The opening ceremony began at the scheduled time of 3.30 p.m. at the front lawn and Fr. Le Goc, followed by about forty priests, blessed the altar of the school chapel and then the building. The opening ceremony took place in the presence of a large gathering of distinguished guests which included His Grace the Archbishop, Most Rev. Dr. Anthony Courdet and the Hon. Mr. E. Evans, Acting Director of Education. They were accompanied by Rev. Fr. Le Goc, Fr. D.J. Nicholas Perera, President of the new school, Rev. Frs. Meary, Le Jeune, Lannigan, Guglielmi and Giraux. After proceeding to a pavilion specially erected for the occasion, at the invitation of Fr. Le Goc, Mr. Evans declared open the school and thanked the Catholic Church for its interest in education and Fr. Le Goc himself thanked all those who had contributed to the building fund. A total number of 204 students were admitted on that day with classes from 1 to 7.

Fr. Maurice James Le Goc OMI a Frenchman, who can be described as an author, intellect, educationist, architect, astronomer, a scientist (a Botanist of renown to be more precise), a futurist and a priest of God all rolled into one, was the Rector of the new school by virtue of the fact that he was Rector of St. Joseph’s College, Colombo while Rev. Fr. D J Nicholas Perera OMI was appointed President of the fledgling school.

The academic staff who served the newly built school including the religious were Rev. Frs. D J Nicholas Perera (President) and E Morel and M/s. C F Fernando, L E Bertus, V Samaraweera, Stanley de S Wickrematillake, Mrs. A Razel and Misses D Arndt and M Jansen. By the end of the year the number of students had risen to 268 and even a Prize Day was accommodated in the first calendar year when on the 15th of December 1922 the prize distribution was held with Rev. Fr. Maurice Le Goc, the founder and Rector as the Chief Guest.

In 1923 on the 8th of May, Fr. Nicholas Perera, as President of the school, ensured the establishment of the Literary Association and presided at the inaugural meeting. During this period when Fr. Le Goc continued as Rector a Reading Room was added on 2nd September 1925, made possible through generous contributions by benefactors, which was opened by His Grace the Archbishop of Colombo, Most Rev. Dr. Anthony Coudert on 2nd September 1925.

The first sport to be introduced to St. Joseph’s College, Colombo South was Football and this was on the 15th of June 1925, under Fr. E Morel as the Prefect of Games. A Science Laboratory, a gift by Mr. W A S Karunaratne, was declared open by His Grace the Archbishop of Colombo, Most Rev. Dr. Anthony Coudert in 1926 on the 24th of February and in the same year on 10th December the Junior Cadet Platoon was recognised by Government Gazette.

On 11th February 1927 a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes gifted by Mr. & Mrs. A Gardiner was placed in a Grotto after being blessed by the principal. The present Grotto was erected much later in March 1955 and was opened after Mass celebrated by the Archbishop His Grace Dr. Thomas Benjamin Cooray.

In this year of very important changes – 1927, the College Anthem was changed to “Lend a Heart and Lend Hand” composed by Mr. T L Minor of St. Joseph’s College, Colombo and set to music by Mr. George A de Niese, the Music and Art Master at St. Joseph’s College, South. A new Crest was introduced with “Virtus et Veritas” as the motto also designed by Mr. George A De Niese.

A very significant date in the history of St. Peter’s was the 8th of April 1927 as the College established its own identity that day. The Colombo south branch of St. Joseph ‘s College Colombo was registered as a separate Secondary school by Gazette notification No: 7575 of 2nd April, 1927 as St. Peter’s College.

The celebrations in connection with the renaming of the College were held on Wednesday, 29th June 1927, the feast day of St. Peter, with a high Mass sung by Very. Rev. Fr. M. J. Le Goc assisted by Rev. Frs. Morel and Theobald Silva. After Mass, at a colourful ceremony that took place on the lawn in front of the College, the new College Flag with the colours Blue, White and Gold was blessed by Rev. Fr. Le Goc and hoisted. Blue was to signify heaven, White purity of heart and Gold for achievement and high resolve. The colours of the flag also signified the connection to St. Joseph’s College, through Blue and White (the Josephian colours) and the connection to the Catholic Church through the Papal colours of White and Gold.

Rev. Fr. D J Nicholas Perera OMI who was President of the School up to the time of the name change was appointed Rector on 29th June 1927 when the school became St. Peter’s College and it was he who laid the foundation for the rapid progress St. Peter’s made, soon to be on par with older, more reputed schools.

His attempts to elevate St. Peter’s to be one of the leading educational institutes within a short space of time can be seen by the many facilities he introduced during his era. Prior to the name change, the year 1927 began with the opening of new classrooms in January and Cricket was also introduced to College in 1927, under the captaincy of Norman Patternot, a natural athlete. He also appointed Norman Patternot Head Prefect with the introduction of the Prefect System in the same year. Being a man of foresight he had the Old Boys’ form a Union and the inaugural meeting of the Old Boys’ Union was held on 1st October 1927 at which meeting he was elected President and Mr. Charles D de Silva elected Secretary.

