Gamit Ameresekere named ORAUK patron
View(s):Gamit Ameresekere, Chairman and Managing Director of Taprobane Travels, UK has been made a patron of the Old Royalists Association, UK, a position last held by Mr. Edward Lawrence Bradby, a one-time Principal of Royal College, Colombo.
Mr. Ameresekere, with the support of a handful of loyal Royal alumni, was largely responsible for founding the ORAUK in 1983 under the patronage of Mr. J.C.A Corea, the first Sri Lankan (or Ceylonese) Principal and Mr. Bradby the last British Principal of Royal. He was elected the founder President of the Association, a post he continued to hold with great dedication over the next three years, and since then has served the committee in one capacity or another over the next 30 years.
Mr. Amerasekere entered Royal in 1954 and by the time he left in 1962, he had made a valuable contribution, both in academic and sporting fields. In 1960 he won the Governor General’s Prize for General Classics and the following year he was the winner of English Literature Prize. Mr. Amerasekere was also the Editor-in-Chief of the School Magazine in 1961 and 1962. A member of the school’s hockey and table tennis teams, he obtained colours in both, captaining the latter in 1961.
After a brief sojourn at S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia as a rookie teacher, Mr. Amerasekere moved to the U.K. in 1965. Initially he worked for UniLever, but soon ventured into the travel trade and in 1977 founded Taprobane Travels Sri Lanka Tours, which is the oldest established Sri Lankan travel company in the UK, and a highly regarded one for its service to the Sri Lankan expatriate community.
Over the last 31 years he has proved to be of invaluable service to the ORAUK, not only because of his input to decision making as a committee member, but also providing, pro bono, the use of Taprobane Travels’ offices for committee meetings, and the added benefit of Mr. Amerasekere’s close contacts in the Travel Trade which has brought in a bounty of complimentary air tickets and exotic holidays to be given away as raffle prizes at many Royal College alumni events.
ORAUK at its inaugural General Meeting in 1983 adopted Messrs. Corea and Bradby as its joint patrons. Since the demise of Mr. Bradby in 1996, (Mr. Corea having predeceased him in 1988) the ORAUK has not had a patron. After 30 years of service to Association which he founded, Mr. Amerasekere continues to maintain his support for the ORAUK as its Hon’y Patron.