1960 Medicoes , another Reunion- To
be or Not To Be!!
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Charith Nanayakkara
4:07 PM (13 hours ago)
to me, M.P., M.G.S, Daya, Jayalath, HB, Udula,
Keerthi/Sriyan., Lalitha, Buddy, Nalini, Derryck, Asoka/Chandra, Sujai
Dear Philip
Please share these thoughts with our batch mates for their
response.
1960 Medicoes, Probably the last ReUnion- To be Or Not to be
!!
1. The last ReUnion was held in 2015 and most of those who
attended it were keen to have another one , sooner than the usual 5 year cycle.
Some of us have repeatedly highlighted the importance of
having another ReUnion before we lose more of our batch mates and who may very
likely lose some of our mental and physical faculties as well.
2. Philip in response to our previous appeal, very kindly
volunteered to organise a batch Get Together this year
in Avissawella but no positive response was forthcoming. (
in fairness, we do need reasonable advance notice especially for those who are
domiciled overseas).
3. It is likely that
any planned future ReUnion may be sadly be the last & the final one (
others may disagree)
4. Let's reflect on the past ReUnions:
a. Most of us agreed
that these ReUnions were a wonderful Forum for us to meet & greet. These
would ideally be held in Sri Lanka mostly for the benefit of our colleagues who
reside in Sri Lanka (even though not many 'locals' have actively participated
for variety of reasons)
b. The last few ReUnions held in Sri Lanka were very
successful thanks to the dedication and combined efforts of the Organisers led
by Kapu. He is no more and I feel it
would be very fitting to organise the next one in Sri Lanka to show our respect
& Gratitude to his sustained efforts.
c. Durumila who also
took an active role is functionally incapacitated but still strong mentally( I
had a long chat with her few weeks ago at her residence)
d. Ranjan F is still
around but appear not too capable of any active support.
e. Of the rest of the
Organising Group, we are left with Mana/ Piyaseeli ( who are still active and
willing), Jayalath and Philip. They do need few active local supporters to
organise another ReUnion soon. I do not want to name those capable mates but I
am copying this to some of them who I believe would volunteer.
f. My personal
thoughts are any planned future ReUnion would very likely to be the last and
final one as the organisation takes so much of effort, commitment and
dedication.
g. We have a good
guess as to who would very likely support this idea. We know by now those who have continued to
participate over the years and those who have not attended any of the past
ReUnions ( for variety of reasons). We
also know how difficult to get a consensus as to the mutually agreed date, venue etc.
I also feel the need to organise any of this event closer to
Colombo rather than outside ( for overall convenience/ commuting).
May I suggest that we plan to have at least one more ReUnion
say in September/ October 2018 in a mutually agreed location near Colombo. May
I appeal to Mana/ Piyaseeli and Philip to take the initiative and get few other
active volunteers in and around Colombo to form the organising committee.
We would offer our support in whatever way we could to make
this a great success.
Let's all put our combined effort and dedicate this to all
our departed and disabled colleagues.
Best wishes.
Nana
Mana Wedisinghe
10:33 PM (6 hours ago)
to Charith, bcc: me
My dear Nana.
It is a good idea.
Might i suggest that
we combine our
batch get together
along with COMSAA
next year.
Comsaa , as you
know will have a
one day session on a sunday.
Some members gather the
previous day ,have
a sing song
and a dance.
Why dont we
gather the day
prior to Comsaa
meet , have a
joint sing song in the
evening and attend the
comsaa next day
and depart.
This is only a
suggestion. Logistically easier
to manage.
Your views please.
Another Reunion
Inbox
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Udula Pathirana
10:20 PM (7 hours ago)
to me, Nana
Dear Philip,
I am thankful to Nana for starting the dialogue about
another batch reunion. Like Nana, I believe batch reunions are a great
opportunity for us to meet our old friends/batch mates we don't meet otherwise
in our day to day lives. Most of us in 2015 voiced our opinion that the next
reunion should be in three yrs time, and not five as before. Hence 2018 is the
year we should meet again. Not for the last time I hope. We are still young at
heart with a few aches and pains here and there!
Though you tried to organise a get together this year, due to poor response I presume it never
materialised. I hope you have not taken
it as a let down, ( we never meant it to be,
but as Nana says we who live overseas need advance notice ) and will rise to the occasion and take the
leading role in organising the next big one in 2018 as you did before. The
organising committe has shrunk a bit, but I am sure you should be able to coax
a few others to give you a helping hand. Nalini , Ranjini Thevaraps, and Lucky
come to my mind as would be willing supporters in addition to Wedi, Piyaseeli
and Jayalath. I know Nalini and
Ranjini were highly involved in the past. Duru though confined to
a wheel chair will I am sure help in whatever way she can. She is very alert
and keeps in contact with her friends as before. Ranjini would be able to get
her help. There may be others who will
be happy to support you and take some of the burden off your hands. Some of us
would offer support in whatever way we
could from distant lands.
As Nana's suggested a location close to Colombo would
be best and September/ October would be
ideal timing. That is a year from now. You need a fair few months to get everything finalised and adequate time
for those living overseas to make
holiday / travel arrangements.
As Nana says, lets put our combined efforts to make the
proposed get-together a success and
dedicate it to the departed colleagues.
You can tell Nalini, Ranjini and Lucky that I proposed their
names.
Good luck.
Hello Udula,
Thanks for the sentiments expressed in your email. Now that
we have started discussing about the get together it should gather momentum and
hopefully reach a concrete objective. All my best wishes go to you.
Philip.
