Category Archives: architects & architecture

June 22, 2022 · 10:30 pm

Passionate Sri Lankan Fans awarded “MoM” Award

Errol Fernando, adjudicating from Melbourne, decided that the MAN of the MATCH Awad should be presented to the awesome, ……….. jolly, …….passionate Sri Lankan fans

From: Errol Fernando
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2022 10:08 PM
To: sunil perera <sunilp1943@gmail.com>
Subject: RE: 3rd ODI

Apart from giving my ‘Man of the Match’ to a batsman or bowler, Sunil, I have also over the years given it to the umpire, third umpire, groundsman, coach, selector or sports psychologist. Sometimes even to the player’s wife, the Woman of the Match. Recently, in the Lord’s Test, I gave it to the ball because it was the actual change of ball that enabled England to beat New Zealand.

Yesterday, in the series-deciding  game at Colombo there were contenders such as Asalanka who were more than worthy of MOM. However, my winners were  the spectators. They were wonderful   –   passionate, ecstatic, deliriously happy and an inspiration to the players.

Fantastic achievement from Sri Lanka to win the series.  Nice to finish with a 4-1 result tomorrow………………..All the best, …………………….. Errol

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June 10, 2022 · 1:39 pm

Roadside Scenery: British Ceylon in the Early 20th Century

Several of these old photographs cropped up in the course of my work on Leonard Woolf for presentation in Thuppahi. They give us some understanding of the contexts serving as backdrop to daily life in the daytime. …. since nightitme life is more veiled and obdurate in a world without mobile telephone cameras.

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June 9, 2022 · 3:35 pm

Contrasts in Lanka: The Sturdy Medieval vs The Fluid Tempestuous Present

This photograph sent to Thuppahi by KEITH BENNETT of Australia & Lanka .…. says it all

 

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June 3, 2022 · 8:09 pm

Leonard Woolf in Ceylon: A Pictorial Excursion

A Collection derived from Digital internet sources  and with special thanks to Hugh Karunanayake in Melbourne for some great finds, including the shot of the New Oriental Hotel in Galle Fort in the 1910s, the dhony and the coastal steamers plying the island’s coasts.

Young Leonard Woolf    …. & then a mustachioed Woolf


 

 

 

 

 

Woolf and his dogs in Jaffna

 

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May 20, 2022 · 3:00 pm

The Galoya Valley Scheme & the People who made it a Reality

KK De Silva, who was an employee of the RVDB from 1967-1979

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

 Sir James Emerson Tennent, Colonial Secretary from 1845 to 1850, at page 432 of his book, Account of the Island of Ceylon ….. Vol. II says that on a visit to the Horra-bora Tank (Soraborawewa ), then in ruins, he was so impressed with its magnificense & potential for rice cultivation that after subsequent inspections of other ancient tanks in the Northern Division , he proposed in 1848 that measures be taken to restore important ancient reservoirs by legislative action; his proposal was approved, but action delayed due to unavoidable circumstances, possibly the 1848 uprising, & legislation was introduced later, when Sir Henry Ward was Governor, by way of the Irrigation Ordinance No. 9 of 1856 . Soraborawewa was restored in 1876. (Arumugam,1969).

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May 13, 2022 · 7:56 pm

A Requiem For Barbara Sansoni: From 1962 ….

Somasiri Devendra, ** whose chosen title is “A wooden bridge, an iron house, and Barbara then ….”

.………… of such are memories made, writes Somasiri Devendra

So, Barbara has ridden off into the sunset, on her white horse, after “a hard day’s night” leaving behind memories of the times when she was a person, not an icon, and very good company indeed. Those memories reach back 60 years.

 Barbara and Hildon Sansoni in 1958

 

 

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May 8, 2022 · 6:33 pm

An Outstanding Mansion: “Regina Walauwwa” become “College House”

Yomal Senerath-Yapa, in Sunday Times, 8 May 2022, where the title runs thus: “Enduring Symbol of Colombo University” … with a sub-line reading “A new coffee-table book maps the beginnings of the country’s academia in 1921“

The majestic College House down Thurstan Road –  a whimsical marriage between an English country house and a Maharajah’s haveli with its conical roofs, turrets and slender carved wooden columns, is for the historian a relic of a bygone age. Originally called ‘Regina Walawwa’, in time the house would be renamed College House and become the icon of the Colombo University.

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May 6, 2022 · 12:18 pm

A History of the Colombo Railway Station via Familial Lore

Vinodh Wickremeratne 

The Colombo railway station opened for operations officially on 2nd October 1865 when a Revenue Train was despatched to Henerath-godde. The Colombo Railway Station had been planned and constructed with passenger friendly facilities (Ladies’ waiting rooms etc).

The Colombo Railway Terminus, 1867, Skeen & Co (see Ismeth Raheem & Percy Colin-Thome, Images of British Ceylon, p. 93) Continue reading →

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May 4, 2022 · 4:48 pm

A Quaint Catholic Church within the Fort of Galle

St. Josephs Chapel featured at https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwizvIeNvL_3AhUQ7XMBHcasCGwQFnoECAwQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.trulysrilanka.com%2Fattractions%2Fst-josephs-chapel.html&usg=AOvVaw1SsgUEFkNvvWOYjQdlKGkb

Sri Lanka is a country with a long and storied colonial history and heritage. For centuries the island had significant interactions and conflicts with the sea-faring Europeans who had begun to colonise all over Asia. Sri Lanka has now been independent for more than seven decades, but the legacy and impact of its colonial overlords is still apparent if you take a look around its most important cities. For example, colonial influences are apparent all throughout the coastal city of Galle – from the iconic Galle Fort to the Colonial History Museum. But one attraction that might fly under your radar is the St Joseph’s Chapel – a quaint little Roman Catholic Church that’s nestled away amidst the sleepy streets of the city.

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May 3, 2022 · 12:54 am

Vihares and Verandas: Barbara Sansoni’s Magnum Opus

Most versions of this set of amateur reproductions are due to the work done by David Sansoni on amateur mobile-camera pictures taken by Michael Roberts; but the first ‘snap’ of the lion frieze is by Roberts at his Thuppahi worst.

Exif_JPEG_420 ………. “Lions from inner wall of PADENIYA TEMPLE” …. 

 

 

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