Annual General Meeting 2018

The 35th annual general meeting of the Past Pupils Association of Visakha Vidyalaya in the UK, was held on Saturday 24th March 2018 at the Rising Sun Restaurant in Sudbury Hill, London. The meeting was well attended by a good mix of new and old members, including a founder member of PPAV (UK), Ms Shahareen Hilmy. 

The Joint secretary of the Association Mala Polpitiye presented a report of the events of last year which was a special year, celebrating the centenary of our beloved school Visakha Vidyalaya.

Treasurer Mithra Gajraj presented the detailed accounts for the year. This centenary year has been a remarkable year for fund raising; We raised £5,000 towards the “Little Hearts” charity project in Sri Lanka. The two dances contributed over £5,500 for our Bursary programme and other projects helping the school.

The outgoing president Dr Boralessa spoke of the dedication and the single mindedness of the committee in planning and implementing five very successful events this year. She commented” I cannot imagine how I found the time to be engaged in this association continuously over the last thirty-four years. And if I had to do it again, I do not think I would have any hesitation doing it all over again. Why do I say this? Through this association, I have got to know people I would never have had the opportunity to engage with. I have consequently formed close friendships, and lifelong ties. Looking back, I am amazed that despite our naivety and immaturity that we had the foresight to realise the importance of supporting each other, to flag it up as one of our main goals when we formed this association. For me personally, the highlight of this year has been the successful setting up of a website for our Association”

Dr Boralessa thanked individually the Executive Committee members for their dedication and support. She also thanked all members, their families and friends for ongoing support to PPAV (UK). She concluded her speech by wishing the President Elect and the 2018-19 committee the very best and said she is grateful to Mrs Lakshmi de Zoysa MBE for her patronage and thanked her for agreeing to be nominated for a further term. Following the president's speech the new committee for the year 2018-2019 was appointed.

Mrs Yamuna Tennakoon gratefully accepted the appointment as president for the coming year. In her speech she said” the years I spent in the organisation, contributing to various activities made me realised what PPAV (UK) means to all of us and the amount of work we’ve delivered. Particularly the work carried out for the Centenary Exhibition quite profoundly brought to light the enormous amount of work this organisation has delivered in helping Visakha, Visakhians, and giving back to the wider society here in the UK and back in Sri Lanka. The unparalleled dedication shown by you and the great ladies who are no more with us or can’t be here today for various other reasons, the grand vision, almost very romantic notion of nurturing friendship among Visakhians in the UK, the compassion to give what you can to the wider society, are the ideas I started to marvel at when I came to know the inner workings of PPAV UK. So when the idea came for me to lead PPAV UK, it suddenly dawned on me the enormity of the task ahead. “

In concluding her speech she appealed to all the members to work together, to look within, adjust, and to be flexible and bold to take PPAV(UK) into the future. 

The meeting ended with a speech by PPAV(UK) Patron Mrs. Lakshmi De Zoysa. She highlighted the past activities and how the first committee was formed. She fondly remembered all the pioneer members including Ari Dissanayake and members who sadly are no longer with us.. She greatly appreciated the presence at the AGM of Mrs Ruki Shillam and Ms Shahareen Hilmy two long term members of the Association.

The meeting was followed by a sumptuous SriLankan Buffet which was enjoyed by all including our husbands and family who joined us on this day. The night ended with all of us dancing to the wonderful music provided by the duo of musicians.

President:  Yamuna Tennakoon

Vice President:  Indramala Dhanaratne

Joint Secretaries: Mala Polpitiye & Dayani Gunasekera

Joint Bursary Coordinators: Poorna Nagasinghe & Padmani de Silva

Joint Treasurers: Mithra Gajraj & Ranji Vimalathas

Joint Event Coordinators : Harshi Boralessa & Kanthi Raveendran

Joint Editors: Chandani Rekers & Subodhini Clarke

Committee: Chitra Mannakkara, Ranjani Abayawardana, Sepalika De Alwis, Indira Ekanayake, Niranjani Fernando, Malki Gamage, Nelka Gunewardene, Gayani Jayatilaka, Priethie Jayawardhana, Chitrani Pathikirikorale, , Chitra Perera, Sureshini Ranasinghe, Mahal Ratnasiri, Kamala Samarajeeva, Srimathi Weeraman, Thusitha Wickramasinghe & Dulcie Wijekoon 

For membership, visit the membership page and for events calendar, visit the events page.