Old Girls’ power: Fun through sisterhood
I was a silent observer at a meeting of a group of enthusiastic past pupils of some leading girls’ schools as they planned what would be the first of its kind here for fellowship, fun and charity. Girls of various schools, perhaps rivals in their schooldays, now meet in a spirit of camaraderie planning an event, which symbolises togetherness and sisterhood for a cause.
This fun event will take place on International Women’s Day on March 8. The past pupils involved are from Ladies’ College, Musaeus College, Visakha Vidyalaya, Holy Family Convent, St Paul’s Milagiriya and Methodist College. One remarked that it seemed as if boys’ schools had all the fun and fellowship after their schooldays, but that, “we who had met each other in our schooldays rarely met now and it was time for some fellowship between us all as well as raising money for charity.”
Their unanimous thinking was that Women’s Day was the ideal day for such an event where they could help the less fortunate. Many of them had visited Polonnaruwa on independent journeys and found that this area was badly affected by kidney disease due to a lack of purified water. So the proceeds from this fun day will be used to donate water purification units for this area.
The events are divided into different age groups. 20 to 30, 30 to 40, 40 to 50,50 to 60 and 60 and above. Whether the last named group will survive this exertion and what the consequences would be is the question I pondered in my mind! “We have had great fun during practices which we have regularly had; it seems like being back in school again. We learnt all about healthy competitiveness, sportsmanship and fellowship in our schooldays and we have regained this in a spirit of friendship and great enthusiasm. We have also invited some boys schools for participation in a visitor’s relay. It will be fun to see whether some of the guys we admired as heart-throbs in our youth are still the same, or if they have changed through the passage of time. They will join in the fun and it is an opportunity to renew old friendships amidst having fun,” one of the organisers said.
The event will be preceded by a cycle race which will be flagged off on March 1, setting the mood for the main event on the 8th. On hand will be doctors and ambulances to deal with any unforeseen event. A carnival atmosphere will prevail with food stalls, papare bands, Zumba and entertainment and fun for the whole family. It is hoped that participants will bring their kids along to cheer them on as they take a welcome dip in the fountain of youth and relive their school-time fun once again.