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Merrill J. Fernando: Founder of Dilmah Tea Passes Away Source :  Qld Sri Lankan Newsletter – Dæhæna – August 2023 Merrill J. Fernando – the founder and former CEO of Sri Lanka’s largest and most global tea brand ‘Dilmah Tea’ – passed away on 20 July. The iconic businessperson was aged 93 at the time of his demise. Born in 1930 in Negombo, Fernando received his primary education from Maris Stella College and his secondary education from St. Joseph’s College in Colombo. In 1954, at a time when the island’s tea trade was still under the control of the British, Fernando began working as a tea assistant with Arthur Frederick Jones and his son Dennis Jones at AF Jones & Co. Fernando was amongst the first group of Ceylonese to be permitted to learn tea tasting. Four years later, Fernando was appointed the company’s Managing Director. However, in 1962, he ...

Jul 31, 2023 Posted by In Articles Tagged , , ,
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 RCOBA NSW and ACT Winter 2023 Secretary’s Update Dear RCOBA NSW and ACT Member, Welcome to the 2023 winter update.   Sri Lankan Schools 7 a side touch footy competition The RCOBA NSW and ACT supported this popular event held on 23 April at the Kellyville Memorial Park Sydney for a second consecutive year. Two teams represented Royal college in the Open and Over 40 categories. Well done to both teams and thank you to all those who participated and were present to support Royal. Friendship Cup 2023 The RCOBA supported the Royal College Open team to participate in this inter school cricket carnival held on 25 April held at Jamison Park Penrith.  Royal won all three group games vs Prince of Wales, DS Senanayake and St Anthony’s losing in the semi final to Maris Stella College who went on to become the Cup champions. Well done all, and Congratulations Maris Stella ...

Jun 22, 2023 Posted by In Articles Tagged , , ,
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George Bevan at 90 : Seven decades of art-BY MAHES PERERA   Source:-Sundayobserver Regular readers of the Ceylon Observer in the ’50s would no doubt be familiar with the name George Bevan – artist and illustrator whose drawings were used by Anne Abayasekera then Editor of the Women’s pages. And on the other hand George Bevan believes that he was the first artist employed by a Sri Lankan newspaper. He did not, as he says, undertake to draw political cartoons as Collette was the man handling this area at Lake House. With the passage of time, we are now in the 2019s; George Bevan has turned 90 years and to commemorate this for future records, “George Bevan at 90, Seven Decades of Art” will be on display at the Barefoot Gallery, Colombo 3 until September 20. The exhibition opened on August 23. What of his painting style? In an earlier ...

Jan 31, 2023 Posted by In Obituaries Tagged ,
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Maris Stella College in 1950s and 60s-By George Braine Source:Island Maris Stella College, Negombo, is celebrating its centenary this year. These are my recollections of the years I spent there.Maris Stella had classes from Standard Two. For lower and upper kindergarten (as they were called those days), all boys attended Ave Maria Convent, along with girls, of course. One teacher I recall is Sr. Mary Imelda, diminutive but a formidable force. As she taught, her two dogs, spoiled rotten by the children, roamed the classroom. Maris Stella sits on the road that extends from Colombo to Chilaw, and beyond to Puttalam and Anuradhapura. Despite the heavy traffic on the road, the school displays a somewhat serene ambience because of the large, well maintained playground, and the lovely main building set some distance from the road. Two storied, with a lengthy Italianesque facade, the main building is reached along two narrow ...

Dec 4, 2022 Posted by In Articles Tagged , , ,
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The Governors at Nattandiya – by GEORGE BRAINE Opposite the Nattandiya railway station, between the Buddhist temple and the Milk Board collection center, is a narrow road that winds down out of sight. I believe it used to be called the Gansabawa Road. In 1960, my father served as the superintendent of a coconut estate on this road about a mile from the station. Ratmalwewa Estate wasn’t large – it must have been around 150 acres during those days – and it was split into two by the road. For a child growing up in rural Ceylon, the estate and the life surrounding it were memorable. Not much traffic passed down the road. There was no bus service and cars were infrequent. Lorries loaded with coconuts or coconut husks, transporting them from estates down the road to oil or coir mills further afield, passed occasionally. The most frequent sight were ...

Mar 23, 2022 Posted by In Articles, George Braine Tagged , , ,
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Maris Stella College marks Centennial : Endless Odyssey in Quest of Excellence-By Merrick Gooneratne Source:Island As you exit the Katunayake end, of the Colombo Katunayake Highway, turn left towards Negombo, passing Base Hospital, you will not miss a spacious ground with green grass looking like green velvet – a picturesque site that remains etched in your memory. Young schoolboys happily practising cricket, soccer, athletics and basketball clad in blue and red T- shirts! This is the playground of Maris Stella College, Negombo. Towards January, each year, this picturesque ground comes alive with the Annual Inter-House Sports Meet of the school with four pavilions in four different theme colours each named after the Pioneering Leaders of Maris Stella College, Julian, Lewis, Joseph, and Anthony. The origins of Maris Stella College harked back to 1922 when the Marist Brothers, who arrived in Negombo in 1917, joined St. Mary’s College, the leading school ...

Feb 25, 2022 Posted by In Articles Tagged ,
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Carlo Fonseka: the far-sighted Professor Source:www.dailynews.lk “Some may wonder what unique qualification I have to be chosen to deliver the inaugural Carlo Fonseka lecture, other than of course, outright cronyism. But, very few in this audience, apart from his children, have had the privilege of sitting on his knee and listening to his stories This was in the United Kingdom, where in the mid-1960’s he and my father were postgraduate students. The stories were both bribe and reward for chaperoning his daughter Indunil to the school that she and I attended. That is how long I knew him for, over 55 years – first as a little boy spellbound by his stories, then as a medical student captivated by his teaching, and subsequently as a junior colleague in the university. In Shakespeare’s play, when Mark Anthony delivered his funeral oration for Julius Caesar, he begins by saying “Friends, Romans and ...

Nov 8, 2021 Posted by In Articles Tagged , , , , , ,
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