with Selvi unbeaten. Fitz tells me that he still remembers a shot Selvi played during
that innings. Selvi was not a big boy and he hit a six over extra cover on the big ground at Reid Avenue
that took Fitz’s breath away.

We were then scheduled to play Trinity at Asgiriya. I didn’t want to play but succumbed to severe
emotional blackmail from my Mum and elder brother.

We caught the afternoon train to Kandy and Selvi sat next to me. Selvi took it upon himself to play
Mother Hen. He talked not stop all the way to keep my mind off my sorrows. When we got to Kandy
we were met by the Captain and some senior members of the Trinity team, which was a very nice
gesture. Amongst the Trinitians was Sene Ettipola, a left arm spin bowler. Sene was an unusual spin
bowler because he came in off a fairly long run, had the fast arm action of a pace bowler, but bowled
slowly. He confused batsmen and had been quite successful the previous season. In ’56 the batsmen
knew what to expect and he was not so successful. Even after we got off the train Selvi would not
leave my side and we got into a discussion with Sene on the bus taking us to Trinity. Sene said he was
conscious that he had not been doing well but had made some changes and had some surprises for us
the next day. When Sene left us Selvi said to me, “Mike, I’ll fix him tomorrow”

The next day we won the toss and successfully survived the new ball. The Trinity Skipper tossed the
ball to Sene and Selvi was on strike. Off the first ball Selvi danced down the wicket and hit him for six
over mid-wicket. Selvi kept a poker face and looked at me and winked. I could not take the smile off
my face and thought to myself, “You said you would ‘fix him’ and you certainly did”.

Selvi and I had a century partnership of which I made about forty and Selvi went onto complete his
third consecutive century.

This was a phenomenal performance. To put it in perspective in the ’54 season there were no Royal
centurions, in ’55 just one. Centuries in Schoolboy Cricket were like hen’s teeth.

1956 was the inaugural year of the award of the “Schoolboy Cricketer of The Year “which was initiated
by one of the Newspapers, the winner to be decided by the votes of the readers. Selvi should have
won by a mile but didn’t because he was a Tamil.

The Newspaper was so embarrassed by the blatantly biased result that they changed the system the
next year and the winner was decided by a Panel. They offered Selvi a bat which he politely refused.

In those days we did not play to win awards. We played to win every game and to beat the Thomians.
Selvi was bitterly disappointed, not because he didn’t win the Award, but because he was being
discriminated against in the land of his birth, and he shared this disappointment with me.

Before I commenced writing this essay I contacted our Captain in ’56, Fitzroy Crozier, to check some
facts. Fitz reminded me that, besides being a brilliant batsman, he was a great team man.

26

I left Sri Lanka for Australia in April 1957 and in those days going to Australia was like going to another
planet. The only practical method of communication was by the writing of letters and I lost contact
with all my Sri Lankan friends for many years.
A few years ago I got Selvi’s e-mail address and we made contact again.
Vale Selvi

Obituary

NIHAL DE ZOYSA (12.3.1931 – 2.5.2019)

With the courtesy of the Ceylon Society. Newsletter August 2019

Nihal de Zoysa a pioneer member of the Society passed away
recently, and his funeral held in the presence of a large gathering
at the Springvale Cemetery, Melbourne. Nihal joined the Society
upon the formation of the Melbourne Chapter in the year 2000,
and was a founding member of that Chapter.
Nihal was the eldest of the four sons of Roland de Zoysa, District Judge,
Colombo. Like his father and grandfather before him, Nihal and his three
brothers had their entire education at Royal Preparatory School, and
then Royal College, Colombo. They resided at Inner Flower Road from
where the boys walked to school. The family later moved to Kynsey
Terrace, Colombo 7. All four brothers were acclaimed professionals
following in the footsteps of Nihal. His younger brother Hema was a key
member of the Planning Department and later joined the World Bank as an Economist. He sadly
passed away of a heart attack in his prime. The two other brothers Dr Nilkanth de Zoysa a neuro
physician, and Rudra de Zoysa formerly of the World Bank and Honorary Consul for Sri Lanka in New
Zealand reside in New Zealand.
Nihal joined the University of Ceylon’s faculty of Engineering after leaving school. He was an
outstanding student and was the first to obtain a First Class Degree in Engineering from the Faculty of
Engineering then headed by Prof EOE Pereira. After graduating he worked as an engineer with the
Ceylon Government Railways. He was a pioneer who converted the old coal fired locomotives to oil
fired. He was later to be an Assistant to the General Manager of Railways Mr Rampala. He
subsequently worked as the Chief Engineer in the Ceylon Transport Board.
Nihal and his family migrated to Australia in the 1970s and he worked as an Engineer in Government
Service before retirement. A popular figure in social gatherings Nihal will be missed by the various
societies that he was member of. He leaves behind his wife Srima, daughter Ananga and son in law
Adeesha de Silva.

