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Last update       20/02/2012 11:14:27

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Dr. Shee Hung Yu - 2008

 I got to know Shee Hung when we played Rugby under Shari Musafer and Ramakrishna’s     captainship  in 1965 and 1966.

He portrayed a hard and tough image mostly as a survival technique so that he would not be bullied in the hostel, it worked for him and most of his schoolmates would leave him alone, as he was focused on his future and studied to get good grades, Although at times he would pull some mischievous stunts for the most part he kept out of trouble.

His prime aim was to study to become a Doctor as his father worked hard as a dental technician to provide a good education for his 6 kids, Shee Hung never forgot that and was driven to repay his father and help the family attain the dreams of his parents.

He and several members’ of the rugby team who participated in Judo came into conflict from time to time when he captained the team in 1967. The reason was that we had Judo practice every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the YMCA Fort and if these days coincided with our Rugby practice and we skipped it to attend Judo practice as the YMCA Judo club rule was if you miss 2 consecutive sessions of practice you would lose your judo kit which was provided by the YMCA, this rule did not apply to those who owned their kit (there were only 2 of us who had our own kits). Shee hung would go ballistic on us but he often skipped rugby practice himself to engage in his studies.

He and I got into it once when I gave my Dimbulla jersey I used for practice to a newcomer, Leon Ingram and used my old college jersey I had from a previous season. He did not want me to use the old college jersey for practice; I asked him to piss off and continued using the jersey. I was always recruiting new guys to play rugby to increase attendance and the least I could do was give up an extra jersey I had, Shee hung did not see it this way.

On one occasion just before a match with Trinity he missed several days of practice and picked a team he thought was suitable, but Asoka Jayawardane who was the vice captain, the Ahlip brothers and I who were senior players thought the selected players were totally inadequate.

As soon as I walked in through the college gates, Asoka approached me and said that Shee hung had picked a real weak team and it was posted on the notice board, I went with him to take a look, we then went to LAFA and said that we refuse to play with such a weak team and that Shee hung had missed practice’s and had no right to pick this team.

Asoka & I got caned for refusing to play but LAFA asked us to pick the team that was capable of playing a high profile game with Trinity. When Shee hung found out what we had done he went ballistic saying he was the captain and he picks the team. But he was overruled.

  We usually lose by cricket scores when we play Trinity, but on this occasion we lost by 3 points which was a foul try scored by Glen Van Langenberg who ran outside the side line to score, I was closest to him and did not tackle him as I would have given away a penalty,

Jaytheran who was our own touch judge did not raise his flag to indicate that Glen ran outside the sideline, hence a try was given but he failed to convert it.

After the match Shee Hung thanked Asoka & I for overriding his decision, He was a gentleman in the sense that he knew that we did what was right for the team and it had nothing to do with personalities. After that incident we all treated each other with respect and got on well.

Then one day I was in the milk bar behind the pavilion having my usual vanilla milk after practices when I observed 4 Mount Mary boys with a hulking big bloke (who was a railway fireman) discussing how they were going to attack a Chinese guy and beat him up so he would not try his luck with the Mount Mary girls.

I knew Shee Hung was interested in a Mount Mary girl called Susan Dias, so I listened to the conversation. When I heard Susan’s name mentioned I knew they were plotting to beat up Shee Hung.

Although I was not a great fan of Shee Hung at the time, I could not allow these guys to beat up a fellow Wesleyite and had to butt into their conversation. I said “you guys will not touch a Wesleyite as long as I am around’ Now I was just about to face the wrath of this big guy.

He said who the “F” are you and what has it got to do with you. I replied ‘my name is Taylor and the guy you are planning to beat up is a friend of mine and if you touch him you will not set foot in Maradana” I knew the railway running shed was based in Maradana, my home town.

He replied, “you can’t do that as I live in Maradana too” (which was not a 100% true as he had only just moved to Maradana from Galle). When I asked him where in Maradana did he live as I have never seen him in the neighbourhood, he mentioned second Maligakande lane where I knew everyone, all my Muslim friend’s lived there and a solitary Singhalese family.

