Doug Jones reporting

A 1938 Ceylon postage stamp valued at 3 cents with the profile of King George VI and carrying a design of a mountain peak was displayed on the screen. The question posed was not of the vintage of the stamp, nor whose profile graced it, but participants were required to name the mountain peak.  Choices were given - Pidurutalagala, Adam’s Peak, Kirigalpota, Hakgala, Could have been any one of them. But the answer was Adam’s Peak.

The trivia master was Thiru Arumugam. Thiru has run the trivia segment at CSA functions for many years and he knows what he is doing more than many of us. And at our annual dinner and Christmas party on Sunday 27 November at the Ku-ring-ai Town Hall in Pymble, he went a step further.

For the first time, he displayed the questions on screen – questions relating to Ceylon Stamps taken from his own personal collection. It was an exercise in Ceylon history and culture for some, a revision of the subject for others as well as an eye opener for still many more.

Prior to the seriousness of trivia, the Sydney Kolam Maduwa production of “Maname and Bucket Dias- A Story of Peradeniya” had the 127 guests in rib-tickling laughter. Directed, scripted and introduced by playwright Ernest Macintyre, the hilarious skit depicting varsity life at Perdeniya University had Adam Raffel taking the role of an amused Sarath, Malini Arumugam as the demure Sita and a riotously funny Sunil de Silva playing Rasa.

A sumptuous dinner followed. Then came the looked forward to sing-along of perennial favourites and carols led by the dulcet voices of the impromptu choir of Charmaine Vamadeva, Dr Eulalie Herat, Dr Imelda de Sayrah, Hyacinth Jones, Hugh Karunanayake, Gordon Rebeira and Sherwell Fernando.

At the CSA’s AGM held earlier that evening, the entire committee was re-elected to serve for another year in 2012.

The following are at the helm: Harry de Sayrah  OAM, JP (President);  Dr Sirilal Fernando (Vice-President); Thiru Arumugam (Secretary); Upali Dharmakirti (Treasurer); Sunimal Fernando (Public Relations); Sunil de Silva  (Publications);  Doug Jones (Editor/ Librarian); Chandra Senaratne (Social Convenor) with Dr Robert Sourjah, Tony Peries, Ron Murrell and Srikantha Nadarajah serving in Ex-officio capacities. Hugh and Tulsi Karunanayake are Life Members.

The Melbourne and Colombo (Sri Lanka) Chapters of the Ceylon Society of Australia hold their own AGMs locally.

Click here to enjoy an album of photos by Doug Jones