The OBU History

A prominent feature of those early years is a formal ‘Old Boys’ Day’, which saw various activities carried out by Old Boys in the School premises, culminating with the Annual General Meeting of the Association. Interestingly, the Association had representatives based on School attended after Prep, as the practice of Prep School boys moving to S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, was not well entrenched at the time. As such, OBA representatives appointed as office bearers from STC Mount Lavinia, Royal College, Wesley College, St. Joseph’s College, Ananda College, and Thurstan College gives an indication that there was a significant population of past Prepites in all of these schools in the 1940s and 1950s. The early committees were chaired by Old Boys in the role of Chairman. A formal set of rules to serve as the Constitution was present by 1950, and appears to have been heavily influenced by the constitution of the OBA at Mount Lavinia. Staff epresentatives present on invitation in the early years included Mr. W. T. Keble, Mr. J. T. R. Perinpanayagam, and Mr. J. S. L. Fernando, whilst Mr. N. G. Abeynaike is thanked for his services to the Old Boy community even during the period of his illness. The first OBA also unanimously elected the following as Honorary Membersin 1950: Messrs. D. R. Wijewardena, J. L. D. Peiris, H. A. J. Hulugalle, G. C. S. Corea, Canon R. S. De Saram, and Dr. R. L. Hayman, and Mrs. W. T. Keble, Mrs. T. K. Irwin, Miss L. Roberts, and Miss Norah Coulson. The impact of each of these individuals on the early years of Prep School are mentioned at length elsewhere in this volume, and this fitting gesture by those pioneer Old Boys are in true recognition of the role of Prep School in their young lives at that point.

Due to Mr. Keble’s involvement, the first OBA of Prep School was well-linked with the Branch School at Bandarawela, and many Old Boys who had been at both branches during the War years could claim membership. This led to a membership of 200 during the first five years of its existence, although the records indicate that gaining new members was a struggle, possibly due to the membership fee of LKR 1/-! A two-tier fee structure, where Old Boys who had passed the Secondary School stage would pay LKR 2/- as fees was proposed by the OBA President K. N. Choksy in 1954, which saw the agreement of the House.

Although the OBA appears to have functioned with a keen executive committee for the first few years, its activities wound up in the latter part of the 1950s due to a combination of factors, the foremost factor being that most of the Old Boys of Prep School were still secondary or tertiary students and as such did not have the level of financial independence or acumen necessary to fulfil some of its core mission. Concluding a report on the departure of Mr. Keble from Ceylon in 1956, the then Honorary Secretary Lyn Amarasuriya laments, ‘It is with regret we record the fact that sufficient interest is not shown in the affairs of the OBA by some of the senior “old boys” themselves. Some even do not know of the Association’s existence…’ A general lack of interest despite the efforts of the committee outlined in the annual reports appears to have sealed a premature end to the OBA not long after Mr. Keble’s departure.

However, Mr. J. S. L. Fernando reconstituted a formal gathering of the Old Boys, now termed the Old Boys’ Union, in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the School in 1978.

The Old Boys’ Union, in its second incarnation, proved to be much more successful, and continued to render its services over the next few decades to date, largely unbroken. A prominent variation in the rules and constitution of the new OBU sees the Headmaster as President (by Ex-Officio/virtue of holding the role of Headmaster), whilst the work previously executed by the President or Chairman (when the role was held by an Old Boy in the OBA) was now in the hands of the Honorary Secretary. This constitution also explicitly set out among the objectives of the OBU that its function shall be to give guidance and assistance when requested to do so by the Headmaster, eschewing any direct involvement in matters of policy or day-to-day administration. This is evidently one of the far-sighted inclusions requested in the constitution by Mr. J. S. L. Fernando to prevent the fate that had befallen many larger schools that were dominated by their Past Pupils to the point of them being a direct obstacle to the smooth functioning of those schools. This would not, however, preclude the Old Boys’ Union being an asset to the overall prosperity of the institution, provided a healthy relationship existed between the Headmaster, or incumbent Ex Officio President, and the members of the Old Boys’ Union.

The first OBU Executive Committee had the notable membership of several of those who had been office bearers in that first OBA over 30 years earlier; Mr. K. N. Choksy, Mr. I. L. Dassanaike (Snr), and Mr. P. I. Pieris are among the prominent names appearing in the committees of both the original OBA and the OBU, whilst the years had seen them progress to positions of great responsibility and stature in the country.