He said that he had a room at Ganasiri’s house that was the only non-Muslim family that lived on that street. When I said I knew Ganasiri and that I would get him tonight if he got tough with me. Suddenly he changed his tune and introduced himself as Randolph Crutchley, (He and I became fast friends and was inseparable until I immigrated to the UK) I then found out that he had only just moved into Ganasiri’s house.

He immediately turned against the 4 Mt Mary guys and asked them to “f” off and not try to get him involved in what he called “any jabber nonsense” I then invited him to take a walk toward Karlshrew gardens where I was to meet Shanthi & Carder by Ganasinghe’s house.

When we got there I introduced him to my friends and at that moment Shee Hung was walking home to Katawellamulla where he & Ma hung had a room.

I stopped Shee Hung and told him what had just transpired and introduces Rando to him and everything was ironed out and everyone became inseparable friends from that day on, But Rando could never pronounce Shee Hung and Ma Hung’s names, he called them “Shuwing” and “Mong” and to this date that’s what I call them.

It so happened that Rando was an old Wesleyite and has lost his hearing while boxing in college. So as Wesleyites we (Shanthi, Carder, Shee Hung, Ma Hung, Rando and myself) got on like a house on fire we also teamed up with two brothers Lucien & Newton Peterson who attended St Benedicts College and lived opposite the Ingram’s house. That was our little gang and we met every evening in Mount Mary, we got up to all kinds of mischief. Shee Hung & Ma Hung would leave early, as they had to study for exams, they were on a mission.

The rest of us would hang around chatting up the girls and having fun and at the end of the day we would all walk down to Maradana as far as Maligakande road, Rando would say goodbye at second Maligakande lane, Carder would catch his bus to Fort at Maligakande road I would head off home and Shanthi would walk back to Punchi Borella. This was our daily ritual.

One day Ma Hung came to my house panic stricken, he said Shee Hung was trapped in their boarding house and that there was a growing mob outside waiting to go and get him.

Apparently there was an altercation in the boarding house where another tenant had tried to have a go at the landlady and Shee Hung had intervened and during this altercation Shee Hung had kicked the other lodger and Shee Hung’s foot had swelled to the size of a small rugby ball.

I quickly went with Ma Hung only to find a huge mob outside the boarding house and it was only a matter of time before they plucked up enough courage to go in and get Shee Hung and that would spell disaster.

I went inside and got Shee Hung out, I knew no one would touch them as long as Shee Hung & Ma Hung was with me, I asked them to ignore the crowd and walk with me as we headed toward my home. I knew some people who lived in that Katawellamulla neighbourhood and some of them knew my brother.

I could hear them saying in Singhalese, leave him alone, he’s Carlo’s brother, It was a nervous walk till we approached the turn by the temple and was heading toward White park when a guy approached us and in an aggressive tone asked if we were tough guys to which I replied we are not tough guys but we don’t run away from a fight.

He then invited us to his house which was right beside the road we were on, as he had observed the swelling on Shee Hung’s foot. He said that his grandfather could fix it.

Both Shee Hung & Ma Hung were concerned and did not want to accept this guys help. I had to ask them to trust me and don’t show any fear as I got them so far without endangering them.

As we entered this guy’s house he introduced himself as Siri and he woke his grandfather up and asked him to attend to Shee Hung’s foot. The old man heated up some special oil and applied it on Shee Hung’s foot and to our amasement the swelling went down almost immediately, I was totally amazed and asked Siri what was that special oil.

He then proceed to tell me that they practice a Martial art called “China Adi” as it’s known in Ceylon (better known as Kalari an Indian martial art) I have always been interested in this art but it is usually handed down from father to son and no outsiders.

I asked the guy if he would teach me this art as I did Judo & Karate, he agreed as long as I would teach his sister English, that was a small price to pay and eventually we (Shee Hung, Ma Hung, Shanthi Carder and I) became his students. Practicing at Campbell Park and White Park when it got dark, as it was a secretive art.

Indran Niles used to tell us that he sees some guys out at Campbell park doing some crazy stuff and that we should hang around one evening to witness this, he had no idea it was us, obviously we never took up his invitation, eventually Shee Hung & Ma Hung dropped out due to their studies. Rando too was unable to attend as his early morning shifts meant that he had to have early nights. Cassim Carder, Shanthi and I continued with our lessons although Shanthi only participated to keep us company but had no interest.