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Obituary

Remembering Bryan Pereira

Lorenz Pereira

Eustace Bryan Pereira passed away on 3 April 2019 at the age of 78,
quite unexpectedly, but peacefully, with dignity and with no fuss in
keeping with his gentle character and laconic lifestyle. Bryan
operated in a by-gone time capsule setting his own agenda quite
oblivious to the topsy turvy and goings on of the environment
around him. He was blessed with simplicity and humility, like his
Father, and was unbothered with the triviality of inconsequential
occurrence of daily life.

Bryan was a Man of very few words, but huge on loyalty, honesty
and traditional values of good behavior and decency. He had
absolutely no malice whatsoever, no negative envy of other’s successes, but the absolute opposite,
and a true and noble sportsman of the highest order. He cultivated many genuine friends because of
the transparency within himself of all the above qualities, together with his concern, caring and love
for all those, both established intimate friends and mere acquaintances, who had the good fortune of
meeting him.

Arvinda de Silva remembers well and greatly values Bryan’s kindness when, as a very young talented
schoolboy he was picked to play against a visiting cricket team from Australia and was unable to get
to Colombo for the game. Bryan came to his assistance and took him both to the match and took him
back home. It was a classic case of Bryan’s passion for sport and his devotion to helping others.

Bryan was one of three sons of the late Professor E O E Pereira, Vidya Jyothi, the well-loved ex Dean
and Founder of the Faculty of Engineering, Peradeniya University and its subsequent Vice-Chancellor
and Mrs Mavis Pereira. His other two brothers are Lorenz and Alan, both domiciled in Melbourne. He
married Charminstar, the daughter of Dr & Mrs V C de Silva. Their only child, daughter Shalini and
husband, Rohan de Silva were Sri Lanka’s No 1 ranked tennis players at one time. Shalini is now a well-
respected and prominent tennis coach, whilst Rohan has been the Manager of the Sri Lanka Davis Cup
Team. Their son, Akash, was the love of Grandpa, Bryan, who doted on him wishing one day that Akash
would be a Sri Lankan Tennis Champ like his parents.

Bryan had many supportive close friends who were regularly in touch with him. Particularly, Nanda,
Rudu, Sarath S, Para, Mahinda W, Lal, Yasa, Navin to name just a few, and his beloved tennis mates at
the SLTA (apologies, unable to single out, too many), who will miss him greatly.

Bryans career at Royal College, Colombo was outstanding in a sporting sense. He is one of the very
special elite group of Royalists, from the College’s inception, that have had the unique privilege and
honour of playing in both the Royal Thomian Cricket Match and the Bradby Rugger Match. He was
most definitely a gifted versatile sportsman, having also Captained Royal at Tennis. During his

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Captaincy, Royal for the first time, won the Senior (De Saram) and Junior (Lang) Shields. At Royal, he
won the batting prize on two consecutive years, in 1960 and 1961. Bryan also toured India with the
Combined School Cricket Team. Leaving school, he played cricket for the NCC that included a number
of Ceylon players, including the legendary Michael Tissera.

He then went planting and was a planter for many years until retirement. He was a senior planter on
many Estates. Whilst planting, Bryan continued with his passion for sport representing various
Upcountry Sporting Teams and participating in and often winning Upcountry Tennis Tournaments. He
was a staunch supporter of the Darrawella Club spending many afternoons on the tennis court.

On retirement from planting, Bryan dabbled in a few diverse miscellaneous occupations, which
included a short tennis coaching stint at the then Neptune Hotel in Beruwella. He threw it in due to
the utter frustration he encountered from the ridiculously ineptitude talent of his transient tourist
clientele.

He there after retreated to the safe and comfortable abode of Shalini and Rohan at Rajagiriya where
he resided for most of his later years. He found much solace and contentment in the security of their
home. He kept his emotions very much to himself. One never knew whether he was happy or not. He
went through life very much on an even keel.

His major decision each day was to decide what time he would go to his beloved SLTA. The Club was
his sustenance, not merely for playing, but more importantly for interaction with his many friends
there. Rain or shine, he was there, sometimes just by himself on a rainy afternoon when no one turned
up. It didn’t matter, as he had an unflappable companion, his cigarette. Bosom pals they were. He
loved to share an Arrack with his tennis buddies after an evening’s play and the whole scenario was
one of very close comradeship. It was a family away from home. Not burdened with the usual dull and
argumentative home chores.

The playing members will miss him very badly as he was responsible for bringing them altogether and
creating a very special cohesive social environment.

There will be an empty chair at the Club now. No Bryan, No Smoke.

Dearest Bryan, enjoy your long retirement. Colombo will never be the same to me.

