The Sri Lanka Scout Association celebrated the 166th Birth Anniversary
of the founder of the scouts movement Lord Robert Stevenson Smyth Baden
Powell at the birth place of scouting in Sri Lanka, Christ Church
College, Matale. Scouting was introduced to Sri Lanka by F.G Stevens in
Matale on the instructions and guidance of the Chief Commissioner and
the National Headquarters team. The National Celebration was held in
Matale at the Children’s Park, Christ Church College, Scout Outdoor Park
and the Auditorium of the District Secretariat.
Founder’s Day is celebrated throughout the 172 member nations of the
World Organisation of the Scout Movement and the 37 districts in Sri
Lanka. The main Celebrations held in Matale had over 2000 Cubs, Scouts
and Leaders taking part in activities at the Children’s Park. Thereafter
the scouts marched in a procession to Christ Church College where the
commemoration ceremony was held under the patronage of the Chief
Commissioner Janaprith Fernando Attorney-at-Law. A Rally was held and
floral tributes were made by all Commissioners from the National
Headquarters to the Founder Lord Baden Powell’s portrait.
Speaking at the occasion Fernando paid gratitude to both the Founder of
Scouting Lord Baden Powell and the Founder of Scouting in Sri Lanka
F.G.Stevens and spoke of the importance of scouting and the training the
movement offers. The foundation stone was laid by the Chief
Commissioner for the erection of a statue of Lord Baden Powell at the
Scout Park. The main event was held at the Auditorium of the District
Secretariat Auditorium in Matale where 260 Senior Scouts of the first
batch of Scouts who won the Prime Minister’s Award were presented with
the badges. Apart from that 60 Rover Scouts received their Highest Award
for Rover Scouts “the BP Award”. Ten (10) Scout Leaders were awarded
with the highest training award, the ‘Woodbadge’. The presentation of
the President’s Award parchments and presentation of Certificates to
recipients of National Adult Awards also took place. The Guest of Honour
Mrs. Thejani Thilakaratne, the District Secretary, thanked the Chief
Commissioner and the Sri Lanka Scout Association for the opportunity
given to Matale District to host the National Founder’s Day Celebrations
in Matale. Thilakaratne emphasised on the need to preserve the rich
history of the Scout movement specially in Matale and assured the
support for scouting in the District in the future as well.
Mr.Fernando, the Chief Commissioner, stated that he was extremely proud
that 400 scouts from all districts of Sri Lanka were present in Matale
and congratulated all the winners of awards. He further stated that the
SLSA in its Strategic Plan has to achieve a growth in membership and
reach a target of 108,000 scouts by end of 2023; the achievement of
which he was confident of due to the hard work of the majority of the
commissioners. He urged all Rover Scouts who were BP Award winners to
make a commitment today to start at least one new Scout Group under
their Leadership; considering it a bounden duty towards the younger
generation of our beloved motherland Sri Lanka. He further stated that
we have to work towards the target given to SLSA by the Chief Scout His
Excellency the President to reach a membership growth of 200,000 by the
end on 2024.
ශ්‍රී ලංකා බාලදක්ෂ සංගමය මගින් සංවිධානය කරන ලද 166 වන BP දින සැමරුම ශ්‍රී ලංකා බාලදක්ෂ ව්‍යාපාරයේ ආරම්භක ස්ථානය වන මාතලේ දී පවත්වන ලදී. මෙහිදී B P තුමාගේ පිළිරුවට පුෂ්පෝපහාර දැක්වීම, මාතලේ දිස්ත්‍රික් බාලදක්ෂ උද්‍යානයේ B P පිළිරුවක් ඉදිකිරීම සඳහා මුල්ගල තැබීම වැනි විවිධ වැඩසටහන් ගණනාවක් ක්‍රියාත්මක විය. විශේෂයෙන් ජනාධිපති බාලදක්ෂයන් සඳහා සම්මාන ප්‍රදානය, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ප්‍රථම වරට අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ප්‍රදානය දිනාගත් බාලදක්ෂයන් සඳහා අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ප්‍රදානය පිරිනැමීම, මානව බාදක්ෂ සඳහා B P ප්‍රදානය පිරිනැමීම, හා වැඩිහිටි නායකයන් සඳහා වැඩිහිටි සම්මාන පිරිනැමීම මාතලේ දිස්ත්‍රික් ලේකම් කාර්යාලය ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේ දී පැවැත්විණි.