The year 1929 saw Tennis introduced to St. Peter’s in February and a Tennis Club formed. A grand carnival was also held in 1929 on 29th June, opened by Lady Stanley and on the same day (29th June 1929), the Senior Cadet Platoon was Gazetted. This rang the curtain down on the 1920s but the indefatigable Fr. Nicholas Perera continued into the 1930s achieving much more for St. Peter’s College.

Though the Peterites did not boast of a Swimming Pool, swimming was introduced in 1930 on the 6th of February, with the formation of an Aquatic Sports Club. This paved the way for the swimming gala win in 1933.

On the 9th of February 1930 the St. Aloysius Altar Servers’ Association was inaugurated with Mr. E Jansz as Secretary. The Foundation stone for the Assembly Hall which could comfortably seat 1500, was laid by His Grace, Dr. Peter Marque OMI, Archbishop of Colombo on 6th March 1930.

And having added more acreage to the premises, on the 13th of September 1930 he had the College playground opened by Mr. H E Newnham, Mayor of Colombo. The opening ceremony was followed by a sports meet. November 19th of 1931 was the date on which the magnificent hall – the largest in Colombo at the time, was opened. This hall has staged performances by international stars such as the Blue Diamonds (a popular Dutch/Indonesian duo), Bill Forbes (a Peterite who made it even to the British Charts) and others like Des Kelley, Harold Seneviratne, the Menezis brothers and much later the Gypsies who cut their musical teeth in this hall.

Although cricket was introduced in 1927 with Norman Paternott as captain, it was limited to a few friendly games and on the 15th of January 1929, Herbert E Wittahatchy joined the tutorial staff of St Peter’s College and succeeded Mr. Bertus as the Prefect of Games in 1932. While being a dedicated member of staff, after classes he was coach for cricket, football and athletics, not to mention rugby which was also introduced in 1932. It is said that Rugby commenced at St. Peter’s largely due to Mr. Wittachchy’s enthusiasm, a game to which the boys had taken like ducks to water.

Despite the reluctance on the part of established schools to give sporting fixtures to the Peterites, it is known that Mr. Wittachchy is the one who managed to persuade some of the older, more established schools to give St Peter’s sports fixtures and the first cricket match of note was played in 1932 against St. Benedict’s College, Fr. Nicholas Perera’s old school. Captained by George Jayaweera the Peterite cricketers won the match.

The first Rugby match was also played in 1932 which was against Royal College. The first Peterite rugby captain was Lim F Bilimoria and although the match was lost, it was the start of a successful sport at the College.

Making 1932 a sports filled year Volleyball was also introduced at St. Peter’s in that year.

On 1st February 1933 the House System was introduced with 4 Houses created. These were: Anthony House – named after the Archbishop at the time the school was started, Most Rev. Dr. Anthony Coudert; Peter House – named after the Archbishop at the time the house system was started, Most Rev. Dr. Peter Marque; Maurice House – named after Rev. Fr. Maurice Le Goc, the Founding Rector and Nicholas House – named after the first Rector of St. Peter’s, Rev. Fr. Nicholas Perera.

On 23rd and 24th February 1933 the first ever Big Match (Josephian-Peterite) was played at the St. Peter’s College Grounds. The Peterite captain was George Jayaweera. The Josephians being the more experienced team the Peterites lost the match by an innings and 105 runs.

In 1934 on the 6th of May the Dental Institute, a gift from Mr. James P Fernando, was opened by the Minister of Education, Mr. C W W Kannangara and St. Peter’s became only the 3rd school to boast of a dental institute within the school premises.

Also in 1934, 13th July to be precise, a Rifle Club was inaugurated with the participation of the Cadet Platoon but more important for sports was the fact that for the first time and only four years after athletics started in earnest with the opening of the Peterite grounds, St. Peter’s won the Tarbet Challenge Cup and tied for the Jefferson Cup at the schools athletics meet held on 13th and 14th of October 1934.

1937, December 7th saw new Priests’ Quarters and Classrooms opened by H.E. Sir Andrew Caldecot KCMG, Governor of Ceylon who later inspected the Cadet troop and was Chief Guest at the Prize giving.

If one were to say that providing infrastructure and promoting sports were prominent in Fr. Nicholas Perera’s mind, one could say education was foremost in his mind. He is said to have had almost a paternal interest in most of his students, guiding them and encouraging them to reach beyond the limited lines of vision they would have set for themselves. Having joined the school in the year it commenced (1922), upon completing his College education, P R Anthonis, when he entered the University along with a fellow student L J D Fernando, had proven that this school had nothing but greatness written over it and was going to be a force to be reckoned with among educational institutes.