Much Love

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Dumindu represents Sri Lanka at the Australian Junior
International 2019

Akvan Gajanayake
The Royal College under 17 Badminton captain, Dumindu
Abeywickrama, was the sole representative of Sri Lanka at the
Australian Junior International 2019. The AJI is a Badminton
World Federation sanctioned under 19 Future Series event and
was held from August 29 to September 1 at the Altona
Badminton Centre.
Dumindu was the 5th seed of the tournament and received a bye
in the first round. In the next round he convincingly beat his
Australian opponent Benjamin Chen 21-10, 21-10 to proceed to
the pre-quarter finals. In the next round, Dumindu won the first
set 21-17 but lost the next two sets 21-11 and 21-18 in a hard
fought game to Lai Pin Da from Chinese Taipei who advanced to
the semi-finals of the tournament.
His exit in round 3 of the competition has not dampened the
spirits of this budding young Royalist. “When I am 18 or 19, I

want to review my strengths and weaknesses and stick to a training plan as my goals will be to qualify
for the Paris 2024 or Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games”, says Dumindu.
Incidentally, the only two male shuttlers who have represented Sri Lanka at the Olympics were both
Royalists; Niroshan Wijekoon in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and Niluka Karunaratne in the 2012 and
2016 editions.
However, before taking on his Olympic pursuits, Dumindu plans to keep competing in similar junior
tournaments, including a return trip to Australia and ambitions to medal at the 2021 BWF World Junior
Championships in China.

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A RIGHT ROYAL EDUCATION

Raj Barr-Kumarakulasinghe

CAMINO REAL – THE ROYAL WAY

Dr. Raj Barr-Kumar, FAIA FRIBA 1997 National President of the
American Institute of Architects and 1990 President of the DC
Chapter, Raj is an internationally recognized pioneer of the
sustainability movement.

As Managing Principal in Charge of Design and Construction for
over 35 years, Raj has worked on Hotels, Eco Resorts and
Restaurants, Medical Centres, Embassies, Religious buildings and
Custom Homes in numerous locations in the United States, Britain,
Mexico, Panama, the Middle East, Hong Kong and Ceylon.

A frequent keynote speaker at international professional symposia
and numerous universities, he has provided Expert Testimony to the US Congress, and serves as an
Expert Witness in litigation.

The author of three books, he has taught at every architecture program in the DMV and presently
serves as a professor of architecture and urban sustainability at the newly accredited architecture
program at the University of the District of Columbia.

His contributions to the profession and society have earned him the Lifetime Award for Sustainable
Design and Green Architecture, and the highest honour conveyed on a foreign architect by the
Architecture Institutes of Canada, Mexico, Japan, Philippines, Bahamas, Sri Lanka, and the Pan
American Federation of Architects.

RAJ JOINED ROYAL COLLEGE IN 1957.

The lady asked me a couple of questions. She then covered the small objects on the table with her
hands and asked me what was hidden. I rattled off the answers. I remember a miniature car, a shoe,
a milk bottle and a few other items. I must have got them right. I was admitted to Royal Prep in 1951.
There were no strings to pull, no set asides, no under the table deals. I was on the Royal Path.

There were four classes of 35 students each, two Sinhala medium, one Tamil medium and one English.
The big lesson I remember from Mrs. Rajakariar who taught 1B was to never take a shower straight
after sports; someone close to her had died doing that. Sweet Miss Niles taught 2B.
Mrs.Thamotheram summoned my parents to tell them my lettering was not good enough for 3B.

The next year 1954, my father died of a heart attack while playing tennis at Torrington Square. This
could have been an even greater disaster had my father enrolled me at St Thomas’ where my B-K
cousins were studying because my mother would have had to pull me out of school because she could
not pay the tuition. Being an Accountant, my father figured Royal provided the best education for the
money. I can say in retrospect, that Royal provided me with a better education than any private fee
paying school in Ceylon.

I was a quiet, introspective boy, not an exceptional student, and was surprised when Principal A. F. De
Saa Bandaranaike appointed me a prefect in1956. Fellow RPS prefect Nihal De Run told me a couple
of years ago that the selection must have spurred us on. It is the coolest medal I have ever received.

31

The round medal on a vertical blue gold and blue ribbon was worn pinned just above the shirt pocket
showing less than an inch of the ribbon and the medal tucked modestly in the pocket.

Knowing my father’s desire, my mother took it upon herself to prepare me for the Royal College
entrance exam. This was a competitive exam, not the automatic entry from RPS to RC that was
implemented a few years later when a certain PM’s son was in the batch facing the same exam. My
mother taught me English for an hour every evening, taking time away from my two younger sisters,
and hired a tuition master to make sure I passed Tamil.

My horizons exploded when I entered Royal College in 1957. The students were mixed together, all
subjects were taught in English, and nobody inquired about their classmates’ mother tongue or
religion. We were all equal peas in one pod. The genie dividing the country by language and religion
had just been let out of the bottle, but we were blissfully unaware in our cozy cocoon.

We revelled in the companionship of our classmates and formed firm friendships that have lasted over
60 years. It was an egalitarian group. Nobody stood on ceremony. The Governor General’s grandson
and the Prime Minister’s son were at Royal when my classmate P. Ramachandran, the son of a police
sergeant who lived at the Slave Island Police Barracks, was the Head Prefect. I saw my first fancy Black
Sobranie cigarette when Vijaya Malalasekera, son of our Ambassador to Russia, brought them to class.

