BORN IN A MANGER
S’ THOMAS COLLEGE GURUTALAWA | PHOTO ESSAY
S. Thomas’ College Gurutalawa, was born in 1942. Located in the picturesque hills of Uva Province, Sri Lanka, it is a school like no other. This unique college boasts a range of outdoor activities such as hiking, nature trails and farming activities in the salubrious climes of Uva. It is also one of the first schools to have a Swimming pool and Squash Courts, and the only school in Sri Lanka that have Horse riding and Equestrian Sports as a serious activity.
Contrary to the popular belief, S Thomas Gurutalawa was not founded as a ‘satellite’ of S’ Thomas College Mount Lavinia. But in fact, is the ‘4th premises’ of STC Mount Lavinia.
In April 1942, the British Military inspected S’ Thomas College Mount Lavinia to acquire it for their military hospital. The War in Asia needed a large hospital to cater for the injured, coming in their thousands in ships from Burma, Malaya and Singapore, after battles with the Japanese. The British Military gave the college just five days to vacate the premises.
The requisitioning of the premises by the British Military, fragmented the school into sections. St Paul’s Girls School, Milagiriya housed one section, Girls High School Mount Lavinia and Kingswood College Kandy housed the second and the third sections while a new fourth section was established in a farm house in Gurutalawa.
Leslie de Saram and his wife owned a farm of about 35 acres at Gurutalawa, five miles from Welimada. Leslie, an old Royalist, was a cousin of Warden de Saram. When they heard that STC was short of accommodation, they promptly donated the entire Farm to the College. It was a generous donation and they refused to allow their names to be mentioned on the plaque commemorating the donation, it merely says “From two well-wishers”.
“STC Guru is but the alter ego of STC Mount’ with the same heritage, traditions, motto, crest, college song shared, and most of all the same Thomian Spirit fostered. Both colleges share the quintessential features of Thomianism — diversity, pluralism and harmony.
The college is proud of their diverse student population which reflect the range of socio- religious backgrounds that make up Sri Lanka. In keeping with the Thomian ethos, a truly multicultural coexistence has bolstered significantly doing justice to the Thomian hallmark.
The School owes its reputation to the efforts of one man — the legendary Dr W. R. L. Hayman MA, DPhil (Oxon), MBE — the founding father of S. Thomas’ College Gurutalawa.
William Rollo Lenden Hayman was born at Clapham, South London on December 14, 1902. His father William Hayman, was a General Practitioner. The family moved to Brighton and then to Bournemouth where young Hayman attended Wychwood Preparatory School. He then attended the Sherborne boarding school in Dorset from 1914–1918. In 1919, Hayman entered the University of Oxford to read Physics. He continued at Oxford until he earned his DSc in Physics, during which time he also won an Oxford Blue for Boxing. Thereafter Hayman trained as a Teacher for Ministry in the Anglican Church
In 1928, when Rev Kenneth C McPherson, the warden of S. Thomas College (1926–1930) visited Keble College, Oxford, he persuaded Dr Hayman, Rev. A.J. Foster, Rev J. G. Elliot, and W.T. Keble to join him at S. Thomas’ College.
In the meantime, Hayman contacted the ‘Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts’ and was informed that Ceylon was working its way to independence, and needed good teachers to produce men who could lead the country. Hayman’s parents were totally against him wasting his education in a country like Ceylon.
“To this end anything I could teach in England would be equally useful and acceptable in Ceylon. So, in the end my parents rather unwillingly allowed me to follow my wishes.”- Hayman
Dr Hayman arrived in Ceylon in 1929. His services were first sought by Trinity College, Kandy, but he eventually joined the staff of S’Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia; and was the first teacher (in any school) in Ceylon to possess a Doctorate, at the time.
He purchased “Thalassa”, on the adjacent beach and lived there during his tenure at Mount Lavinia. He subsequently gifted the premises to the college.
In 1935 Hayman was appointed Sub-Warden of the STC Mount Lavinia. He held this position from 1935–1957, making him the longest serving sub warden in the school’s history.
When Dr Hayman was appointed the Headmaster of Gurutalawa in April 1942, it was a heaven-sent opportunity for him. He planned to fashion the school after Gordonstoun, in Scotland, where the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales were distinguished alumni.
At Gurutalawa, Hayman’s immediate task was to prepare accommodation and classrooms for the students, numbering to about 50. He was careful not to exceed the student numbers in order to maintain quality. Keen to provide value to every boy that invested in the school, Hayman structured small classes with individual teacher attention thus promoting motivation and personal development.
Adding the motto of New College, Oxford, ‘Manners maketh man’; he introduced a ‘standard of honour’ from Head Master to the student. This was not mere courtesy, but more akin to the art of gracious living.
