Canadian Hartleyite
Newsletter of the Past Pupils' Association of Canada &USA	Vol 7, No 2, September 2003

15th Annual Gathering of Hartleyites this year on November 29th, 2003

15th Annual gathering of Hartleyites of Canada and USA will take place this year in the last week of November which is a long weekend for USA. This was done at a request by members of USA and we hope many USA members will make use of this opportunity and plan their travel and join their fellow Hartleyites at this Annual event.

The venue is same as that of last year. It is at the Centennial Recreation Center Auditorium, 1967, Ellesmere Rd, Scarborough, Ontario. The events will start on time at 6 p.m. with the Annual General meeting, followed by fellowship
and dinner and some thoughts by our Chief guest , Mr. S.P. Balasingam , former Principal of Hartley and now residing in USA.

DIRECTIONS: Those coming on HWY 401, exit at Markham, turn South. At Ellesmere junction turn right. At the first light signal turn left and the Centennial recreation complex is on your right.

Those coming from USA on QEW , follow directions to 401, Toronto.

Tickets for dinner are priced at CD$ 15.00 per head and for teenagers it is CD$ 10.00. Tickets can be had from Convener Dr. A. Shanmugavadivel (Tel 416 266 5161), Mr. M. Atputhanathan (Tel 416 439 7696), Mr. Shanmuganayagam ( Tel 905 305 1958), Mr. Rajaratnam (Tel 416 502 1423) or from any of the committee members.

THERE WILL BE NO TICKETS SOLD AT THE GATES. Please book your tickets. For those who cannot collect their tickets, their tickets will be kept at the gates to the Auditorium ( Please note that if those who book the tickets fail to turn up, they must pay the cost of the ticket as we are ordering the dinner according to the sale assessed on the previous day).

We are looking forward to see as many Hartleyites as possible on this occasion.

For any further particulars contact either the President Dr. A. Shanmugavadivel ( e-mail: drashan @ hotmail.com ) or Mr. M. Atputhanathan (e-mail; atput @ interlog.com ).

Or Dr. A. Thangarooban , vice President(e-mail: atroopan @ rogers.com )

News From Hartley College

On January of this year,new Principal Mr. V. Pathmanathan , an old boy of the college assumed duties as Principal of Hartley College. In February Mr. N. Gunaseelan became his assistant. From the report of our member and former teacher, Mr. Jeganathan , the pair appears to be doing all that they can do for the college. We are pleased that harmony among those run the school , which is vital to the smooth running of the college, appears to be there.

SCHOLARSHIPS FROM OUR ENDOWMENTS FOR PERFORMANCE IN 2002.

The following scholarships were awarded for performance in 2002 in the early part of 2003.

1. Scholarship in memory of late Mr. S.T. Samuel for the best performance in Biological science in AL exam - Mr. R. Thangaivasan .

2. Scholarship in memory of of late Mr. S.T.Samuel for the best performance in Arts section of AL- Mr. T. Jogeswaran .

3. Scholarship in memory of late Mr. R.M. Gunaratnam for the best performance in Physical science in AL - K. Navarubakanth .

4. Scholarship in memory of late Mr. W.N.S.Samuel for the best performance in commerce section in AL - A. Nimal .

Scholarships in memory of late Mr. P. Ahamparam , long time prefect of games at Hartley for best performances in sports.

1. Cricket - Mr. N. Sivanesalingam and Mr. K. Prasanna

2. Athletics - Mr. S. Manivannan and Mr. T. Kirubaharan

3. Soccer - Mr. B. Gopi

Challenge trophy donated by our member Mr. N. Sivabalan in memory of his father late Mr. N. Nadarajah was awarded to Mr. B. Gopi .

OTHER NEWS FROM HARTLEY

Former deputy Principal of Hartley Mr. K. Sivananthan passed away in Vavuniya on May 23rd.

The church hall was renovated and opened and it is functioning as both the church and as an assembly hall .

Mas. G. Pradeepan of Gr. 10 got the 1st place and Gold medel in the All Ceylon Saiva Paripalana Sabai examination.

SPORTSMEET

Mr. V. Sethunayagam ex. HCPPA,Point Pedro branch President was the chief guest at the Annual Interhouse Athletic meet. The ranking of the houses were as follows:

First- Paulpillai house

Second - Abraham house

Third - Thamotharam house

Fourth - Kanapathipillai house

Fifth - Sherrard house

MR . K. JEGANTHAN 'S ADVICE FOR THOSE HOPING TO VISIT HARTLEY

Three days notice to the Sri Lankan Security forces is necessary to get permission to visit Hartley and this is usually given on Wednesdays. It may be advisable to give the particulars of identity to the Principal and get his help to obtain prior permission especially for those hoping to stay only for a few days in Point Pedro and within that time to visit Hartley.

