Welcome to Thurstan College - Colombo 07 - Sri Lanka
The Rugby Big Match with Isipathana College for the Abdul Jabbar Trophy is scheduled to be played in early October. The exact date is yet to be finalized by Isipathana College. We will keep you informed as soon as we get the confirmation.
Mr R D M P Weerathunga has relinquished his duties as the 7th Principal of Thurstan on August 31st, 2006 after almost 14 years guiding the destinies of the School. He has gone on Promotion as a Senior Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Education and to enhance his career development in the Educational field.
In recognition of his service, the OBU is organizing a felicitation dinner on SUNDAY 30TH SEPTMEBER @ CEYLON CONTINENTAL HOTEL AT 7.30 PM. It will be appreciated if you could be present to show our gratitude to him.
Tickets are available at the SWIMMING POOL OFFICE – 2675693 at the following rates
· Single – RS 2500/=
· Couples – RS 4000 /=
Please buy your ticket early and before THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 28TH as the accommodation is limited.
Date – 7th October, Venue – Grand Ballroom, Colombo Hilton
Tickets – Rs. 2500/- per head will be available at the Swimming Pool Office from next week.
Bands – Misty & Kings, Dress – Lounge/National
Mr R.D.M.P. Weeratunga has relinquished his duties as the 7th Principal of Thurstan on August 31st, 2006 after almost 14 years guiding the destinies of the School. In recognition of his service, the OBU is organizing a felicitation dinner on Sunday 30th September at Ceylon Continental Hotel at 7.30 p.m. Tickets are available at the Swimming Pool Office. Tel: 2675693
Thurstan College Colombo opened its rugby seasons with an easy win over St
Sylvester’s College, Kandy in a inter school rugby fixture. Thurstanites
outclassed St. Sylvester’s College by 34 (2goals, 4 tries) points to nil in
their opening game at the Havelock Park on Wednesday.
Thurstan opened their scoring with a try from third row-Sasanka Ariyaratne but
center Rakitha Bandara couldn’t add the extra points.
St Sylvester’s got an opportunity to score when they were awarded a penalty, but
failed to capitalize on the chance and made no impact on the game right from the
beginning.
But Thurstan captain Amila Eranga broke the St Sylvester’s defense to score a
try under the post in the next minute, which was easily converted by Rakitha
Bandara to take the lead 12-nil.
Another sharp move by the Thurstan skipper paved the way to strong Rakitha
Bandara to score a sensational try running almost 70 yards to see the touchline.
Rakitha himself added the extra points and Thurstanites were in a commanding
position at the short whistle. Scoreboard read as 17-nil in Thurstan’s favour.
Kandy boys couldn’t do much to avoid Thurstanites resistance.
It was almost one-way traffic in the second half. Kandy lads tried hard to break
the Thurstan’s defense but had no opportunity to add points in their favour.
Thurstan’s winger Suminda Tharaka scored two tries in the second half and
Thurstan unable to add the extra points to those two tries as one convertion was
missed while the other was skipped without even trying.
Fly half N P Nonis crossed the opponents’ line to score another try for Thurstan
and winger Shane Aravinda made no mistake in adding the extra points to read the
final score 34 -nil. St. Sylvester’s College couldn’t hold the Thurstan’s
resistance and went back to hill capital with bitter experience.
Thurstan will meet another school from Kandy-St Anthony’s College in their next
game scheduled on July 27 at the Havelock Park.
Thurstanite Brass 2006, Indoor Band Display organized by the Senior Brass Band of Thurstan College is due to go on stage on 15th July 2006 at B.M.I.C.H. Colombo 07.
Being committed to the well-known traditions set by the brass band in previous years, Thurstanite Brass 2006 will also mark the farewell of the present bandleader and the welcoming of the new bandleader. In addition, the event will be a major fundraiser for the maintenance of the band. Thurstanite Brass 2006 is well known to gather novel talents across the country by inviting all major schools in Sri Lanka.