With World War II raging in Europe, the Middle East and in Asia, the Government of the day, requisitioned St. Peter’s College premises to be used as a hospital for the Royal Navy in 1938 and the College split to operate from three different locations, i.e. Minuwangoda, Dehiwela and Milagiriya (where the Bambalapitiya Flats stand now).

Fr. Nicholas Perera who was perhaps the only Ceylonese Rector in a Catholic school in that era when most were of foreign origin, earned the name ‘Giant in Education’ for the pioneering work done at St. Peter’s. His monumental contribution to education was such that at his retirement the public entertained him to a dinner at the Galle Face Hotel, presided over by Mr. D S Senanayake, the leader of the State Council and he was the first Catholic Priest to be so honoured.

1944 saw the Cricket Big Match series revived after the war years of 1942 and 1943. Though losing this match, happily for the Peterites they were able to turn tables on the Josephians in 1946 and 1947.

Having functioned from three different locations since February 1942, happily for St. Peter’s, students and staff marched back to the familiar surroundings by the Wellawatte canal on 9th September 1946 after the College buildings were derequisitioned on 7th September 1946. The flag staff and the pond at the front lawn are two landmarks left by the Royal Navy which still stand.

The Right block (or the southern block) of the original building forming the ‘E’ in the front facing Galle Road, was converted to a two storey block in 1946 by Fr. Wiratunga.

Though operating from different locations, not forgetting his earlier role as the Prefect of Games and despite the absence of cricket for two years (1942 & 43) and rugby for six years (1942-1947), he ensured that sports was also a success at St. Peter’s. He took a difficult decision in changing the cricket coach, bringing in Ret. Major General Russel Heyn and for the first time since the Big Match series commenced, St. Peter’s led by Dion Walles beat St. Joseph’s at cricket in 1946 and repeated the success in 1947, also under the leadership of Dion Walles.

Rugby was revived as fast as was possible and the sport recomenced in 1948. Apart from his efforts at expanding facilities for education with larger buildings, Fr. Wiratunga, a staunch supporter of sports also had the pavilion built and opened 18th December 1948 by Senator Sir John Tarbet.

In the year 1950, on the 20th of October, news of the passing away of Rev. Fr. D J Nicholas Perera reached College which was indeed saddening for all Peterites young and old. Two minutes silence was observed after the announcement was made by the acting Rector at the time Rev. Fr. Mervyn Weerakkody. The body was brought from the Archbishop’s house to College and after the Requiem Mass at the chapel, the body was taken in procession to the College Hall. Among the dignitaries who called to pay their respects was Mr. D S Senanayake, Prime Minister and floral tributes were received from many, chief among them being one from the Governor General, H.E. Rt. Hon. Lord Soulbury.

The funeral procession from Bambalapitiya to Borella cemetery was joined at different points by the Director and staff of St, Benedict’s College (Fr. Nicholas’ own school), the Rector and staff of St, Joseph’s College (where he taught and worked before being assigned to St. Peter’s) and the Old Boys’ of his beloved St. Peter’s. The pall-bearers at the cemetery were Sir Gerald Wijekoon, Sir Francis Soertsz, Chevalier Abraham Gardiner, Mr. E W Kannangara, Chevalier S A Hamer, Mr. L J D Fernando, Dr. P R Anthonis and Mr. A O Wirasinha.

Meanwhile, Fr. Basil Wiratunga approached the administration of the school in a calm and unruffled manner. He had personally taken over the lead role in ensuring that English flourished at St. Peter’s from the time he joined the staff and it was only natural that university entrants from St. Peter’s increased.

In a benevolent gesture towards the Old Boys, Fr. Wiratunga, as President of the Old Boys’ Union, decided to provide them a spacious club house to meet and had the Old Peterites’ Sports Club constructed in 1953 which in later years was converted to the canteen.

Attention to matters spiritual was also important to Fr. Basil and in March 1955 he had the Grotto blessed and opened by His Grace the Archbishop of Colombo, Rev. Dr. Thomas Cooray. Basketball was introduced to St. Peter’s in 1955 and Sam Chandrasena was appointed as captain. 1955 was also the year in which Hockey was introduced to St. Peter’s with Sri Wigneswara Rajah as captain.

Having handled a difficult period in administering St. Peter’s, Rev. Fr. Basil Wiratunga retired on 3rd January 1956. However he did come back as acting Rector, being at the helm of affairs from 7th March 1967 to 7th August 1968 when Fr. Mervyn Weerakkody was away from the country for medical.