Nadarajasundaram , President HCPPA Point Pedro Wins award

Mr. M. Nadarajasundaram was a distinguish old boy of the college. He not only excelled in academic field but also in sports especially cricket. He was an all rounder and he took part in soccer, and Athletics too. He is now the dean of the faculty of Business studies and Commerce of the University of Jaffna . His book "International Financial Management has been judged as the best book published in 2001 and for that he was awarded the Sahithya Mandala award. It is to be noted that he has other books to his credit. He has been the President of HCPPA , Point Pedro for the last few years and he has visited at the invitation of HCPPA , Canada as the chief guest at our Kalai Vilza .

HCPPA Canada &USA Life Membership Grows

The following are new life members who joined this year: 134 Mr. P. Balasingam , Tel 916 351 8356 135 Mr. V. Vijenthiram , 416 429 7423 136 Mrs. R. Pathmanayaki , 604 275 1471 137 Mr. K. Prabakaran , 416 499 4824

Mr.K. Rajaratnam our former treasurer and a life wire behind membership drive gives the following analysis of the membership growth:

Year Enrolled Total

1998 23 23

1999 33 56

2000 39 95

2001 25 120

2002 13 133

2003 04 137*

* up to July

Status of Hartley College Past Pupils' Association Trust

As you are all aware the HCPPA trust which was formed at the historic meeting of all branches of HCPPAs ' around the globe in Colombo on the 28th of July 2002 got its final approval from all branches during the early part of this year. The final version approved by all branches was handed over by the secretary of the Global meeting Mr. R. Ravindralingam of UK branch to the Trust President Mr. S, Shanmuganathan and its secretary Mr. Chelliah Pathmanathan .

In August this year branches received the copy of the legal draft drawn by the attorneys Murugesu and Neelakandan . Unfortunately the Attorneys not only made a legal version of the approved draft of the trust but chose to make substantial changes especially in areas such as number of trustees, election of trustees, principle of dissolution, powers of the trustees etc. This led to a flurry of e-mails from all branches and the Trust chairman and secretary has been asked to rectify all these and make a legal version of the originally approved draft of the trust, without any changes.

One year has passed since the concept of Trust to coordinate and manage the affairs of Hartley was formed and still the Trust is yet to be legalized. However the Trust has been doing valuable service in purchasing land negotiating aid and coordinating in a limited way some aspects of the development of Hartley.

But the funds of HCPPA , Canada & USA that were deposited partrly in the care of Colombo branch and partly with Point Pedro branch are waiting for the legalization of the Trust to be transferred to the trust.

News from HCPPA Canada & USA

ANNUAL PICNIC & CRICKET ENCOUNTER.

The annual cricket encounter between Hartley and Jaffna Hindu was held on Victoria day at the Sunnybrook park cricket grounds. Though at the beginning Jaffna Hindu appeared to be in the leading position, finally Hartley won with a comfortable lead. This time the attendance of members for the match was very low in spite of the fact that it was a public holiday. We normally expect quite a number of young crowd. We hope that members will remember this event and try to come.

On the contrary the Annual picnic jointly organized by Hartley and Methodist was a success with a large turnout. We were happy to see some visitors from Australia and London at the picnic. This time the picnic was held at Whitby Haydenshore Park.

LIQUOR CONSUMPTION

It was brought to the notice of the committee by more than one member that the consumption of liquor by members in public is not only on the increase but without consideration of the by-laws of the city and also other Hartleyites . The committee felt that it is necessary to remind members that traditions of Hartley should be upheld in whatever land we Hartleyites establish ourselves.

KALAI VILZA

The Annual Kalai Vilza jointly organised by Hartley and Methodist was successfully held at Glen Forest secondary school, Mississauga. Highlight of the evening was a musical evening interspersed with dances to a spell bound audience for little more than an hour by a group called AGNI. Our congratulations goes to Sivasothy and Rajeswaran and their Methodist counterparts for organising this exciting event.

THIRUNELVELY ORPHANAGE

The committee decided to donate two computers and a printer. As decided originally the fund for this was to be raised by sale of $25.00 tickets or its equivalent of roughly SR 2000.00. Mr. Mathavan and Mr. Muruganandan distributed these tickets at the Kalai Vilza and they have collected around $2000.00. The estimate given by Prof. Shanmugadas on behalf of the orphanage amounts to about $2500.00. The committee is appealing to other well wishers to come forward with more donations. Tickets can be purchased from any of the committee members.

This is a worthy cause as this institution is caring for those children who have lost their parents in the war torn Eelam .

News from other HCPPA branches

UK BRANCH

The new President is Mr. Hari P. Harrichandran , Tel 0208 248 0510 and the secretary is Mr. G. Vigneswaralingam , Tel 0208 507 9619

The new chairman of the UK trustee is Dr. S. Sivaloganathan ,( 0208 763 7409) and secretary Mr. S. Mylvaganam (0208 241 5881)

COLOMBO BRANCH

The new president of Colombo branch is Mr. Balachandran and Mr. S.G. Deva is the secretary. It appears from the note by Dr. Chinniah that both of them are not on e-mail. When we get the contact address and telephone number we shall notify in our next newsletter.

POINT PEDRO BRANCH

From the information received from Colombo, Mr. Nadarajasundaram as President along with whole committee was re- elected at the AGM held this year. We wish them a very successful year.