This is the 4th Band Display organized by the Senior Brass Band. This year’s theme will be “Echoes of the Frozen Empire” which will depict a beautiful backdrop of an inside scenery of an 11th century gothic castle in winter. Similar to the band display organized in 2004, there will be a range of entertainment items, which will include, dances, singing and multimedia presentations.
There would be dances by the famous dance troupe, Antonio’s Dance Circle lead by Mr. Tony Fernandez, which will include a beautiful Viennese waltz for an instrumental from the renowned Harry Potter movie, and a Hip Hop/ Freestyle dance. In addition, students from Colombo’s prominent school of dance, Deanna School of Dancing will grace the occasion with a ballet to the sounds of Tchaikovsky’s “Sleeping Beauty”.
We would welcome any help given to us by you to make this event a roaring success. However, our main request to you is to come see our show and enjoy the evening. Tickets are priced, Rs. 500.00 and will be available from June at the College OBU office and the Swimming Pool Office. We would promise you an enjoyable and at the same time a memorable evening. Therefore, do accept our invitation and come see our show as this would be an event that should not be missed. The ticket you buy will contribute towards this event and towards maintenance of the instruments. It would be a contribution to your own school and you will have a memorable evening to remember. It would be an evening that would certainly go down in history books as one of Thurstan’s finest moments.
First row (L to R): Senura Keheliya, Shehan Thanuka, Roshan Senevirathne, Chathuranga Jayashanka, Chamod Kaveen (Captain) Thuwan Aseez
Second row (L to R): N.L. Rajapakse (Coach), Kavindu Gihan, Hafeez Noor Adhaan, Asela Silva, Viduranga Weerasinghe, Damith Asanka, Eranga De Costa, Nalan Karunanayake (Vice Captain), Sajith Sandeepa, Isuru Upendra, Ishan Udayanga, Wisuna Ayeshkantha, Thilanka Kavinda, Eranga Jayawardena, Daminda Wickramage (Master in Charge)
Thurstanite Mahinda Rajapakse was declared as the 5th Executive President of Sri Lanka on 18 November. Born to a family with a long tradition for politics, he was mainly educated at Thurstan College, Colombo (1957-1963). Hon. Rajapakse is an Attorney at Law. In his political career spanning nearly 4 decades, he has shown an unmatchable courage and determination.
PRESIDENT OF SRI LANKA
HON MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA
Mahinda Rajapaksa joined Thurstan in 1957 to grade 6 classes. Prior to Thurstan he was at Nalanda & Richmond. Mahinda comes from a well-known family from the Deep South, the RAJAPAKSA’S, His father; the late Mr D A Rajapaksa was a founder member of the SLFP with the late Mr S W R D Bandaranaike. The mantle of the good work that his father began fell on Mahinda who was later joined by his elder brother Chamal.Mahinda at Thurstan was just another mischievous schoolboy, although he was the son of a Member of Parliament who some times traveled from SRAVASTI, the official residence of MP’s.He was at the receiving end of the ire of our discipline master the late Mr Kingsley Fernando many a time. Mahinda was very fond of sports, he participated in athletics. Cricket & Rugby. At that young age he showed his prowess at public speaking, he was good & powerful debater. Mahinda Passed his OL & AL’s and left college in the mid sixties.He worked for some time at the Vidyodaya Campus before he took to full time politics in the late 1960’s and was elected as the youngest Parliamentarian in 1970 when the SLFP was swept into Parliament.Being a backbencher he did the wisest thing by enrolling himself in the Law College and passed out as an Attorney. When he was unseated in 1977 he began a very successful & lucrative practice as a lawyer with a large clientele.Not only did he practice diligently at courts, at this time his roving eye met I believe the pretty lady who had won the Miss Sri Lanka Contest a few year’s back and made her his wife. As the saying goes “behind a successful man there is a woman “and his wife Shiranthi has being a source of strength in his political life.They are blessed with 3 son’s who has outshone the father in sports, the elder two being versatile rugby players who have played with distinction to their school, St Thomas’ Mt Lavinia the elder even leading the Sri Lanka Under 19 team. One significant aspect is that when the