A Stroll Down Memory Lane
S Thomas' College Gurutalawa was
founded in 1942; in order to re-locate S Thomas' College Mt Lavinia, when the
military issued notice to vacate the school in five days subsequent to a
Japanese bomber being downed at the collage grounds on 5th April 1942. The WW
II had come to Ceylon.
Mr. & Mrs. Leslie de Saram
who ran a livestock farm, with an orchard and vegetable garden on a ninety acre
pristine property in Gurutalawa located in the Uva Hills, gifted their property
in entirety with its buildings, furniture, equipment and the livestock to Dr. R
L Hayman; to whom was entrusted the task of relocating the school by the Warden
of S Thomas' College.
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| The old college gate is still there but a second gate is manned by uniformed security |
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| The Official Entrance to the school as designed by Mr Shirley D' Alwis |
Part of the school in Mt Lavinia
came over here while there where two other re-locations one in Mutuwal in
Colombo and another at Gatambe Peradeniya in Kandy.
The farm with its produce was a
great support to run a boarding school during the war. The orchard and the
vegetable garden was to be a veritable Garden of Eden.
Started with fifty five boarders
and two day boys the school ran with eight teachers that included a matron in
charge of food and a farm manager. With the war ending in 1945 the Gatambe
branch was closed down and the boys transferred to Gurutalawa. Gurutalawa was
to continue as the boarding school of S Thomas' College with Dr. R L Hayman as Headmaster.
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| The Junior Dormitories and Quadrangle with part roofs rehabilitated |
Dr Hayman contributed immensely both
physically and monetarily towards the building of the infrastructure and
development of the boarding school in Gurutalawa. In the year 1944 Mr. Shirley
D' Alwis, the then University Architect was entrusted with the designing of the
buildings of the junior dormitories and the chapel block and the result we have
today is the simple stonework buildings that we all cherish with love and care.
It was a difficult time in the country after a war; priorities in running
a school overrode completing infrastructure. Lacking funds improvised the roofs
of the new buildings to be thatched of Maana grass. A common form of roofing in
those times in the central hills in Ceylon. Later on the buildings were covered
with asbestos roofing sheets after the classroom buildings that were also
thatched with Maana grass were torched by saboteurs in November 1948. The
entire classroom blocks were destroyed in the inferno. The current classroom
block was built in 1949 with the supervision of the first Engineering
undergraduate produced from Gurutalawa. Mr. V. Tharmaratnam, who later went to
become the first millionaire as well that STC Gurutalawa produced. He formed his
own Construction and Engineering practice in Nigeria.
It is interesting to note that
the chapel was to be consecrated on the 3rd of December 1945. Everything was
ready but for the bell-tower. It had been raining for weeks and there was
concern in raising the tower continuously as the lime mortar [all stone walls were
built with lime-mortar then, cement was sure a scarcity during war] needed time
to harden to hold the stones intact. It is said that there was no time for
niceties and the tower went on rising to its full height. Just four days before
the great day the last stone put on the tower to every ones cheer ...........a crack appeared on the tower which ran down the full height. Everybody on the
scaffolding and around ran for safety; but the tower stood firm with the crack
running down its height. Following morning it was ordered to bring down six
feet of the tower to reduce the loading and save it from collapsing. Nobody
would risk to do so now and the stones set hard with the crack, which was later
grouted with cement and the tower was secured safe.
The life size wooden statue of St
Francis of Assisi placed in the niche of the chapel tower wall that you see
today when entering the school was carved by Mr. E Scott from a solid log of
satinwood timber [Burutha in Sinhala]. The statue was carved to a replica
of a one foot statue of the saint placed inside the chapel. Its actual height being
5 feet 6 inches and weighing 500 lbs. It had taken four years to complete in Nov 1957 having stared in Jan 1953.
Also in 1949 the old swimming
bath was replaced with a new swimming pool. The work was undertaken by
Architect Mr. H F Billimoria. Work is said to have progressed in snail speed
creating a pessimism about its finish date. On a lighter vein it is said when a
school General Knowledge paper had a question "How long will the new
swimming bath be?" One student had written 25 years instead of the correct
answer which is 25 meters.
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| Definitely the Iconic Picture of Gurutalawa |
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| Inside the chapel...only one of its kind |
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| Carving that took four years to complete |
It was only in 1955 the
last building development of the Hayman Era had taken place. The Headmasters
bungalow came up on a modified scale though with the cheapest cost. Until then
Dr & Mrs. Hayman had been living an underground existence in a converted
bathroom since 1948.
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| Headmasters Bungalow |
Thus were the pioneering days
that we love to cherish with reverence.