Upon the retirement of Rev. Fr. Basil A Wiratunga, the Priest who took over the Rectorship of St. Peter’s as the 3rd Rector was Rev. Fr. Arthur Nicholas Fernando Mis. App. on 9th January 1956. To say that he had to steer St. Peter’s College through a difficult period would be an understatement and unfair by a Priest who had to struggle through several issues that dogged the private school education during his Rectorship.

Though he took over the reins at St. Peter’s on 9th January 1956 he would have found College familiar ground as he was in charge of the Primary Section as Principal from 1939 to 1944. It must also be recorded that he was in charge of the Minuwangoda Branch, when College was separated into three branches on account of the present premises being requisitioned by the Royal Navy for their World War II effort. The Minuwangoda branch lasted from February 1942 to December 1943.

While ensuring that the normal curricular was well handled, early in his period of Rectorship at College, he meaningfully encouraged the development of aesthetic studies also. He started at St. Peter’s, the first ever schools’ Fife and Drum Band on 30th June 1956 with instruments he had purchased in England while he was studying there. He also received support from the Army at the time with whom he had excellent relations, where he got training arranged for the boys in the band and also received some second hand instruments including the leopard skin then worn by the bass drummer. The band was led by Cadet Maj. Dodwell P de Silva. One of the band’s proudest moments had been performing in the march past at the 1957 Independence Day celebrations, as the only school band in the parade.

To promote music, drama, dancing and art a cultural centre was opened on 16th November 1956 by the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Culture, Mr. D C Gunawardena at the invitation of Fr. Arthur. On this day the Open Air Theatre was also opened with the formation of an orchestra under the guidance of Rev. Fr. Mervyn Weerakkody.

Such was Fr. Arthur Fernando’s support for arts and culture that through the involvement of Rev. Fr. Marceline Jayakody who was in the staff then, for the first time an oriental orchestra was formed and Kandyan Dancing was introduced at St. Peter’s under the renowned dancer Heenbaba Dharmasri.

Changes took place in the administration of the Primary Department with three principals changing with a span of three years. Fr. Stanley Mellawa took over the primary section as principal on 9th January 1956 and then Fr. Sebastian Fernando took charge in 1957 and after him Fr. George Jayasuriya took over the baton in January 1959, all of which happened during the Rectorship of Fr. Arthur Fernando.

It was during Fr. Arthur’s tenure as Rector that the school was requisitioned to house refugees when communal riots broke out in May 1958 and the school was closed on 31st May that year.

The sport of rowing was started at College in 1959 chiefly thanks to the efforts of a loyal Old Peterite Dr. Anton Perera and St. Peter’s became only the second school to gain membership of the Colombo Rowing Club.

As if school administration was not sufficient responsibility, Fr. Arthur organised Fun-O-Rama, a carnival which was billed the Carnival of carnivals. It had features never before seen in a carnival in Ceylon such as close circuit TV, a model train exhibition and water fountains dotting the grounds with coloured underwater lights giving an ethereal look. This carnival, held from 29th July to 7th August 1960, was also Fr. Arthur’s way of paying tribute to the cadets who celebrated their silver jubilee that year and promote the game of basketball not to mention the entertainment by many different artistes.

Perhaps the biggest change that affected St. Peter’s and many other schools run as private assisted schools, was when in 1960, the government of the day promulgated Assisted Schools and Training College (Special Provisions) Act No. 5 of 1960 that effectively vested all Assisted Schools with the State. The only concession granted was for schools which wished to do so, to function as private Non-Fee-Levying schools. St. Peter’s having opted to remain private under the Non-Fee-Levying category from 1st December 1960 had to struggle unaided and the burden fell on parents, Old Boys and generous well wishers.

Needless to say the heavy responsibility of this fell on the broad shoulders of Fr. Arthur which he bore with determination and courage. In his efforts to supplement and manage the finances of College, he opened a canteen and a kitchen and bakery with modern machinery and equipment to make bakery items, popsicles, etc. as well as run a well managed farm.

Appreciating the need for close contact between teachers and parents for the benefit of the students, on 6th November 1969 he inaugurated the Parent-Teacher Association with himself as President and Rev. Frs. Rufus Benedict and V B S Abraham as Vice-Presidents and Mr. G V Gunawardena as Secretary. He had the courage to give more authority to the lay teachers during his tenure establishing Boards of Discipline, Studies and Sports. Considering the future security of the teachers and their welfare, he enrolled them in the Employees’ Provident Fund.

A talented musician himself he showed keen interest to develop musically inclined, talented students and St. Peter’s saw many a musician emerge in both the classical mould and the pop arena. Dr. Sarte de Fonseka, John Molligoda, Douglas de Niese, Bede de Zilwa, Nihal Fonseka and Fr. Claver Perera emerged in this era and in the popular music arena, Bill Forbes, Harold Seneviratne, Menezes brothers, Desmond Kelly and Raddy Ferreira shone. Sunil Perera and the Gypsies too bloomed in this garden school in this era.