My classmates are my band of brothers. Thanks to the internet, our ties have been renewed,
revitalized and grown even stronger. Despite being scattered around the globe, the ‘57 Group has
stayed in contact thanks to a daily dose of tidbits and jokes from Oz, courtesy of Ranjit “Tony”
Sirimanne.

In addition to the required courses, we had a choice of learning Latin or Sanskrit, Pali or Greek.
Learning Latin is my first memory of really getting excited about studying. I roamed around our house
memorizing the grammar out loud. It may be a dead language (we translated Caesar’s Gallic Wars!)
but to this day, I can peruse text in most of the Romance languages and get the gist of what is written.

“Terra Marique” (“they came by land and sea”), a constant refrain in the Gallic Wars, was swept away
when Mr. Viji Weerasinghe taught the class of tittering 12 year old boys that “da mihi basia mille”
meant “give me a thousand kisses”.

ASSEMBLY

The weekly Friday Assembly held in the Main Hall, involved the whole school. The lower forms were
seated in the balcony at the back of the hall, Fourth Form was seated at the rear of the main floor, 5th
Form next, and 6th Form closest to the stage, The prefects sat at the base of the stage, facing the
assembled students. The teachers sat flanking the table at the centre of the stage where the Principal
and the Distinguished Guest Speaker for the day were seated. Panels inscribed with prize winners’
names dating back to the 1800s lined the walls.

One name in particular caught my eye, the shortest, C. Barr. I was in Upper Six before I knew that was
my grandfather’s youngest brother, Chelvanayagam Barr-Kumarakulasinghe, who won the Senior
Mathematical Prize in 1897. He also won the All Ceylon Mathematical Prize, which took him to Merton
College, Oxford University where he died of pneumonia after his first winter in the damp climate. I
know now that my grandfather’s eldest brother Gate Mudaliyar Kanaganayagam Charles Barr-
Kumarakulasinghe attended the original Colombo Academy. Had I known these facts in my teens, I
could have better tolerated my Thomian cousins’ banter.

32

My stepfather entered my life in 1958 and I was packed off to the Hostel for a semester. When he
was transferred to Batticaloa in 1960, my mother, honouring my father’s wish that I should remain at
Royal, rented the house out and installed me in the attached self-contained apartment which had a
separate entrance. I was king of my domain at 14. My mother’s prayers I am sure, are what kept me
from going off the rails.

Among the regular visitors were one or two classmates who dropped in to brush their teeth and rid
their breath of cigarette smoke before facing inspection at home. Since I did not drink or smoke, my
indulgence was the Zellers knickerbocker glory sundae, and a late show, usually a Western at the
Savoy, leaving with a stylized cowboy swagger.

IN CHARGE

Since I was in charge, to avoid PE, and the endless marching that I associated with the Cadet Corps, I
joined the Rifle Club. Our coaches were Kumar Chitty and Ravi Jayewardene. The Royal College Team
of Michael Pereira, Nicky Peiris, Aslam Kaleel and me, beat St. Thomas’ two years in a row.

Similarly, when it was time to choose between Medicine or Engineering, I thought for a whole second,
“Blood, I don’t think so”, and chugged happily along on the engineering track.

GCE ‘O’ Level went well with a Distinction in English and Credits in Pure and Applied Mathematics,
Physics, Chemistry, Tamil, English, English Literature, and Religion.

We had dedicated, knowledgeable and talented teachers like Mrs. Samarasekera who taught English
and English Literature, and Mr. Arasaratnam who taught Pure and Applied Mathematics.

When I studied Chemistry under Mr Harry Arulanandam in Form IV, I was inspired by his perfect script
and re-wrote my notes every night. This extended to more subjects and became a habit and an
automatic review of the day’s work. I recommend updated versions of this technique to my students
at the University today.

However, in Lower Six, the Chemistry Lab did me in. Fazli Cader, who transferred into Royal after ‘O’
Levels, was the son of one of the original entrepreneurs who started canning fruits and jams in Ceylon.
Shums Industries also made socks. Fazli earned the instant moniker “toe jam”. He brought cans of
mangoes to the lab and the class spent most of the lab time trying to open the cans. I don’t know why
no one thought to bring a can opener.

As GCE A Level exams approached, I asked the Principal, Mr. Dudley K. G. de Silva, whether I could
drop Chemistry and take English instead. “Do you know they have been studying English in the Arts
Medium for two years?” he asked and I told him I had a better shot at passing English than Chemistry.
Since I had never been in any kind of trouble and was a prefect, he agreed. Using the techniques
taught by Mrs. Samarasekera at O Level, I did my own analyses and critiques of the poetry and prose
assigned for the A Level Exam. It turned out I earned the only Distinction in English at the A level at
Royal that year.

Since I was already studying English on my own, I decided to try for the English prizes awarded by
Royal. I was blessed to win the Shakespeare Prize, the E. W. Jayewardene Prize for English Literature
Senior, and the prestigious Steward Panel Prize for English.

