Teenager Rambles in the Galle Arena, 1950s

Michael Roberts

‘Arriving’ in this world in 1938, I was lucky to reside within the Fort of Galle as the youngest in a large family.  My father TW Roberts was a retired Ceylon Civil Servant and a respected member of the upper-class circles in town – with his membership of the Galle Gymkhana Club as one mark of this position. This status notwithstanding, we lived in rented houses –first in Pedlar Street and then in Middle Street.

 Galle fort & port in British times … & an Aerial View more recently

A photo of Galle Harbour & Fort from Closenburg taken before this enclosed island ‘paradise’ was swallowed up by harbour installations

This set of tales relates to the early 1950s and refers to the recreational activities of a motley gang in which my sister Audrey (3-4 years my senior) was an inspirational figure. The gang did not have a name. Our ‘concerns’ were directed towards fun: swimming off the fort, cricket and other games in its small playing fields beside the ramparts, hide ‘n seek, card games…. That kind of leisure. It should be noted that this freedom of leisure time was founded on middle-class foundations that included live-in servants at home and bicycles in our repertoire.

This coterie of fun-lovers included the brothers Wickremasinghe (Vidiya & Lakshman), the brothers Goonewardena (Nalin & Ranjith), Elmore de Alwis from Kalahe, the brothers Alastair and Trevor Roosmale-Cocq from Hirimbura.

On occasions this cluster was augmented by teenagers of the same bracket and class whose parents worked for short spells on government service in Galle town: for instance, the Conderlag girls, Anil Amerasinghe, Desmond and Ronnie Fernando, George Stork.

The Fort provided the advantage of several grass patches beside the ramparts on its western side with adequate space for friendly but competitive cricket matches and athletic contests –sometimes involving Moor teams vs the Rest (us that is).

There were also three spots where staircases led one to tiny stretches of sand that served as springboards for swims and explorations of the reefs during the calm non-monsoon season.

Taken together in sum the Fort of Galle was a Shangri-la for teenagers. And there was yet more in its surrounds.

CLOSENBURG

During that period of life, we in Galle also had the magnificent swimming resource known as Closenburg (before the GSL grabbed the place for port facility yards.  Closenburg was a large oval shaped sea-water body of water ….. a huge and calm pool enclosed between a hill promontory running north-south on the east and a sand-spit and set of islands on the western stretch. This pool was dead calm in the north-east monsoon season and a violent body receiving raging waves in the south-west season (roughly April-to-October each year). Good surfers could get a 30-t0-40 yard run if they mastered a wave. In brief, it was a magical recreational spot …especially on the Sunday.

As relatively well-to-do middleclass personnel most of us had bikes that enabled us to reach Closenburg readily. Aaahh, the bikes! They also permitted longer ventures to special spots along the coast.

BUONA VISTA

One such destination was the hill of Buona Vista and one of its beaches –that known as “Watering Point.” Reaching that spot meant a bit of trudge down a rough path but it compensated for the effort with its little stretch of beach and the reef in its environs with all kinds of fish to goggle at with our facemasks. The place even housed a fresh-water spring [hence its name]. With a picnic lunch in our rucksacks, this spot was a kinda Shangri-la!

UNAWATUNA BAY & KOGGALA

Another biking destination was Unawatuna where the inviting stretch of sands was protected along one part by a reef …. with its coral and bodies of fish. This spot serviced keen underwater fish spotters during the calm season and surfers in the rough season. We were both.

Yet further down the southern coast lay Koggala with its lagoon where the RAF had built an airfield with its extensive building adjuncts. The British left at some point in the190s and the derelict airbase, with its control tower et cetera was an intriguing spot for assiduous explorers. It was a long ride to get there on bikes; but the presence of a seawater “swimming pool” (that had been created by depth-charges blasting the reef running parallel with the seas and beach) provided the best of recovery activity.

So: that then was the adventurous field for the gang led by Audrey Roberts … with Vidya and Lucky Wickremasinghe, Elmore De Alwis, Alastair and Trevor Roosmale-Cocq and yours truly as regular adventurer-members.

RARE MOMENTS

Unawatuna Bay was the scenario for the privilege I had of rare nature encounters of a type that few encounter. (A) One calm day I was snorklling from west-to-east along the inside of the coral reef when, lo and behold, a turtle glided effortlessly passed me on the inside. That picture remains indelibly in my mind still.

The second rare event can be documented. This was in 2004 and at night when our little party of my wife Shona, sister Audrey Maxwell and Nadine Mediwake had enjoyed a swim and returned for dinner at a beachside restaurant where some of the tables sat on levelled-out sand.

THEN, Wunderbar, a mother turtle struggled up the beach and proceeded to dig a [maternity] hole for its batch of eggs ….. with the diners cooperating by clearing an area of tables, chairs and people.

So: we were party to a dramatic maternity event …..surely, a rare experience for tourists of any sort.