The school started functioning, essentially as a boarding school, and over the next few years, the construction of dormitories, classrooms, a dining hall and the chapel began. Hayman also built a small swimming pool at his own expense.
Hayman was unique in that, while serving as Headmaster at “Guru” he simultaneously held the post of Sub-Warden at” Mount’. During this dual tenureship, he facilitated the smooth transition of students from ‘Guru’ to ‘Mount’ for advanced studies.
He, together with his loyal chaplain Rev. A.J. Foster blended the traditional Thomian ethos with a philosophy of education derived, from Plato’s dictum, “education is teaching children to desire the right things”
‘MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO’
At ‘Guru’, the concept of manliness and masculinity, were addressed via an agenda of a robust expeditionary learning program. Taking a leaf out of Kurt Hahn’s book, Hayman inculcated the spirit of adventure and camaraderie in the students. He encouraged and nurtured the emotional strength of the growing boys in his care, by inculcating a passion for adventure.
Taking advantage of the magnificent albeit harsh Uva hills, Hayman introduced “Outward Bound’; a range of outdoor physical activities, including Horse riding, Swimming, Lifesaving camps, Scouting and trekking through the exciting jungle trails.
The entire Welimada plateau became an extended playing field for the students. Hayman directly supervised the activities. Teams from other schools were invited to participate and explore the rustic trek of the ‘Devil’s staircase’, the Pattipola ridge or the grandeur of World’s End in Horton plains.
The teams usually set off from Gurutalawa at daybreak to challenge the beautiful and varied hike of about 40 km, with the mighty mountains as a backdrop. At dusk they would return to base, walking through the periwinkle shadows of the misty evening light.
Kurt Hahn, the founder of Gordonstoun quoted “Public Schools have remarkable achievements to their credit. Where they fail is in the protection of adolescence; loyalties draw their vitality from an intact human strength that is the basis of all devotion. The strength is generally present in children as they come into public schools. It can survive adolescence but only on one condition; if on the threshold of puberty, health giving passions are stirred and subsequently sustained.”
Hayman was on duty — 24 hours. Impelled by his dedication and example, other staff followed his example. The Staff meetings dwelt on every boy’s progress in work and behaviour. The college was careful not to over-emphasize on studies and examinations, which would lead to a lopsided education. It was not about the number of distinctions a student gets. It was more about the ‘product’ — the cultivation of the all-rounder. This philosophy of education liberated the students to perform to the best of their ability, thus excelling in all fields, including academics.
The Boarding school environment, created for the student, the time and freedom to focus on, writing, painting, music, and the passion of exploring and research or even craftsmanship and building. They had time for a true, imaginative and humane engagement with life.
Hayman was not just an educator. He was a concerned educator. As Headmaster he genuinely cared for his students. Whenever there were matches out of base, Hayman waited for the boys to return, however late. He greeted the bus, inquired about the game, sat with the team over dinner and listened to the details of the day.
Hayman would visit the spotlessly clean dormitories — in rotation — facilitated by the House Master. He chatted with the students. Whenever possible Hayman visited the homes of the day-scholars and met the parents. If any student had to be sacked from college, Hayman would personally escort the boy home to his parents. He considered it essential to interact with his sophomore where ever possible.
Students who were dismissed from other schools, always got a second chance at Gurutalawa. Hayman took up the challenge to tame and rehabilitate the balky lads.
The first 22 years (1942–1964) are revered as the golden years of Gurutalawa. Centrality of Equality, Unity in diversity, to be inclusive and elite were ethics that were valued. Those were the glorious twenty odd years during which the School earned the justifiable reputation of the best in the island.
Hayman met Mary Rudd — a military nurse, while on a hiking expedition, from the Army camp in Diyatalawa. Mary was a member of the Nursing Staff at the Military Hospital which occupied STC Mount Lavinia. Towards the end of 1945, Hayman went to England on furlough, and married Mary in 1945.
Ever since the broad sweep of social change, provoked overtly in 1956, Ceylon gradually conceded to the malicious strand of mono culturalism, bringing about with it a schizophrenic loss of identity in Gurutalawa.
The medium of school education switched to Sinhala and Tamil. The number of day-scholars increased but there were insufficient students for an English stream at Gurutalawa. Hayman continued to teach Physics and Maths, but the writing was on the wall! His worth as a school teacher in Ceylon was over.
Hayman retired on March 14 1963 and returned to his home in Bournemouth.
In 1970 he visited Gurutalawa to open the new Hayman Science Laboratory, to which he had contributed generously. He also installed a filtration plant and diving boards in the school, at his own expense. Hayman’s final visit to Gurutalawa was in 1983 to open the Keble Dormitory, the cost of which had been met by Hayman. (The Income Tax Department was quite eager to slap on a Gift Tax from the college — for this building)
The Haymans did not have any children and they donated lavishly to the College from his inherited wealth. A founder and benefactor to education in Sri Lankan Anglican Schools, he was appointed a MBE for his services to education in 1964.