Perhaps the devotion of these pioneer Old Boys, and the premise of the OBU itself, was put to its greatest test in the earliest years of its founding, when The Rt. Reverend Swithin Fernando, then Lord Bishop of Colombo in 1980 summoned the Headmaster, accompanied by a delegation comprising of senior Old Boys K. N. Choksy, I. L. Dassanaike, and W. T. Ellawala, to discuss the future of Prep School at Steuart Place, Kollupitiya. The school is located on land owned by the Steuart Trust administered by the Church of Ceylon, which had by then sold most of the property holdings (which had been over 20 acres in extent at one time) previously owned by the Trust in Kollupitiya over the past few decades to raise funds for the functioning of the Church. The Trustees, evidently, felt that the value of the land on which Prep School stands would net enough proceeds to relocate the School to a different location, equip the new school, and raise much needed revenue for the Church to attend to activities neglected by the lack of funds. The delegation comprising the Headmaster and Old Boys named above pointed out that finding such an alternate location within the Colombo Municipality that did not compromise the essential character of the School appeared to be difficult to come by, whilst one geographically distant would not be in the interest of any of the School’s stakeholders.

Given the lack of agreement from the Prep School delegation, the matter was temporarily laid by, and it is probable that the then students at Prep School carried on oblivious to any thoughts of how close they had come to being displaced from their ‘home by the rolling billows’. The matter had been taken up for discussion again in 1982, whereas a delegation from the committee comprising the aforementioned Old Boys as well as Mr. L. C. Seneviratne, Mr. K. Adamally, and Dr. Theva Buell who had been selected to look in to the matter, met the Bishop once again with Headmaster J. S. L. Fernando. They explained that all plans for infrastructure development at Prep School had come to a halt given the uncertainty of its future at the location, whilst the Old Boys were concerned that any rash decisions could jeopardize the future of the School itself. However, the OBU acknowledged the rationale itself, committing to a fivefold increase in the rental currently paid to the Trust that they hoped would go a long way in alleviating some of the cashflow issues faced by the Church. The Lord Bishop in response observed that it had been decided that the premises would not be sold but that the Church was looking at having a real estate developer take over the property on leasehold, in which case the relocation of the School would surely need to follow. Having seen the resistance posed by the formidable delegation of Old Boys, there would, of course, not be any rash decisions arising. In 1990, an appeal was made by the OBU to His Lordship the Bishop to acquire the school premises with the aid of an international organization engaged in funding the needs of Christian Educational Institutions. Mr. J. S. L. Fernando reports in 1993 that the appeal lodged by the Old Boys’ Union to the Lord Bishop of Colombo in 1990 regarding the purchase of the Steuart Trust property by Prep School and an external funding agency had been denied. However, the School would continue to be located on the property of its origins, whilst the dissuading of any rash decisions to sell that would not have been in the interest of either the Church of Ceylon or of Prep School (which, ultimately, is a Church of Ceylon School) would likely top the list of all contributions the OBU has made in the life of Prep School. Prepites of all generations must be grateful to Headmaster J. S. L. Fernando and his OBU Delegates for their actions in this connection.

The other activities of the OBU over the past 40 years are more akin to those of a traditional past pupils’ association. Other than a lapse of activity for a brief period in the early 2000s, the OBU largely continued in its mission to assist whichever Headmaster happened to be its incumbent Ex Officio President in specific requests made by the School, in addition to running a programme of activities with the aim of boosting Prep School Spirit and raising funds.

The second half of the 1980s saw subdued activity given the situation of unrest in the country. However, the Old Boys’ Union played an active role in the Golden Jubilee Celebrations in 1988, assisting the school administration in organizing a successful banquet to commemorate the event.

The Golden Jubilee Scholarship Fund was also inaugurated in the same year, whilst the OBU also funded prizes in memory of Mr. W. T. Keble and Mr. N. G. Abeynaike. The OBU assisted Headmaster J. S. L. Fernando in matters connected to the construction, renovation, and upkeep of school buildings, thus defraying expensive consultancy fees. The OBU also assisted in developing the School library and in renaming it the J. S. L. Fernando Commemorative Library on its 14th anniversary. Overall, the activities of the OBU during this period were of a low profile, with committee meetings ranging from once to four times a year at most. Mr. W. T. Ellawala served as the Honorary Secretary from the inception in 1978 to 1992, when Mr. Anomal De Soysa took over and was in the role until 1999.