Having ensured that St. Peter’s would ride the financial storms of the era, he received a transfer to St. Joseph’s as Rector on 15th September 1971. On the same day, Rev. Fr. Theodore E Peiris OMI took over from Fr. Mervyn Weerakkody.

A concelebrated Mass on 22nd January 1972 at the College Chapel led by His Eminence Thomas Cardinal Cooray, marked the end of celebrations.

A much needed informative score-board was installed in the College Grounds in 1972, a donation by an Old Boy, Mr. Herman Fernando.

During the Rectorship of Fr. Theodore Peiris, Hon. Ahamed Zaki, Prime Minister of Maldive Islands, an Old Peterite, was accorded a welcome at College on 7th August 1974. With years of struggle for private non-fee-levying schools like St. Peter’s continuing and ill health dogging the Rector, Fr. Theodore Peiris relinquished his position on 5th January 1975.

Two relatively short periods of Rectorship followed the exit of Rev. Fr. Theodore Peiris, that of Rev. Fr. Claver Perera and Rev. Fr. Francis Madiwela.

[Photo 89] Rev. Fr. Claver Perera Mis. App. commenced his Rectorship on 6th January 1975 and in him for the first time St. Peter’s College had a fully fledged Peterite as Rector. A graduate from the University of Peradeniya with an Honours degree in English he was ordained in Rome by His Holiness Pope Paul VI.

Though his Rectorship lasted only for a period of two years he decentralised the administration with the appointment of Sectional Heads from Grade 6 to the Advanced Level within that short period. He also enlarged and renovated the College Chapel for the first time in 50 years. He encouraged the students to aim higher than they thought possible and helped the choir at St. Peter’s to develop devoting a lot of time for the training of Choristers.

It was during his tenure as Rector that the limited overs cricket match between the Big Match rivals, St. Peter’s and St. Joseph’s was introduced. Played on the 16th of March in 1975 it was the 1st such limited overs ‘Big Match’ among schools in Sri Lanka. Happily St. Peter’s led by Bernard Wijetunga Jr. beat the Josephians in this short form of the game.

Fr. Claver Perera’s short stint as Rector came to an end on 31st December 1976 and Rev. Fr. Francis Madiwela took over on 17th January 1977. The short period of one year that Fr. Francis Madiwela was Rector, was not sufficient for any significant changes to be made at College.

However, he did arrange for the Old Boys to have their own President rather than having the Rector as President. This change took effect from 4th December 1977. Fr. Francis Madiwela was transferred at the end of 1977 to St. Thomas, Kotte as Principal. The transfer of Fr. Madiwela paved the way for Rev. Fr. Joseph Emmanuel Wickremasinghe to take over the running of affairs of St. Peter’s on 9th January 1978.

After two Rectors who had very short stints at the helm of affairs at St. Peter’s, the College needed stability and the ideal Priest, in the form of Fr. Joe Wickremasinghe was sent by the Archdiocese to take over St. Peter’s as its Rector. His was like a second Nicholas Perera era and can justifiably be called the renaissance period at St. Peter’s.

Though taking over as Rector in 1978, his service at St. Peters first began in July 1963, when he was appointed as Priest in charge of the boarders and Prefect of Studies and Discipline. He gained valuable experience in the administration of the College when Fr. Basil Wiratunga was recalled from retirement during the period March 1967 to August 1968 to act for the Rector at the time who had gone abroad for medical treatment and though Fr. Basil was officially the acting Rector, Fr. Wickremasinghe was the de facto Rector.

Fr. Wickremasinghe’s great deeds for St. Peter’s commenced when he was appointed as Rector of St. Peter’s on 9th January 1978 and one of his first tasks was to establish a Board of Administration consisting of more lay members of staff and less clergy. Earning the sobriquet “Master Builder”, through his period of service at College for a little over 16 years, he generated nearly Rs.20 million to fund his dreams for St. Peter’s, an almost unimaginable amount in those days.

Identifying the need for increased space to accommodate the ever increasing numbers seeking admission to College, he first laid the foundation stone to raise the Science Laboratory block to a three story building, on 27th August 1979 by His Grace the Archbishop Colombo, Rt. Rev. Dr. Nicholas Marcus Fernando.

In terms of achievements by St. Peter’s as a school, the 1980 cricket team was adjudged All Island best team by the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association and a student Rabindra Abeysinghe, was placed second in a competition organised by the Department of Education to identify the Best all round Student in the Island.

Chess was introduced at St. Peter’s with the formation of a Chess Club in 1980. The enlarged laboratory and the 3 storied block with classrooms above the lab was duly completed and opened on 23rd March 1981 again by His Grace the Archbishop Colombo, Rt. Rev. Dr. Nicholas Marcus Fernando.