මෙම අවස්ථාවට ශ්‍රී ලංකා බාලදක්ෂ සංගමයේ ප්‍රධාන කොමසාරිස් නීතිඥ ජනප්‍රිත් ප්‍රනාන්දු මහතා, ශ්‍රී ලංකා බාලදක්ෂ සංගමය සභාපති ශ්‍රීනාත් ගුණරත්න මහතා, මාතලේ දිස්ත්‍රික් ලේකම් තුමිය, නියෝජ්‍ය ප්‍රධාන කොමසාරිස් m f s මුහීඩ් මහතා ජාතික බාලදක්ෂ මූලස්ථානය නියෝජනය කරමින් සහය ප්‍රධාන කොමසාරිස්වරුන් මූලස්ථාන කොමසාරිස්වරුන්, මාතලේ දිස්ත්‍රික් බාලදක්ෂ කොමසාරිස් සී කේ අභයවර්ධන මහතා ඇතුළු පිරිසක් එක්විය. මෙම උත්සවයේ දී ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පුරා විසිර සිටින ගමැති ප්‍රදානය දිනාගත් බාලදක්ෂයින් 250 අධික ප්‍රමාණයක් සඳහා ප්‍රථම වතාවට අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ප්‍රධානය පිරිනැමීම සුවිශේෂී අවස්ථාවක් විය
The 166th BP Day celebration organized by the Sri Lanka Scout Association was held at Matale, the birthplace of the Sri Lanka Scout movement. There, paying floral tributes to the statue of B P, and also a number of different programs were implemented. Such as ,the laying of the foundation stone for the construction of a B P statue at the Matale District Scout Park. The presentation of awards for the Presidential Scouts, the presentation of the Prime Minister's Award for the Scouts who won the Prime Minister's Award for the first time in Sri Lanka, the presentation of the BP Award for the Rover Scouts, and the presentation of the Elderly Awards for the Elderly Leaders were held at the Matale District Secretariat Auditorium.
On this occasion, the Chief Commissioner of Sri Lanka Scout Association, Attorney Mr. Janaprith Fernando, President of Sri Lanka Scout Association, Mr. Srinath Gunaratne, Matale District Secretary, Deputy Chief Commissioner mfs Muheed representing the National Scout Headquarters, Assistant Chief Commissioners, Headquarters Commissioners, Matale District Scout Commissioner C. Mr. K Abhayawardena and others joined. It was a unique opportunity to present the Prime Minister's Award for the first time to more than 250 Scouts who won the Gamethi Award from all over Sri Lanka at this event.
இலங்கை சாரணர் சங்கத்தின் ஏற்பாட்டில் 166வது BP தின விழா இலங்கை சாரணர் இயக்கத்தின் பிறப்பிடமான மாத்தளையில் நடைபெற்றது. அங்கு, B. P சிலைக்கு மலர் தூவி மரியாதை செலுத்தியதுடன், பல்வேறு நிகழ்ச்சிகளும் இடம்பெற்றன. மாத்தளை மாவட்ட சாரணர் பூங்காவில் BP சிலை அமைப்பதற்கு அடிக்கல் நாட்டுதல், ஜனாதிபதி சாரணர்களுக்கான விருதுகள் வழங்கல், இலங்கையில் முதன்முறையாக பிரதமர் விருதினைப் பெற்ற சாரணர்களுக்கான பிரதமர் விருது வழங்கல், ரோவர் சாரணர்களுக்கான BP விருது வழங்கல், சிரேஷ்ட சாரணர்களுக்கு விருது வழங்கல். சிரேஷ்ட தலைவர்களுக்கான விருது வழங்கும் நிகழ்வு போன்றன மாத்தளை மாவட்ட செயலக கேட்போர் கூடத்தில் நடைபெற்றது.
இதன்போது, இலங்கை சாரணர் சங்கத்தின் பிரதம ஆணையாளர், சட்டத்தரணி ஜனாபிரித் பெர்னாண்டோ, இலங்கை சாரணர் சங்கத்தின் தலைவர், ஸ்ரீநாத் குணரத்ன, மாத்தளை மாவட்டச் செயலாளர், பிரதி பிரதம ஆணையாளர் எம்.எஃப்.எஸ்.முஹீட், தேசிய சாரணர் தலைமையகத்தைப் பிரதிநிதித்துவப்படுத்தி, உதவிப் பிரதம ஆணையாளர்கள், தலைமையக ஆணையாளர்கள், மாத்தளை மாவட்ட சாரணர் ஆணையாளர் சி.திரு.கே.அபயவர்தன உள்ளிட்டோர் கலந்துகொண்டனர்.
இந்த நிகழ்வில் இலங்கை முழுவதிலுமிருந்து கமேதி விருதை வென்ற 250க்கும் மேற்பட்ட சாரணர்களுக்கு முதல் தடவையாக பிரதமர் விருதினை வழங்கியது ஒரு தனித்துவமான அம்சமாகும்.