I immigrated to the UK in 1967 and had to say goodbye to Shee Hung the day before I left as he was going back home to Trincomalee, We said our goodbyes at my house when he broke down and started to cry, I gave him a walking stick and trilby hat that he always admired, just to stop him crying. I said goodbye to the rest of my friends (Donald De Silva, Shanthi, Carder and Rando) the next morning at around 5am at Ratmalana airport.

Then in 1978 (I think) Shee hung came to the UK and lived with me and my wife Aloma in Manor House North London until our second son was born, Although he was a practicing doctor in Ceylon he had to study in England so he was cramming once again, after dinner he would go into his room to study. He stayed with me until he got a job in Essex in the mean time Ma Hung also came to the UK and my late brother Oswin put him up.

Soon afterwards I moved to Hayes in Middlesex for a few years and then to Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire before immigrating to Canada, unfortunately I lost contact with my old friends as I was out working in Holland and would only come home at the weekend.

I eventually made contact with Shee hung and was in daily correspondence with him, sharing jokes and talking about Wesley affaires. Suddenly in the early morning hours of

6th October 2008, I received a shocking phone call from my younger brother to say that Shee Hung had passed away; I did not believe him as I met Shee Hung in September the previous year in the UK and he was healthy. I asked my brother to check and get back to me.

In the meantime I phoned Ma Hung and found out the awful truth. When I attended his funeral I met his wife and family for the first time and they seem to know who I was as Shee hung always talked about me and my family as was always grateful for the help and support he received when he first got to the UK, Shee Hung & Ma Hung will always be part of our family.

I was a bit disappointed with my late brother Oswin and when I heard he was ill, I refused to cast my disappointment & hurt aside and visit him, although my son’s tried their best to make me visit him before he got too ill, they even wanted to pay for my trip to the UK. But I was stubborn and refused. Then Shee Hung phoned me and asked me to get my arse over there quickly and said my brother did not have much time left, As soon as I got off the phone with him, I booked my fare to London, then called my son’s and said we were all leaving later that day. I managed to get a seat on the same flight as they were on.

To this date I don’t know why Shee Hung’s call made me change my mind and catch the next flight to London, I am glad I did make that trip. He, Peter Casie Chetty (AKA Peter Christy) and I had dinner just before I returned to Canada and that was the last time I saw Shee Hung. Life can be so short, one never knows when one will be taken away from us.

While I was at the funeral home paying my respects to Shee Hung. I met his younger brother who lives in the US and when we were introduced he said, “I remember you” when I asked him how as I had never met him. He said that when I immigrated to the UK and Shee Hung was still at Wesley college, Shee Hung on one of his trips home had asked his Dad’s permission to go to the UK and join me and his Dad said, sure after you pass your exams and become a doctor.

Funny thing is that’s exactly what he did!

He was successful in achieving his goal and he got his family out of Ceylon. He has 3 siblings living in the UK, 1 in Canada and 1 in the US.

Gosh! I wonder what would have become of him if he followed me to the UK in the 60’s without finishing his studies,

I remember he wanted to obtain a Ceylon passport around the time I got mine but for some strange reason, Ceylonese of Chinese decent were not classified as citizens and could not apply for a passport, I told my uncle who was in the Navy to help him as I was about to leave the Country.

  My uncle jokingly said “give me all his details I can get 50 bucks for each Kalla-thony we catch”; the navy was involved in repatriating illegal Indian immigrants living in Ceylon at the time. I got scared and told Shee Hung what my uncle had said and that I could not get my uncle to help him, eventually when I returned to Ceylon in 1970, he said that there was a loop hole, and that he could obtain a British passport as he was born before Ceylon gained independence. And that’s how he traveled to London.

I am extremely honoured to be his friend and I miss him dearly.

May his soul rest in peace  

Bunny (Sextus) Taylor

Michael Kreltzhiem - 2010

Michael my classmate

Michael was a gentle giant indeed, when we were in the second or third form many of us started to display our personalities, some quiet and docile, some studious, some active in sports and some rough and tumble, like myself. Michael fitted in the middle somewhere. Although he was a big and strong guy, he was quiet and docile. The rough and tumble guys would try to take him on because of his size. He was not agile but for his build, was very quick in reacting. If he sensed someone was behind him he would turn around like a bear ready to strike. But when someone tried to have a go at him, he would walk away. However if they persisted he would turn around and grab them, shake them twice and drop them and that would be the end of the challenge. Ray DeRun, Fredrick Forster and I thought this was hilarious and would have a good laugh; Michael would put on his stern face and walk away. He was so gentle that he could not bring himself to punching anyone’s lights out although he easily could. He carried this attitude on to the rugby field, which did not help. So I devised a plan that would make him aggressive on the rugby field.