COLLEGE MAGAZINE

Appointed Editor of the College Magazine in charge of the English section, I shared duties with the
Editors of the Sinhala and Tamil sections. Each editor would take turns to write the main editorial

33

essay for each term, and the others would translate in into their sections. Each editor was responsible
for the literary content of their section.

Mr. Viji Weerasinghe served as Manager, and gave us a free hand. I guess it was an early example of
Freedom of the Press.

The English Editor had the most responsibilities, because the general information, the House, Sports
Reports etc. were in English. I was particularly concerned about typos and spelling errors because the
College Magazine was mailed overseas to prestigious schools such as Eton and Harrow.

Since I wanted to be sure there were no errors, I met with the printer. The printer was the person
assembling the linotype. This was way before automation and the invention of the laser printer. Each
letter made of lead, was physically assembled on a linear tray to make a word and then a sentence. It
was tedious work, brilliantly done by people who performed way above their pay scale.

With the need to have text in all three languages on the cover, the Magazine started to look overly
cluttered. In an effort to clean up the layout, I designed a minimalist plain white cover with narrow
vertical blue and gold stripes along the left of the cover, balanced by the strategically placed crest on
the lower right. Viji approved it without question and the design continued to be used for some years
after I left College. Looking back, it was my first foray into design.

THE ACCIDENTAL ARCHITECT

Though I had the requisite number of distinctions to apply for entry to the University, I could not
because every degree program in the physical sciences required chemistry. I tried being an article
clerk for a firm of chartered accountants for a few months, but though good in mathematics, dusting
off some old tomes, looking for errors or false entries in the ledger, did not seem interesting. I know
now that there is much more to accounting than bookkeeping, checking, vouching and posting.

In a few short months I had gone from Prefect, Editor of the Magazine, and Steward Prize Winner, to
lost and aimless. Old Royalist Hema Rajah de Zoysa, married to my cousin Alagaranee Winslow
Mutturajah, became my mentor and guide. He said, “You did engineering and wrote poetry, why don’t
you try architecture?” I did not know the field existed. There were only 30 architects in the country
at the time, all trained overseas. A new architecture degree program had been in existence at the
University of Ceylon, Colombo for a couple of years and was being accredited by the Royal Institute of
British Architects (RIBA).

Having missed the application date to enter the University,
I worked for a year at Panditaratna & Aditya. Lala Aditya
gave me the chance to write a paper and speak at the
Convention of the Ceylon Institute of Architects. The
Sunday Times carried the full-page article “The Slum
Problem – Is Re-housing the Answer?” My classmate and
Sinhala editor at the College Magazine, Sumane
Rathnasuriya, translated the article which was published in
the local paper.

SERENDIPITY & BLESSINGS

Just before I graduated with RIBA Part I, I heard that the Government allowed architecture graduates
to take one year’s worth of fees for the two-year RIBA Part II degree. I sold my scooter and bought a

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ticket to the University of Hong Kong where I had been admitted to Part II. That was not what it was
cracked up to be, so I worked for a year in Hong Kong, met Tarzie Vittachi of “Emergency 58” fame,
who was editor of Asia Magazine, and wrote an article for him called “Hong Kong High Rise”.

I was admitted to the University of London, bought a cheap ticket on a non-stop Chinese charter flight
and arrived in London with two months money in my pocket to study for the two-year course. At my
first meeting, my professor told me that as part of my degree program, I was appointed to work 6
months at an architect’s office and 6 months at a construction company. My workplace was less than
two blocks from my University dorm. I had no transportation costs and walked back to the dorm for
lunch. I took a job as a night security guard, an ideal job for studying while at work, In my second
year, my professor from U of Ceylon, John Taylor RIBA, introduced me and I got a job working at
Llewellyn-Davies Associates (LDA), a large international practice working on projects in the Middle
East.

Graduating at the top of my class from the University of London, I won the Ewart Memorial Scholarship
to teach for a year at the University of Kansas. The map showed Kansas was in the middle of the USA.
Dodge City from the old cowboy movies was close by, teaching would leave a lot of time for travel. I
arranged to work for a year at LDA’s New York office after my stint in Kansas. Charlie Kahn, the Dean
at the University of Kansas gave me a tenure track position and over my objections, sponsored me for
citizenship.

After my first wife died in a tragic car accident in Kansas, I moved to Florida and have been in
Washington DC since opening my architecture and planning practice in 1981.

Just as it has helped each and every Royalist I know land on his feet whatever the circumstances, my
Right Royal Education propelled me to the height of my profession when I was elected 1997 National
President of the American Institute of Architects, the first person of colour elected president in 140
years. Serendipity (derived from Serendib, an ancient name for Sri Lanka), has been the story of my
life’s journey. I have had many blessings, not the least of which is the world class education that I
received at Royal.