The Gurutalawa OBA was founded on
21st February 1959 as an enhancement to the development that the school needed
to continue. The old boys of the Hayman Era where now is a position to interact
in the management of the school.
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| Drive way alongside the Chapel |
Gurutalawa until 1978 had classes
from the Lower Fourth to the Upper Sixth with almost all the students who
completed the Standard Five form at St Thomas' Preparatory School Bandarawela
[STPSB] came over to Gurutalawa to continue schooling. STPSB until 1967 conducted classes from the
LKG to Standard Five only. In the year 1968 the last batch of students came
over to Gurutalawa from STPSB. The termination of student transfer from STPSB
was to be a crucial drawback on Gurutalawa. There was no other institution
similar to STPSB that produced a student to match with the standard that
Gurutalawa expected for its Lower Fourth form then.
It is said that Dr Hayman had had hoped that the school
will never exceed the mark or three hundred and twenty five students at any
time....But went up to a four hundred and twenty five in the mid-seventies and
rose to a further one thousand two hundred and fifty in 1985. This was the
result of Gurutalawa having had to commence classes from the LKG to run the
school.
Did this increase in number and
the large school infrastructure that had to be built do any good to the school?
I guess it is the answer to this question that everyone so dear and near to this school is lost
for.
This question and the doubt of the type of student that would walk out from the school had
lingered in the minds of many a distinguished old boy in the past. It is noted
that when such distinguished personalities were called upon as Chief guests at
Prize Giving’s etc. had expressed their views and concerns openly;..... Senator J P
Obeysekara in the late sixties had said "The expansion of the school had gone
enough and the need to concentrate on producing a quality student should be
priority number one from now on"....... Mr. Bradman Weerakoon a
pioneering students at Gurutalawa speaking at the 1974 Prize Giving said… "There are very many schools now to
compete with....... and we will have to find a different level at which to
operate S Thomas' College Gurutalawa."
These early signs of downfall in
the quality of the student were to be witnessed in the late 80's. Both the
staff and the student were seen to resist the Headmaster trying to get the
school back to the traditional track when action taken to dispel those with
large debts in school fees that was not honored even with extra-long grace
periods granted for pay up. The Headmaster was earmarked to be eliminated
during the unrest of 87'/89'. The most pathetic in the history of the school
came by on 20th October 1989 when the Headmaster Mr. J B Gunasegaram and Mrs.
Gunasegaram was gunned down inside the Headmasters bungalow.
Was it not this that Senator J P
Obeysekara and Mr. Bradman Weerakoon seem to have noted and feared of when they commented thus...............?
School During Our Time
We happen to be one but the last
group that came from STPSB in 1967. Having sat an entrance test for eligibility
to enter Gurutalawa in December 66’ before school closed for Christmas Holidays,
our parents were informed of our performances and almost all had qualified to
enter Gurutalawa. We were all in Gurutalawa with other boys from Kollupitiya as
well. A majority of them being the burgher boys whose parents were mostly
attached to the Ceylon Government Railway who knew about the school very well
having run trains in this difficult terrain. It was a new school…..with the
same friends.
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| The old Book Cupboard of J de S J is no more |
Unlike at Bandarawela Gurutalawa was
away from town and we had a Co-op shop for our retail purchases and the school
ran a book cupboard as a store for stationary and exercise books. The campus
here was very large with ninety acres to roam about and we felt more into
adulthood when in here than at Bandarawela. There were no ayahs in the dormitories to wake us up.
We had to be up by 6 O' clock to the school bell and be ready for prep clad in
school uniform shoes and all at the second bell at 6:40 a.m. Many were
always late with lame excuses of water running dry in the faucet etc. and ended
up with detention orders; where one had to go over to the class room block for
studies at 11 O'clock on a Saturday when
all the rest were at leisure playing. I now wonder of the frustration the Duty
Master would have had on a Saturday to walk over to the class rooms to conduct
detention at midday. The prefects in Gurutalawa had policing powers when
compared to those in Bandarawela who were more the workhorses in the classroom; sweeping floors, bringing chalk and the registers from the office and carrying chits to
other teachers. The prefects at Gurutalawa could punish
students by giving 100 to a 1000 lines to be copy written from school readers.
But this was not an issue to worry much over, as there were those who wrote
lines for others for a small fee as pocket money.
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| The Book room of Keble Dorm then is no more |
Breakfast was around 7:30 in the
morning followed with classes. Five periods of 40 minutes each in the morning
before lunch and another three periods in the afternoon when we had tea and
everyone needed to be at sports. Mr. Laffir the games prefect would heard us
all to the grounds every evening. The bath bell was at 5:30 in the evening
after games and it will not be wrong to say that bathing was a rare habit in
those cold chilly evenings. Hot water was never heard of.