In 1980 a bold decision was taken by the then government to provide free textbooks to students, including the students of private non-fee-levying schools like St. Peter’s, thus easing the burden on parents. In another important move by the same government, in 1980 private non-fee-levying schools like St. Peter’s were again provided assistance in the form of a block grant for the payment of salaries to teachers and the Assisted Schools Pension Act introduced in that year also meant that teachers could be registered for pensions and this benefitted the teachers in no small measure and enabled College to recruit and retain good academic staff.

Fr. Wickremasinghe increased the toilet facilities at College to cater to the increased student population and also in 1980 installed a statue of the Patron Saint, St. Peter (a donation by an Old Boy, Mr. Francis R Gomez), on the lawn in front of the porch on 8th October 1980.

It wasn’t only on physical infrastructure that he invested. To give due recognition to achievements by students Fr. Wickremasinghe established the “Peterite Gold” in 1981 based on laid down criteria such as excellent conduct, remarkable leadership, outstanding service and loyalty to College. He also established several memorial prizes to be awarded at the Prize Giving which eased the financial burden on College while enabling Old Peterites to make sizable donations in memory of their loved ones.

This decade will go down as a unique one at St. Peter’s College since four Rectors were at the helm through this decade.

The celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee came to an end with the Prize Giving held on 3rd December 1982 at which the Chief Guest was the President of Sri Lanka, H.E. J R Jayawardena and in a fitting gesture, the College Hall was named after its builder, D J Nicholas Perera. The Nancy Wickremasinghe Scholarship for the best student entering the University, donated by Old Peterite, Anton Wickremasinghe, Chairman of the Film Corporation was presented for the first time at this Jubilee Prize Giving.

Also in the 60th year, where the House system was concerned, Fr. Wickremasinghe increased the number of Houses by adding two new houses, Basil House and Arthur House, honouring the 2nd and 3rd Rectors of St. Peter’s, Frs. Basil Wiratunga and Arthur Fernando, respectively.

He had the Dental Clinic shifted to a more convenient location in 1983 and reopened by Dr. Mrs. A Drahman. This was also the dark year in which communal violence was unleashed on Tamils (on 25th July) and the College was turned into a refugee camp for a short period. 1983, being the year of the 100th birth anniversary of the 1st Rector of the College, the school paid tribute to this great priest through the celebration of Holy Mass on 10th September, the birthday of Fr. Nicholas Perera.

Fr. Joe Wickremasinghe was away from Sri Lanka from 22nd July 1983 to 22nd August 1984 and Fr. Kingsley Jayamanne acted as Rector during this period of 13 months.

After his return to Sri Lanka in 1984, on 3rd October, Fr. Wickremasinghe organised a felicitation ceremony for the Old Peterite National Cricketers namely, Roy Dias, Vinothan John, Amal Silva and Rumesh Ratnayake. The Chief Guest for the occasion was Hon. Vincent Perera, Minister of Sports.

The far seeing priest that he was, in 1985, Fr. Wickremasinghe commenced constructing a three storied building close to the priests’ quarters to house the canteen, vocational training centre and the boarding which was blessed and opened on 1st September 1986 by the Auxiliary Bishop of Colombo, His Lordship Oswald Gomis.

The ruggerites brought joy to St. Peter’s when in 1985 they defeated Trinity College after a lapse of 44 years and Royal College after 10 years. Peterites also won the under 19 All Island Schools Basketball Championship in 1985.

He ensured the development of sports at St. Peter’s and for athletics he engaged Mr. Sunil Gunawardena, a famed Sri Lankan sprinter, as the Athletics Coach in 1986 and this paid dividends when for the first time in the history of College athletics, the Peterites won the National Schools Athletics Championship in 1986 and followed up with winning the Tarbet and Jefferson Cups in 1987 which had evaded College for 53 years which was repeated for 2 more years thereafter.

A swimming pool was a cherished dream of many a Peterite since the inauguration of the College and Fr. Wickremasinghe took up the challenge to raise funds for this, which he did through his appeals to Old Boys, parents and well wishers here and abroad. On the feast day of the Patron of the College 29th June in 1988 the site was blessed by Old Boy priest, Rev. Fr. Dalston Forbes and 44 Old Peterites laid foundation stones. Construction work continued during a period when the country was facing troubled times with a civil war in the north and a rebellion by the southern youth against the government of the day. Despite the scarcity of material and price escalations of hardware items, Fr. Wickremasinghe ensured that construction progressed.

While the pool construction was in progress, Fr. Wickremasinghe added another three story building to the Primary Section to increase the number of classrooms enabling a higher intake of new entrants to College. This building which came up alongside the pool was blessed and opened on 6th March 1990 by His grace the Archbishop of Colombo, Rt. Rev. Dr. Nicholas Marcus Fernando.