Boys from Bamba beat the woodsmen to clinch the Royal Big Bash
2019 Trophy

Athula Rathnayake

The annual Inter School OBA’s Indoor cricket
Competition organised by RCOBBA for the 3rd
year in succession created a lot of enthusiasm
among the Melbourne based OBA’s of Sri
Lankan schools and the allocated 12 team spots
were taken up so soon as the invites went out.
The tournament aptly titled “ROYAL BIG BASH
2019" was conducted on the 17th. of August at
Ikon arena in Hallam.

With the pride of their Alma Mater at stake all
teams fielded players of high calibre and no
quarter was given or expected once the

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combatants took to the field. It was a day full of fast paced action, athleticism and a display of skill by
the players which led to a day of enthralling cricket for spectator and players alike. At the end of the
day St. Peter’s, Zahira, Kingswood and St. Benedict’s OBA teams were set up for the Semi Finals.
St. Peter’s got the better of Zahira and Kingswood had the wood over St. Benedict’s which set up for
a clash between last year’s runners up St. Peter’s challenging a spirited Kingswood team to claim the
much coveted Champions trophy St. Peter’s with a gutsy and tactical effort were able to get the better
of Kingswood to be crowned ROYAL BIG BASH CHAMPIONS 2019 and carry away the silverware. In the
plate finals St. Joseph’s beat Royal to annex the plate.
The Sub Committee headed by Lochana Premarathna and Shanaka Perera must be commended for
the excellent organising and successful completion of this carnival which earned RCOBAA much kudos
and plaudits from the participating OBAs. We are also grateful to the Bank of Melbourne who were
our erstwhile sponsor thereby minimising the cost to be borne by RCOBAA. We look forward to
continue in a bigger and better scale in the coming year.
Please click the Link to see the photo gallery.

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RCOBAA Indoor Cricket Tournament 2019

Shanka Gunawardene
It was a fabulous day at the RCOBAA Indoor Cricket Tournament this year. 16 teams with youngest
batch who left college only few years ago to our young at hearts with average age of 60 years, played
in one tournament in true Royal Spirit… RCOBAA would like to thank all teams who took part in this
year’s tournament. Rajakeeya Samanaloyo (Over 50s), Jolly Walkers (1990), Suicide Squad (1993),
Ghost Busters(1994), Anuhatharas (1994), Underwater Fire Carriers(1995), Samanala Wasanthe
(1998), RC 99ers (1999), Munta Loose (2000), Jol Boys (2001), Barbarians(2004), Barbarians 2 (2004),
Always Breakdown (2007), TensionNiners (2010), RC Rangers (2011) and Mada Polla (2012).
Congratulations to our open game winners ‘Jol Boys’ from group of 2001 and Over 40s champions
‘Suicide Squad’ from group of 1993. These photos are a testimony of what a great time we all had!!!!
Please click the Link to view the photo gallery.
Photo Credits: Tharun Delpachitra.

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Membership List - 2018/19

1. Abdullah Mahmud 41. Chandana 78. Dinesh Perera
2. Ajith Jayawardna Gangodagama 79. Dinesh Rahim
3. Akash Koddithuwakku 80. Dinesh Weerakkody
4. Akila Geethal 42. Chandula Rathnayake 81. Dinuka De Zoysa
5. Akila Weerasinghe 43. Channa De Silva 82. Channa Wijesinghe
6. Akram Yusuf 44. Channa Perera 83. Dulip Jayakody
7. Akvan Gajanayake 45. Charavanan 84. Duminda Yapa
8. Alexander Lokuge (Don) 85. Dushan Fernando
9. Almaaz Alavi Suntharalingam 86. Dushan Hemachandra
10. Amila Randeniwela 46. Charith Jayatillake 87. Eardley Lieverz
11. Angelo Francis 47. Chathura Liyanagama 88. Ethan Imesh Gankanda
12. Anjula Dewapriya 48. Chathurika Perera 89. Feisul Uduman
13. Anton Mahadeva 49. Chehan Senasekera 90. Fitzroy Crozier
14. Anuruddha Kannangara 50. Chethiya Dissanayake 91. Fred Kreltzheim
15. Aruna (Amal) Perera 51. Chinthaka Fernando 92. Gehan Perera
16. Asela Wijeratne 52. Chinthaka Wijesuriya 93. George Fernando
17. Ashwanth Nagendran 53. Chinthana De Silva 94. Gnanathikkam
18. Aslam Assen 54. Chinthana Wijeweera
19. Kushan Athukorala 55. Clarence Koch Amirthanathan
20. Athula Ratnayaka 56. Damitha De Lanerolle 95. Gokul Mohan
21. Aubrey Van Cuylenburg 57. Dammica 96. Harith Eranjaya
22. Aynkaran Sivaratnam
23. Banuke Thambawita Wickramaratne Wickramasinghe
24. Beverley Anthony 58. Danula Eranjith 97. Harris Priya Kumarage
98. Harsha Aluthge
Andree-Jansz Hettiachchi 99. Harsha Maligaspe
25. Bevill Janz 59. Darin Mallawarachchi 100. Harshana Ariyaratne
26. Branu Rahim 60. Darrell Lieversz 101. Hasalaka Edirisinghe
27. Brian Lieversz 61. David Kreltzheim 102. Hasantha Jasinarachchi
28. Bryan Wickremeratne 62. David Whitham 103. Hashitha Perera
29. Buddhika Goonatilake 63. Deepal Perera 104. Hemanth Cooray
30. Buddhimith 64. Devindra Weerasooriya 105. Hildon Bevan
65. Dhamindra 106. Himath Dissanayake
Wickramasinghe 107. Hiran (Ted) Muttiah
31. Buvaneka Atulugamage Kahaduwarachchi 108. Hobby Ediriweera
32. Cedric Jansz 66. Dhammika Perera 109. Hugh Karunanayake
33. Chaman Ipalawatta 67. Dhanuksha Algama 110. Imran Furkan
34. Chamara Hewawasam 68. Dhanushka 111. Indika Mohottige
35. Chameera Buddhadasa 112. Indika Hathurusinghe
36. Chaminda Ranasinghe Hettiarachchi 113. Indika Wanigasooriya
37. Chaminda Serasinghe 69. Dhilshad Sideek 114. Indrajit Abeywardene
38. Chamira Ranatunge 70. Dick Siebel 115. Indrajit Wijegunaratne
39. Chaminda Sunnadeniya 71. Dilan Costa 116. Iruka Kumarage
40. Chamith Perera 72. Dilan Perera 117. Ishan (Saji) Bahar
73. Dilash Ranatunga 118. Ishan Jinadasa
74. Dhilharan Sivaratnam
75. Dilip Somaratne
76. Dinesh Chelvathurai
77. Dinesh Epitawela

