On a wintry afternoon somewhere in October ’79 two ‘old schoolmates’ decided to meet in the Sussex countryside of England for what was intended to be an informal family gathering but with more than one purpose. One of them a trainee accountant and the other a young doctor had arrived in England in the 70’s and were being driven by the obvious inspiration to help their alma mater, fuelled by the gratitude they owed to the old school in which they were classmates for many years. Their first informal meeting held at ‘The Bungalow’ in Hurstwood Lane, Haywards Heath evolved as the nucleus of the Thurstan Old Boys Association in the UK. This was followed by a letter signed and circulated by the two schoolmates as joint conveners, inviting a few other Old Boy Thurstanites also domiciled in the UK to join them to organise a full-fledged alumni association here.
No sooner had the news reached Colombo in ’79, Sunil Karunanayake, the then Treasurer of the Thurstan College Old Boys Union in Colombo and a classmate of the two planning to organize their alumni association in the UK had made mutual contacts with a request for help from the parent OBU. In response to the request, the ‘newly founded’ Thurstan OBA in the UK managed to send their very first contribution to the old school on the eve of the “Big Match” in March 1979, which led to the news article in the following year by M. M. Thawfeeq in the Sunday Observer of August 10, 1980 with the comments -Thurstan too…We mentioned the Old Boys Association Established abroad by Old Thomians and Royalists. I have been informed that Thurstan College too has an alumni association, established three months ago in the United Kingdom. Founder Joint Secretaries are Sunil Sirisena and Dr Sisil Wimalaratne. The alumni sent a contribution to this year’s cricket “BigMatch”.
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A letter from Asoka Wedage, then Joint Secretary of Colombo OBU dated 16 Aug 1980 formally acknowledged the establishment of our alumni association in the UK. Thus, the beginning of the Thurstan College OBA in the UK was announced, and as the years passed, the numbers grew with many Old Boys volunteering for membership.
Another interesting news of the late 80’s was the organisation that was forming in London which eventually led to the ‘Festival of Cricket’ (FoC), an annual event for Old Boy associations in the UK bringing together many Sri Lankan expatriates, and with it a sort of a “Big Match of the Big Matches” aura. Although Thurstan OBA in the UK was not a participant in this cricket festival tournament in late 80’s and early 90’s it ritually became an annual gathering and a reunion for Old Thurstanites as well, who came with their families to socialise and relish in their old school camaraderie. On a short visit to London in October 1989, Priya Paranavitane the then Assistant Secretary of OBU, Colombo set the groundwork for the UK branch to be formally inaugurated as mandated by our parent OBU in Colombo. Priya with the assistance of Sunil Sirisena then serving as inaugural secretary sent formal invitations on October 29 to all Thurstanites in the UK to join the newly formed association. A year later in 1990 Thurstan College was celebrating the 40th anniversary of its founding and in the three years that followed membership in the Thurstan OBA UK had increased substantially. Recognising the need for a constitution for the UK Branch, a formal meeting was held in the summer of ’94 in Southgate, London to adopt the constitution and elect office bearers. Anura Hegoda was elected as the first President of the Thurstan College OBA UK Branch. Dr. Edmund Wickremapathirana, Sunil Sirisena and Dr.Sisil Wimalaratne were elected Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer respectively. Dilip Gunawardena, Hemal Wickremasuriya, Dr.Lucky Panagoda, Nanda Dissanayake, Ranjit Senadhira, and Chitra Senaratne served in the inaugural Committee.
After the new committee began holding its regular meetings at 10, Bourne Avenue, Southgate it was then decided to have the first Dinner Dance of the Thurstan OBA UK Branch on 23 December 1994 in London. Anura Hegoda spearheading the committee reached into a full organisational plateau for a Christmas Dinner Dance at the Marriott Hotel, George Street, London W1. It was a night to remember…our First Dinner Dance to be! The event attended by many Old Thurstanites and their friends was sponsored entirely by Kumar Dewapura, an Old Thurstanite and a Patron of the OBA UK Branch and a regular visitor to London. It was truly a great success and many a Thurstanite would fondly remember the joyful night in London.
Subsequently, the Second OBA Dinner Dance was held at the same Marriott hotel in George Street on 2 December 1995 followed by the Third Dinner Dance at the Great Western Royal hotel in London W2 on 22 March 1997. C&L Country Club, Middlesex became the venue for the Fourth and Fifth Dinner Dance events held on 15 June 2001 and 18 December 2004 respectively. It is heartening to recall the untiring efforts of our pioneering committee member Dr Edmund Wickremapathirana in overseeing the popular music arrangements (his part-time hobby!) throughout the past years’ Dinner Dances; and the contribution of all past committee members and their spouses has ensured the great success the OBA had with these events.
Thurstan OBA became a participating member of the FoC tournament in 2001 and has taken part in the main competition every year since. Thurstan team won the Winners Plate in 2001. Dr Edmund Wickremapathirana has represented the Thurstan OBA UK Branch in the FoC Council over the years, performing tirelessly. Our OBA has now become eligible for permanent membership of the FoC, and the new committee is in the process of applying for its permanent membership this year.
The achievements of the Thurstan College OBA UK Branch included the contribution of £8,000 for the College Cricket Grounds and the donation of computer equipment to the Deshabandu Kumar Dewapura Building of the school. Among other noteworthy contributions of our OBA Branch are regular and ongoing funding of the P. M. Jayatilleke Scholarship and the annual Prize Giving at the College.
For the foreseeable future Thurstan OBA UK is firmly committed to fulfilling its mission of helping our alma mater achieve its educational goal of maintaining a leading presence as a public school of reckoning in Sri Lanka, to which task our alumni both young and old here in the UK would continue to dedicate their resources. Thurstanites in the UK can truly pride themselves of being the devoted and dutiful sons of a great institution by uniting under the OBA banner and keeping our college flag flying high.
May Thurstan OBA UK grow in strength!
Sunil Sirisena, Thurstanite ’62-’70
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