Michael my Rugby Team-mate

I recruited Michael into the Rugby team as a prop forward for his strength and size. I was the hooker with Roger Koch the other prop. But I had a hell of a job trying to hold on to these props as they would pull away and the scrum would collapse or we would get pushed back.

I thought of a plan to get the front row to be more aggressive as both props were very gentle guys. I had to get them angry enough so they would go in hard and push the other team and that was to punch my own props as we went down. After a few punches Michael would say to me “Secky, someone punched me” I would encourage them to go in hard and push the buggers … By now they were angry enough they could push a freight train, and we won every scrum.

One day we were playing at Campbell Park and Michael caught me punching him. He felt so betrayed that he walked away from the game, when Bentley Barsenbach and LAFA asked him what the hell he was doing walking away from the game while it was still in progress, He said…  “I can’t play anymore, Taylor is hitting me”. Needless to say they chased him back on to the field.

At half time Michael and I were pulled out by Bentley Barsenbach and LAFA. When I told them the reason for my actions, LAFA was not amused and I was marked for a caning after the game. Bentley Barsenbach on the other hand thought it was a cleaver plan although he reprimanded me and I had to apologise to Michael and when I explained why I did what I did, he too understood. He was as aggressive as he could possibly be after that.

Michael Never backed down when he was right.

Michael Kreltzhiem, Fredrick Forster, Ray DeRun, Adrian Parsons, Derrick Schokman, Quyn (never knew his first name), Derendran Perera, Mickey Kitchilan, Azahim Mohamed, Brian Batstone and myself were all in the arts class located in the tower room (opposite the library). We had joint Art, English and Sinhalese with the Sinhalese Arts students such as Asoka Jayawardane, Roger Perera, Nimal Rodrigo and a few others. For our Art class we had to come downstairs to a classroom beside the College hall usually occupied by a Tamil class. One day as usual we went down stairs for our Art lesson, it was a Friday so Brian Batstone, Derrick Schokman, Mickey Kitchilan were playing cricket (they were in the 1st X1 team). Goodness knows where Azahim Mohamed was. On that particular day the Sinhalese boys were also missing. We finished our class and returned to our own class room, when we were all summoned to LAFA’s office - Michael Kreltzhiem, Fredrick Forster, Ray DeRun, Adrian Parsons, Quyn, Derendran Perera an myself, as we were accused of making a mess of the class we used for our Art lesson, apparently there was water all over the class. We did not cause any mess, but these Tamil boys wanted to get us into trouble, maybe due an incident with Ramanathan (the Maths teacher) and myself. The rest of the class was just collateral damage. Although we protested our innocence LAFA was not buying our story and we all got caned, except when it came to Michael’s turn, he would not accept the punishment. Although we pleaded with him to take the punishment and we would exact revenge on the Entire Tamil class for framing us, he would not give in. Eventually LAFA let him go and was going to investigate the matter further. A few days later, Michael was vindicated, but the rest of us got another caning for admitting to an offence we did not commit. Needless to say the Tamil students paid for it. Strangely enough when I was talking to Edmund Dissanayake abut 4 years ago, he brought this subject up and said how he admired Michael for standing up to his rights.

Michael’s first Vesak

Michael lived a sheltered life and did not get up to any mischief like the rest of us “hooligans”. As the time of my immigration to the UK was fast approaching, I got up to all kinds of mischief with my close friend Cassim Cader and wanted to share the fun with Michael. I remember the fun we (Shanthi Mclelland, Cassim Cader, myself and the late Rando Cruthley and Shee Hung) had with him, taking him on his first Vesak jaunt and visiting that posh Dansala by Liptons, where food was served on plates and not the traditional banana leaf. We all started eating and enjoying the food when I noticed that Michael was not touching his food. I thought he did not want to eat, as he might be worried about the hygiene although this Dansala was like a posh cafe. When I asked him what was wrong he said he was waiting for a Fork & Spoon. I replied in traditional foul language ..“eat with your fingers”. He did not know how to. I was not good at it either but I asked him to copy what I was doing. He made a total mess and we had a great laugh.