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119. Ishara Perera 158. Mahinda 196. Nisal Ranaweera
120. Ishara Rambukgala Wickramasuriya 197. Nishantha Rajapakshe
121. Isuru Jayathilake 198. Nithy Chellapah
122. Jafir Dawood 159. Malindra Fernando 199. P.H.(Piloo) Billimoria
123. Jahanghir Abdul 160. Maliq Deane 200. Pasan Balasinghe
161. Malith Fernando 201. Pasan Gunasekara
Majeed 162. Mangala Akarawita 202. Pasindu Epa
124. Janaka Kodithuwakku 163. Mangala Jayawardene 203. Pasindu Yasantha
125. Janaka Seneviratne 164. Manoj Aluthwatta 204. Pavithra Danansooriya
126. Janek Ratnatunga 165. Manuja Jayawardhana 205. Peshan Perera
127. Jayantha (Jay) Adihetty 166. Manura Hapuarachchi 206. Piloo Rustomjee
128. Jeewantha Wijesinghe 167. Maurice Anghie 207. Piyal Gunaratne
129. Jehan Majeed 168. Maxwell Solomons 208. Piyal Rathnayake
130. Jey Jeyakumar 169. Mayrujaan 209. Prabodha Kulasingha
131. Jimmy Billimoria 210. Prageeth Weerasinghe
132. Joseph Wijeyendran Jayakumaran 211. Prajith Perera
133. Johann Gunasekera 170. Michael Kreltszheim 212. Pramitha Ranishtka
134. Jumaan Sheriff 171. Michael La’Brooy 213. Prasad Herath
135. Kalhara Samarasinghe 172. Mohan De Run 214. Prasanka Rajapakshe
136. Kandiah Sivapragasam 173. Mohan Pillai 215. David De Kretser
137. Kapila Epasinghe 174. Mohan Tisseverasinge 216. Pubudu Lankadeva
138. Kavinda Ratnapala 175. Moshane Koswatte 217. Pushpika Gamage
139. Kingsley Rajasingham 176. Pasan Manitha 218. Pushpitha Atapattu
140. Kokila Liyanage 219. Radhesha (Rad)
141. Krishantha Ekanayake Palihapit
142. Kumara Karawita 177. Muditha Jayasinha Rasaratnam
143. Kusinara Perera 178. Murthaz Mowlana 220. Rajeev Peiris
144. Lahiru Rajapakse 179. Nadaraja Canagasabai 221. Rajitha Tillekeratne
145. Lakindu 180. Nadeera Weerasinghe 222. Rajith Wijeratne
181. Nadie Gamalath 223. Ramesh Nadarajah
Manawasinghe 182. Nalaka Kolamunna 224. Randula Thenuwara
146. Lakmal Abeysekera 183. Nalin Manorathne 225. Ranga Perera
147. Lalin De Silva 184. Namal Aruna Joseph 226. Ranjan Muttiah
148. Lalin Perera 227. Ranjeev Ekanayake
149. Lavan Meemaduma Fernando 228. Ranjith Wijeratne
150. Lilith De Silva 185. Nandalal (Lal) 229. Ransi Fernando
151. Madhava Wijayaratne 230. Ravinath Gunasakera
152. Madhawa Jayasinghe 231. Reggie De Silva (Cyril)
186. Nandika Dias 232. Rez Rahim
Mutukumarana 187. Naveed Zanoon 233. Romesh Gunaratne
153. Madhupa Fernando 188. Navin De Silva 234. Roshan
154. Madusha Kularatne 189. Nigel De Kretser
155. Madusha 190. Nihal Kodituwakku Weerawardena
191. Nihal. M. D. De Run 235. Ruchira Hewavitharana
Jayawickrema 192. Nilupa Suresh 236. Ruchira Withana
156. Mahen Ellawala 193. Niranjan (Chris) 237. Rumal Gallage
157. Mahesh 238. Rumesh Perera
Tisseverasinghe
Godavitharane 194. Niranjan Arachchi
195. Niroshan

