The 65th anniversary of Royal's 1947 group:

Strengthening friendship

The distinguished batch of ‘Old Boys’ of Royal college who entered Royal in 1947 at form 1, which at that time consisted of three parallel classes, are celebrating their 65th anniversary as a batch on March 9th. This is indeed a land mark in the history of ‘batch get-togethers’, in that they have been meeting regularly and kept a close–knit contact as the group of 47 over a period of over 35 years.

Group conveners consisting of Nihal Jayatunge in Sri Lanka, Tissa Atapattu in United States of America (USA) and Canada, Dr. Mahanama Warnakulasuriya in United Kingdom (UK) and Ranjit Jayawardene in Australia and New Zealand, have formed a network of communications to keep this batch together, as they are spread out over six countries, with an original head count of 100 in the group, identified by names, that were recalled from memory (as no official records were available). Almost 40 of the batch have sadly ‘passed away.'

The group started a feature – project, which was a benevolent fund, to help any of their members or their families who needed assistance for any unforeseen event or illness. They have also undertaken many benevolent activities to assist any cause that needs help amongst members. These activities were coordinated under the guidance of Nihal Jayatunge, the longest serving convener of the batch.

The members of the 47 Group has also left an indelible mark in the history of Sri Lanka, through their individual contributions, performance, work and the high profile positions they have held in many spheres of employment and service.

A majority of them are still active in their professions and continue to work. Group members range from senior multinational company executives, professionals as doctors, engineers, accountants, diplomats, lawyers, planters, teachers, journalist, authors and corporate chairmen in industries such as tea, pharmaceuticals, shipping, business, high ranking officers in the Army, those who represented Sri Lanka in many sports, held high administrative positions in sports bodies, volunteer service and religious organizations, international bodies and held or are still holding political assignments as advisors in previous and present governments.

It would be appropriate to mention the present surviving members in Sri Lanka and abroad by name.

Farook Abdeen, Malin Abhayaratne, A P Alles, Luckshman Amarasekera, Dr. Raja Amarasekera, Dr. Milton Amaratunga, Tissa Atapattu, Harold Baldsing, J E M Bartholomeusz, Jimmy Billimoria, Sam de Alwis, Buvaneka de Silva, Ranjit de Silva, Dr. Merle de Silva, Stuart de Silva, N K B Dissanayake, Rev. Vernon Edward, Dr. Colin Fernando, George Fernando, Sunimal Fernando, Nalin Goonewardene, G. Gopalasingham, Gulzar Jafferjee, Leighton Jayasekera, Doyne Jayatillake, Nihal Jayatunge, Ravi Jayawardene, Ranjit Jayawardene, Dr. J. Jeyaratnam, Stephan Joseph, Dr. Willie Joshua, Dr. Dhayan Kirthisinghe, Dr. Raghav an Kulanayagam, Dr. H A D Kumarasena, Rajah Kuruppu, Dr. Trevor Labrooy, Carl Muller, Robert Navaratnam, Mohan Padmaperuma, Carol Peiris, Dr. Lalith Perera, S. Ponmailanathan, Yoge Rajaratnam, Dr. Daya Rodrigo, S S Sahabandu, Dr. F C M Schokman, Dr. Gamini Seneviratne, Major General Dr. C. Thurairaja, C Vivekanandan, Dr. Mahanama Warnakulasuriya, Homananda Weerasooriya, Clarence Welikala, T. Wijeratnam (Thomas Wickham), Palitha Wijesekera, Jus. A S Wijetunge, L A T Williams.

Many overseas members will be present and individual awards, commemorating this milestone occasion, mementos, other activities and a complimentary dinner to all the members and their spouses have been planned with the wives of the committee members taking an active role in all the arrangements.

The venue is the ‘Akase Kade’ the roof top restaurant of ‘Ceylinco House’, Fort.

The Organizing Committee for this 65th Anniversary Celebration consists of Nihal and Manel Jayatunge, Major General Dr. C and Loret Thurairaja, Dr. Daya and Nalini Rodrigo, Nalin and Ajitha Goonawardena, Clarence and Noreen Welikala, Dr. Dayan Kirthisinghe and Dr. Raghavan Kulanayagam.