We then went on our way to see the pandals, I somehow had a safety pin with me, and while amidst the crowds I would prick the females standing directly opposite Rando (he was a huge guy that could not speak two words of Sinhalese). They would turn around and scold him in Sinhalese and all he could say was “mame ney”. Michael would just smile and enjoy the fun of getting Rando in to trouble, but was so nervous as it could have lead to a fight.

Last contact with Michael

The last time I saw Michael was in December 1970 when I was on holiday in Ceylon, I was at a dance, when I bumped into Michael and Jeremy who were there with a bunch of their friends, I think it was a farewell do for a friend of theirs (I think her name was Ellis Solomon) who was immigrating to Canada in a few weeks. I took to the floor with this girl and wound up making out with her for the best part of the evening and could not fully enjoy Michael’s company. I telephoned him about 4 years ago and gave him quite a shock. We were so happy to hear each others voices and reminisced about many things and the fun we had.

Shanthi McLelland, Cassim Cader and I were regular visitors to his place behind the prisons. They had guava trees with delicious fruit and his Mum would always have passion fruit and meringues (we called them kisses in Ceylon) that would melt in your mouth. We were such greedy buggers; one could find us wherever there was free food.

I have so many fond memories of Michael and our crazy bunch of friends. His tragic passing has came as such a shock. Rest in peace my friend and I will treasure the fond memories of those happy times of our youth.

May his soul rest in peace  

Bunny (Sextus) Taylor

Anver (Raj) Samahon - 2011

He was a few years junior to me in college; he was a classmate and close friend of Cassim Carder who was my Judo Sparring partner in the YMCA and a very close friend.

I got to know Raj through Cassim (more fondly known as Kalu Carder), we used to hang out after school, mostly to eat Mangnokka (tapioca) We used to collect money in during the lunch interval for this purpose and arrange to meet all the contributors at the back gate after school where we would purchase, cook the stuff and eat it.

   None of the contributors ever thought of how we were going to do this after school. Anyway since the rendezvous was at the back gate, we (Cassim, Raj, Akbar Musafer and myself) would sneak out of the front gate with the funds.

  Then we would hurry up to Borella Junction where we would purchase the Mangnokka (tapioca) and take it to Akbar Musafer’s house in Poulingham place, which was just around the corner. His mother would cook it and make a sambol while we waited outside messing around.

   On Occasion Mrs. De Jonk (Fredrick Forester's Grandmother) would see me outside and entice me with a barbath (tripe) curry and ask me to get half a loaf of bread and she would have the curry waiting for me when I got back.

  I would temporarily ditch my mangnokka gang and get the half loaf of bread and go to Mrs. De Jonk's kitchen where she would have a bowl of curry waiting for me, as I was tucking into the bread & curry she would lecture me about hanging around aimlessly and getting into trouble and of course the religious lecture. I just agreed to what ever she was saying

And as soon as I had finished I would rejoin the mangnokka gang. By this time the mangnokka was almost ready, we would eat the stuff and have a good laugh about tricking all our contributors and concoct a story that we waited for 15 minutes at the front gate and since no one turned up we reluctantly left without them.

  Of course the next morning when we were confronted by the contributors to our Mangnokka fund as to what happened we all had the same (sort of half believable story) and we got away with it, and of course the next time we would switch gates and this scam went on for a very long time. Raj was the initiator and mastermind who organized the entire scam.

  He would initiate spontaneous scams like this and the rest of us went along with it if it was not Mangnokka it was thosai where we would eat and run off without paying, we would return to the same restaurant a few days later and would not be recognized by the staff and we would do it again, all this for a good laugh, mind you we could eat a horse at that age and still go home like angels and have our dinner.

  Raj due to his spontaneous nature would sometimes land him self in trouble and would be under the threat of a good beating, Carder and I were the muscle in the group and as soon as we showed up the trouble was all over and everyone parted friends, we almost never got into any physical altercations as our reputation as Judokas frightened the would be aggressors. This was also a chance for a good laugh, but Raj would do it again as he knew he was protected and would never get into any physical harm.