Obituaries

PROF.K.D.ARUDPIRAGASAM

Prof K.D. Arudpiragasam , a distinguished old boy of Hartley college passed away two months back in Colombo. He was head of the Zoology department of the Colombo University. Later he held the post of Vice Chancellor of the University of Batticaloa .

Arudpiragasam is an embodiment of the finer principles of Hartley. Those who moved with him will know that he was a disciplined man with very firm convictions. He was my tutor at the then University of Ceylon. Later while I was teaching Zoology at Hartley frsh from the university, he encouraged me to be not just a teacher but a research worker too. He told me that the Point Pedro Coral Fringed seashore is full of unexplored material. This led to my publishing a paper on a polychaete worm that floods the shore with its Bioluminescence. His critical thoughts in this pioneering research paper led me to publish more papers and won me the UNESCO/ CAAS sponsored best science teacher award for Sri Lanka in 1967.

On behalf of the HCPPA , Canada/USA we would like to pass on our condolences to his Kith and Kin.

M.Atputhanathan

Mr. D.M.SOMASUNDARAM

We record the passing away of our former teacher, Mr. D. M. Somasundaram in July of this year at Chundikuli , Jaffna . He was 68 when he died. He had just returned from attending the convocation ceremony of his only son who had passed out as a doctor. He served Hartley from 1960 to 1969. He taught science in the upper forms. He had the talent of cracking jokes spontaneously and knew the art of getting along with people. He was immensely popular with his students and staff. We offer our heartfelt condolences to his wife and children.

From: J.J.Atputharajah

Mr. M.BALASUBRAMANIAM

Mr. Balasubramaniam passed away early in the year 2003 at Jaffna . He served at Hartley from 1960 - 1968. He taught science in the middle forms. He was active in games and served as the coach in cricket and football for the second eleven. He was known as a very energetic and enthusiastic teacher who was always on the move in his famous motor-bike. He always had a delightful nature which endeared him to many friends among both teachers and students. Out deepest sympathies are due to his bereaved wife and children.

From: J.J.Atputharajah

VIDVAN VELAN

Vidvan Velan an exponent of Tamil and a very popular teacher of Hartley passed away early this year in London. You can see more about him in the Hartley web site under UK.

Mrs. MANNUELPILLAI

We regret the passing away of the wife of Mr Mannuelpillai , past teacher and cricket coach of Hartley.

From. Mr. Blanchard

Methodist Annual Dinner

Our sister school Methodist Past Pupils Association held their Annual General meeting and Dinner last month. On this occasion they honoured the past teachers of Methodist who are in Canada. We will try to publish their new office bearers and their next years diary of events at our next issue in December.

Principal's Notes -
1966- Mr. K. Pooranampillai

In the last issue a we gave a short extract from Principal's notes of 1956.We give below this time an extract of the notes of 1966.

The number on roll is 744, middle school 245, O.L.Classes 290, A.L. Classes 209.At the G.C.E. AL examination of Dec 1965 28 passed in four subjects each and 17 in three subject each. 34 qualified for admission to University as follows: Arts;11 , Engineering; 10, Medicine;8 , Dentistry;1 , Physical science;4 .

Three teachers left on transfer- Mrs I. Sabaratnam , Mr. S.G. Deva and Mr. M. Atputhanathan . Mrs Sabaratnam joined in 1965 and worked in the middle school-

Mr. S.G. Deva was with us for ten years as Physical education Teacher. He helped in Athletics, Games and in Hostel - In the hostel he was a strict disciplinarian but in time of illness or accidents he was a 'ministering angel'.- He got married and left us to be near home. We thank him for his services and wish him success and happiness in his new place of work.

Mr. M. Atputhanathan , rejoined after his course in education at university. He left us on transfer to Chithambara College, Valvettiturai . An old boy and former Head Prefect he fitted into the life of the college. As a teacher in Biology and General science, he contributed not a little to the success of the school. He was largely responsible for organizing science exhibitions and Biology Excursions and Hydrobiological studies. His capacity for hard work and his organizing ability were in evidence throughout his stay- He did research into habits of marine creatures- He read a paper on the subject of his research before the Ceylon Association for the Advancement of Science and was highly commended. We thank him for his contribution to the efficiency of the school and wish him success and happiness in the future.--

Editorial

Let me outset apologize for bringing out this Newsletter one month after the due date. As I explained to the committee this was due to heavy personal commitment in September. We would like to appeal to our USA members to make use of the long week end during our annual gathering in September 29 and join us at the dinner. Mr. Rajaratnam our former treasurer, who is in charge of membership drive wants as many of you as possible to join as Life members.

Mr. Rajeswaran informs me that he will be giving an update on the HUDEC project in the next newsletter.

We hope that past pupils of late Mr. Nadarajah , Principal of Hartley during its crucial time of uncertainities will come forward with their contribution to the Nadaraja fund inaugerated by the President at the last AGM to help the needy children, and make this fund viable to aid needy students. President informs that there is already a request sent by Colombo branch for a student.

We apologize for any mistakes that might have crept in inadvertently.

M.Atputhanathan

Editor