1978 – 1992 – Mr. W.T. (Tommy)Ellawala
1992 – 1999 – Mr. Anomal De Soysa
1999 – 2011 – Mr. Johanne De Zilwa
2011 – 2016 – Mr. Chrishmal Warnasuriya
2016 – 2019 – Mr. Kishan De Silva
2019 – 2020 – Mr. Imran Hassan
2020 – 2022 – Mr. Raj Rasiah
2022 – to date – Mr. Sithambaram Sri Ganendran

The OBU continued to assist to the best of its abilities during the era of Mr. N.Y. Casie Chetty as Headmaster. The most significant activity was during the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of 1998, when the OBU launched one of the earliest School websites in Sri Lanka – www.prepschool.org, coordinated the launch of a First Day Cover by the Department of Posts to mark the event, organized a successful dinner dance for Old Boys, and created a directory for the Old Boys known as the ‘Old Boys’ Link’ – a project suggested by then Secretary Anomal De Soysa and compiled by Executive Committee Member Mr. Chanaka Rajaguru, launched in the year 2000. The Old Boys’ Union also continued to render assistance in the tenure of Mr. Johanne De Zilwa as Secretary from 1999 to 2011, assisting in the areas of Sports Development, setting up the first Computer Lab at Prep School, organizing the Library Week, and organizing social events and dinner dances to fund the various projects undertaken by the OBU. The OBU also set up a Trust Fund with the aim of providing financial support for specific projects and staff activities. Despite weathering a period of administrative turbulence in the mid-2000s, the OBU was able to play an active role when called upon to do so. Mr. Johanne De Zilwa stepped down as Honorary Secretary at the AGM in 2011 after a long tenure in office, and Mr. Chrishmal Warnasuriya was elected as the new Honorary Secretary, being only the fourth person to hold that office since the formation of the OBU in 1978. The organization and administration of the OBU was reconstituted during his tenure, with the formation of subcommittees under specific development areas that encouraged the co-opting of members who were not in the executive committee, to ensure diversity in the range of activities undertaken. Executive Committee meetings were regularized on a monthly basis to ensure ongoing interest, whilst a renewed effort was made to enrol new members and systematically record and computerize the database of members, where records had previously been scattered between the OBU and the School Office leading to a number of problems. Three successful dinner dances titled ‘Prep Nite’ were organized in 2012, 2013, and 2015, a day time road rally and several social events were held during the period 2011-2015, bringing in substantial profits even in the extenuating circumstances that prevailed during the period and, most importantly, uniting Past Prepites who may have wandered away from the fold in years past. The arrival of the new Headmaster the Reverend Dushantha Rodrigo in 2015 saw a sea change in the involvement of the Old Boys’ Union, with the Old Boys being able to implement their plans for assistance in fundraising, infrastructure development, and Sports. It is thanks in part to this renewed association of the Old Boys with the School that there was a massive outpouring of support from the past Prepite community after the damagewrought by the storm that hit the premises in 2017. Mr. Kishan De Silva served as Honorary Secretary from 2016 to 2019, with Mr. Imran Hassan having taken over as Honorary Secretary at the AGM held in 2019. The past five years have seen the Headmaster encouraging the OBU to work with the PTA and the Staff Union, culminating in several successful events including two Prep Walks that have netted over LKR 20 million towards the development of infrastructure in the School. With the community of Old Boys now firmly in support of the School’s every endeavour, it is a certainty that the Old Boys’ Union will continue to work towards realizing the vision set out by Mr. W. T. Keble in his first attempt at uniting the past students of Prep School over 70 years ago in 1948.

The following Old Boys have served as the Honorary Secretary of the OBU to date:

1978 – 1992 – Mr. W.T. (Tommy) Ellawala
1992 – 1999 – Mr. Anomal De Soysa
1999 – 2011 – Mr. Johanne De Zilwa
2011 – 2016 – Mr. Chrishmal Warnasuriya
2016 – 2019 – Mr. Kishan De Silva
2019 – 2020 – Mr. Imran Hassan
2020 – 2022 – Mr. Raj Rasiah
2022 – to date – Mr. Sithambaram Sri Ganendran