The Nawalapitiya saga, Raj invited Akbar Musafer, Cassim Carder, Asoka Jayawardane and myself to visit Nawalapitiya. Although we thought it was an opportunity to have some fun, Asoka, Cassim and myself could not make it as we had an upcoming Judo exhibition and had a lot of training to do before the event.

   Raj nagged us daily and convinced us that we could do our training at Nawalapitiya, as there were judo mats available for our use. This convinced us that it would be okay to make the trip as we could train while up there.

When it was time to depart we all met at the Fort railway station, except Asoka he did not show up. Raj had gone ahead of us to prepare things for our arrival, so Cassim Akbar and myself proceeded to Nawalapitiya and was met by Raj who took us to his sisters home where we were well looked after.

If memory serves me right the following evening we (Cassim and myself) were going to the railway institute to train our routines for the up coming exhibition. We had a great day and when it was time for our training session we proceeded to the institute only to find the place full of people.

Cassim and I were wondering how we would train while there was a crowd gathered. Unbeknownst to us Raj had organized a Judo exhibition and did not tell us about it, that was his reason for going ahead of us. When we found out we were mortified and angry that we were deceived.

Had we had known his plan we would have flatly refused as the YMCA was very strict, They were so strict that if one missed 3 sessions of training they would take the Judo kit away from you and you would not be able to train without a kit, unless you had your own kit. Only two people in the YMCA owned their own kit, I was one of them.

Now we were terrified that if we go along with Raj’s plan and the YMCA found out that we performed an unauthorized exhibition we would be kicked out for sure, kit or no kit. But Raj had this persuasive nature about him that he guaranteed that no one in Colombo would find out and that it was too late to back down now as he had sold tickets.

We were faced with a huge dilemma, what should we do, it was too late to catch a train back to Colombo and get out of this mess, So we decided to go ahead and practice our exhibition act, no one would know that in reality we were not performing for the crowd but just practicing in front of an audience.

Raj said that we should include him in our practice as he had told everyone that he too was a Judoka, because we were so mad at Raj we allowed him so that we could inflict some pain on him and teach him a lesson for getting us into this mess.

Instead of Judo mats he had a bunch of mattress’s and they were too soft to move around on but it helped Raj to lad softly each time we threw him, He could have got hurt very badly as he did not know the art of falling although we gave him a quick lesson.

I remember his sisters were sitting in the front row and every time we threw him they would gasp, feeling his pain; we just wanted to inflict a little pain on him and hopefully not injure him. I think we did this for about an hour and then ended the fake show.

Now after the show was over, Raj comes up with a bucket full of money, which were the takings from the show. Cassim and I would dare not touch that money as we believed that if cash passed through our hands for this performance although it was a fake one, we would become professionals, I guess we were too naive to know any different.

We just wouldn’t even look at the bucket full of cash we wanted Raj to hand it back to the audience, but by now the hall had cleared and to be honest we never knew what happened to all that cash.

While we were walking back home cursing Raj for the position he had put us in and he was profusely apologizing, we heard a bunch of big made guys walking behind us.

We sensed that there was trouble brewing and Cassim and I were planning to attack the biggest guys in the crowd by mounting a surprise attack and thereby hoping the others would back down and end this situation.

Raj stops us and said he would handle the situation, Cassim and I thought he was going to get beaten up and foul our surprise attack and we (Cassim and I) would have to fight this small gang. Which would probably get us hurt, as we were well and truly outnumbered.

Raj walks up to these guys and his actions seem to be animated and we thought all hell is going to break lose any minute now and we would have to rush these guys and get Raj out. But suddenly they all turned around and walked away. Cassim and I were really surprised as we were expecting a confrontation of some sort.

When Raj rejoined us we were curious as to what had just happened. He then proceeded to tell us that he told the guys that he was our instructor and the he alone could take them all on and beat them but if all three of us took them on he would guarantee that all of them would wind up in hospital with serious injuries. Once again he bluffed his way out of a potentially violent and dangerous situation. He just had the knack for it. Needless to say Cassim and I were dumbfounded and had to admire his guts. That was another good reason to have a laugh about that situation.

