Our Beginnings

Birth of NCGE Group 1975/76

Article Written by Niroshan de S Wijeyeratne

It is with great pleasure that I recollect the birth of the NCGE Group. It was early 1985 around late in that year when few guys namely Shiran Anthony, Christopher Peiris, Trajan Tissera, Priya Perera and Renuke Ganegoda met in my office (Forbes Money Brokers) at Hospital Street in Fort trying to contact other batch mates to meet up since we left our great school at Daley Road. I can remember very well reading an article about a prestigious Royal College group and I was determined to do a similar thing with our school/batch mates. I also remember the day very well when Shiran came with an architect friend to office and to the bewilderment of all present he had a bottle of Arrack inside his bag. That was the day which made my office look like a kind of mini bar - every other week of course after 6.00 p.m, with additional supplies made from the bar next to the good old Jaffna Hotel!!

Finally Christo managed to get in touch with Lalith who was planting at Penrith Group in Avissawella and organized a day out to his plantation which was bordering the Kelani Valley river. In all we had about 8 guys taking part in our inaugural trip. We had great time going in a hired van, not forgetting the dip in the Kelani River. My memory is not very clear of the number of bottles (arrack) polished off but definitely Distilleries share price was steadily climbing ever since.

Our next event was the famous talent contest where Shiran's band (Winds of Change) took part at the Vihara Maha Devi Park. I still remember organizing their practices at a place in Moratuwa and on the day of the event the organizers had no other option than awarding the winners cheque to Winds of Change as all other participating bands were booed so much that nobody could hear them playing. Shiran promised to share the spoils in return but to date none at all!

It was around 1987 when the heavy partying started with day outs becoming weekend-outs at Villa Ocean or Riverina. Our first weekend out comprised Trajan, Shiran, Raj, Devendra, Gnani, Roshan de Silva and Myself. Subsequently Nissanka Samaratunga, Michael de Silva, Udaya Silva, Anil De Sayrah would join in those great weekend escapades.

Since most of the guys who were meeting comprised from the class 9B of 1975 (except me) we were now looking at the bigger picture in expanding the group and around 1996 at the college stag night who enters to the fray - Shervin Arsekularatne. It was at one of these stag nights that Shervin came with the idea of collecting all business cards and giving to Peter Rosairo for safe keeping as nobody else was in a fit frame of mind even to put those cards in their pockets!!

The new look NCGE took its shape around 1999 when I called Shervin to be serious in our goals and we met up for lunch at the 80 Club with Shiran and Ravi de Silva. While having lunch we decided we should send out mailers to all the guys that we knew to join in an evening of entertainment and dinner. Although Ravi could not make it he arranged the 80 Club at a concessionary price. So the first get together was held in early 2000 at the 80 Club with around 45 NCGE batch mates in attendance. At an impromptu meeting held at the start, a unanimous decision was made to make me the President of the Group, proposed by the Vice President - Shervin. To me it was a big challenge and a successful stories where there was so much room to improve on. This was the first time the burgher boys got involved and the only missing link was from the Tamil stream. At the 80 Club event we had a very decent sing song with a calypso band and the only other kind of entertainment was a very slow strip-tease by one of our own guys who happened to be a doctor. The sad issue was that after few complaints from residents around the Club, the band was asked to stop playing by 1 O'clock and the party had to continue at the Hilton Karaoke.

In the year 2001 following the disappointment with the 80 Club fiasco, we booked the SSC private room. This time around there were a lot of entertainment put forward for the night and after news that flew through the grapevine, the tickets were snatched up pretty fast. I must thank Damien Wickrematilleke for all the good contacts passed through to make the evening so successful. It was at this AGM we put our official NCGE T-shirt and it was nice to see so many of the guys wearing it that straightaway that night. The guys were quite impatient to get the official stuff out of the way by having the office bearers elected soon to get on with the music this time provided by Peter's 6 piece band. I was again loaded with the responsibility of taking the presidency for another term with few more new faces coming into the committee. It’s hard to mention all the names as by now it was growing in numbers. The evening’s entertainment went on till the wee hours of the morning which I am pretty sure was appreciated by all who were present.