Eventually the pool construction was completed and on the 69th anniversary of St. Peter’s College, on 18th January 1991, the swimming pool was blessed and opened by the Auxiliary Bishop of Colombo, His Lordship Oswald Gomis amidst a large gathering of Old Boys, Parents and well wishers.

The first Old Boy Cabinet Minister, Hon. Gamini Athukorale was felicitated at College on 29th November 1991 at the Prize Giving of which he was the Chief Guest as the newly appointed Minister of Lands, Irrigation and Mahaweli Development.

September 1995 saw St. Peter’s lose 78.54 perches of land on account of the extension of the R A de Mel Mawatha (Duplication Road) but all wasn’t lost as an underpass was provided at state cost for the use of the boys to access the College Grounds without having to cross the new road.

He had to shoulder the responsibility of celebrating the 75th anniversary of the College on 18th January 1997. The main event was the re-enactment of the entry of Josephians to College which was led by Fr. Victor Silva, the Josephian Rector. The Chief Guest at the celebrations was His Grace the Archbishop of Colombo, Rt. Rev. Dr. Nicholas Marcus Fernado and the Rector Emeritus, Rev. Fr. Joe Wickremasinghe. As precursors to the main event, a choir and chorale musical show, an oriental music jubilee extravaganza, a school band festival and a special OBU 70th anniversary celebrations were held.

Carrom is officially recognised as a game played at St. Peter’s, with Fr. Camilus Fernando guiding the enthusiastic players.

One of the last acts Fr. Felician performed as Rector was participating in the opening of the Archives and Museum Centre at College which was opened by Deshamanya Dr. P R Anthonis on 10th March 2005. Fr. Felician Perera’s tenure as Rector of St. Peter’s College ended on 30th September 2005 and upon his departure Rev. Fr. Travis R Gabriel took over as the 10th Rector on 1st October 2005.

Fr. Travis Gabriel, like a few of the previous Rectors, was not on unfamiliar grounds at St. Peter’s as he had served College for 14 years, including a period as Principal of the Primary Section, before being appointed Rector of St. Peter’s College. On 12th May 2010, a project for which Fr. Travis had laid the foundation, a four storied block for the A/L section, was blessed and opened by Rev. Dr. Marius Peiris, Auxiliary Bishop of Colombo.

Rev. Fr. Travis Gabriel bade goodbye to St. Peter’s on 11th February 2014, upon being appointed Rector of St. Joseph’s College and Rev. Fr. Trevor Gerard Martin took over on 12th February 2014. If the title “Master Builder” can be assigned to two Rectors at St. Peter’s, Fr. Trevor Martin would qualify for one.

Sheer hard work and dedication allowed Fr. Trevor to achieve so much in such a short period of time which prompted His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith to use the word ‘maverick’ to describe Fr. Trevor’s achievements, at an opening ceremony of one facility.

Before describing the construction boom that followed his appointment as Rector it must be said that his vision for St. Peter’s was holistic education for the boys. He spoke of a basket of values that a Peterite student should carry when he leaves College and saw to it that this was implemented.

To achieve excellence in education at St. Peter’s, he replaced retiring teachers with teachers who had built a reputation for being dedicated and result oriented, who were attracted to his style of administration. With such a laudable goal in mind and to encourage students to continuously improve, he introduced practice exams, mini prize givings and awards of free education at College for the year following the award. As an obvious consequence this improved results obtained by Peterites at public exams.

In order to ensure that the spiritual development of his charges is not neglected, he made sure that the different feasts such as the closing of the month of May and Corpus Christi were celebrated in a spiritually uplifting manner. The 1st Holy Communion day was made more meaningful for not only the Communicants but for their parents as well. Encouraged by the Rector, the Principal of the Primary Section, Fr. Samith Rangana Fernando contributed his artistic and organisational talents to convert the interior of the College Hall into a temporary chapel through the imaginative use of banners and cutouts creating an almost ethereal atmosphere for the little ones receiving Holy Communion for the first time.

Fr. Trevor did not neglect aesthetics at College either. “Bava”, a presentation of song, music and dance was successfully staged by the Oriental Choir and Orchestra of St. Peter’s in 2015 and repeated in 2017 and 2019. He also promoted the discovery of talent among the students from the primary to the Advance Level and a colourful presentation displaying the talents of the students was staged in a concert titled “Beyond Imagination” in 2015. Rev. Fr. Samith Rangana assisted the Rector in organising this hugely successful event and was repeated on 20th October 2018.

As mentioned in the opening paragraph of the tenure of Rectorship of Fr. Trevor Martin, he would be remembered as the Rector who contributed tremendously to the infrastructure at St. Peter’s. To seek funds for the numerous construction projects he had in mind, he did not wait for sponsors to come to him but went in search of them. He personally visited Old Peterites, be they individuals, batch groups or branches, living here or overseas and explained the project/s and the aims and donors did not hesitate to fund the different projects from the renovation of the office block to the massive project of constructing pavilions.