The last time I met Raj was when I was on a quick visit to Ceylon. I was in a taxi with my cousin, snarled in traffic at Borella junction, suddenly the door flung open and Raj hopped in. We were shocked that someone got into our taxi. Lo and behold it was Raj.

He had spotted me in the taxi and got in. we just had a quick chat and I continued on my journey. He sure was a spontaneous character.

All who knew him will sourly miss him

May his soul rest in peace

Inna Lillahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajoon - (To Allah we belong and to him is our return)

Bunny (Sextus) Taylor

 

The Reverend Wilfrid Pile - 2012

Reverend Robert Wilfrid Pile
Patron Wesley College OBU UK
Born on 13th March 1915 passed away 6th February 2012

Rev Robert Wilfrid Pile, the only son of Robert Pile, and an active Methodist was born on 13th March 1915 in Plymouth Devon. He had his education at the Salisbury Road, Primary school Plymouth where he successfully obtained the school certificate at the age of fifteen. In 1931 at the beginning of his first year in the sixth form his father died after a short illness. As a result, he had no alternative but to leave school on the day of his father’s death in order to keep the family grocery business in operation.

In 1932 the grocery business was sold and he gained employment as a salesman in a furniture store for a short time. Thereafter, he joined local government service a s trainee inspector of weight and measures where he remained until he secured the post of Wages officer for the City engineers Department in 1936, a change which brought more remuneration though with limited prospects.

His father’s death resulted in a deepened personal Christian faith mediated through the fellowship of the Church and a call to the Ministry developed. In 1938 he entered Richmond College, Surrey which was formed part of London University as a Theological student. In 1942 due to the closure of Richmond College as a result of the commencement of war, he was transferred to Wesley house a part of the Cambridge University complex and graduated a year later having passed the London Bachelor of Divinity. In 1943 he was appointed as Assistant manager, East Ham Central Hall, London with responsibilities for youth work and officiating Chaplain RAF to crew of 60 Barrage Balloons.

He married on 28th December 1944 to Joan Select (who had served as a sister in the National Children home) in a small Methodist church on the outskirts of Plymouth.

In 1945 he moved with his young wife to Hunan, China as a missionary, where their first two daughters Dorothy and Jenny were born. A period of intensifying civil war from Kuok Min Tang to communist rule took place. His wife Joan returned to the UK with their two young daughters, leaving him behind under communist rule for a further period of fifteen months. On his return to the United Kingdom in 1950, he was based at the headquarters of the Methodist Missionary society in London, where his duties were to carry out deputation work and assist in the preparation of education material for the church, His daughter Hilary was born in September 1952.

He arrived with his wife and three daughters at Wesley College Colombo in October 1952 and had to share the bungalow occupied by the Principal Mr Cedric Orloff and his wife. He was the college Chaplin and taught such subjects as Christianity, English Language, English Literature and Philosophy in the sixth form, gently making us aware of the facts of life.

He revived the scouting movement and was Group Scout Master, he also, headed the Student Christian Movement activities in College. Dorothy and jenny attended the lower school for three years. He and his family left school in 1956 and moved to Wellawatte. He took up a position of Secretary to the All Ceylon Methodist Church. During his stay in Ceylon he also, was the officiating Chaplin to the RAF from 1953 to 1958 both at Katunayake and Colombo.

On his return to the UK. He was Secretary to the Methodist Society responsible for home affairs from 1958 to 1965 and SE Asia and Pacific from 1965 to 1973. He visited Ceylon in 1964 and again in 1969. His fourth and the youngest daughter was born in March 1959. From 1973 until his retirement in 1980 he was the superintendent Minister of the Cheltenham Methodist Circuit.
(Above article from Wesley OBU UK Double Blue Ball souvenir 1996). Rev Pile his dear wife Joan and eldest daughter Dorothy attended the 1996 Double Blue Ball as our Chief Guests.

Rev Pile was the Vice patron of the Wesley College OBU for many years and agreed to be the patron in November 2010, during the last ten years Rev. Pile  lived in a care home in Leamington Spa.

Rev Pile was 94 years, at the time of this death. Wesley OBU UK conveys our deepest sympathies to his family. May He Rest in Peace...Amen!

Ora et Labora!



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 
 
     
     
     
     
   
     


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