With the strength of the group growing in numbers the membership was demanding more events of action. The committee took great pains in organizing two additional events with a soft ball cricket tournament played at the Beira grounds between all the classes of the two years, and including fun for the whole family by having events for the kids, not forgetting the mums and partners, with a thrilling sack race. The other event was the much hyped up Joe-Pete 50 over cricket match where for the first time on record the group reserved 90 tickets for the membership and their families with a live 5 piece band in attendance (Shiran made it 6 piece on voluntary basis), with food, soft drinks and Beer all given free of charge. This event was a great success judging by the feedbacks received. This event which has been organized uninterrupted since 2001 has gone from strength to strength where even the overseas membership makes their travel schedules in advance to be at the event. This event which was started with the benevolence of donations received from some of the committee members has now progressed to full corporate sponsorships and spruced up by various guest artists and cheer girls in attendance. During this year we lost our good friend Devendra Ranasighe in Australia and it was a solemn moment when we held a requiem mass at the College Chapel.

At the 2002 AGM held in August it was my firm commitment that fresh thinking was needed at the top and also before an impeachment was brought to the presidency to appoint a new president for the group. It was with great pleasure that I welcomed Nissanka Samaratunga to the hot seat of the Association. During this time we saw the group moving towards a more professional attitude with monthly meetings held in boardrooms and a very energetic secretary, Rohan Kumarapperuma. The meetings were very exciting with a lot of ideas put forward and a calendar of events for the year. In addition to the existing 3 events which we had in the previous year, 2 more events were incorporated to the schedule. It was another first created by the NCGE Group when Bonjean Hall was packed to the brim with parents and year 11 students when we had a Career Guidance seminar organized in collaboration with the Rotary Club, and professionals from diverse areas of business addressed the audience. The Rector and the teachers were so impressed by the attention and behavior of the students that as well as the selection of the speakers. After that event it was also another first that any group of St Joseph's College had organized a carols night. Here again the President was very generous to have this event organized at the well fortified back lawn at his residence and it was a pleasant surprise for all the kids who were present to see Santa making a brief visit with lot of goodies. This was another well attended and much looked forward to family event. This year too the 50 Over tent with its live band was gaining so much popularity that many outsiders were making inquiries whether they could buy tickets at this tent. The most unforgettable incident was when the whole ground was experiencing the drought ravaged power cuts and April heat waves, when the NCGE tent was still playing a live band with industrials fans all around to make the members and their families feel comfortable. I am sure the President still remembers the time we had in starting that old generator!!! I must admit that under the new president the group made big strides into so many newer areas where committee meetings were well looked forward to!

After another successful year for the group we saw a new President installed at the 2003 AGM held again at the SSC with Rohan Kumarapperuma taking the reins and Glen Lord being made the secretary. The NCGE calendar by now was firmly in place and all events were well attended as well as well planned and coordinated. The first event after the AGM is the carols night which was very grandly organized by the poolside at the College. To help with the singing of carols a one man band was also present, accompanied by the Santa. It was again a well attended event. We also had the Joe-Pete 50 Over for the first time shifted to the Khettarama Stadium in 2004. This left us with a lot of space in our enclosure with the band playing in better conditions. With the band running for the 3rd year in a row, this enclosure was the place for all present. It was also in March that year when I made decision to migrate to Australia and I greatly appreciated the grand farewell party hosted by the Committee at the Ridgeways Colombo Golf Club to my wife Priya and me. I value greatly the plaque presented to me as the founder President of the NCGE Group and it still stands out very proudly in my study room at our home down under. Some of my unfinished business I thought was getting the NCGE Group of St Peters to co host the enclosure at the 50 over match and an annual cricket match to be played with them. But I am very proud that although we failed to get St Peters College to join in, the subsequent committees have managed to get St Thomas College Mt Lavinia to play a match with their NCGE Group on a reciprocal basis annually.

I still gather all information with regards to the activities of the NCGE Group with much interest via the e mails from all my mates and get the greatest satisfaction of seeing the Association going from strength to strength. I wish the Group many more years of success and hope to be in the committee once again to enjoy the mate ship.

Presidents of the NCGE Group 1975/76

  • 2000/2001 – Niroshan de S Wijeyeratne
  • 2001/2002 – Niroshan de S Wijeyeratne
  • 2002/2003 – Nissanka Samaratunga
  • 2003/2004 – Rohan Kumarapperuma
  • 2004/2005 – Suresh Fernandez
  • 2005/2006 – Dharshan Jayanetti
  • 2006/2007 – Ravi de Silva