He undertook to ensure that the offices were comfortable for the staff to work in and undertook to renovate the offices and the staff rooms along with a new Office Room for the Rector. Combined with this project was the construction of an air conditioned, 300 seater hall named after the Founder Rector, Rev. Fr. Maurice J Le Goc, Smart Classrooms and IT Laboratories. These were completed and opened on 29th June 2017 on the occasion of the feast day of St. Peter.

Two days later (1st of July 2017), was the massive ‘Peterite Walk’ the scale of which had never before seen for a ‘walk’ by a school in Sri Lanka. This should come as no surprise to anyone for it was St. Peter’s College which did a ‘walk’ for a cause 31 years before that (in 1986). Dubbed the “Walkathon”, that 1986 Walk was the first ever ‘Walk’ in Sri Lanka by any institute. The aim of the 2017 Walk was to generate funds for the projects already commenced including the office renovations and the smart classrooms, etc. and for the projects in the pipeline i.e. a fully equipped Medical Room, modernised Science Laboratory and the Pavilion Complex. Through the sheer hard work of many led by the Rector, the walk earned for the school a sum in excess of Rs.50,000,000/-.

The renovated and modernised science laboratory was declared open on 6th March 2018, by Mr. Themiya A de Mel, a generous Old Peterite who contributed much to make this a reality. The 93-94 Batch Group was also recognised for their assistance for this significant project. One among the several projects undertaken by Rev. Fr. Trevor Martin, this laboratory is now known as the best science laboratory in any school in Sri Lanka. Originally built and opened way back on 24th February 1926, the laboratory housed in a single story building had been previously converted to a three story building to accommodate additional classrooms. The modernised Peterite laboratory now has separate labs for Chemistry, Physics and Biology, a boon to students of these subjects who can gain practical experience using ultra modern equipment.

Another facility that is known to be the best among schools is a fully equipped Medical Unit that was opened on 29th June 2018.

Everyone may have assumed that St. Peter’s now had all the facilities needed to do well in sports but the Rector thought otherwise and he decided that a rugby pavilion was a necessity for College. Construction commenced with the laying of the foundation stone on 12th August 2017 and the pavilion complex consisting of the main pavilion, two wings, a gym for the players and indoor cricket nets, was completed within 18 months to be declared open by His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith on 1st February 2019. The main pavilion located in the northern end of the grounds, has been named after the Very Rev. Fr. Joe Wickremasinghe and the two wings on the east and west of the ground connected to the main pavilion were named after two great sporting personalities produced by St. Peter’s, namely All Ceylon cricketer Brig. Dr. H I K Fernando and the ever popular Peterite, CR & FC and All Ceylon rugby player and Peterite rugby coach for many years, Mr. Archibald Perera. Brig. Dr. H I K Fernando was present in person as a special guest at the opening ceremony.

This magnificent pavilion, having been declared open on 1st February 2019, saw spectators hosted for the first time on 30th March 2019 for a rugby encounter with Royal College, played for the B C Angie trophy. Significantly, it was against Royal College that St. Peter’s played their first ever rugby match and with no other school boasting of such pavilion facilities on their school grounds, a senior Royalist who was seated in the special invitees box was heard to comment “with this pavilion St. Peter’s have one over Royal”.

School operations were interrupted due to Bombings in two Catholic churches and several hotels in Colombo on Easter Sunday, 21st April 2019 and consequently reopening the school for the 2nd term was delayed. College eventually reopened on 21st May 2019. with many security procedures in place.

Another brainchild of Rev. Fr. Trevor Martin, the Technology Stream was opened on 24th June 2019, a boon to those intending to follow this stream of study for their A/Ls. The facility was opened by the Chief Guest, Dr. Manodha N Gamage, a distinguished Old Boy of St. Peter’s College who had helped in many ways to get this project off the ground and has been actively helping his Alma Mater in several other matters as well. This stream supporting innovative thinking has branches for study of Electric/Electronics Engineering; Production/Workshop Engineering; Automobile Engineering; Civil Engineering and at the time of opening was a first-of-its-kind in any Catholic, semi-government or private school in Sri Lanka.

When Peterites look back on the Fr. Trevor Martin era, they would surely marvel not at the number of projects undertaken and completed nor the colossal sums collected for these projects, but on the achievement of success in such a short space of time. Rev. Fr. Trevor Gerard Martin retired as Rector and bade goodbye to St. Peter’s on 30th July 2019, to devote time to parish work.

With his departure, the present Rector, Rev. Fr. Rohitha Rodrigo took over on 1st August 2019.

Schools closed on account of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic 13th March 2020.