Addressing the house, President Mr. Rahula Dassanaieke said:
“Our Patron Mr. Dennis De Rosayro, Vice Patron Mr. Kumar Weerasuriya, ,
Past president Jayantha Paranathala, newly elected Exco members of BRC, my dear
fellow members
Almost a year ago, on September 29, 2015 BRC membership accepted my
candidacy as the President of this prestigious club. One year after, a challenging,
yet an enjoyable journey, I am happy to reflect very briefly on the progress
made during the last 12 months.
BRC continued to thrive during the year, despite many challenges,
delivering outstanding performances not only in Cricket, but also in
development, finance and general club management.
We became champions of Emerging 3 day and T20 tournaments, which was an
outstanding and a remarkable achievement. This allowed us to be promoted to the
most looked forward status of playing cricket in ‘The Premier League’. While congratulating the
players, coaches and officials for their achievement, I must say, NOW we would
expect NOT the same but definitely HIGHER level of dedication and commitment
from all our stake holders, for BRC to retain our position in the Premier League
and to become a bright star in Sri Lanka Cricket.
In order to do so, I am sure you will agree, we will need to invite more
talented players to the club, for which we will require enhanced finances. With
the help of Sri Lanka Cricket, we have undertaken a much needed project to
relay the centre wickets and improve the outfield, for us to be on par with
other premier cricket clubs. The project has already commenced and is expected
to be completed in October 2016. This is a much required project as this would
be an added incentive to attract new cricketers of high standards to join the
club and display their skills. My dear friends, members of BRC, we require your
support to bring in more corporate sponsors and individual groups, or persons
to sponsor our players. I am sure with the support & dedication of our
members we will succeed in this.
Hockey has been our strength and forte in the past, though there have been
no noticeable achievements during the last twelve months. But I am confident
our officials, coaches and players will do their utmost this year to bring back
the past glory. I am also very proud to inform the house that one of our
players Mr. Abeetha Fernando was selected to represent the Sri Lanka Team
during the ‘Asian Qualifying Tournament’, played in Singapore, where he
performed in an outstanding manner and become a star by scoring 6 goals in 5
matches he played. He was chosen player of the tournament for his outstanding
performance.
Once we were in the limelight due to our billiards and snooker performances.
To get the ball rolling once again, the current committee has invested heavily
in upgrading billiard and snooker facilities. I am hopeful the stakeholders who
are responsible in managing the day to day affairs will work hard to put the
BRC name on the map of billiard and snooker again. We played a friendly
billiard and snooker match with Colts, one of our immediate neighbour clubs on
20th August and our players performed very well and beat Colts by 7 to nil.
While congratulating our side, I thank the Billiard Secretary for taking the
initiative in organizing this event, which was very successful. A good start
after sometime.
Many development projects which were carried forward from the previous year
initiated by Mr. Jayantha Paranathala, fondly referred to as Para, were
successfully concluded. As you can see, we have ‘The Lounge’, which is fully
air-conditioned and very tastefully designed for members to relax with their
families and friends. We have upgraded our gent’s washrooms to the highest
standards keeping the membership in mind. The lady’s washroom had been
refurbished earlier.
The joint venture with P.G. Martins commenced operations providing the
kids and families of BRC member’s real entertainment. However, it is sad to
note that the membership is not making use of this facility to its full
potential. I therefore appeal to the membership to use this facility to the
fullest for their children. While children are in the play area, adults could
use the other facilities of the Club.
The kitchen has been re-located facing Havelock Road allowing us to cater
to non-members as well. The conference room was built for committees and
members to use for Club meetings, which can be rented for private meetings as
well. A new club management system has been introduced to overcome the operational
difficulties. I must state that there is a definite noticeable improvement, in the
day to day operations of the Club, after the implementation of the new IT system,
which is now in place.
On our road map of action, many other development projects are identified
and we will inform the membership once the master plan is formulated.
Treasurer’s report details our standing in finance. However, I must mention
that from a financial management point of view, we have completely streamlined
the entire accounting system and audited accounts and other accounts related
information are readily available for perusal and decision making.
It is with pride and humility that we say it is encouraging to see the influx
of new members and also it is encouraging for us to hear the positive comments
made by existing members on the progress and improvements in the club. We have
made reciprocal arrangements with Kandy Club, Kandy Garden Club and Panadura
SC, allowing our members to enjoy such facilities with their families and
friends when they travel out of Colombo.
As I promised in my inaugural speech, as I took over as the President of BRC,
we have made all efforts to make BRC ‘A Club for the family’, by having Kiddies
Movie Night on Saturdays, reduced ticket prices for PG Martin facilities. In
fact now it is totally free for the use of member children on last Saturday of
every month between 5- 7 pm.
Friends, while doing all this work we have been mindful of our social responsibilities.
Recently we did organize religious ceremonies at Isipathanaramaya and St
Theresa’s church in remembrance of all departed members of BRC. Members who
have contributed in numerous ways to uplift the standards of our club to what
it is as you can see now, though they are not with us today. I must sincerely
thank all who participated for these noteworthy ceremonies to show their gratitude.
We expect to organize such events in coming years as well, for which I expect
more participation from the membership.
My dear members, in conclusion I must emphasize that this is not a single
individual’s effort, No! – it is a team effort. Every member not only in the committee,
and each and every one of the staff, manager downwards, contributed greatly to
the success and development of the club. I say a big Thank you to all of them.
We all worked together with one principle objective in mind that is to ensure
that BRC will continue to develop and grow, as a family unit contributing to
sports, society and national development as a whole.
As I did last year, let me conclude with the words of Julius Caesar “
MUTATIS MUSTANDIS EN AVANT, “which means, WITH THE NECESSAREY CHANGES
MOVE FORWARD.
Thank you.”