son’s of other politicians have used the political power of the father to indulge in mischief, the Rajapaksa boy’s have behaved roll model of good public behaviour. He made a significant contribution to bring PA back to power in 1994 and was rewarded with Cabinet portfolio and thus became the first Thurstanite to hold Cabinet rank. When the OBU felicitated him after he resumed office, the demand was such that all tickets were snapped up within 4 days and we had to disappoint many, those were the days when many who did not openly say they were old boy’s of Thurstan, identified themselves as ThurstanitesMahinda has crowned himself as a Cabinet Minister and his work at Labour & Fisheries has been much appreciated by the public at large & the officials.Mahinda has always identified himself as a THURSTANITE even though he had his primary education both at Richmond & Nalanda. If ever time permitted he never refused an invitation to attend any College function & has helped college and the furnishing the College hall with a set chairs costing over a million rupees was a testimony of his love for his alma mater.Mahinda was honoured with the title “ SRI ROHANA RAJANA “by the Buddhist prelates in 2000 for his vast popularity with the masses and also being a devoted worker. He is the second person to be honoured by the prelates, first being the late Premier Sirimavo Bandaranaike.In the year 2001 Mahinda was elected as the Leader of the Opposition as the majority felt that he is the person who could give leadership to the parties in the OppositionAt the conclusion of the election held on April on April 2nd , Mahinda was one of the two SLFPers who were able to win the District while in all other districts which the United People’s Freedom Alliance won, it was the Members of the JVP who topped the list.He was also the highest percentage wise of the polls received for an individual for a district in the whole Island.For his dedicated service to the party for well over 35 years, which his father, the late D A Rajapaksa was instrumental in forming with the late Premier S W R D Bandaranaike he was elevated to the position of Prime Minister in April 2004. The biggest contribution he made to College was that he gave the leadership role in the Fund Raising THURSTAN WALK held in October 2004.Not only much donation was obtained from the Corporate world due to his Chairmanship; he also flagged off the walk & walked the complete route. At one point he stood and watched the participants passed by which was much appreciated by all.The funds raised by this project helped the OBU to complete Phase 1 of the Ground Development Project. Thurstan grounds is perhaps the best school ground in Sri Lanka and recently even the SRI LANKA CRICKET hired the ground to play one of the Quarter final matches of the Premier Limited over tournament as other ground were waterlogged due to the heavy rains.Thurstan also staged its first “International match “when in the recently concluded ICC Under 19 Youth World Cup a practice game was played between Bangladesh & Zimbabwe was on February 5th 2005. Prior to that Thurstan met Namibia on Jan 30th . The nadir of Mahinda’s political career was when he was elected as the 5th President of Sri Lanka on November 17th on the eve of his 60th birthday which fell on November 18th. This was also not an easy task. Mahinda who has been a fighter all his life first managed to get nomination from his party amidst lot of in-fighting and used all his political acumen and formed the right coalition of many parties and projected his Vision for Sri Lanka in the form of “ Mahinda Chinthanaya “, which was endorsed by the masses. This was a practical & pragmatic approach to the many problems faced by Sri Lankan’s.He has been successful in recommencing the Peace Process which has stalled for the last 3 yearsHe now has huge task a head and let us wish that he will make use of his 35 + years of political experience and his practical and mundane approach will resolve the many complex issues that we as a nation face. I am sure he will not forget THURSTAN and her development amidst his many other demanding schedules. Priya Paranavitane A Class-mate2006 02 23
Popular stage drama “MAN THE MAN” starring Tennyson Cooray will be staged on the 11th December 2005 at Maradana Tower Hall, Show times are 3.30pm and 6.30pm.Tickets available at the gate. For reservations contact: Thulash-or Akalanka.