Hayman died in Bournemouth on the night of 7 May 1983 at age of 81. His funeral was held on May 12th and the service was conducted by Rt. Rev Lakshman Wickremasinghe, in Bournemouth. His wife Mary died on 17th November 2008, at the age of 94.
Soon after Dr and Mrs Hayman retired to England in 1964, Canon Arthur John Foster died; leaving the School bereft of their visionary leadership. But the confusion was cleared up by stalwart headmasters such as [1] Frank Jayasinghe (1965–68), [2] E. L. Perera, (1968–74) and [3] Lyn Illangakoon (an Old Thomian himself)
Throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, this magnificent college that evolved under a line of successive eminent Headmasters, began to experience a series of bad vibrations and tragic events that breached and traumatized the college, hastening its decline, and eventually sealing its fate.
Anti-English proponents had pervaded the system and was in the process of brainwashing the younger generation. Student numbers dropped as parents who planned for an English education for their children, removed their sons from Gurutalawa.
The college which was always a bench mark for quality, was in a critical state of decline for more than one reason. The school’s infrastructure was on the verge of total collapse.
On 20th October 1989, during the 1988–1989 JVP mayhem, the Headmaster at the time, Bala Gunasekeram, and his wife were shot dead in the early hours of the morning in the Headmaster’s bungalow. The last vestige of hope for the college was effaced by the spitting bullets of a T56 that fateful day.
“I’d rather be a door keeper in the house of my God than dwell in the palaces of the wicked” -Psalm 84
It was the timely intervention of Jacques Huyghebaert — a freemason, that saved the School from closure. Jaques was not connected to the school in any way prior to his serendipitous response. He took over the School in January 2007 and worked together with Rev Mark Bilimoria, rendering a great service as co-ordinator and Financial Controller. He continued to remain as an advisor to the Board at Gurutalawa and contributed immensely to Infrastructure Rehabilitation.
The school has continued to flourish and expand since then.
Mary Hayman made her final visit to Sri Lanka in 1992, as Chief Guest at the Golden Jubilee Celebration of the College at Gurutalawa.
Upon her death in 2007, a part of her will was dedicated to the School. Guru was very much in her thoughts despite the years of separation. Service of Remembrance and Thanks Giving for Mary Hayman was held at the Chapel of the Transfiguration STC Mount, on 12th January 2008.
GALLERY
STC Guru had weathered many a storm since its inception. By the turn of the century, its survival was held in a fine balance and tension, the splendid traditions and honourable name of the college had been imperiled by the socio-political change that took place in that era. However, many staunch Old Boys, the true custodians of the college, stepped in to liberate their alma mater, and today the wheel has come full circle.
The identity of STC Gurutalawa is that of an independent, fee-levying, government approved private school governed by the same Board of Governors as the schools at Mount Lavinia, Kollupitiya and Bandarawela.
“The English language has emerged as the key language of a Globalized world for Communication, the dissemination of knowledge and in the Information Technology Revolution, shorn to its Sri Lankan detractors of its imperialist stigma. The phobia of ‘Kaduwa’ and its associational shibboleths have been exorcised — Phillips Dulip Kumar
Canon A.J. Foster, the Chaplain nonpareil of S’ Thomas College quoted Edward Thring’s aims of the ideal Public School, its structure and core values.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ceylon, Sir Ivor Jennings visited Dr Hayman three times, trying to persuade Hayman to join the University of Peradeniya as Professor of Physics. But Hayman responded that he finds it far more challenging to mould boys into young men of character than lecture to undergraduates.
SPORTS
FAREWELL
Hayman’s forward-thinking vision, inspired wardens after him to advocate and promote his liberal education system. Hayman also made sure that the future generation of Thomians would always be aware of the historic connections between the ‘School by the Sea’ and the ‘School in the Hills’.
REFERENCES
“Dr RL Hayman Man in a Million by Richard Dwight” (PDF). stc62group.org
Dr. R.L. Hayman. “Recollections of S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia before the War.” S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia Jubilee. 1918–1968
“Dr. R. L. Hayman’s Visit to Buckingham Palace From the STC magazine 1964”.
Thiru Arumugam
Phillips Dilip Kumar
Bradman Weerakoon : one of the founder students of Gurutalawa
Prof (Dr) Hemantha Dias Wickramatillake
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/James_Chapman_(bishop)
http://www.stcg62group.org/GE_College_Profile_in_Images_P8.htm
http://www.stcg62group.org/PDF/Articles/23_Mary_Hayman.pdf
http://www.stcg62group.org/GE_Old_Images_of_Guru.htm