General swimming times was in the
mornings of the weekends and one class every week during school hours. There
was fee levying club sports for squash, tennis, ping –pong [table tennis]
paddar tennis and horse riding. Bird watching and scouting was for those who
were interested and both these activities I would say was of a very high
standard in Gurutalawa when compared to other schools in the country then.
Scout camps extended to about
five days away from school mainly during the vacations in faraway Yala or
Lahugala. The experience gained definitely carry lifelong memories.
Bird-watching was of high class in the orchard with all those fruiting trees
where almost all the passerine migrants were to be found in the migratory
season.
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| Remembering Mr Chapman ...his abode |
The weekends were spent on hikes
around the countryside in groups of five or more. Leave was obtained in a
standard letter written in four copies one to the House Master Mr. A K Chapman
and one to the relevant Duty Master, one to the Dorm Master and the last to the
Food Matron from whom we collected our lunch which was a can of mackerel fish for
five, a hardboiled egg and an inch cube of butter rounded off with a half a
loaf of bread each. All this packed in bags we would leave early morning to the
location and be back at school ready for evening prep at 6:30 P:M. We were all
supposed to walk and no hitch hiking or
bus rides were permitted.
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| Remembering Uncle...Mr J de S Jayasinghe |
Sunday was Sabbath and we were
free to play around the dormitories. REACH was the name of the game. One had to
search the hiding rest. Once seen in hiding the name would be called followed
with a shout REACH. This was not enough. The spotter needed to be at a
distance of ten leaps or paces to the caller. These leaps end up with
unbelievably long jumping strides. However if the spotter is caught or struck
by the hiding member the game stars all over again. It was so interesting and
was played only in Gurutalawa as far as I can remember. Unfortunately the game was banned when one ended up with multiple fractures in
the leg trying to perform an extra-long leap jump over the canal that ran alongside
the junior dormitories.
Rainy days permitted no sports
but we were not permitted indoors either. Everybody had to run cross -country
in the rain across muddy paths crossing swollen fords and creeks. Soaked to the bone and back in warm clothes
for evening prep after a bath, we all frequent the co-op shop for the hot yeast
rotties gulped down with shredded coconut sambol that was chased down with hot
tea.
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| The Co-op shop still looks the same but without Mr Laffir the Manager |
Dr Hayman had left the country in
1964 and his successor Rev Canon A J Foster had passed away. However the
influence of the Hayman era was still alive with Mr. A K Chapman and Mr. J de S
Jayasinghe and Fr Goodchild still in school. We had the honor to be ruled over
by two Headmasters from 1967 to 1971. Dr Frank Jayasinghe and Mr. E L Perera, a
founder teacher with Dr Hayman. He now came over from Trinity College as
Headmaster.
Dr Frank Jayasinghe [1965-1968]
left for India where he had an excellent carrier in private school management;
later founded the Wycherley International in Colombo. A great disciplinarian
who struck the cane with the golf sweep. I remember once he caned over 50 senior
students’ three cuts each for having teased the Duty Master during prep in the
dining hall on a rainy day. We juniors were flabbergasted.
But some of us juniors were not
so lucky with Mrs. Jayasinghe the English class teacher in the Lower Fourth.
Wathuhewa and Arshad Hassanali were frequent visitors to the Headmaster with a chit
from her. And they would sneak back into the class silently blushing in pain. I
will not be rude in saying that she favored the burgher boys and hated Hassanali
for no reason. Probably Mr. Jayasinghe knew this and Hassanali on some days
walked in with a sarcastic smile on his face.
Mr. E L Perera [1968-1974] a man of short
stature came over from Trinity. Before him his Trinitian nickname found the way to school. He was short enough to peep through a keyhole with ease. Every nook and
corner…. and behind every closed door read the words Keyhole was here. He was different to Frank Jayasinghe and was more
a preacher; conducting meditation sessions where much of the students with
closed eyes were dreaming while some actually dozed off. He also taught
mathematics to the senior classes. He was not happy with the cane even
though he used it….his short stature never got the cane to strike where he
wanted. Thus his command before corporal punishment would be “hang on the wall
"....... one could not resist the giggle before pain.
I guess if I am qualified enough to
write this bit of the story when compared to people like Mr. Kamal Nilaweera
who frequents very OBA all the way from the UK. My presence at OBA’s are still
within the single digits. However I have risen to the call of the school when
in need.
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| Incumbent Headmaster Rev Nihal Fernando |
The present Headmaster Rev Nihal
Fernando I guess is the youngest of them to have steered Gurutalawa up to now.
