Our small beginnings – By Lalin Fernando

Source:Daley News – THE BULLETIN OF THE OLD JOSEPHIANS’ ASSOCIATION OF NSW AUGUST 2020

Old Josephians – wherever in the world they turn up – seem to have a natural affinity for each other’s company. It could be the strong sense of loyalty which was instilled in us at SJC, or it could be that we share some kindred spirit which wafted over from the Beira Lake and stayed with us. And so, in January
1989, it was easy to make a few phone calls and pass the word around that a “gathering” was to take place in Sydney to which all Old Joes were invited.

This was more or less how a similar function was organised in London some 30 years before – to be exact in 1960. The venue was the International Catholic Students’ Chaplaincy at 41 Holland Park, and the occasion was that an old Josephian, Victor Santiapillai, had just been made the Trade Commissioner for
Ceylon in the UK. 

It was also an opportunity to meet Tony Williams – who had just competed at the Rome Olympics. Among those present were: Peter Perera, Tony Pulle, Michael Nainthy, Manthri Anthonypillai, Ranjit Tillekeratne, Trevor and Gerald D’Silva, Gamini Fernando, Ivan Ratnayake,
Michael and Paul Fernando and Nihal Wiratunge. This event could well have been the very first gathering of old Josephians outside of Sri Lanka, and for that matter, past students from any school.

Thirty years later, the arrangements were slightly different – we did not have to get round our female friends to come early and help to cook – we could afford to bring in a caterer – and who better than Ken and Yvonne Ferreira? 

There were several other notable differences between London in 1960 and Sydney in 1989. In London we were all students – struggling to keep body and soul together while managing to keep on top of lectures and exams; in Sydney, we were all grown men, with careers and salaries put away under our slightly rounded belts! In London, only Victor had a wife; in Sydney, most came with their wives and some even had their grown-up kids. In London, they all came on the Central Line and got off at Holland Park – in Sydney they came in cars – some very flashy! In London, the lunch cost 3 shillings – in Sydney $15 per head!

But there was much that was the same. Long lost friends saw each other after many years, some old stories were related for the umpteenth time, long- forgotten nicknames were resurrected (much to the horror of the poor victims!). The anthem was sung with the same gusto and (almost) the very
same high-notes were off-key! The drinks were perhaps more potent and expensive than in London – but the spirit in which they were shared was the
same. And there were the one or two ring-ins from our Wellawatte rivals – in London it was Nihal Wiratunge, in Sydney it was Noel Crusz. Noel was fondly greeted by many who well remembered his stories about Hollywood, Bing Crosby and Linda Christian which were related during Religious Knowledge classes (whether they were true or not still remains a mystery – like those other mysteries he was supposed to be teaching us).

In Sydney, we had representatives from a

period spanning some 60 years. There were the seniors like Mano Muttukumaru, John St. George and Bede Muller, right down to the “kollars” who came with their dads. The rest of us -– well, we were proudly in the middle, somewhere between 1940 and 1970:
Lanka and Palitha Wijesena, Hamilton Koelmeyer, Malcolm Berenger, Harold de Sayrah, George Rupesinghe, Trevor Caspersz, Maurice Raymond, Lester Caspersz, Michael Berman, Malcolm Femando, Tom Silva, Ken Ferreira, Alistair Corner, Emil Van Gramberg, Cecil Masefield, Errol Graham, Prasanna Gunewardene, Christopher Payoe, Lalith Fernando, Herbert Kreltsheim, Anthony de Silva, Nada Nadarajah, Ranjan Perera, Rajendra Cooray, Fred de Sousa, Lucian Wijetunge, Kevin Perera, and Nihal
Samaranayake to name a few. My apologies to any others that I have missed.

The lunch over, a few words were spoken to try to formalise the group and to meet again, and then we all left with more happy memories. The final act was the forwarding of the small profit derived to the Peter Pillai Scholarship Fund in Colombo. This impromptu gathering at the Concord Scouts Hall in 1989 was the small beginning of our Association in New South Wales.