Trinity College OBA Centenary celebrations

Ravi Ladduwahetty

The Colombo Branch of the Trinity College Old Boys’ Association will celebrate its Centenary year, which falls this year, with a gala dinner at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel today.

The Colombo Branch of the Trinity College OBA was founded following a proposal by the then Bursar of the College H.C. Jayasinghe OBA in 1908 The first President of the Colombo OBA was also the then Principal Rev. R.W. Ryde. Coincidentally, Trinity’s richest prize- the much-coveted Ryde Gold Medal for the Best All Round Student has also been named after him and is presented annually by the Colombo Branch of Old Boys’ Association.

There will be a commemorative issue of the school, which is a pictorial and printed in Singapore will be launched at the dinner, President of the Colombo Branch OBA Himendra Ranaweera told the Daily News.

Ranaweera, himself Cricket Captain, winner of the coveted Cricket Lion in 1967 and now Deputy Group Chairman of Dilmah Teas is the Chairman of the Editorial Board while the others are retired World Bank Vice President and the 1962 Senior Prefect and Ryde Gold Medallist Mohamed Vazir Muhsin along with former OBA Presidents Sriyantha Senaratne, Upali Ratnayake and former Secretary Rohan Weerasinghe.

A further highlight will also be the auctioning of a painting by veteran artist Stanley Kirinde, himself a distinguished old boy

Former United Nations Under Secretary for Disarmament Jayantha Dhanapala, himself Ryde Gold Medallist in 1956 will propose a toast for Sri Lanka while Vice Captain of the Sri Lanka Cricket team and former Trinity Cricket Captain and Lion Kumar Sangakkara will propose a toast for the school.