Raising the Sri Lankan flag on National Day (February 4th) has been controversial in the past when some saw it as a symbol of oppression rather than pride. Here we see it being raised early in the morning by the Principal and the Student Leader
Having made a full recovery from an injury in a Sports Day 18 months ago which necessitated a very expensive operation and several weeks away from the college while recuperating, Rukshi powered her team (Single Women Students) to victory (over the Married Women on Campus) with a display of beefy batting that would make Botham himself blanche. We must add that Rosemary was the top scorer for the Marrieds!
February 6th saw another Sports Day. As usual great passions were generated. For the first time we had lanes to run in, marked out on the grass with sawdust from the saw mill that plies its trade outside the College's entrance. Here Rosemary receives a prize for Table Tennis singles, beating Indra into second place while Hephzibah looks on.
Dodge ball is taken very seriously by the students and is the high point of the afternoon. New rules and a much cleverer way of scoring were introduced this year which lead to lots of heated debate.
A fancy dress competition is also part of Sports Day. Much fun is extracted from an array of costumes sported by students and children alike. Here Somal, (an incredibly shy child who has uttered just one word to James since June last year when his parents moved in next door), leads Beulah and Ravindu.
On Friday 12th February the Tamil Society presented its annual programme. Rosemary attended all three hours in which she understood hardly a word. She did however impress by saying the final Blessing in Tamil!
On February 18th TCL hosted a celebration of a new book by former CMS mission partner (and our very good friend) Ina Watson. The "Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Skills Handbook for Sri Lanka" is available in all three languages. The copies the college had were sold out in no time. Here Ina is pictured with two of our students: Rasika (Student Leader) and Pava.
On March 5th the annual English Day saw James' Spouses Class read out John Betjeman's "Meditation on the A30", a poem in which a driver with a mid-life crisis rants about his angry wife and finishes up dead in an accident of his own making. They enjoyed it.
Another English Day, another play written by James. This time a man dies in a bus crash and then finds himself obliged to watch a few of scenes from his life and reflect. Here he is about to beat up his son.
