Sunday Times 2
Once upon a time when we were in the Royal College baby class reminisces of Royal College 1949 Group at Royal Prep
View(s):- The who’s who and their teachers who moulded these bright sparks
By Jayantha Gunasekera, PC
I entered Royal Prep at the age of 5 years; the Head Master was A F De Saa Bandaranayake. These were the war years. Royal College premises at Reid Avenue were taken over by the British Government to house a Military Hospital. Royal Prep was shifted to Skelton Gardens, Havelock Town where the Lumbini School is now located. One boundary was the canal.
Initially about 15 students – all about 5 years old – were admitted to what was known as the baby class. My classmates were Upali Wijewardena of the Upali Group, Dr R S B Wickremasinghe who was Director of the Medical Research Institute, Dr Ranjith de Silva (surgeon) who captained the Royal College cricket team, Lal Jayasundera, Chairman of Hayleys, Dr N T De Silva who worked for the National Health Service in England for the last 50 years, Dr Tissa Cooray, who was attached to the WHO in India, Neville Senaratne – Tennis Coach in England, Lal Karunanayake – Director Aitken Spence, Kumar Ponnambalam (barrister) son of Minister G G Ponnambalam – QC, Alavi Momammed (barrister) who worked for many years in the UK, Dr Danilo De Kretser, Beverly Vandergert, Bevis Nicholas whose mother was our Piano teacher, and Nimalasiri Fonseka, Chartered Accountant son of Dr Mrs Dora Fonseka – mother and son lived in England for many years.
Several others joined us at Royal Prep a few years later. They were Arjuna Hulugalle son of Daily News Editor, H A J Hulugalle, Dr Brendon Gooneratne, Upatissa Attygalle son of Cyril Attygalle MP and nephew of Sir Nicholas Attygalle, Electrical Engineer Channa Amerasinghe who retired as General Manager of the Electricity Board, Dr J B Peiris, Ceylon’s first neurologist and the Director of the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, Dr Henry Rajaratnam, diabetologist who retired as the Chief Physician of the General Hospital, Dr Susantha Goonetilleke who got a first class in Engineering, Bavan Sri Skandaraja now living in Canada whose father was a judge of the Supreme Court, Bhathiya Jayaratne – planter, Dr Priya Samarasinghe surgeon and later venereologist was a close relation of J C A Corea, Principal of Royal College.
M D Dharmasiri Peiris who entered the Ceylon Civil service was for many years Secretary to the Prime Minister and Secretary to many Ministries. He joined us from Richmond College, Galle. He is the son of Mudliyar M N Peiris – well-known personality in Galle.
Our baby class teacher was Mrs Keyt who came to school driving her own car. Our second standard teacher was Miss Sushila De Soysa who married a Coomaraswamy. Our third standard teacher was Mrs Lekamge. Both Mrs Keyt and Mrs Lekamge treated us as if we were their own children.
Our fifth standard teacher was Mr H P Jayawardena who divided the class into two sections Parrots and Woodpeckers. The other two fifth standard classes were headed by Mr H D Sugathapala and Mr Piyasena. Incidentally Mr Halpe was also a teacher. Mr Halpe’s son Ashley Halpe entered the Civil Service but opted to be a lecturer at the university.
In 1948 Royal Prep shifted to Reid Avenue, its present location at the Nawarangahala premises. There was only one centre building when we entered Royal College in 1949. The Race Course Wing and the other Wing came up after we entered Royal College.
End 1948 we had to sit an open competitive exam to enter Royal College. The subjects were General Intelligence, English, Sinhalese/Tamil. The Tamil paper leaked and we had to sit another exam. All those who passed the first exam passed the second exam as well, while a few who failed the first exam managed to enter Royal College being successful at the second exam. Those who failed the Royal College Entrance Exam were accommodated at Thurstan College.
My father was a Criminal Lawyer. He built a house in Flower Road, Colombo 7 and the family shifted from our ancestral home Dassanayeka Walawwa to Flower Road. I would walk to Royal with my Ayah together with my classmate Dr Brendon Gooneratne who lived in Deanston Place, Kollupitiya and Lalith Athulathmudali (who was a few years my senior) from Flower Terrace, Colombo 7. Lalith was the first Ceylonese President of the Oxford Union and his father D D Athulathmudali was in the State Council, and Tyronne Fernando my neighbour was President of the Labour Club at Oxford. Tyronne’s father S C Fernando himself an Oxford Graduate was a tenant at Flower Road before he built “El Reteiro” on Greenlands Road. Tyronne was Foreign Minister and was a few years my junior at Royal.
My good friends Dr Disampathy Subasinghe and Eng Bandula Yatawara joined us in the first form. When Royal College was headed by J C A Corea.