Hewakoparage

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239. Rumesh Samaraweera 263. Shiran De Silva 287. Thilanga Fonseka
240. Sahan Basnayake 264. Shyam Sideek 288. Thilanka Hetti Gamage
241. Sahan Fernando 265. Siddika Bandusena 289. Thilina Gajanayake
242. Sajeewa Rathnayake 266. Sirimevan Ranasinghe 290. Thushara Kumarage
243. Saman Ranasinghe 267. Soba Ranasinghe 291. Timothy Wijesooriya
244. Saman Wijeratne 268. Sonny (Pradeep) De 292. Tisara Gunasekara
245. Samath Wijeyasinghe 293. Tissa Galagedara
246. Samitha De Silva Silva 294. Tony Anghie
247. Sampath Edirimuni 269. Spencer Foenander 295. Trevor Jansz
248. Sampath Walpola 270. Stuart Roland 296. Uchin Alwis
249. Sandeepa Deheragoda 271. Subodha Wanasundara 297. Udara Fernando
250. Sandy (Ranoir) 272. Sudath Gunatilake 298. Umesh Goonawardena
273. Sugeesha Dinushan 299. Upul Kularatna
Jesudhason 274. Sujan Jayasiriwardena 300. Varna Amarasinghe
251. Sanjeewa Udumalagala 275. Sujith Satkunam 301. Varuna Wickrama
252. Sarasi Herath 276. Sunil De Silva 302. Venura Welagedera
253. Sarath Mendis 277. Surane Gunasekera 303. Vibodha Sampath
254. Sarvendran (Saru) 278. Susil Ranasinghe 304. Vidyananda
279. Sydney Perera
Sivarajah 280. Theshan De Silva Silphadipathi
255. Sasanka Dharmasena 281. Tharaka 305. Vijitha Illukpitiya
256. Shamendra Kannagara 306. Viran Abeykoon
257. Shanaka Jayarathne Chandrasakera 307. Viresh Dassanayake
258. Shanaka Perera 282. Tharin Peiris 308. Wangisa Jayatilake
259. Shanaka Senarathne 283. Tharuka Manawadu 309. Yasantha Kalupahana
260. Shanka Gunawardana 284. Tharuka Wijeratne 310. Yogalingam Rajkumar
261. Shanti Arangala 285. Tharun Delpachitthra 311. Yohan Pasqual
262. Shehal Gomes 286. Thenura Keenawinna

RCOBAA membership 2019-20

Renew your membership

A friendly reminder to those members who are yet to renew their membership for the
2019/20 year to do so by using the payment options mentioned below. Please note
Membership falls due on 01st July each calendar year. E.g. Membership period for 2019-20
begins on the 1st of July 2019 and will end 30th June 2020.

Payment options

• By Cheque (drawn in favour of RCOBAA)
• By EFT (Account No: 10010447 BSB: 063010 Commonwealth Bank)
• BY Credit card (complete the credit card section of the RCOBAA membership form

and email us or mail it to us)

If you wish to pay the membership fees by EFT, please enter your full name as the payment
reference so it is easier for us to identify your payment.

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The different membership categories and payment options are listed below.
Membership categories

Update your details
It is not necessary to complete the RCOBAA membership form as we have already got your
details on our database. Please let us know if your details have changed in the past year by
submitting an online webform or by downloading the form from our website and emailing it
to us.
 http://www.rcobaa.org.au/member.php
Email address: [email protected]
Postal Address: PO Box 796 Mt. Waverley VIC 3149
Please contact me on 0413 970 033 if you have any queries regarding renewing your
membership.

Kind Regards
Ranga Perera
Membership Secretary

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RCOBAA Committee

Patron: Prof. David de Kretser AC
Vice Patrons: Fred Kreltszheim
Nihal de Run

President: Soba Ranasinghe General Committee:
Vice Presidents: Dhammika Perera Akvan Gajanayake
Athula Ratnayake
Ranga Perera Aslam Assen
Aynkaran Sivaratnam
Treasurer: Charith Jayathilake Chinthana Wijeweera
Deepal Perera
Secretary: Dinesh Rahim Dinesh Perera
George Fernando
Immediate Past President: Indrajith Lochana Premarathna
Wijegunaratne Shanka Gunawardena
Shanaka Perera
Membership Secretary: Ranga Perera Shyam Sideek

Web Master: Shanka Gunawardane

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