How we got here…

As with many things beautiful and lasting, the birth of the Galle Club occurred by pure chance. In this case, the Sacred Heart Convent past pupils had to have their school chapel rehabilitated given the fact that it contained a set of rare stained-glass window paintings that were the last in South Asia. In order to raise funds for the effort, they decided to hold the “Pulse of the Heartians” show and, in an act of both solidarity and generosity, some of the other big schools in Galle supported the effort.

The exercise was a resounding success and it showed the power of unity and the impact of mutual support for each other among schools. It also did something much more than bring a great project to a successful conclusion. Because of it, in the hearts of four heartians, was born the idea of a permanent network that could continue to help each other into the future.

They approached Dilith Jayaweera , the President of the Colombo Branch of the OBA of their brother school St. Aloysius and the six principals of Sacred Heart Convent, Mahinda College, Richmond College, Sanghamitta Balika Vidyalaya, Southlands College and St. Aloysius College who all fully endorsed the plan.

As with anything that he considers worth doing, Dilith wholeheartedly espoused the idea and took over the reins, working tirelessly to bring the dream to a fruition. It was he who formalized the network and gave it its name. Additionally, he got the creative team at Triad to come up with the idea for its logo. The entire process occurred in discussion with the OBAs and PPAs of the six big schools and the first meet of their respective presidents and secretaries was held in May 2017 at The Steuart hotel in Colombo.

The first fellowship gathering of the schools was also held at The Steuart in June of the same year with the participation of sixty past pupils. Dilith generously picked up the tab.

The inaugural AGM of the club was held on the 29th of June 2018 at Movenpick Hotel in Colombo and every single one of the attendees were seen to be full of enthusiasm for the club and its future potential.

It had taken just one year to get all of this done!

From here on, it was merely a matter of going from event to event, from help to help, from strength to strength as seen by some of the things the club was able to do before we were all placed under enforced house arrest.

1. As with all great starts, this one too commenced with a true-blue booze-bash at the Idea Hell.
2. The very first dinner dance, 'Golden Ball' was held on 22nd February 2019 at the Oak Room, Cinnamon Grand. There were two bands and the event was attended by 300 past pupils and their families and friends. The tickets were heavily subsidized so make sure that everyone had an opportunity to attend.
3. The first event held in Galle was the “Galle Big Match” between Richmond and Mahinda with a brunch with unlimited booze and bites!
4. Our overseas brethren, not to be outdone, created the 1st Overseas Chapter of the Galle Club in Melbourne, Australia.
5. The second AGM was held in 2019 on the sixth of July at the Movenpick hotel in Colombo once again and the event was followed by a cocktail.
6. A super-duper singalong was organized in 2019 at the Galle Face Hotel with entrance and participation in various treats, tricks and um…tankards heavily subsidized.
7. The second Dinner Dance, 'Gala Galle 2020' was held at the Shangri-La ballroom with Misty playing for us and was attended by nearly 500 past pupils indicating that our group was growing quite significantly.