Definitely he has a past to fear and a present to tread with fear…. his
ambitions are large and his optimism dependent on the OBA and the Board of
Governors. He has set about with the gigantic task of overhauling the buildings
that were built 75 years ago. The
renovation of the roofs with ZnAl sheeting has commenced with philanthropic
old boys. There is still much to do. The rehabilitation of the Swimming Pool
commenced with this 57
th OBA celebrations. It’s a continuous call
for fund raising.
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| The Project to rehabilitate the old Swimming pool commenced on the 21st Feb 2016 |
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| The old filtration plant of the swimming pool |
On the contrary we see much of
the old school glory been lost forever never to come back. The expansion of the
school in the 80’s had paid the prize. The wealth of the trees planted by the
pioneers have been harvested but with no programme to preserve the environment.
The Garden of Eden …..the orchard which was a heaven for the mischief maker
then…. who smuggled in ‘fags’ from Banda’s boutique to be puffed off behind the
bushes of Chinese guavas are no more. It is a total scrub forest and
the farm cow and the migrant birds don’t go there anymore. Surely one can only
say that there was Bird–watching in this school in the past…...that habitat is
lost forever.
The farm which had milk cows and
poultry enriching the protein and the vitamin intake of the students has been
let out on lease. The conditions are far below the standards from then in the 60’s.
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| New stallions housed in the old staff lodgings |
It is good to note the
re-introduction of horse riding but the animals are housed in the old staff
lodgings close to the senior dormitories. This could be as a contingency plan until
proper stables are built for them in the farm area.
The Keble dormitory then is no
more and is replaced with a complete new sub junior dormitory and this area is
now dedicated for the Junior School.
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| New Keble dormitory and the old water well now hidden in the growth |
I would like to note the
Headmasters address at the OBA /AGM. It is so sorry to hear of a Code of
Conduct having had to be imposed on the Old Boy of this school. It consist of
five clauses that include only Past students who could participate, meal times
not honored and most sad to have to stamp down that no alcoholic beverages to
be consumed in public within the school premises. As a result the most prestigious OBA Dinner for the very first time in the history of the school was at a Reception Hall in Boralanda. Need I comment?
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| Young Old boys at the grounds |
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| We older ones of the 60's now in our 60's |
This again shows the
responsibility of the young old boy of the school. I do agree a little spirit
with reunion goes a long way. Similarly I remember OBA’s during our times when
many used to travel by train and the single bus arranged by the OBA Colombo
branch arrived at school; there was a canteen of spirits with many a
participant. But we never saw them consume and we never heard of intoxication.
That was the responsibility of the society way back in this country then.
One needs to understand that
times have changed ever since the country's economy was liberalized in the mid 70’s, so did liberalize our social habits and attitudes. Today there is no
train travelling old boy at the AGM and one cannot expect one to travel by rail
in this fast moving society. But moral and responsible behavior in public towards
others cannot be flouted for any reason. This was something that the society
before the mid-seventies inculcated and respected with reverence.
And guess that is why we call
it the Golden Seventies and the Enchanting Sixties. Of course I’m proud to
say I am a product of Gurutalawa of the Sixties. But I'm aware that those who came out before me in the 50's stand above us in many ways while it is without malice that I say that there are but some who came out after us who need to wear their tie knot neater than that; or for that matter should not wear that tie at all.
In conclusion I would ask the
question …
‘Whither bound Gurutalawa?’ The
answer I do not know……..
Headmaster Rev Nihal Fernando
will have all our blessings and moral support in getting his ambitions
fulfilled in the refurbishment and rehabilitation of the infrastructure………
But none of us have addressed Mr.
Bradman Weerakoon concern………”There are
very many schools now to compete with....... and we will have to find a
different level at which to operate S Thomas' College Gurutalawa."
We could bring back the buildings to the old glory but for the quality of the student
who walks out from school?
My personal opinion is that......... It
was a wrong decision to set off St Thomas’ Prep School Bandarawela as a
separate S Thomas’ College in Bandarawela. This cannot be compared to Dr,
Hayman requesting for Advance Level classes in Gurutalawa then in the 50’s.
There definitely has no potential to have two similar schools in the Uva
Province; and it will not carry any argument in comparing two similar schools
in Kollupitiya and Mt Lavinia. Down in Urban Colombo there is potential for two
similar schools.
It's going to be a long wait and
see……we may live a few more years to see the changes taking place.
There are but two silent observers who had witnessed all what happened here in the last 74 years
and will be seeing many more years of change to come.
They are the Warden’s Hill and the
Gonagala Hill standing majestically above all …..Shadowing this pristine ninety
acre property that Mr. & Mrs. Leslie de Saram gifted to S Thomas' College.
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| The Warden's Hill and Gonagala Hill will keep watching over the school for many more years to come |
